SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "The End," the Season 5 finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.


Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. just bid Phil Coulson goodbye. In "The End," the Season 5 finale, he gave the cure for his ailment to Daisy, who used it to boost her powers and stop Graviton from destroying the planet. Without a cure, Coulson decided to retire and live out the rest of his days on a beach in Tahiti with Melinda May.

At the start of the episode, the team was faced with a difficult choice: use the only remaining dose of centipede serum to create either a cure for Coulson or a weapon against Graviton. As the team argued, May made her vote loud and clear. She smashed their only vial of odium on the floor, making it impossible to create the weapon. With no other options, Fitz and Simmons used the centipede serum to create Coulson's cure.

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Nevertheless, Coulson didn't take the cure. He slipped it into one of Daisy's gauntlets just before he handed her costume and told her to suit up. However, he didn't tell her this until she was ready to face Talbot, which deeply upset her. "You didn't take it," she said, stunned.

"Didn't feel right. It didn't feel like the way this was supposed to go," he admitted. "I'd have told you on the Zephyr, but you'd have pinned me down and jammed that syringe into my neck right there... I'm sorry."

When she insisted he was the only one who could talk Graviton down, he told her "we may be beyond that. If so, you're the only one who can defeat him." He then instructed her to appeal to Graviton as a military man, or -- if that failed -- "find the strength in your arms to beat his ass senseless."

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As she stormed off the quinjet, Daisy ordered Coulson to take the cure. Little did she know, though, she had it on her the whole time. She only discovered it when Graviton attempted to absorb her and the gauntlet popped open, revealing the syringe inside. She ultimately injected herself, giving her the boost she needed to break free and blast Graviton into space, where he subsequently died.

Despite a scare that almost left him dead, Coulson survived through the end of the episode. He even lived long enough to throw a "retirement party," where he said goodbye to his somber team. "Come on. This is is a celebration, not a funeral," he told them.

"I've lived a life surrounded by heroes, none bigger than all of you," he said, choking back tears. "Since the day you joined, same as anyone in the line of duty -- heroes. Because we sign up to lose each other, to get close to good people and have them taken away. We've all suffered losses. Never lose sight of that." He asked them not to forget, but to move on.

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After his speech, he raised a glass. "Here's to us. Who's like us? Damn few," he toasted.

Before he left, he took Daisy aside. "I left you something in your bunk. A letter. Nothing fancy. It basically just says how proud I am of you. I am so proud," he told her with a sad smile. At that, she hugged him. "I love you," she choked out, overcome by tears. "I love you too," he replied.

As his team watched, he exited the Zephyr with his bag in tow and stepped onto a sandy beach in Tahiti. May joined him and he took her hand in his. Together, they watched the Zephyr take off and fly off into the horizon.

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Though this seems pretty final, don't count Phil Coulson out just yet. "You know enough from watching the show that, even if he were dead, it doesn't necessarily mean the end," executive producer Jed Whedon told CBR. "It's a good question and we hope we get to answer it for you." So, while it seems like Coulson will live out the rest of his days on a beach in Tahiti, that doesn't mean this is the last we've seen of him. You'll just have to wait until Season 6 premieres next summer to find out if he returns.

Returning Summer 2019, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Ian De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Elizabeth Henstridge.