"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season Five Talkback (Spoilers)

[Yojimbo]

95 (5x7) TOGETHER OR NOT AT ALL

Okay, things are happening! But on one hand, I'm happy they finally got rid of Simmons' implant but on the other annoyed they've managed to handicap Daisy again this season this time with her powers being neutralized. Though she still has her SHIELD training and Skye hacker skills. I guess.

May never disappoints. Stranded on the surface of broken Earth, saved from a innards sucking Vrellnexian, and tells Enoch she'd never say 'toot her own horn'. lmao.

Mack's pep talk to Flint. Nice call back with Mack saying he wasn't the first to tell him he doesn't know anything about him. I think that's what Daisy told him as she beat the tar out of him while she was with Hive in season 3. But ugh. I eyerolled when Mack and Elena stayed with Flint -- even though Coulson brought up Mack's insistence about sticking together. Then Flint asking 'what happens if I can't protect you, either?' -- I hope they're not thinking of killing off Mack or Elena in the future. On the flip side, a revolution could be a decent distraction to obfuscate the Kree.

Some backstory on Kasius and Sinara. Check. Makes sense. Moving on! Glad they knocked off Faulnak and Manston-Dar quickly. Don't really need to see two sets of villains squabbling over their differences for too long at this point.

The surprises: Gravitonium creates the Lighthouse's artificial gravity. Season 1 callback. NICE. Robin Hinton surviving all this time and her group living on Zephyr One. Double NICE. Fitz may be haven frozen for 74 years but Robin lived through the 74 years. Guess next week is the 'answers' episode.

The old lady at the end means less than she should since I didn't recognize her, and the previews didn't identify her. The kid who draw pictures maybe? TBD...

Yep, the wooden robin she had is the dead giveaway.

This is Mutant Enemy? I have my problems with the production company, but they usually are not known for taking the least interesting way out on anything, much less nearly everything.

Since the beginning of the series.

 

[Dudley]

I thought Kasius’s neck got slashed in the last episode! Why would Emma just slash his face?

Why is Mack and Yo-Yo staying to help this kid? If they go back in time, they can make it so they this kid wouldn’t exist? They’re needlessly endangering themselves. That’s some forced suspense right there.

Yay, we get some answers next episode. They better knock my socks off, because I kind of don’t care. Unless they reveal that Daisy didn’t cause the end of the world. I mean how could she if she was sent into the future before she’d done the deed?


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[Fone Bone]

I thought Kasius’s neck got slashed in the last episode! Why would Emma just slash his face?

I thought his neck got slashed last week too! That's something Annie Wilkes would have stood up in the theater and shouted about.

Why is Mack and Yo-Yo staying to help this kid? If they go back in time, they can make it so they this kid wouldn’t exist? They’re needlessly endangering themselves. That’s some forced suspense right there.

Exactly right.

 

[Yojimbo]

I thought Kasius’s neck got slashed in the last episode! Why would Emma just slash his face?

Jemma. Not Emma. I'm pretty sure you can't slit a throat with a butter knife? One of Kasius' OCD is perfection so slashing his face is pretty much for spite, imo.

Why is Mack and Yo-Yo staying to help this kid? If they go back in time, they can make it so they this kid wouldn’t exist? They’re needlessly endangering themselves. That’s some forced suspense right there.

Yep, exactly what I think.

Yay, we get some answers next episode. They better knock my socks off, because I kind of don’t care. Unless they reveal that Daisy didn’t cause the end of the world. I mean how could she if she was sent into the future before she’d done the deed?

She goes back to the present? But still, I agree, I really hope it's not really her that does it. But I wonder how they're going to be able to do anything if they're still fugitives, there's no SHIELD, Talbot is still in a coma, the fall back plan given to Piper is still unknown, Watchdogs and the Russian are probably running rampant over the 6 month time skip -- and who knows 'when' they will return to. Idk, feels like a lot of juggling left to do in the back half that might give me a headache. lol.

 

[The Penguin]

New S.H.I.E.L.D. right now on ABC!

​

"The Last Day"
Friday, January 19, 2018 @ 9 p.m. ET/8 CT on ABC
Coulson discovers that a person from their past may hold the key to preventing Earth's destruction.

 

[Fone Bone]

Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. "The Last Day"

That was amazing. Just the idea of May being a loving mother to Robin because she was the only person who wasn't afraid of her gift was the most beautiful notion the show ever had. Their scenes were so moving. The notion of them never having to say goodbye due to the nature of time travel was truly epic, and taking full advantage of the premise. It's something a good episode of Doctor Who would do.

Theory: Flint is the Destroyer of Worlds, and Daisy has been taking his rap. We had been led to believe the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents were perhaps being too forgiving and understanding of Quake, but in reality, their sympathy was misdirected at someone else.

The episode sort of said that the heroes could win and also said that they couldn't. The thing that said they'd win was Robin telling May how to. The thing that said they wouldn't is every single other piece of evidence. Hope is a magnificent thing, but that is literally all they have.

Theory: They will accidentally take Flint back with them, because Mack and Yoyo will refuse to kill him like the sensible thing to do. Flint will sneak back because he won't want to lose Mack and Yoyo, and the world blows up for it.

Interestingly, I did not object to the idea of Daisy being murdered before she could destroy the world. Which is where I see the problem with Flint. Rationally, Coulson and his team should understand perfectly well that Daisy needs to die here and now, and none of this will happen. I give Daisy a pass at defending her life because I believe she thinks the notion that her powers could do that is impossible. And since she knows her own powers, that's another thing that says it's Flint. But as far as the rest of her friends are concerned, she did it. They should understand perfectly well that she needs to die. Well, transferring that idea to Flint helps nothing because the entire problem is that everyone (besides probably May) will be too soft-hearted when it counts. And that is not a problem they can fix. If Flint DOES go back with them, I don't see another way out. In fact, trying to stop Flint in the present could be the thing that sets him off.

Theory: Flint destroys the world, because if he doesn't, he is never born. He sacrifices everyone on Earth so he can exist in hell until he is a teenager. Doesn't make much sense to me, but nobody's behavior in this scenario does.

For the record, Flint being the Destroyer makes a lot more sense than Daisy. You'd have to make an insanely big earthquake to split apart the world. But an Inhuman whose power it is to be able to separate rocks from each other? Yeah, that's a no-brainer.

The heroes just found their way out. Will they take it? I'm not optimistic.

But it was still an amazing episode. *****.

 

[Yojimbo]

96 (5x8) THE LAST DAY

2018: So May, Simmons, Fitz, Elena, and Robin are on Zephyr One when the world ends. Coulson and Mack probably went after Daisy to whatever city she went to then the 12.8 earthquake and bam.

2022: Fitz continues to believe they can't change the future. Elena just gives up and basically throws her life away. May becomes a mother. Nice full circle from Bahrain.

2091: Yay, we learned Deke's last name is Shaw. Mm. Oh yeah, and that other stuff. Virgil listened to Robin's visions, Deke and his father Owen's spat, Flint is the key, the cyclotron used to activate the White Monolith is in the Zephyr.

Other Thoughts
*Okay, so a piece of the White Monolith was on the Zephyr and they need the rest. By TV writer rules, the rest is probably in Kasius' collection in the Lighthouse. Let's not hope the Kree don't try to blow up the Zephyr.
*Never thought I'd say this but Daisy's inhibitor is getting tiring. They'll probably force some Kree doctor to do it since they can't phone Dr. Strange for help.
*In addition to May, it was interesting to see Mack and Elena essentially act like surrogate parents to Flint.
*Enoch spent the whole episode piecing the pictures together, so fingers crossed he figured out the next couple steps Team SHIELD has to take. Hopefully Sinara took a ship to the surface instead of using the lift, since then, they have their way back to the Lighthouse once they whup her.
*I'm still skeptical Daisy destroyed the world. Pretty much the same with Flint. Got to be either Ian Quinn and/or Franklin Hall or Robbie Reye's uncle Eli Morrow returns to threaten the world.

Mmm, a Pass
*Elena pulls a nice 'Quicksilver' routine and Splinter Bombs the Vrellnexians.

Groans
*Deke gets the honor of being 'cartoon knocked out' by Voss this episode
*Voss' 'awesome' conclusion about Daisy being the cause.
*Voss team attacking Daisy
*Robin talking to Fitz about Simmons' death

 

[Gold Guy]

A lot of intriguing stuff, but I will say that I absolutely hate the trope of the person who can see the future but can only explain their visions in the most confusing or vague ways possible. Always very frustrating, and makes me roll my eyes.

 

[Yojimbo]

A lot of intriguing stuff, but I will say that I absolutely hate the trope of the person who can see the future but can only explain their visions in the most confusing or vague ways possible. Always very frustrating, and makes me roll my eyes.

They seem to do a form of it almost every season like Raina in season 2 or Charlie/Daisy in season 3.

 

[The Penguin]

​

"Best Laid Plans"
Friday, January 26, 2018 @ 9 p.m. ET/8 CT on ABC
Mack, Yo-Yo, and Flint fight to keep everyone alive by starting a revolution against the Kree.

 

[Gold Guy]

Pretty solid and tense episode.

It's official: Daisy gets all the best fight scenes now. Even without her powers, she was giving Sinara a good fight.

At first, I was frustrated when Yo-Yo tried to dash in and grab the button, thinking that they should have realized he would be prepared for that...but their plan came together really well in the end, so I couldn't stay mad. Poor Cassius seems to be getting less and less stable as the season goes on; he looks like a full-on psycho in the preview for next week.

 

[Magmaster12]

Part of me is kind of hoping they find a way to tie this arc back to the Kree that revived Coulson.

 

[Fone Bone]

Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Best Laid Plans"

I don't know. The climax was exciting, Yoyo and Mack had a crowd-pleasing Crowning Moment of Awesome, and best of all, Tess isn't dead anymore. And yet, I'm disappointed. I feel like as big as the wins against Kasius and Sinara seemed, the Agents are actually no closer to their goal of saving the world. I predicted Flint was actually the Destroyer last week, and if that prediction is wrong, (and it might be) then them finding a way home is basically them resigning to losing. I feel like they need to set up a clear goal and win in the future in order to save the world in the past.

The solution is obvious: Kill Daisy. And even Daisy is starting to think along those lines. But if they don't, they are just feeding into the time loop. It is clear the last few go arounds they had, they let Daisy live and brought her back in time. Do you know what the best way to outfox a prophecy? Say "What did I do last time? I won't do that." None of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents seem to be willing to take actual actions that will secure the fate of humanity. They believe they can win with hope and plucky determination. And if this IS a time loop, and they refuse to try different things each time, there is literally no way to win.

Here is a secondary option for the Agents if killing Daisy is truly so repugnant to them. Just don't return to the past at all. Defeat Kasius, and be around for however long this timeline lasts to pick up the pieces from that, and then fade into nothing once the timeline where Earth isn't destroyed is reasserted. But again, that requires a sacrifice. But it is also something they haven't tried yet in any of the loops, so I am depressed that it isn't on the table at all.

I thought I saw a way out last week when I thought they were going to say Flint was the Destroyer. But I don't see how they win with the way things are, and how weak-willed, and sentimental, and selfish the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents are being. Do you? ***.

 

[Yojimbo]

98 (5x9) BEST LAID PLANS

THE REBELLION

It was kind of fun to see Mack and Elena try to lead the rebellion together when they clearly have different ideologies - slow and methodical vs. fast and ad hoc. And naturally, the difference extends to how they treat Flint. But I loved that Mack's plan to stall worked and Kasius fell right into his hands and talked. It was some smart writing that Kasius recognized Elena and we know why because of Robin's flashbacks to 2022 last episode. "Space mime"

Tess' return. While a great callback to GH-325 from season 1, boy that was an eye roll moment for me. She was a tool for the story but shows how much more terrible Kasius is. However, it undoes that horrific death and she was in the annoying worry wart mode for most of the time. It adds another layer to the high body count because it's the future and nothing matters - let's complicate it further by giving Kasius a way to resurrect people! Ugh.

ZEPHYR ONE RISES AGAIN

Classic AOS. May struggles with the revelation she became a mother and doesn't quite believe it then Daisy comes in with the Mom-face theory. lol.

Figures when Deke goes Team S.H.I.E.L.D., someone comes along to jog him back to the Deke we're not sure we should trust. Damn, Voss. Happy to see he did the right thing and saved Daisy from Sinara with the grabber claw.

Daisy being okay with having the inhibitor was another eye roll... after all this time, she's really falling for this prophecy nonsense? Since season 1, we've seen Coulson grow to trust the team than the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D. so I wasn't surprised he wants Daisy with him and at full power no matter what. Keeping the team together is what and will always matter to him. I think they'll break the time loop by bringing someone from the future back with them whether that's Flint and/or Deke.

Voss saying it started with a light in the sky and maybe aliens threw me for a loop. But I feel like that's a red herring to make us think it's a tie-in to Thanos and Infinity War. I think it's more like a case of -- they go through all this struggle and angst to prevent this apocalypse from happening in 2018, only for Thanos and his forces to invade Earth soon after. Can't catch a break.

Great reveal with Fitz and Simmons realizing the Gravitonium device was their invention and his design for a next gen. Zephyr was implemented in this era. Still love Fitz and for the win, when he explains to Simmons he wasn't trying to electrocute himself on purpose. lmao.

END TAG

Kasius has his own Seer now? Come on...

 

[The Penguin]

"Past Life"
Friday, February 2, 2018 @ 9 p.m. ET/8 CT on ABC
The team has one chance to return to the timeline, but their actions may have deadly consequences.

 

[Yojimbo]

98 (5x10) PAST LIVES

Clever feint for the team to use Zephyr as a distraction while they board the Lighthouse with the Containment Module.

Enoch squeezing out that nook was pretty rad. And so amusing he told Coulson 'highly suggestive' then simply walked up to the door and shot the Kree on the other side then calculated they had 12 minutes. He turned out to be a really fun character. The actor sold it.

Figures Sinara's corpse was what finally drove Kasius off the deep end. But that odium, what a plot device macguffin... but Daisy called it PCP sort of made up for it. heh. Very satisfying to see Simmons and Mack kill him off finally. Shotgun Axe for the win.

Loved that Mack offered Flint a home with him and Elena. Even Coulson. But I'm so conflicted he made the right choice. He had a point declining because he had a lot of work left to do. Still it was so awesome watching that sequence of him configure a new White Monolith. Simmons was 2 for 2 in training new Inhumans so far this season.

Deke stepped up and died a hero. I was really relieved they didn't do something cliche like have him kiss Daisy when they argued about her going with him to secure the Zephyr. His last words made perfect sense.

So messed up Elena met Future Elena. Equally messed up she predicted Mack was going to die.

Fitz' trap was messed up but expedient but that moment on Simmons being stunned. It was the right thing to I guess acknowledge the Framework isn't going away and it's affected some more than others and Fitz is a bit more brutal now in his planning.

But with the frequency in which Kasius' father was mentioned in this first arc - can't help but wonder if he's going to appear in the back half or a hypothetical season 6. I'm like hopeful I'm wrong cause I think we've had enough Kree to last us until the Captain Marvel movie.

Coulson dying. Oh brother. But as soon as I saw that thing on his chest, I just know that's the outcome of the secret deal he made with Ghost Rider last season. But they're just supposed to let him die? Like that's going to happen. But I in the back of my mind, I was wondering if we now have another candidate for who's going to destroy the world... don't ask me how. But the irony of Daisy's angst about being the Destroyer -- and it all turns out to be someone else on the team. Plus, I think out of everyone, where Coulson was when the world ended never came up.

Teaser: I'm on the fence. Would have loved something related the the team but I can understand they framed this teaser the way they did to bookmark the end of this arc.

Promo: Okay, a mystery man in a suit saying it's the end and a new team of masked bad guys. Oi.

 

[Gold Guy]

Teaser: I'm on the fence. Would have loved something related the the team but I can understand they framed this teaser the way they did to bookmark the end of this arc..

TBH, that's why I liked it. Since we may never see these characters again, it's nice to know that they may get a happy ending (even if it might take a while for the kid, even with his rock powers, to rebuild Earth).

Anyways, really solid episode. It basically had everything: compelling drama, intense action scenes, quality dialogue (except maybe from the future Elena, who was a bit too slow when revealing stuff), etc. I am ready for a new arc, though.

 

[Fone Bone]

Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Past Life"

I did not like that at all. It was dark and hopeless and none of the SHIELD team were willing to do what is necessary. Coulson bringing Daisy back was the definition of selfish and stupid and all of the death and horror by Kasius' hands was actually quite upsetting.

I did like one thing. I liked the Epilogue. Maybe it's an alternate timeline, maybe it's not, but I like the idea that Tess and Flint lived through that, and will help humanity rebuild. I needed that after all of the pain and horror I just witnessed.

I remember when this used to be the fun superhero show in contrast to Arrow. It's not that anymore and it hasn't been for a very long time. *1/2.

 

[Magmaster12]

Now that Coulson is a public enemy I imagine Tony and Steve must be very confused how he is still alive. Or why Steve wouldn't try to make the team join him, Sam and Natasha.

 

[Yojimbo]

Hmm, maybe being a host for Ghost Rider had the side effect of purging all 'foreign elements' from his body - namely the GH-325 flowing in his bloodstream. And without it, Coulson's back to being dead. Hence where that black mass appearing -- I'd have to look, but that should be where Locki stabbed him through in Avengers 1.

I remember when this used to be the fun superhero show in contrast to Arrow. It's not that anymore and it hasn't been for a very long time.

I can't see how many more excuses they'll have to renew Arrow this time but I digress. Yeah, the first arc of S5 was bleak but the terrible post-apocalypse future is part and parcel with almost every property attached to a Whedon. On another note, this series likes to get stick with the team being fugitives in contrast with being too legit to quit like the Phase 1 movies. I thought that was all over with S4 but the Russian and Aida really screwed things up.