Repeated several times in the latest episode of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is the prophecy: “This is the day it all ends.”. If only. Sadly, we’ve got more of this storyline to go.
The episode opens with a flashback. The young psychic girl named Robin is aboard Zephyr One during the apocalypse that shatters the Earth. The episode will return to this several times to reveal that not all of S.H.I.E.L.D. made it onto the plane, nor did Robin’s mother. Eventually, May becomes a surrogate mother to the girl.
In the future again, May of course has no memory of this, because she and the other S.H.I.E.L.D.ies skipped right past the apocalypse. Robin is now an elderly woman who mostly babbles unintelligible nonsense and can’t tell the present from the past or the future. She sees them all at once. May and Enoch now find themselves aboard the ramshackle remains of Zephyr One, which is being used as a shelter by the survivors on the Earth’s surface. They were rescued from the roach monsters by a guy named Samuel Voss. After the trawler ship crashes to the surface, Voss also brings Coulson and his other teammates to Zephyr One for a reunion with May. Voss is excited to see Deke, but informs him that his dad is out on a mission at the moment. Fitz is not able to remove Daisy’s inhibitor implant with the limited surgical equipment available to him on the plane.
Back on the Lighthouse space station, Kasius is very cranky. He orders Sinara to follow the S.H.I.E.L.D.ies to the surface and bring back Daisy, dead or alive. He also vows to punish the human population aboard the station for harboring them.
Mack, Yo-Yo and Flint make their way to Level 3 and find the stash of weapons and equipment that Fitz left for them. Mack is very pleased to be reunited with his ridiculously impractical shotgun/axe thing. The three of them notice that there are no roaches in sight because the Kree sprayed a gas that has driven the monsters to the populated levels, where they’ve killed lots of humans. Initially, the survivors blame Flint for antagonizing the Kree. However, Mack puts that same gas in the air ducts and drives all the roaches into one room, where Yo-Yo uses her speed to kill them all. The other humans come around on them then.
On Zephyr One, Fitz and Jemma learn that Deke’s father, a guy named Owen, built the time portal that transported them to the future. They also discover a piece of the monolith aboard the plane and speculate that it can be used to reactivate the portal and take them all home. Deke becomes suspicious of why his father would have left the stone behind. He confronts Voss about it, and Voss knocks him unconscious. He then locks Fitz and Jemma in the lab and tries to kill Daisy. Voss believes that he’ll save the world if he can stop Daisy from returning to the past and destroying the planet.
During the struggle, Voss stabs Robin to prevent her from helping Daisy. Coulson joins the fight and the two of them capture Voss. Before she dies, Robin whispers to May the secret to getting back to their time. We don’t get to hear what she said, but somehow Flint will factor into her prophecy.
The episode ends with Sinara arriving on the surface in pursuit of Daisy.
Episode Verdict
I got my snarkiness for the week out of the way early with the first paragraph to this recap. Honestly, as far as this season goes, this episode is fine. It’s not great, but I didn’t struggle to stay awake during it, as I have for many this season. It’s mostly a lot of plot drudgery, but Yo-Yo’s bug slaughter trick is pretty badass. That scene is the sort of highlight that’s been in woeful short supply this season.
I suppose it’s meant to be implied that Voss has killed Deke’s father, Owen, but that seems suspect to me. Voss doesn’t seem to be an evil guy, just misguided, and what would be the point of building up a backstory for a character we’ll never see? I suspect that we’ll meet this Owen soon, and that he’ll turn out to be a familiar face from the past, now an elderly man. Perhaps he’s going by a new name for some contrived reason. Anyone want to take bets on who that will be?
