Ascension

"He is paying for my mistakes." "No. He is paying for all our mistakes."

- Daisy Johnson and Phil Coulson

Ascension is the twenty-second episode of the third season of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  and the sixty-sixth episode overall. It's also the second part of the season finale.

Synopsis
It's a showdown a season in the making as S.H.I.E.L.D. takes on Hive, and when his master plan is finally revealed, the team must spring into action. Who will live and who will die?

Plot
Hive explains to Daisy Johnson that he can no longer put her under his sway; Lash made her immune to his parasites. In anger, Johnson attacks her former master and the two Inhumans have a prolonged battle, but Hive heals easily from Johnson's stabs. She is captured and placed aboard the Zephyr One, which is flown away from the Playground.

Inside, the agents realize that the Primitives still retain the skills of the operatives they once were. Phil Coulson has his senior agents split up to secure sensitive areas of the base, such as the weapons vault and the science laboratory.

Cast
Main Cast:
 * Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
 * Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
 * Brett Dalton as Hive
 * Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson/Quake
 * Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
 * Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
 * Henry Simmons as Alphonso Mackenzie
 * Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell

Guest Stars:
 * John Hannah as Holden Radcliffe
 * Axle Whitehead as James/Hellfire
 * Mark Dacascos as Giyera
 * Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Elena Rodriguez
 * Lola Glaudini as Polly Hinton
 * Amanda Rea as AIDA (voice)
 * Unknown Actress as Robin Hinton

Locations

 * Playground
 * New York City, New York (newspaper)
 * San Francisco, California (newspaper)
 * Los Angeles, California (newspaper)
 * Fargo, North Dakota (newspaper)

Events

 * Attack on Hive (mentioned)
 * Battle of the Playground

Items

 * Phil Coulson's Prosthetic Hand
 * Backscatter X-Ray Eye Implant
 * Cloaked Gun
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Lanyard
 * Shotgun-Axe
 * Absolution Virus
 * LMDs

Vehicles

 * Zephyr One
 * Quinjet
 * Containment Module

Sentient Species

 * Humans
 * Inhumans
 * Primitives

Organizations

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * New York Bulletin
 * Strategic Scientific Reserve (logo)
 * Advanced Threat Containment Unit (newspaper)
 * (newspaper)
 * (mentioned)

Mentioned

 * Will Daniels
 * Grant Ward
 * Glenn Talbot
 * Felix Blake
 * Charles Hinton
 * Calvin Zabo
 * Sokovia Accords (newspaper)
 * Agent O'Brien
 * Lash
 * Norah Houtz
 * Frank Cope
 * Frank Cope

Trivia

 * The newspaper clipping regarding Quake erroneously refers to the Sokovia Accords as the "Sokovian Accords".
 * There are many similarities between the farewell of Johnson and Campbell and the farewell of Peggy Carter and Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger.