AoS pre season finale roundup
These are both almost double length reviews and I wanted to get them out before the AoS finale on Friday.
Agents of SHIELD 6x10
In some ways I feel like I have a lot to talk about with this one, and in some ways I feel like I have nothing to say. I’m feeling kind of...sad after this one, even though I think I liked it. I liked the way a lot of it was handled, it was a good balance of character and plot; I think I liked the twists, though I’ll probably have to work my through them for a bit; most everybody’s actions made sense. I don’t like that David died (maybe we can bring him back, I’m going into Davis Denial), but a part of me kind of appreciates that they didn’t bring in an unknown redshirt for that , so I’m a bit conflicted except that I know I don’t want to lose him. They mention being in 2019 so I think that invalidates my timeline theory, so now I have to go back to wondering how this fits.
I’ve been considering ever since they introduced that the monoliths were part of the equation in this plot that somehow it was connected to Coulson’s experience with the Fear Dimension last season, but I didn’t quite put the pieces together. I had more commonly fallen into a trap of thinking that if that was the case it would mean the Coulson at the end of s5 wasn’t 100% Coulson, and I didn’t really think that fit. I’m still not quite sure we’ve gotten the whole story, but we are back on course for getting the whole story after this. For one thing I feel like there is way more of Coulson in there that there should be with the explanation we’re given so far.
In the realm of explanations I don’t really expect to be true, I’m still waiting for something that last season denied me; we never got into May’s fear, because May’s greatest fear was already reality with Coulson dying. And that Sarge can’t die is kind of a May wish-fulfillment glitch. I’m not sure how that logic brings him back, but it’s something I would probably play with.
In the realm of the more possible, they did draw comparisons to Ghost Rider and I would not be that surprised if Ghost Rider was part of equation here too (once this season ends and I have a chance to get back in a s4 head space I have a grand AU story I’ve been sitting on involving a different fallout from Ghost Rider and no time travel). Whether that’s the piece they need to sort this big situation out (i.e. what’s inside him that could stop Izel), or if GR has a backup imprint of Coulson from the time the Rider rode around in him for a while so that’s how we get Coulson back (I’m not giving up); it might be a little out of date, but then so is Fitz.
Speaking of out of date memories, using that scene of May and Coulson from s1 is kind of worth analyzing. Given what we’re lead to understand, the memories that Sarge would have access to wouldn’t include their Tahiti trip, or even the spaceship kiss; but I still find it interesting that TPTB chose that memory. That’s the scene that made me a shipper (in the sense that it was episode six and I went from not really thinking about it but would have been okay with it, to outright wanting them to be together because they just look at each other so lovingly and are so good together); and I’m sure I’m not the only one who fell because of that scene. And by being the earliest real (non-flashback) scene between them it’s the oldest clip we have to say that Coulson was already fallen then; I mean, the shipping community has always assumed so, but it’s maybe not what I expected the show to go for (even though at every turn the last few seasons they’ve more or less consistently taken the shippiest options available). I actually kind of think with reveal of how Sarge was made, using the conversation that May and Coulson had right before he went into seal the rift might have actually made more sense; and it’s a very family focused talk that could have been imprinted on him. It would have messed with the staging, and not have said anything about how long those feelings had been there for, but there would have been a different kind of beauty in that being what he held on to. Also on examination I’m not sure they knew what clip they would use, as they have not-quite-Coulson (I also don’t think he’s Sarge in the between space) extend a hand to hazy-May almost the way he did in 2x04 for the dancing; it also kind of makes sense that those hazy memories are shadows of a lot of things jumbled together.
So we were dealing with possession, which lead to the main plot of this episode. I am reassured that the girls all agreed that it really didn’t make sense. My consideration didn’t even bring May’s aversion to guns into it; I only needed to go as far as May doesn’t execute prisoners and May doesn’t shoot Coulson in the head. I’m a little disappointed in Mack, but not terribly so, since they didn’t have any explicit reason to doubt at that point except that it was out of character. Izel sort of lucked into possessing someone who had access to Sarge’s quarters, would not be immediately suspected for giving minimal answers, and everyone would kind of buy actually did attack him, for long enough to keep them distracted. Everybody else got lucky that she didn’t jump into Daisy at the earliest opportunity. But I’m still kind of stuck on why Izel took May over; unless she-as-Davis had already tried to get to Sarge and Davis doesn’t have access, but how would Izel have known May had any more access? If I’m going to let it stand, May does kind look the most ‘senior’ of anyone around SHIELD so maybe not a bad place to start. But more important to me is if Izel understood the irony of what she was doing by using May’s hands to shoot someone who looks like Coulson; to this day I maintain that on Fury’s orders or Coulson’s own, to May shooting him if he lost control always meant Icing him. We don’t really get any indication that Izel might know who May was to Coulson, Sarge barely knows now, but we still could be heading for an epic knock-down drag-out soul-crushing cat fight to determine who he will be.
Also, this never quite answered my concern last time over whether it was May or Izel who snuck into Mack’s office to look at Coulson’s badge. May doesn’t own up to it (says she left the party and was headed for her quarters), but I’m not sure what would have brought Izel there; or why she would have been looking for anything in the Director’s office without knowing who the Director is). Apparently I did like this episode enough to do some fanwanking for them; Izel (as Davis) might have gone to command to find out where Sarge was, and that’s how she found May looking for things in Mack’s desk, starting with the badge. I don’t think that makes a lot of sense, but I feel like it could be whittled at to work. Granted I also feel inclined to reinterpret her line about how she wanted to ‘sleep’ to mean she was fighting the urge to have a good cry about all this, though I still don’t know why she’d have gone for the badge over vacation pictures.
I’m also reading a lot into the way she reacts when Yoyo tells her she shot Sarge. Because to me it looks...well a lot of things, but including horrified at the idea of shooting him. She doesn’t want him dead and her mind starts reeling over ‘It’s not Phil. It’s not Phil. I really miss Phil. This isn’t Phil, it’s not even Coulson...but what if it was. No it wasn’t. I just miss Phil. And that wasn’t Phil.’
Come to think of it, why did Izel decide to go and shoot Sarge at all? No one would have been on guard for her if she hadn’t; and he was locked up unable to do anything to stop her. It’s not even like they were in a rush to question him where he might have revealed her body-swapping ability. This may be something they have yet to explain, as I can see possible reasons for it but none of them are given in text yet. If she did it to try and reawaken his memories, then it didn’t work very well since he remembered more of his Coulson side than...Pachakutiq (definitely had to go look that up, that was not how I spelled it), although he did remember some of that too.
Look, I’m going to stick with Davis Denial a bit longer, I don’t really want to deal with his death just yet. Maybe he’ll come back again, however it was he survived s4 and we’ll finally find out how that was. Denial means I’m kind of more worried about Piper’s messed up hand right now, and also kind of annoyed that we don’t see it impact her after that; it made sense that Izel wasn’t feeling the pain, but as soon Piper was Piper again she should been horrified and hurting.
I will however point out that Daisy again proves why she is a terrible leader. It took me about .5 seconds to know why Mack would lock the Inhumans away to keep them from being taken over, it’s a blindingly obvious choice to make. And Daisy keeps saying they should totally break out, and then does rather than follow instructions. I’ll admit this is a case where I’m probably being harsher because of the end result than I would be if it had worked. But if it was the right choice to stay locked up and not save Davis then the right move continued to be staying locked up after that happened. And they didn’t stop anything, and allowed Izel to take one of them over just the way Mack wanted to avoid. But they broke out before even knowing what the stakes were, and I have to say that Izel possessing Mack s a lot less dangerous than her with either of their powers. And later May is more able to understand a team focused choice than Daisy, and May is only ever a team player when she wanted to be.
Also, who’s flying the plane at the end?
I actually do have some thoughts on Fitz and Deke’s relationship, and how they’re getting along much better this time around. I think it’s partly because this Fitz doesn’t really know the Team’s early experiences with Deke, and instead meeting the more settled, less damaged honestly, and slightly less annoying version. And I also think it’s that Fitz at the moment has sort of been pushed into just needing to go with the flow of everything he missed out on, so he’s more willing to pitch his relationship to Deke to match Deke’s apparent relationship to him, and what Simmons tells him he should do with it.
So yeah, I had a lot to say, and yet I still think I kind of said nothing...hope that was some value to someone.
And yeah, I do have some thoughts based on the trailer. It’s the only reason I’m not commenting on the fact that it happens to be Sarge’s left hand we see phasing out at the end as if we were going to see him becoming more Coulson in form and fact, but from the trailer we know it’s going to be a bigger thing so probably not that. Look I have a bit of a preoccupation with Coulson’s hand situation, mostly because I think the show has done kind of a bad job handling it most of the time, so I keep looking for a way to make it matter. The way this final arc looks, I may not completely hate Daisy’s line to May, since it does seem like May’s is going to start looking for more of Coulson in him after this, and it kind of puts us back where we were at the end of last season; if she can save him then damn the world, and all of these people should know that. So I’m willing to be a bit more open minded, though I’m probably still going to take May’s side on how much he’s Coulson at any given time; just maybe not her conclusion of damning the world for him.
Addendum
This is a little more than a sentence or even paragraph I want to add to the above review, but also not quite worth making a separate thing like I did with my timeline idea last week. But I said in the main review that I feel like this may lead to a cat fight between Izel and May over Coulson/Sarge/ Pachakutiq’s (yeah, I’m not going to keep typing that, he’s Pach now) fate and further identity. I know that sounds flippant, but I was getting at something that could be fairly serious; and the more I think about it I don’t think the show will do it, so I want to talk through what’s in my head.
While I can’t be sure what route the writers are taking, my current read is that I think the Sarge persona is a consequence of the fusion of Coulson with Pach with both the Coulson and Pach personalities still lurking under the surface but ‘Sarge’ can only access bits of either. It’s also possible that Pach himself created the Sarge personality on entering this realm, intent on stopping Izel’s plans for reasons of his own, but that may be running the speculation a bit far. ‘Sarge’ did not, until this last episode, realize that he is either of the people inside him, and is now confronted with both, and will continue to be as this plot unfolds. Exemplified in Izel trying to draw out Pach’s personality and May trying to reach Coulson (possibly even Phil).
And Sarge now knows that he is both of these men (assuming Pach is a guy...you know what I mean), that his self-identity is built on a lie, that he’s been fighting for all this time are another man’s memories, and what he’s been fighting against is actually part of himself. And it’s rough now because the Coulson in him (that has been waking up ever since he laid eyes on May, but is now very loud) is not going to let this world above all be sacrificed, and the Pat side is what could finish it...if he would.
I spent a while trying to work out a parallel to how I see the situation as I see it; and my instinct lead me to Stargate, mostly because the show has made some sort of mythology around Izel and Pach. My idea then was that Izel’s possession of various people is akin to the goa’uld but Pach is some sort of tok’ra, and having taken possession of a body with all of Phil Coulson’s memories and values found himself turning against Izel’s mission; and thus came Sarge who has been fighting against her all this time. I haven’t quite made that notion fit, but I think it has value to keep in mind.
The other parallel I could draw is that Sarge is Tuvix and also got his memory messed with. Again not an exact parallel, as I’m sort of viewing the Coulson body as both a container for Pach to use but also a way of containing the threat of Pach. And the end goal is going to have to be to separate Pach from Coulson to get Coulson back but they will have to deal with full Pach at that point (and kill the Sarge persona in the process).
But the more I reflect on this, my thoughts veer toward the science fiction, the exploration of identity and duality and memory. And this season (or any other) has not convinced me these writers really know how to do sci-fi very well. So we’re left with the idea of a cat fight that maybe tries to symbolize all that; Izel and May fighting as the embodiment of which side will win out in Sarge.
I almost pity Izel; I would not want to go up against May fighting for the soul of the man she loves.
Agents of SHIELD 6x11
This episode did include some things I saw coming a while ago, but I really don’t think I liked it that much. It was fine as a lead-in the showdown in the finale I guess, and that was its main goal obviously, but I kind of thought most of it was pretty...dumb.
I will acknowledge that a lot of my frustration starts with being a pretty Daisy heavy episode and I don’t like Daisy heavy episodes. It starts off trying to show her as any kind of leader and we know she sucks at that. I get some bad s1 FitzSimmons vibes like we’re supposed to be annoyed by them when they’re clearly doing their best. Daisy is clearly a moron through the whole thing and it turns out I did hate the ‘not the man you loved’ line just as much as I expected to all along. And yet I think we’re supposed to be on her side, when if this was framed through any other character she would look like a crazy person who should definitely not be involved in this investigation.
I figured weeks ago that he was either going to call May ‘Melinda’ or Daisy ‘Skye’ as a way to illustrate the Coulson still in him (I’m not really crowing about that call, it’s a pretty obvious direction to go when you assume he’s Coulson; I will continue to point out that I said all along that this was going to be our Coulson at heart; my downfall was thinking that reveal would come early in the story). And I figured from the trailer showing the bit with Daisy with the sword and Sarge telling her to do it that that was the Coulson in him more or less in control; the whole ‘you’ve always been capable of more than you know’ was very Coulson, and it would be very Coulson to want to prevent whatever dark power is creeping inside him from coming out completely. Plus I was on May’s side from early in the episode that Sarge was being defensive and deflective about how much he remembered.
Should I mention that one of their reasons for working out that May wouldn’t have shot Sarge last time was that they don’t go after someone in custody like that. By that logic, why not assume Daisy is possessed now?
To give the ‘not the man you loved’ line a bit of a fair shake; I can see how May would appear too quick to think they were dealing with Coulson. Up to a point, reminding May not to assume that that’s the man she loves, and not to get played by him because of what she wants to see, and because over the years May has been shown to have tunnel vision where Coulson is concerned, all of that would be fair. But that line comes at the end of Daisy ranting about how May isn’t beating information out of Sarge because she too busy looking for Coulson. How often have we actually seen May beat information out of prisoners? The first thing coming to my mind is Quinn back in s1 and that just revenge not part of the interrogation. May beats people up to capture them, but interrogations aren’t really her thing anyway. And I would remind Daisy that May has already beaten Sarge up pretty handily in order to capture him several episodes ago. Also, Sarge just demonstrated that he’s strong enough to dent the table, I’m not sure what May’s admittedly good fists are going to do against that.
And then it comes back around at the end; when seriously Daisy, listen to May. If you’d listened to her all along there would be less trouble now; but also May’s reasons for trying to stop Daisy killing Sarge are a lot more complex that Daisy realizes (and doesn’t come out in the end talk). Even if May was as convinced as Daisy that they’re not dealing with Coulson, she’d still tell Daisy not to kill him; for Daisy’s own sake. May was trying to stop Daisy from delivering the killing blow to a man who looks like Coulson and there is some chance of him being Coulson; and May doesn’t want Daisy to have to live with that.
Even beyond the ‘aren’t FitzSimmons annoying, they think they’re so smart but they don’t immediately have answers’ framing, I feel like FitzSimmons are really lost in this story. While this wasn’t exactly what I was afraid of when everyone came back to Earth, it kind of is. This wasn’t their plot, and there really isn’t room for them in it. The plot needs their science skills to function, but they’re largely sidelined. And Deke is back to showing his more annoying sides; I’m glad the script lets him pull something off at the end, but he’s grating through most of the episode.
I just found the plot on the Zephyr boring. Naturally the redshirt dies without Izel doing much against the main/recurring characters. Izel has suddenly gotten better at pretending to be other people, though only when the plot requires. There was no pilot on the plane. Benson seemed almost out of character, but I can’t put my finger on why, it’s not like we know that much of his character anyway. It was fine, and not aggravating the way a Daisy plot will aggravate me, just not very good.
Also, we needed at least one more scene between May and Sarge through this. Not just next episode where we’d damn better get several, we needed more in this one. This is what I was annoyed by the idea of Daisy coming back; this plot has been about May, and suddenly it’s not because we have to take a last minute diversion into it being about Daisy. And, yes, her having her own relationship to this plot is reasonable, and we probably should see it, but it’s downplaying what the plot has been about in order to get to that, and I object to that choice.
Phil watch: still no Phil, come to think of it, has she even called him Phil Coulson all season, or is always just Coulson? And have we seen the plaque on the plane at any point? It’s certainly never been drawn attention to, but it might have been visible in the background.
So going into the finale, let’s make some speculation; some wild some reasoned.
-I am working on a theory where time travel comes into play in the Coulson resolution. That they go back, pull Coulson out of Tahiti and leave Sarge’s dead body behind. I actually have for a while had some notion that temporal displacement could hold the key to a cure for s5 Coulson (it started as a way to get Coulson/May/past-Coulson sexy times for a fic idea I had), so I’m sort of adapting it to use Sarge as the source of stabilizing DNA, he has very good healing abilities after all and clearly should be compatible with OG Coulson. And it would be more reason to give us the flashbacks than characterization (not that I didn’t like them for characterization).
-The title of the last episode being ‘New Life’ almost certainly refers to some form of Coulson being given new life. But somebody may also be getting pregnant. Smart money would be on Simmons, some chance at Yoyo, I don’t think Daisy’s been having sex but we are dealing with a monolith of creation so outside odds; while I definitely felt like s5 was foreshadowing May having a kid (and this season has utterly forgotten Robin), at this point I’d have to call it an outside chance too (since I’m not admitting any chance of it not being Coulson by the end of the episode, I also assume she will be having sex before long). Since we’re starting at about a 30% chance the title might mean that, set the individual odds accordingly.
-Obviously they’re setting up something with Chronocoms, but damned if I feel like I can predict anything with them. The season has not done a lot to establish that plotline. I do still sort of think the mindscape of memories is going to factor into the resolution (more likely than my time travel idea), but that doesn’t deal with the actual plot about them at all.
-If you had asked me even a week ago, I probably would have said I didn’t think anyone was going to die in the finale. Even after Davis’ death I didn’t really feel a sense of ‘anyone can die’ dread; I was just sad at how senseless his death was. But the more I reflect on this episode the more I kind of have a bad feeling that someone is going to die, so let’s run through my take on the odds.
I refuse to admit any chance Sarge/Coulson doesn’t make it through and is effectively Coulson by the end. I don’t know if he’ll remember everything; or if he’ll be Coulson but without any of the memories since mid last season; or if there will some gaps in his entire memory; or my above time travel notion, but I can’t imagine this ending without him. I don’t think they’d write him off the show for the last season (and I think they’ve confirmed he’s in it) and I’m not sure what they do with Sarge except plug him into some memory machine and make him remember being Coulson. I can kind of picture him still sorting the pieces out and getting separated from part of the group so that s7 is the journey to come home fully, but that’s not my top guess either.
I feel it would be too cruel to have him be Coulson again only to kill off May. Yes, she would gladly give her life to save the world and/or him, but it wouldn’t really work for her arc and would be very unsatisfying. If they go the split party route, I can see her ending up on either side of the split; though I would have her with him (and so would she) because that’s where she belongs.
After all this I can’t see them killing of Fitz or Simmons either. I think the fans would riot (they may not be my top ship but I would definitely understand) and it would again be completely unsatisfying. I’m not even sure whether they’ll be split up this time, it has happened often enough to seem redundant, but Iain may need time off again, and splitting the party could allow that.
And as much as I may not like Daisy, I can’t imagine the show killing her off either. Frankly this season hasn’t done enough with her for me to think they’re aiming her at a noble sacrifice. Close of the show maybe, but not this season; and I’d rather she just kept getting less to do.
So if I’m so convinced none of those characters are going to die, what has me so worried? Deke, Mack, and Yoyo obviously.
Thinking on the final scenes of this episode really makes me think something’s going to happen to Deke. Deke may not be my favorite character, and I’ll be fine if he dies, but right now I worry for him. His character arc is kind of finished, he’s seen the world, bonded with his grandparents, become part of the team at SHIELD; yes there’s more they could do with him, and it’s kind of weird to make him a regular of one season that he was only in about half of, but he sort of feels...done. And it ties into my notion of Simmons getting pregnant (though I don’t know why I think the show would decide to do babies in its final season), it would kind of fit the weird family story to lose Deke and find out their family goes on. And with Flint here maybe Deke just goes back to his own time, though I’m not sure why he would.
As for Mack and Yoyo, I don’t think they would both die, and of the two I’m more concerned for Mack, but either is possible. Them rushing back together might be a Whedon-y thing to do before one of them dies. And having to be willing to sacrifice Yoyo would be in keeping with what we’ve seen of their difficulties this season. But I kind of don’t think Mack would make that call, which is part of why I worry for him more. Also because he is the current director of SHIELD and with my conviction in Coulson’s return Mack’s role in the series would be up in the air and I can see the writers removing him from the equation. Personally I’d be just as happy with Coulson back as an agent rather than director, offering advice not through a holo-cube and seeing his kids grow up and take over while he and May head towards actual retirement. Since I still kind of see that as the logical end point for the series (plus I don’t actually think Coulson’s that good a director) and I don’t want to see Daisy in charge of anything because it will clearly all explode if she is..
I think Piper’s been through enough; maybe Davis will be revealed to be a cat person with nine lives (look, I’m not letting it go until we get his story); and Diaz will probably get hurt because she is constantly getting hurt (if I was still working an ‘it’s all a dream’ theory, I’d call her a recurring NPC with no real character but keeps surviving where other redshirts die) but probably not die. Benson...might leave the show as they haven’t invested a lot in getting us attached to him, but also probably survives.
-There will be at least one thing in the finale that fully makes me cry, so far the season has only gotten me to ‘want to cry’ a couple times, but the finale will push me over the edge.
Agents of SHIELD 6x10
In some ways I feel like I have a lot to talk about with this one, and in some ways I feel like I have nothing to say. I’m feeling kind of...sad after this one, even though I think I liked it. I liked the way a lot of it was handled, it was a good balance of character and plot; I think I liked the twists, though I’ll probably have to work my through them for a bit; most everybody’s actions made sense. I don’t like that David died (maybe we can bring him back, I’m going into Davis Denial), but a part of me kind of appreciates that they didn’t bring in an unknown redshirt for that , so I’m a bit conflicted except that I know I don’t want to lose him. They mention being in 2019 so I think that invalidates my timeline theory, so now I have to go back to wondering how this fits.
I’ve been considering ever since they introduced that the monoliths were part of the equation in this plot that somehow it was connected to Coulson’s experience with the Fear Dimension last season, but I didn’t quite put the pieces together. I had more commonly fallen into a trap of thinking that if that was the case it would mean the Coulson at the end of s5 wasn’t 100% Coulson, and I didn’t really think that fit. I’m still not quite sure we’ve gotten the whole story, but we are back on course for getting the whole story after this. For one thing I feel like there is way more of Coulson in there that there should be with the explanation we’re given so far.
In the realm of explanations I don’t really expect to be true, I’m still waiting for something that last season denied me; we never got into May’s fear, because May’s greatest fear was already reality with Coulson dying. And that Sarge can’t die is kind of a May wish-fulfillment glitch. I’m not sure how that logic brings him back, but it’s something I would probably play with.
In the realm of the more possible, they did draw comparisons to Ghost Rider and I would not be that surprised if Ghost Rider was part of equation here too (once this season ends and I have a chance to get back in a s4 head space I have a grand AU story I’ve been sitting on involving a different fallout from Ghost Rider and no time travel). Whether that’s the piece they need to sort this big situation out (i.e. what’s inside him that could stop Izel), or if GR has a backup imprint of Coulson from the time the Rider rode around in him for a while so that’s how we get Coulson back (I’m not giving up); it might be a little out of date, but then so is Fitz.
Speaking of out of date memories, using that scene of May and Coulson from s1 is kind of worth analyzing. Given what we’re lead to understand, the memories that Sarge would have access to wouldn’t include their Tahiti trip, or even the spaceship kiss; but I still find it interesting that TPTB chose that memory. That’s the scene that made me a shipper (in the sense that it was episode six and I went from not really thinking about it but would have been okay with it, to outright wanting them to be together because they just look at each other so lovingly and are so good together); and I’m sure I’m not the only one who fell because of that scene. And by being the earliest real (non-flashback) scene between them it’s the oldest clip we have to say that Coulson was already fallen then; I mean, the shipping community has always assumed so, but it’s maybe not what I expected the show to go for (even though at every turn the last few seasons they’ve more or less consistently taken the shippiest options available). I actually kind of think with reveal of how Sarge was made, using the conversation that May and Coulson had right before he went into seal the rift might have actually made more sense; and it’s a very family focused talk that could have been imprinted on him. It would have messed with the staging, and not have said anything about how long those feelings had been there for, but there would have been a different kind of beauty in that being what he held on to. Also on examination I’m not sure they knew what clip they would use, as they have not-quite-Coulson (I also don’t think he’s Sarge in the between space) extend a hand to hazy-May almost the way he did in 2x04 for the dancing; it also kind of makes sense that those hazy memories are shadows of a lot of things jumbled together.
So we were dealing with possession, which lead to the main plot of this episode. I am reassured that the girls all agreed that it really didn’t make sense. My consideration didn’t even bring May’s aversion to guns into it; I only needed to go as far as May doesn’t execute prisoners and May doesn’t shoot Coulson in the head. I’m a little disappointed in Mack, but not terribly so, since they didn’t have any explicit reason to doubt at that point except that it was out of character. Izel sort of lucked into possessing someone who had access to Sarge’s quarters, would not be immediately suspected for giving minimal answers, and everyone would kind of buy actually did attack him, for long enough to keep them distracted. Everybody else got lucky that she didn’t jump into Daisy at the earliest opportunity. But I’m still kind of stuck on why Izel took May over; unless she-as-Davis had already tried to get to Sarge and Davis doesn’t have access, but how would Izel have known May had any more access? If I’m going to let it stand, May does kind look the most ‘senior’ of anyone around SHIELD so maybe not a bad place to start. But more important to me is if Izel understood the irony of what she was doing by using May’s hands to shoot someone who looks like Coulson; to this day I maintain that on Fury’s orders or Coulson’s own, to May shooting him if he lost control always meant Icing him. We don’t really get any indication that Izel might know who May was to Coulson, Sarge barely knows now, but we still could be heading for an epic knock-down drag-out soul-crushing cat fight to determine who he will be.
Also, this never quite answered my concern last time over whether it was May or Izel who snuck into Mack’s office to look at Coulson’s badge. May doesn’t own up to it (says she left the party and was headed for her quarters), but I’m not sure what would have brought Izel there; or why she would have been looking for anything in the Director’s office without knowing who the Director is). Apparently I did like this episode enough to do some fanwanking for them; Izel (as Davis) might have gone to command to find out where Sarge was, and that’s how she found May looking for things in Mack’s desk, starting with the badge. I don’t think that makes a lot of sense, but I feel like it could be whittled at to work. Granted I also feel inclined to reinterpret her line about how she wanted to ‘sleep’ to mean she was fighting the urge to have a good cry about all this, though I still don’t know why she’d have gone for the badge over vacation pictures.
I’m also reading a lot into the way she reacts when Yoyo tells her she shot Sarge. Because to me it looks...well a lot of things, but including horrified at the idea of shooting him. She doesn’t want him dead and her mind starts reeling over ‘It’s not Phil. It’s not Phil. I really miss Phil. This isn’t Phil, it’s not even Coulson...but what if it was. No it wasn’t. I just miss Phil. And that wasn’t Phil.’
Come to think of it, why did Izel decide to go and shoot Sarge at all? No one would have been on guard for her if she hadn’t; and he was locked up unable to do anything to stop her. It’s not even like they were in a rush to question him where he might have revealed her body-swapping ability. This may be something they have yet to explain, as I can see possible reasons for it but none of them are given in text yet. If she did it to try and reawaken his memories, then it didn’t work very well since he remembered more of his Coulson side than...Pachakutiq (definitely had to go look that up, that was not how I spelled it), although he did remember some of that too.
Look, I’m going to stick with Davis Denial a bit longer, I don’t really want to deal with his death just yet. Maybe he’ll come back again, however it was he survived s4 and we’ll finally find out how that was. Denial means I’m kind of more worried about Piper’s messed up hand right now, and also kind of annoyed that we don’t see it impact her after that; it made sense that Izel wasn’t feeling the pain, but as soon Piper was Piper again she should been horrified and hurting.
I will however point out that Daisy again proves why she is a terrible leader. It took me about .5 seconds to know why Mack would lock the Inhumans away to keep them from being taken over, it’s a blindingly obvious choice to make. And Daisy keeps saying they should totally break out, and then does rather than follow instructions. I’ll admit this is a case where I’m probably being harsher because of the end result than I would be if it had worked. But if it was the right choice to stay locked up and not save Davis then the right move continued to be staying locked up after that happened. And they didn’t stop anything, and allowed Izel to take one of them over just the way Mack wanted to avoid. But they broke out before even knowing what the stakes were, and I have to say that Izel possessing Mack s a lot less dangerous than her with either of their powers. And later May is more able to understand a team focused choice than Daisy, and May is only ever a team player when she wanted to be.
Also, who’s flying the plane at the end?
I actually do have some thoughts on Fitz and Deke’s relationship, and how they’re getting along much better this time around. I think it’s partly because this Fitz doesn’t really know the Team’s early experiences with Deke, and instead meeting the more settled, less damaged honestly, and slightly less annoying version. And I also think it’s that Fitz at the moment has sort of been pushed into just needing to go with the flow of everything he missed out on, so he’s more willing to pitch his relationship to Deke to match Deke’s apparent relationship to him, and what Simmons tells him he should do with it.
So yeah, I had a lot to say, and yet I still think I kind of said nothing...hope that was some value to someone.
And yeah, I do have some thoughts based on the trailer. It’s the only reason I’m not commenting on the fact that it happens to be Sarge’s left hand we see phasing out at the end as if we were going to see him becoming more Coulson in form and fact, but from the trailer we know it’s going to be a bigger thing so probably not that. Look I have a bit of a preoccupation with Coulson’s hand situation, mostly because I think the show has done kind of a bad job handling it most of the time, so I keep looking for a way to make it matter. The way this final arc looks, I may not completely hate Daisy’s line to May, since it does seem like May’s is going to start looking for more of Coulson in him after this, and it kind of puts us back where we were at the end of last season; if she can save him then damn the world, and all of these people should know that. So I’m willing to be a bit more open minded, though I’m probably still going to take May’s side on how much he’s Coulson at any given time; just maybe not her conclusion of damning the world for him.
Addendum
This is a little more than a sentence or even paragraph I want to add to the above review, but also not quite worth making a separate thing like I did with my timeline idea last week. But I said in the main review that I feel like this may lead to a cat fight between Izel and May over Coulson/Sarge/ Pachakutiq’s (yeah, I’m not going to keep typing that, he’s Pach now) fate and further identity. I know that sounds flippant, but I was getting at something that could be fairly serious; and the more I think about it I don’t think the show will do it, so I want to talk through what’s in my head.
While I can’t be sure what route the writers are taking, my current read is that I think the Sarge persona is a consequence of the fusion of Coulson with Pach with both the Coulson and Pach personalities still lurking under the surface but ‘Sarge’ can only access bits of either. It’s also possible that Pach himself created the Sarge personality on entering this realm, intent on stopping Izel’s plans for reasons of his own, but that may be running the speculation a bit far. ‘Sarge’ did not, until this last episode, realize that he is either of the people inside him, and is now confronted with both, and will continue to be as this plot unfolds. Exemplified in Izel trying to draw out Pach’s personality and May trying to reach Coulson (possibly even Phil).
And Sarge now knows that he is both of these men (assuming Pach is a guy...you know what I mean), that his self-identity is built on a lie, that he’s been fighting for all this time are another man’s memories, and what he’s been fighting against is actually part of himself. And it’s rough now because the Coulson in him (that has been waking up ever since he laid eyes on May, but is now very loud) is not going to let this world above all be sacrificed, and the Pat side is what could finish it...if he would.
I spent a while trying to work out a parallel to how I see the situation as I see it; and my instinct lead me to Stargate, mostly because the show has made some sort of mythology around Izel and Pach. My idea then was that Izel’s possession of various people is akin to the goa’uld but Pach is some sort of tok’ra, and having taken possession of a body with all of Phil Coulson’s memories and values found himself turning against Izel’s mission; and thus came Sarge who has been fighting against her all this time. I haven’t quite made that notion fit, but I think it has value to keep in mind.
The other parallel I could draw is that Sarge is Tuvix and also got his memory messed with. Again not an exact parallel, as I’m sort of viewing the Coulson body as both a container for Pach to use but also a way of containing the threat of Pach. And the end goal is going to have to be to separate Pach from Coulson to get Coulson back but they will have to deal with full Pach at that point (and kill the Sarge persona in the process).
But the more I reflect on this, my thoughts veer toward the science fiction, the exploration of identity and duality and memory. And this season (or any other) has not convinced me these writers really know how to do sci-fi very well. So we’re left with the idea of a cat fight that maybe tries to symbolize all that; Izel and May fighting as the embodiment of which side will win out in Sarge.
I almost pity Izel; I would not want to go up against May fighting for the soul of the man she loves.
Agents of SHIELD 6x11
This episode did include some things I saw coming a while ago, but I really don’t think I liked it that much. It was fine as a lead-in the showdown in the finale I guess, and that was its main goal obviously, but I kind of thought most of it was pretty...dumb.
I will acknowledge that a lot of my frustration starts with being a pretty Daisy heavy episode and I don’t like Daisy heavy episodes. It starts off trying to show her as any kind of leader and we know she sucks at that. I get some bad s1 FitzSimmons vibes like we’re supposed to be annoyed by them when they’re clearly doing their best. Daisy is clearly a moron through the whole thing and it turns out I did hate the ‘not the man you loved’ line just as much as I expected to all along. And yet I think we’re supposed to be on her side, when if this was framed through any other character she would look like a crazy person who should definitely not be involved in this investigation.
I figured weeks ago that he was either going to call May ‘Melinda’ or Daisy ‘Skye’ as a way to illustrate the Coulson still in him (I’m not really crowing about that call, it’s a pretty obvious direction to go when you assume he’s Coulson; I will continue to point out that I said all along that this was going to be our Coulson at heart; my downfall was thinking that reveal would come early in the story). And I figured from the trailer showing the bit with Daisy with the sword and Sarge telling her to do it that that was the Coulson in him more or less in control; the whole ‘you’ve always been capable of more than you know’ was very Coulson, and it would be very Coulson to want to prevent whatever dark power is creeping inside him from coming out completely. Plus I was on May’s side from early in the episode that Sarge was being defensive and deflective about how much he remembered.
Should I mention that one of their reasons for working out that May wouldn’t have shot Sarge last time was that they don’t go after someone in custody like that. By that logic, why not assume Daisy is possessed now?
To give the ‘not the man you loved’ line a bit of a fair shake; I can see how May would appear too quick to think they were dealing with Coulson. Up to a point, reminding May not to assume that that’s the man she loves, and not to get played by him because of what she wants to see, and because over the years May has been shown to have tunnel vision where Coulson is concerned, all of that would be fair. But that line comes at the end of Daisy ranting about how May isn’t beating information out of Sarge because she too busy looking for Coulson. How often have we actually seen May beat information out of prisoners? The first thing coming to my mind is Quinn back in s1 and that just revenge not part of the interrogation. May beats people up to capture them, but interrogations aren’t really her thing anyway. And I would remind Daisy that May has already beaten Sarge up pretty handily in order to capture him several episodes ago. Also, Sarge just demonstrated that he’s strong enough to dent the table, I’m not sure what May’s admittedly good fists are going to do against that.
And then it comes back around at the end; when seriously Daisy, listen to May. If you’d listened to her all along there would be less trouble now; but also May’s reasons for trying to stop Daisy killing Sarge are a lot more complex that Daisy realizes (and doesn’t come out in the end talk). Even if May was as convinced as Daisy that they’re not dealing with Coulson, she’d still tell Daisy not to kill him; for Daisy’s own sake. May was trying to stop Daisy from delivering the killing blow to a man who looks like Coulson and there is some chance of him being Coulson; and May doesn’t want Daisy to have to live with that.
Even beyond the ‘aren’t FitzSimmons annoying, they think they’re so smart but they don’t immediately have answers’ framing, I feel like FitzSimmons are really lost in this story. While this wasn’t exactly what I was afraid of when everyone came back to Earth, it kind of is. This wasn’t their plot, and there really isn’t room for them in it. The plot needs their science skills to function, but they’re largely sidelined. And Deke is back to showing his more annoying sides; I’m glad the script lets him pull something off at the end, but he’s grating through most of the episode.
I just found the plot on the Zephyr boring. Naturally the redshirt dies without Izel doing much against the main/recurring characters. Izel has suddenly gotten better at pretending to be other people, though only when the plot requires. There was no pilot on the plane. Benson seemed almost out of character, but I can’t put my finger on why, it’s not like we know that much of his character anyway. It was fine, and not aggravating the way a Daisy plot will aggravate me, just not very good.
Also, we needed at least one more scene between May and Sarge through this. Not just next episode where we’d damn better get several, we needed more in this one. This is what I was annoyed by the idea of Daisy coming back; this plot has been about May, and suddenly it’s not because we have to take a last minute diversion into it being about Daisy. And, yes, her having her own relationship to this plot is reasonable, and we probably should see it, but it’s downplaying what the plot has been about in order to get to that, and I object to that choice.
Phil watch: still no Phil, come to think of it, has she even called him Phil Coulson all season, or is always just Coulson? And have we seen the plaque on the plane at any point? It’s certainly never been drawn attention to, but it might have been visible in the background.
So going into the finale, let’s make some speculation; some wild some reasoned.
-I am working on a theory where time travel comes into play in the Coulson resolution. That they go back, pull Coulson out of Tahiti and leave Sarge’s dead body behind. I actually have for a while had some notion that temporal displacement could hold the key to a cure for s5 Coulson (it started as a way to get Coulson/May/past-Coulson sexy times for a fic idea I had), so I’m sort of adapting it to use Sarge as the source of stabilizing DNA, he has very good healing abilities after all and clearly should be compatible with OG Coulson. And it would be more reason to give us the flashbacks than characterization (not that I didn’t like them for characterization).
-The title of the last episode being ‘New Life’ almost certainly refers to some form of Coulson being given new life. But somebody may also be getting pregnant. Smart money would be on Simmons, some chance at Yoyo, I don’t think Daisy’s been having sex but we are dealing with a monolith of creation so outside odds; while I definitely felt like s5 was foreshadowing May having a kid (and this season has utterly forgotten Robin), at this point I’d have to call it an outside chance too (since I’m not admitting any chance of it not being Coulson by the end of the episode, I also assume she will be having sex before long). Since we’re starting at about a 30% chance the title might mean that, set the individual odds accordingly.
-Obviously they’re setting up something with Chronocoms, but damned if I feel like I can predict anything with them. The season has not done a lot to establish that plotline. I do still sort of think the mindscape of memories is going to factor into the resolution (more likely than my time travel idea), but that doesn’t deal with the actual plot about them at all.
-If you had asked me even a week ago, I probably would have said I didn’t think anyone was going to die in the finale. Even after Davis’ death I didn’t really feel a sense of ‘anyone can die’ dread; I was just sad at how senseless his death was. But the more I reflect on this episode the more I kind of have a bad feeling that someone is going to die, so let’s run through my take on the odds.
I refuse to admit any chance Sarge/Coulson doesn’t make it through and is effectively Coulson by the end. I don’t know if he’ll remember everything; or if he’ll be Coulson but without any of the memories since mid last season; or if there will some gaps in his entire memory; or my above time travel notion, but I can’t imagine this ending without him. I don’t think they’d write him off the show for the last season (and I think they’ve confirmed he’s in it) and I’m not sure what they do with Sarge except plug him into some memory machine and make him remember being Coulson. I can kind of picture him still sorting the pieces out and getting separated from part of the group so that s7 is the journey to come home fully, but that’s not my top guess either.
I feel it would be too cruel to have him be Coulson again only to kill off May. Yes, she would gladly give her life to save the world and/or him, but it wouldn’t really work for her arc and would be very unsatisfying. If they go the split party route, I can see her ending up on either side of the split; though I would have her with him (and so would she) because that’s where she belongs.
After all this I can’t see them killing of Fitz or Simmons either. I think the fans would riot (they may not be my top ship but I would definitely understand) and it would again be completely unsatisfying. I’m not even sure whether they’ll be split up this time, it has happened often enough to seem redundant, but Iain may need time off again, and splitting the party could allow that.
And as much as I may not like Daisy, I can’t imagine the show killing her off either. Frankly this season hasn’t done enough with her for me to think they’re aiming her at a noble sacrifice. Close of the show maybe, but not this season; and I’d rather she just kept getting less to do.
So if I’m so convinced none of those characters are going to die, what has me so worried? Deke, Mack, and Yoyo obviously.
Thinking on the final scenes of this episode really makes me think something’s going to happen to Deke. Deke may not be my favorite character, and I’ll be fine if he dies, but right now I worry for him. His character arc is kind of finished, he’s seen the world, bonded with his grandparents, become part of the team at SHIELD; yes there’s more they could do with him, and it’s kind of weird to make him a regular of one season that he was only in about half of, but he sort of feels...done. And it ties into my notion of Simmons getting pregnant (though I don’t know why I think the show would decide to do babies in its final season), it would kind of fit the weird family story to lose Deke and find out their family goes on. And with Flint here maybe Deke just goes back to his own time, though I’m not sure why he would.
As for Mack and Yoyo, I don’t think they would both die, and of the two I’m more concerned for Mack, but either is possible. Them rushing back together might be a Whedon-y thing to do before one of them dies. And having to be willing to sacrifice Yoyo would be in keeping with what we’ve seen of their difficulties this season. But I kind of don’t think Mack would make that call, which is part of why I worry for him more. Also because he is the current director of SHIELD and with my conviction in Coulson’s return Mack’s role in the series would be up in the air and I can see the writers removing him from the equation. Personally I’d be just as happy with Coulson back as an agent rather than director, offering advice not through a holo-cube and seeing his kids grow up and take over while he and May head towards actual retirement. Since I still kind of see that as the logical end point for the series (plus I don’t actually think Coulson’s that good a director) and I don’t want to see Daisy in charge of anything because it will clearly all explode if she is..
I think Piper’s been through enough; maybe Davis will be revealed to be a cat person with nine lives (look, I’m not letting it go until we get his story); and Diaz will probably get hurt because she is constantly getting hurt (if I was still working an ‘it’s all a dream’ theory, I’d call her a recurring NPC with no real character but keeps surviving where other redshirts die) but probably not die. Benson...might leave the show as they haven’t invested a lot in getting us attached to him, but also probably survives.
-There will be at least one thing in the finale that fully makes me cry, so far the season has only gotten me to ‘want to cry’ a couple times, but the finale will push me over the edge.