Agents of SHIELD 7x02

[jedi_of_urth]

I knew I was going to forget Tuesdays were SHIELD posting days, but I still want to get this up before the next ep, so an early posting today.

Agents of SHIELD 7x02

This was a super tense episode. I think I liked it, but I was edge for a good chunk of it, just holding onto my face and thinking how I knew things were going to go wrong, I just didn't know how or when exactly.

That applies to basically all three things to worry about; the Chronicom hunt, the Freddie Malick reveal, and May. Of the three I don't have a lot to say about the Chronicoms, except that it's super convenient that they decided to leave the fight early, I'm not sure if it rises to the level of being too convenient so obviously just for the sake of plot, but it's defining the line pretty clearly.

As for the Malick reveal, I need to first praise the writing a bit. It was very skillfully done to keep us aware of the lurking tension without making it too glaringly coincidental that Mack and Deke didn't get the reveal. While I never stopped to think about it, it was lurking in my brain whether Deke would even know the name if he heard it, but Mack would, so it was possible they could string things out further by Deke hearing it but not Mack.

And I had no idea how Mack would react, and there could have been an interesting conflict if they had wanted there to be, since Mack has the director job because of his moral fiber and this would be a conflict between options that can each seem both good and bad. And since the show made it something to be debated between other characters, I would not have been surprised if there had been more time dwelling on Mack having the final say. In this case I'm actually not complaining that she show didn't take a possible interesting option since the episode worked so well in the form it has.

Although this may stand as an example of why I've never given Mack (or a lot of the later introduced characters) as much thought as I have the ones that have been around all through the show. I don't feel like the show focuses on his/that group's internal conflict the way it does with the characters I am more inclined to consider 'mains.' It's not completely ignored, but if there's a choice between Mack's internal moral debate or Simmons sciencing stuff, the show will generally follow Simmons, and so I end up ranking her as more of a main character than Mack.

But the Malick reveal is also our vehicle to introduce some things that could be conflicts going forward. It's there to set up the time travel questions you're kind of bound to have when a show deals with time travel, and introduces some division in the team as to how to answer those questions. I don't know if they'll actually raise this as a point, but it's something I've considered before, that time travelers always seem to think that time before theirs must be maintained, while time after it is free to be rewritten; as if there is some extra-dimensionally reasoned past, present, and future, as opposed to all of those being relative to where/when you are presently.

Basically, the team was fine with preventing the destruction of Earth by Daisy or whoever the Destroyer of Worlds was going to be, because they didn't have to care if Deke's world never came to be; but taking out Malick and having their world never come to be isn't allowed. Although, to be fair, this was something I complained about more when I watched Legends than I think I will here (at least for now, we'll see what later missions are), because these guys have a specific mission in that regard; and because Deke's timeline leads to an 'it can't be worse' attitude to changing it; while their timeline doesn't have that feeling attached. Something that can go either way is that with no expectation of going back, they have an easier time writing it off than they do their own time, but in a multi-verse of options they're entirely saying those people don't exist, just not in this timeline.

Look I love talking about timelines and time travel mechanics (if you were following my TSCC reviews you probably know this by now), but that was also part of the tension of if they would find out about Malick. Because there are a thousand ways this can go wrong that the threads get pulled out alignment. I know the show has openly declared that it's operating on more of a time-stream idea than butterfly effect, but this has the feel of a fixed point in time, or a choke point in the river where it might not take much for it be changed. I won't be surprised if we find out that something is skewed a little out of wack by introducing Freddie to elements of future tech and a bit of his own future-history. Maybe not skewed enough to change the future, but we'll see.

It also crossed my mind briefly, that Freddie wasn't the only important player here if Koenig was also in play. The Koenigs have kind of been holding SHIELD together through these last few attempts to rebuild; and if the Chronicoms were playing extra-dimensional chess (which they don't seem to be yet) they may have had a backup plan to remove Koenig and the Swordfish bar from having an effect down the line.

You know, I may have had to do a lot of grumbling and complaining in the past, but I do appreciate that once the show realized Daisy was a terrible leader they've committed to it. Because she yet again proves that she couldn't lead this team to the bar, and they like to drink (I'm not sure if the analogy is flawed or even more fitting that so much of this ep takes place in a bar). She doesn't understand the mission and thinks she knows better than anyone else including hyper-intelligent robots. She's not making the point I did above, that they could change the past and then guide it to a better future (that's the other distinction from the way they treated Deke's world, having changed the timeline, they're still there to make sure it doesn't find a way to be worse), she just thinks that because she thinks it's right it must be.

My point may explain why Deke goes along with it; from his perspective, history certainly can be changed, and that's more interesting that saying he just follows Daisy because she has this idea. And also he doesn't really have time to think it through, he just assumes Daisy has, when she has not.

I want to see some fallout for the fact that Mack doesn't agree with her once he has the information. I want him to come down on her for thinking that was her call; and I want her to be faced with the fact she needs a better reason than her own impulses. Time travel is not something to do on impulse. This is actually a really good episode for why Mack should be director, he's got the ability to focus on the mission and big picture better than Daisy, but without being as detached about it as Coulson and Simmons can be (and it's so nice to have one of my generational echoes doing their thing again)...

Have I ever explained here my stance of how the team 'kids' line up with the 'parents?' That Simmons is basically the one who's the most like Coulson; and Fitz is like May is ways he at least has a hard time seeing, but I think she does. Elena and Mack each kind of have elements of both of them (Elena is the next Cavalry, but she has Coulson's view of making the hard choices; while Mack is a good leader but has May's sensitivity without the same hardness); while Daisy is basically nothing like them no matter how much the show tries to claim she is.

After that it's weird to say I didn't exactly dislike Daisy this episode; I didn't like her and I found her annoying in her childish rashness, but I'm okay in concept with there being a conversation about their mission and whether they're doing the right thing, and I don't feel like the show was behind her; so I have less problems with her than I have in times past.

But now let's get to May, and...where to start? I don't think we know yet what's going on with her, but obviously there is and there's meant to be. This didn't flow right from last episode, since she was hiding from Enoch at the time but she seems to be communicating with him by the time this starts.

And I find myself stuck a bit on where to go with my first thoughts about what's going on, because even ignoring the teaser at the end of last episode, tracking her from her death scene last season, to her waking up here, to her detachment through most of the episode, it doesn't quite fit together. May's dream here would almost lead to saying she lost something of herself while she was on the other side of the gateway, but she was still very much herself during her death scene. And her attitude in her wake-up scene and even her first few scenes awake is...a bit more present than she is later. Not completely alright by any means but more wary and not knowing what to do yet than...well basically seeming as or more robotic that May-lon, I can totally picture her saying she's 'processing' things.

I know that in her early scenes I was more like 'don't go out there May, you don't know they've done and you can't find out like this,' but by the time we got to her fight with Enoch it was more like 'I know this is going to end with the team driving up and this is going to be a mess in a way I didn't predict; so can we get to that and see how it goes?' Also while I didn't call this exactly, in my initial reaction to the s6 finale, I did note that I was pissed at the team for bringing May back when she was so ready to be done and be with her Coulson (her Phil) again. And while I don't know that I'm quite ready to say her attitude here is either a furtherance of just being done and ready to move on or a sign that she left something on the other side of death with her Phil, I can see it being a part of it.

Honestly, I'm kind of back to wondering it they're in the Framework and that's going to be the final reveal (I don't actually think it will go that way at this point, but it is a way to explain some things). But what if while the program maintained an avatar of May, it's no longer guided by her consciousness? Her consciousness woke up when she died and is out in the real world, wherever that is; but the May avatar is going around doing May-like things as the coding says she would, but there's no (for lack of a better word) soul there anymore.

Not that that really explains her limited reaction to Chroni-Coulson, because any May programming would have 'loves Phil Coulson' as its first directive (May-lon sure did). I don't know what to make of that yet; and to be fair neither do the characters, everybody knows something's wrong from that, they just don't have time to figure it out yet. So I can expect that we're going to see this explored more rather brushed aside as if the writers don't know it's out of character (the way I still feel happened with her in early s6 just so they could show contrast once Sarge showed up).

I am a little worried about what they might be doing with May just to contrast with Chroni-Coulson. It's hard to put into words yet, because the same things I'm worried about could be interesting if the writers have a way to handle it. It could work, to have them on either complimenting or contrasting arcs, that there is a gulf between this broken May and Coulson-but-not-really-Coulson, who are each going to have to reaffirm their humanity before they can even look for a way across that gulf. Because it could also fall flat on its face really quickly and be unable to get up again. They've got me on the hook with the question of what's up with May, but if they handle it badly I'm not going to get on board.

But, on a happier note, Chroni-Coulson is definitely acting Coulson-like when it comes to May. This episode they do bring May up to the team off the plane and Coulson reacts like he needs to be the one finding out what's going on with her. Because even though, very Coulson like, he won't put his concern for her over the mission, it's definitely there. And when they're back on the plane, he clearly wants it to be the big emotional reunion it actually was when they came out of the Framework, but she's not reacting the way even he knows May normally would; she's cold and writes him off after only a few words (though I must add, my heart breaks for her more than him when she points out Coulson is still dead, Chroni-Coulson doesn't change that).

I did not get her saying 'Phil' first thing this season, but with the arc they have her on (whatever it turns out to be) I'm less annoyed than I thought I would be after last season. After her conspicuous lack of using his first name last season I had assumed they were saving it for a big moment; and with this arc I can go on thinking that.

As far as checking in with whether I called anything in the fic...I didn't call this as their reunion, but at the same time, I did carry the attitude that she wasn't going to be super chill with Chroni-Coulson. I guess she is super chill, but swung really far in the other direction. But I did call that she would actually remember the mess of Sarge, and I'm glad she did because that would be stupid if she of all people didn't bring it up.

And what about the great Coulson swap I've been predicting? I think even that is a little impacted by whatever the answer is to what's up with May. It's either more or less likely, but it's not the same likelihood I would have said before. If they're going for an arc of her and Chroni-Coulson forging their own relationship incorporating the ways they've been changed, then it's less likely they'll try to reverse it and go back to May/real-Coulson. On the other hand, the big undersell of her reaction to this him and the fact that he wouldn't want to be rejected or even hurt her by being not the real thing would point the other direction; and the possibility that only the real him can reach her in whatever state she's in doesn't seem like an impossible read.

Have we considered the possibility that the Izel killing sword was some sort of soul-stealer, so when May died part of her is in the sword along with Izel and Sarge (hence the dream that looks like it's echoing that world)? Where is the sword, is it on the plane? I'm not sure how this show will handle that idea since it doesn't do a lot with the concept of souls as anything like that; but maybe Ghostrider will show up? Or they can go steal the soul stone in their time/space ship?

I should probably make a list of dangling plot threads I might wish would get wrapped up this season, but I don't think will. Here's a brief starting list:
-Ivanov (and other Aida created robots)
-VJ Nadeer
-Where are the Avengers if SHIELD if the biggest threat to the Chronicoms?
-Why connect things to Infinity War if they weren't going to ever mention those events?
-Australian fire guy
-Probably should let us know if Cal's okay (I may not care, but it is out there)
-Where's Robin? Does she still see the future after it changed?
-Check on Joey
-Gabe, who Daisy said she would look after and then didn't
-Mike-Ace reunion
-How did Davis survive s4?
-Talbot floating out in space (I never believed that really killed him for good)

There are more, but to throw in something I want if we do end up having an Agent Carter crossover:
-Peggy/Daniel living their best life together; because fuck you Steve Rogers, you selfish ass-hole, she had a great life without you.