Agents of SHIELD 7x09

[jedi_of_urth]

Agents of SHIELD 7x09

This is one of those weird episodes that I really like, but it ends up making me bitter that they don't write most of the season like this. Because I for once don't come out of this one going 'I liked it okay but I can see a dozen ways it could been better.' Instead I like it for what it is (well, aside from the focus on Daisy; and she wasn't bad here, just not the character I would choose).

And that leads to the fact that it's usually easier to review something when I'm picking it apart and pointing at things that don't work than focusing on what does work. I think the time loop logic was about as good as you can expect (though I would like to know just what Daisy actually remembers at the end, since she only remembers about 3% of the loops that Coulson does), I liked that the ep took time for character moments (maybe even a little too much at the end, but it wasn't at the detriment of the episode), I think they put a lot of thought into this one. And like I said, that makes my frustration with the other episodes stand out even more.

However, I do have a few things I want to discuss, for good and bad; and even those are fairly holistic rather than specific things that bothered me.

I kind of want to start with Coulsoid and the the Paradox Avoiding Coulson Swap I've been predicting. I'm not quite standing where I was last episode, but I definitely think Cousloid will not be the one walking around at the end of the series. Part of my current random theorizing would hinge on what exactly Enoch means when he says this will definitely be the team's final mission together (I've decided to move discussing that comment in depth to a separate point, for now just as relates to Coulsoid's fate). It may just mean that FitzSimmmons had already decided that once this was over they were getting out and really all of them could easily feel that way by the time this is done; but it also brings me back to my often considered theory that each team member's personal history is going to be affected by whatever time waves end up crashing on the shores.

I'm not convinced that the final 10 minutes or so of the series won't show us alternate lives that the characters had in this different timeline (I'm not crazy for the idea, but it's definitely there). Daisy growing up with her parents and older half-sister; Coulson and May having gotten together when they were younger and having a lifetime together; maybe they'll remember Mack could have had Hope and then one day at a random street corner he meets Elena because the show wouldn't end with them split up; FitzSimmons of course always find each other but maybe they don't have to go through so much crap and can actually have happy lives maybe in SHIELD maybe not. And if Daniel gets to go back to Peggy so much the better (not letting it go). Even if ripples make it so they do still become a team, they won't be *this* team; this team of broken people who hold each other together just about well enough but are undeniably made of broken hearts and shattered spirits.

That said, considering how Enoch's death worked I'm also not moved off of PACS. Because Enoch didn't just switch off immediately, so Coulsoid could go and swap with Coulson, and then pull out his 'heart' with enough time to hide the evidence and then die peacefully. I've been envisioning that at least part of this ends up happening in the scenes in 6x05 because ever since we got those flashbacks I've always had a sense that those scenes were setup for something; as in so that the show could return to a familiar moment to Tahiti when they went to change Coulson's fate.

This episode kind of muddied the waters on what exactly Coulsoid is relative to Enoch. Sometimes they act like he's basically a Chronicom, but here they act like there's something substantially different in his construction. They could back Coulsoid up in an 70s harddrive, why can't they make a copy of Enoch and print him a new body? Why isn't there a debate over using Enoch's power thing or the one Coulsoid may or may not also have; especially since Coulsoid has so recently been backed up? Since death doesn't happen immediately, could Coulsoid and Enoch keep swapping the part back and forth until a new one came out of the Darkhold tech printer? If they couldn't make a new one, maybe don't establish that they can print Coulsoid a whole new body in a few hours just last episode.

And once again, the biggest factor in my belief that either PACS or a complete time rewrite is going to be the end result, is Coulsoid himself. He doesn't want this; and this episode isn't about him making peace with the idea, it's about finally expressing to someone else how much he doesn't want it. Making Daisy understand a little of what he knows it would be like for him to have to go on indefinitely only to see them all die. So that it's believable in the end that she'll support him when he makes whatever call it is that takes him out of the future.

I'm a little bothered that this went to Daisy instead of May; but not as bothered as I think I'd usually be. I'm bothered by the fact that May gets so little to do in this story, (more so than I am with Mack and Yoyo because I feel heavy Coulson/oid episode should probably have more May in it), but this wouldn't have worked with supposedly-emotionless-May. It makes the long term decision to have supposedly-emotionless-May this season stand out as a poor choice, but not in a way I hold against this episode; aside from pointing out that it's actually May who's had to watch Coulson die over and over, not Daisy. But unless this could have been used to bring back real-May (which...could have worked, maybe she needs to die again), Daisy is probably the right option to go through this.

Because a lot of the success of this episode relies on emotion, as a reaction to the plot and the sacrifices required and the Coulsoid development. Also, there may be something to the fact that Coulsoid doesn't mention (and we don't see) any times where he had to watch May die; by which I mean I don't think the writers wanted to explore what that might do to mess him up, so they ignore that it easily could have happened. But I actually think that May without emotions and Coulsoid would have ended up streamlining this process sooner, she wouldn't be hung up the feelings (fear or grief or whatever), is more likely to think of Coulsoid as being a robot and how that can carry information through different loops, and they have more experience (after a fashion) of being an ace problem solving duo.

But of course it would be interesting to see how May would act to some of this with her emotions working, by which I mostly mean her reaction Coulsoid's concerns. Emotionless-May has done a good job keeping him at a distance, so things could and likely would be entirely different if she'd had emotions through things so far. But even if she has emotions, May's love isn't selfish the way Daisy's often is and I think she knows (with it being easier to keep in mind when her own emotions aren't in the way) that Coulson/oid didn't and doesn't want this to be his life. If anything, I'd want May to be angry with him at least a little bit, because he keeps putting her through the same thing he's now afraid of facing; she's buried him too many times, which would either make her not super sorry that now he might outlive people, or very sympathetic because she knows that pain. If it had been May with Coulsoid in the final Enoch scene, it might have been distracting from Enoch's sacrifice, because Coulsoid talking about the pain left to those left behind would also been a moment between him and May; with him realizing that he's put her through that a lot.

Which is a long, looping way of saying that his comments at the end make me pretty sure that at the end of the season, Coulsoid is going to give up his life for the sake of Coulson; possibly with me getting that conversation I want between him and Phil about not giving up so easily because it hurts the people he loves when he does. Whether that's in the PACS to Coulson who had given up, or a voice over about a different time's Coulson who hopefully will be smarter.

(Well, no worries that I won't find enough words to call this a review. I probably don't need most of them, but these are a window into me processing the show.)

Another thing I'm going to have to work through is my feelings on Daisy/Daniel. I won't say I hate it, but the writing isn't good if they want me to be onboard with it. I actually do buy them as friends and having a good working relationship, but I don't get buy them as romantic or attracted to each other. If the show had left it at that during the season plot but implied that their feelings could turn romantic down the road, I might have accepted it more. I buy that he cares about and wants to be there for her; I buy that she finds him reliable and steady and nice; I buy that they might confide in each other (in this case Daisy about the time loop); I buy that they could become good partners, and this show supports the idea of partners to lovers. But she also seems like a child next to him and he's clearly thinking about Peggy during all his emotional scenes

(Also, when I went and watched the promo, it occurred to me that Daniel and Jaiying would likely be in the same area next episode and holy Victor/Sierra feelings. But I probably won't get this show teasing a reference because that would make Daniel more like Daisy's dad, and I would rather have the Dollhouse reunion.)

We don't know if Daisy even remembers the time loop where she kissed him, it's entirely possible Enoch killed her in one of the later loops and she forgot it. But while I didn't hate the kiss, it didn't feel romantic or earned. The scene where they were talking I finally went 'I see what you're doing show, and I'm not sure I like it, but then I ship him with Peggy' but when they actually kissed I was against it. The show has room to reframe (if Daisy even remembers, and I doubt she told Coulsoid) the kiss as more just as overflow of emotions but not actually an expression of 'love.' She'd been stressed, and he'd been a point of calm and comfort through it, also she was glad he was alive again; maybe even she wanted to test out if there was chemistry worth pursuing between them knowing he wouldn't remember it; plus the chance of dying was getting very real by that point so she just did it. Again, not an expression of there being feelings between them (as I kind of imagine Coulson might have done with May at some point; knowing she wouldn't remember, he at least could say a lot of things he hasn't been expressing), but an acknowledgment that maybe there's the beginnings of feelings there, and no time like the present.

Though thinking about him in that makes me more uncomfortable; like I said, I'm convinced he's thinking about Peggy during this, and while he isn't feeling romantic about Daisy, he sees some of Peggy's disposition in her so he knows the signs to look for. Then Daisy just kisses him without knowing if he actually wants to kiss her and based on things that happened in another time loop that haven't happened to him so anything he might felt that lead him to want to kiss her hasn't happened to him. It's a little dubious consent-y is what I'm saying and Daisy definitely doesn't care about how he feels.

I can't tell where the show wants me to fall on this relationship anyway. I'm sure it wants me to buy the development here, but to what end? Because if this is meant to be endgame, it needs much better buildup, and trying to cram it into this season was always going to be a problem because they do not have the time to make it believable (going into the season I kind of assumed we'd get a Daisy/Deke endgame even though I wasn't pulling for it, but at least they had as existing dynamic that could be built on). I worry that it's there to try and make it sad if he ends up sacrificing himself (although I'll no doubt find a way to assume he ends up able to go back to his own time). It may be even smaller than that; since Daisy has been written as uninterested in having a relationship since Lincoln this may be about showing that she is open to it again, or at least taking the chance again; so that in the epilogue they can show that she has one with someone without it seeming strange. There's also a part of me that wonders if this is supposed to be almost a consolation prize after Endgame; try to make it somehow okay that Steve wrecked Peggy's timeline, say that Peggy and Daniel hadn't worked out anyway and then he went off to the future. If that's the case they underestimate how much I hate Steve for that choice and this is not going to make it okay. Because I do believe in Peggy/Daniel, and Marvel trying to take it away is just making me hold on to it tighter.

As a general rule though, I'll wait and see. It could still be...not terrible, but I don't think they can make me buy it as endgame. There isn't enough time for that. And since I do think much of this season (and maybe s6 too) will be canonically forgotten when we leave the show I'm not even that worried the writers are trying to say this is going to work.

I guess that make this as good a time as any to talk about the final mission foreshadowing. Firstly, not to take too much issue with a dying robot, but the true team hasn't been together since s5. Coulson died, Fitz kind of died and the team split up when they were looking for him. There was about a day and a half last season when the whole team (except Coulson) was together before they got split into smaller and smaller groups. Fitz isn't with them now and that isn't Coulson; it also isn't really May in my opinion but for different reasons. This isn't their final mission as a team, this is a ghost ship pretending the team still exists.

I also just take issue with the way Enoch puts it. That he's seen the future and this will be their final mission. Unless we're back to multiple time loops (still a possibility) what exactly is he talking about? The possibilities I brought up earlier are a factor. The team could easily split up, and Enoch would know that maybe FitzSimmons had already made some choice in that regard. Or it could be some part of the plan that we don't know yet but he does, ie it will require the sacrifice of this version of the team to save the universe and 'themselves' in another version of things. Maybe in order to have the Predictor never exist they have to go down in a blaze of glory, but because she never existed neither did this version of the team (granted this hasn't been how time travel has worked so far, but time travel basically works however someone feels like it does any given episode) and the non-time traveling versions go on.

And even if they did reset things back to last season's finale then Coulson is still dead and Coulsoid never existed; May probably dies because no one can show up with super tech to save her; they obviously never go back and pick up Daniel; plus we still don't know what happened with Infinity War.

As discussed earlier there could be a bigger time rewrite; if say, someone has to go back to the first incursion to reestablish time 'as it was' the logical choice is either Coulsoid (as a robot) and/or Daniel who could set himself up a different life in a familiar time. But I kind of think that either of them would still be tempted to make minor changes where they could. Especially Coulsoid who would relive through it; he'd do what he could to make the lives of the people he loves a little bit better.

But I'm not really a fan of either of those. The first makes this season basically a wash, and the second makes the whole series kind of pointless. Because the characters we knew all this time didn't get a happy ending, they were either killed or over-written. Yes it would be sweet in some cases to see them in a better life, but it would sour the series. And any version of reset would also likely make the personal dramas any of these characters go through this season useless.

And the sense of finality that Enoch sets us up for also makes me kind of mad with some of the choices they've made this season. I'm going to complain about the short season again, which is partly a high level production issue I don't like in general; but there is fault for the writing team of the show too. For all the time periods they wanted to visit and spend multiple episodes in them, there are far too few episodes. The threats should have been more personal so that the plot also gave a chance for character development (like it did with Mack). There should have been stories focused on what the characters are going through (Yoyo's loss of power, Jemma's separation from Fitz and experiences between s6 and s7, May's whole problem that I'm still not convinced isn't artificial and will be solved over simply in the last episode or two). I think we all expected that mid season we would have a story that told us what FitzSimmons were up to between season, but we still haven't.

If this is the big final mission for this team, why isn't Fitz here? I stand by what I said recently, we haven't really needed Fitz this season, but if they're setting this up to be the last we could ever see of this team, he should be part of it. And at this point I'm just annoyed at what they've done to May. It's also what gives me a bad vibe that they might be resetting over this season; because they don't want to invest in an actual plot for May this year if she's basically going to die in the end anyway; so they stick her with a poorly defined but conveniently useful magic power instead of giving her an actual character arc. This might apply to Yoyo and Simmons too since they're basically props to move other stories along instead of having actual character arcs.

So for myself, until the show makes me give it up, I'm sticking with PACS and the team largely retiring from SHIELD after this is done. They may not be a team going forward, but they're still family.

While I'm sticking to not nitpicking the time travel of this show too much (maybe on rewatch if in the end it makes any sense at all), but I am going to offer a couple comments on the time loop. I noticed the second loop we saw that the distance Deke gave had shrunk. Sure, it's the kind of thing I listen for in situations like this; is it a full reset back to step one, or is this bubble of looped time still moving through a different level of space/time? I actually think this contributes to my earlier point of Daisy not being the quickest option for solving this problem; the rest of the team is either analytical enough or tactical enough that they would start problem solving more quickly once they were in this situation (maybe not Yoyo quite as much, and Deke is a wild card). Again, the show is sticking to this idea that Daisy is a bad choice for leadership; if only I was confident they knew that was what they were doing.

As I've been saying for the last few episodes, my feelings about some of this will depend on how well the series sticks the landing. It's working it's way to needing to be pretty good and solid for this season to work for me in the end, but it hasn't become impossible yet. I don't even know how much I ought to grieve for Enoch; his death scene was plenty sad, but since I have so much feeling that while it matters to this story, little of this matters to what we'll be seeing at the end, I don't really feel the loss the way I probably should. As it so often is, we'll see.