‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ “Closure” Episode: The Shocking Death of [Spoiler] and Coulson’s Reaction

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t watched tonight’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stop reading now or Hydra will get you.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has suffered it’s fair share of team losses (Antoine Triplett, Isabelle Hartley, Victoria Hand) and tonight’s episode was no different ending with (at least) two characters biting the bullet, along with a few other surprises.

The episode opened with one shocker: Ward (Brett Dalton) killing Rosalind (Constance Zimmer). After watching his former lover bleed out in his arms, Coulson (Clark Gregg) set about questioning his original team about their relationships with Ward, which led to Daisy pointing out Ward never lied to her about his life. Using this information, Coulson, with Bobbi and Hunter’s help, found and threatened Ward’s younger brother, Thomas.

Meanwhile, Hydra’s plan to open the portal and retrieve the Inhuman on the other side accelerated after another Inhuman killed Rosalind’s right-hand man, Banks, and captured Fitz and Simmons. Unable to see Simmons being tortured, Fitz promised to help Ward by using five mini-monoliths to open a portal that sent Hydra agents, Ward and Fitz to the other side. But, at the last moment, a determined Coulson showed up in in time—to jump through the portal as well.

In light of tonight’s episode, we spoke to Constance Zimmer about Rosalind’s final moments, the discovery that Ros was not Hydra and what would be a better gig: running the ATCU or producing UnReal‘s fake show, Everlasting.

So, this episode was quite a shocker.
I’m so happy! It’s great, because I truly hope it takes people by crazy surprise. I like it when it’s more of a surprise. I think the writers did such an incredible job of weaving this tale between Rosalind and Coulson. It was an incredibly hard scene for Clark and me to shoot as well because we had come to love the relationship so much that we were like “Noooooo!!! It’s too soon.” [Laughs]

That’s what it felt like. Especially because we saw that Coulson had just decided to trust Ros again.
I hate to say it, but I think it was part of the plan—as much as Marvel can plan. But they told me a few episodes ago what was going to happen, and I was so sad because it felt so brutal. Again, the timing of it was like, “Oh no! Just when he trusted her!!” But that’s what makes it such a great time. It’s the least expected moment. I’m so nervous about people’s reactions because we’ve been doing a really good job of keeping it under wraps. I think once that episode airs on the East Coast, we’re in trouble. [Laughs]

The whole moment was really rough. She died in his arms!
I know! It’s so beautiful and so absolutely devastating at the time.

Knowing you were a guest star, did you suspect that this might be how you go out?
We knew I had a limited run on the show due to the fact that I’m on another show. But I didn’t know when or how [I’d be leaving]. I thought, “Oh, maybe I’ll just leave him a little note on his pillow” because, truthfully, I didn’t even know if I was bad or good or otherwise. So I didn’t really know how it was going to end. When they told me I wasn’t bad, I was like, “Yay! I’m so excited.” And then when they told [us] how it was going to end, we were really bummed. Clark was like, “I can’t talk about it. I’m not talking about it. It’s too hard. It’s really hard.” It was like, “I know! What are we going to do?” [Laughs]

When did you find out that Rosalind could be trusted? Was it when she was talking to Mallick?
Truthfully, I didn’t know. When I saw that scene, I got upset and started asking questions. I said, “Wait. Am I bad? So this whole time I’ve been playing [Coulson]? Oh no!” That’s when they came to me and said, “We just want you to know that you’re not bad. But then this happens in two more episodes.” I was like, “WHAT?!” I really had no idea, which was really fun to play.

RELATED: S.H.I.E.L.D. EPs Talk Hydra’s History and Ward’s Plans

When she heard that Mallick was a Hydra leader, do you think Rosalind knew the full extent of Hydra’s evil?
I think it’s all what she’s heard. She did a lot of investigating into, specifically, [Coulson] and S.H.I.E.L.D., but [with] Hydra forming this new, devious group, I don’t think that she knew the extent of that.

Rosalind really did seem hurt when Coulson accused her of being Hydra. What was that moment like for you as an actor?
I was really mad. I was like, “Hey! Dude! Wait a minute! I didn’t do this. It wasn’t my fault!” I remember being very defensive and feeling that it was super important for not only Coulson, but for the audience to realize that [Rosalind] really had no idea. So those scenes where he traps her in there were so much fun to do because it was really me vying to make sure that people believed me. Being a guest actor on a show, that’s a big thing to accomplish because [Clark Gregg’s] been Coulson forever and everybody is going to side with the person they know. It was super important that everyone believed me and that was my goal for the scene, for people to go, “Oh, maybe she’s telling the truth.”

It didn’t help that the ATCU were very suspicious with their handling of Inhumans.
Right! That was the thing! Had I known the Mallick storyline wheen I brought [Coulson] to the ATCU, there could have been some questions in my story. But the thing with Rosalind, in that moment, in those scenes, was correct. So when it’s revealed that she’s been working with Mallick, it’s clear that she has no idea [Hydra is activating Inhumans]. Otherwise, she couldn’t have been so convicted in why they were putting them in stasis.

Personally, would you rather run the ATCU or oversee Everlasting?
Ooh. Wow. That’s interesting. Because in some way they’re all forms of monsters, right? [Laughs]

And a lot of manipulating people.
Yeah! You know what’s funny; if it could be Quinn in charge of the ATCU and vice versa, [with] Rosalind in charge of Everlasting, maybe that would work even better. Because Ros would just pull out a gun. No, that would be a horrible, horrible thing; that’s not a way to solve problems! [Laughs] But Quinn would be really good at manipulating people out of situations instead of using guns. So there you go. Put Quinn in charge of the ATCU, and that would be a good combination!

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s midseason finale will air next Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 9/8c on ABC.