Black Bolt and Maximus are deadlocked, the latter holding the power to destroy Attilan and the former powerless to stop him. As the rest of the Royal Family do what they can, they all face the terrifying question: can they save their home and their people, or is it too late?

I’ve been hard on this show, but then it’s not been an easy watch. Sloppy writing, awful set design and costumes and a painfully obvious lack of a VFX budget have combined to make it one of the worst examples of genre TV in a long time. But this is the finale, and last week stuff started happening, so this must be the part where everything improves, right?

Well, no. For starters, let’s talk about Maximus’ childish plan, which would barely pass muster in a kids’ cartoon. He’s set the shields of Attilan to fail if he doesn’t personally place his palm print on the control console in the control room every hour, meaning that Black Bolt must keep him alive. Leaving aside the glaringly obvious flaws in this plan (like the complete lack of mobility it imposes on Maximus), why is it that a race with technology that can allow characters to communicate between the moon and Earth with bracelets, and create a shield that hides a whole city on the moon, not allow this command to be done remotely? Also, what’s the end game here? Don’t tell me that Maximus is actually going to say ‘If I can’t have it, then nobody can…’ oh, wait, he actually does.

Elsewhere, Louise pops up again (hurray!) because the Royal Family figure there’s no easy way to stop Maximus’ masterful plan (other than maybe just march him to the control room and make him put his palm on the console) so Medusa enlists her help in finding somewhere on Earth where they can all stay. In a theme we see repeated later in the episode, we get mention of Louise’s ‘boss’ being the one who needs to authorise this, someone even she cannot directly contact, but we never find out who this person is or why they are so important. You can feel the writers begging for another season.

On the Moon, Triton still seems to be killing an awful lot of Royal Guards. Given that there are less than 2,000 Inhumans on Attilan in total, and that Black Bolt and Medusa (well ok, more Medusa) seem to have to have at least one dramatic ‘Oh but we must save all our people’ speech per week, this feels a little incongruous, but maybe that’s just me.

Gorgon is mad that Karnak brought him back, Karnak is sorry, but eh, consequences are for other shows so the conclusion to all that is lame and unsatisfying as well, exacerbated by one of the most egregious ‘We can’t escape this inescapable prison except we can because reasons’ solutions I have ever seen committed to film. In another property, I might describe this blatancy as audacious, here it’s just more laziness.

And continuing the theme of ‘Mysteries we set up for another season’, there’s some major existential threat to Inhumans of which only Black Bolt is aware, and which was the driving motivation for him taking the throne and not just giving it to Maximus like he apparently had promised to do when they were kids. Not finding out what it is this time though, so I guess we just have to let them make another season, right guys?

Oh, and the final indignity, the revelation by Maximus of an old betrayal, is as pointless as it is dull. Also, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but that’s kinda the theme of this show to date anyway. As to the ultimate fate of Maximus, it’s so bone-achingly predictable, mainly because the show actively telegraphs it to the audience about half an hour before it happens.

Verdict: The best thing I can say about this show is that it’s over. Decent actors have been criminally wasted. Characters with some of the most fantastical and interesting stories and abilities in the comics have been reduced to daytime soap-opera, two-dimensional stereotypes and put in ludicrous, dull plots with dialogue hammier than a joint of gammon. Just awful. It gives me no pleasure to say this, but I hope and pray that there is no more of this to come. Please, Marvel, just pull the plug. 1/10

Greg D. Smith