When a television series runs for over one hundred episodes, there are a lot of characters that come and go. Agents Of SHIELD is a rarity in that the bulk of its main cast remained intact through the entire run of the series. Of course, the characters they played went through quite a few changes along the way.
Those changes are reflected surprisingly well through the dialogue that bookends the appearances of the most credited characters in the show. From their first lines to their last lines, the audience can really see their journey reflected.
Leo Fitz
Whoa, whoa, whoa, watch it! That's the night-night gun. - Well, bye everybody.
It's fitting that Leo Fitz is introduced to the series in an argument with Jemma Simmons. The two are bringing all of their equipment onto the bus for the first time, and they are seen as a unit. Over the course of the series, they become two distinct characters, and though they might still fight, they belong together.
The last moments the main team are together on screen, they're actually on a virtual call that everyone else is reluctant to leave. Fitz, however, can't wait to leave and get back to his daughter. He didn't want to go into the field, but he did because Simmons convinced him, so it's only right that he leaves the field to build a family with her.
Jemma Simmons
Well, it's on my stuff, and it doesn't work, and there's no way we're calling it the night-night gun. - Interesting stuff.
Just as Fitz's first line is snapping at his lab partner, so is Jemma's. Her first line in the series is also the first indication that she's not exactly the pushover she might seem in some of her early episodes as she doesn't question orders. She very much breaks out of her shell as the show continues.
Jemma, unlike Fitz, doesn't say goodbye on that final phone call. Instead, she promises to contact Daisy later about files sent to her. While she loves her family more than anything, as the last episode can attest, she hasn't lost her enthusiasm for science, but now, she appears to get to work on her own terms instead of everyone else's.
Deke Shaw
I've been looking for you. - Yes.
Deke's very first episode is a disorienting one for fans. The team (minus Fitz) find themselves on a space station or sorts in an apocalyptic future. It's Deke who comes to their rescue, inserting himself into their story as the man who can help them, though he does tend to make things worse.
Deke's last line is simple, but it's in response to a SHIELD agent asking him if he's the new guy in charge. Deke, who has always searched for his place in the world, finds it with SHIELD. It just so happens that he ends up finally accepted by SHIELD and becomes a leader in an alternate timeline.
Grant Ward
I'm five minutes away from retrieving it. - We'd move faster if you hadn't shot me twice.
When the audience first meets Grant Ward, he's in the middle of a mission, the picture of a perfect SHIELD agent. Of course, he's a specialist who doesn't play well with others, and it's evident as he completes this mission alone and focuses on himself.
Ward doesn't go through a lot of changes in his time on the show. Instead, by his end, he's just more open with his selfish tendencies. His selfishness, in fact, is what leads to Coulson killing him on another planet. Ward's last time on the show occurs in the middle of season three, though actor Brett Dalton would continue to portray Hive in Ward's body.
Lance Hunter
The mystery I'd like to solve is... why should we be paying you so much? - I love you.
Hunter isn't first introduced as a SHIELD agent. Instead, he's a mercenary, working for the highest bidder. In his first scene, his employer is SHIELD, and he's buying intelligence. Hunter, however, is always concerned with the money in his first few appearances. That certainly changes.
Though Lance Hunter says goodbye to SHIELD in the third season, he returns in the fifth to help out Fitz. When putting Fitz into cryo, he tells Fitz he loves him. It doesn't just show how Hunter's grown beyond his interest in money, but it's also a Star Wars homage as Fitz replies, "I know," in their last exchange.
Alphonso Mackenzie
Operation didn't go well, I take it? - Be careful out there, both of you.
Mack is introduced during season two when SHIELD is at one of its lowest points. He's a mechanic for a base that's cobbling together supplies from old parts and broken equipment - and things they've stolen. He has to work with what he's got, but Mack certainly rises to the challenge, and through the ranks.
As last lines go, Mack's final words reflect his position of authority in SHIELD. He's no longer the mechanic wanting to get out of his line of work. He's the director monitoring missions. His final words are for Daisy and Coulson as he knows that Coulson is still on his own journey and Daisy is out in space.
Elena Rodriguez
Manos arriba. - I'll see you on the other side of the compound.
When Elena is introduced, she's something of an outlaw, stealing from corrupt law enforcement and giving back to her people. The first SHIELD agent she meets is Mack as she tells him to put his hands up, but he doesn't understand her.
By the end of the series, Elena is no longer distrusting of SHIELD because she's helped build its current iteration with its current director. In fact, while on her end of the phone call, she's on a mission, and her last words are to longtime recurring Agents Piper and Davis. Elena is no longer scared of the agency, but embraces it and her power.
Melinda May
No. - That's not late, that's dramatic.
Suffering the trauma of her last field assignment, Melinda May is closed off. She only agrees to join Coulson's team under the condition that she's "driving the bus," a condition that is broken almost immediately. May goes through a lot in the series to finally understand and let go of her trauma.
May is retired from the field as the series ends, but not completely done with SHIELD. She's an instructor at the new Academy, and late for a class as the result of her call. She insists to Flint, one of her students, that she's not late when she's the instructor, proving that May has embraced the humor and heart she held back in the first season.
Phil Coulson
Welcome to Level Seven. Sorry, that corner was really dark, and I couldn't help myself. - Cool.
Coulson's entrance into the series is a dramatic one as he reveals himself to Ward. The character's dramatic resurrection in the show wouldn't be his last, and the humor Coulson imparts in his first line is a true hallmark of the character for the entire series.
Technically, Coulson dies in the fifth season finale, but since the final season has Coulson's mind downloaded into a Chronicom-Life-Model-Decoy-hybrid, he does get this final line. His final moments in the series are with a new version of Lola, his beloved flying car. His scene echoes the pilot episode as he sped off in Lola in the final moments there too.
Daisy Johnson
The secret is out. For decades, your organization stayed in the shadows, hiding the truth. - It's beautiful.
Daisy doesn't even know her birth name when the series begins. Instead, she's a hacker living in her van, wishing to expose SHIELD's secrets. It's not until Daisy sees SHIELD from the inside that she realizes just how much good agents like Coulson are trying to do, and becomes one herself.
From the first to the last season, Daisy is someone who changes tremendously. She learns who she is, finds a family, and finds her power. Daisy also gets to physically move the farthest. She goes from that van in an alley to the far reaches of space with her boyfriend and sister plucked out of their timeline to see a nebula up close, and it's beautiful.