Last week the agents were stuck in a time loop and also had to say goodbye to one of their own. Unfortunately there won’t be time to mourn as the evil Nathaniel Malick continues his dangerous scheme of stealing Inhumans’ powers which is further complicating the timeline. There’s also the matter of the team having to help (and protect) Daisy’s mom. It’s going to be an awkward reunion.
Warning: There will definitely be spoilers for Season 7, Episode 10 of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD below.
(All images courtesy of ABC Studios).
This Guy Needs A Better Hobby
Nathaniel Malick tracks down John Garrett at a bar. He’s aware Garrett’s a pilot and new recruit at SHIELD, but says his career is shaky. Malick tells him he’ll get wounded in seven years after calling for an extract in which he’s refused. This leads to him falling to Hydra. He then shows Garrett his quake powers which impresses Garrett.
Malick brings Garrett to Afterlife. Garrett asks how he knew about his future. Malick mentions they have a time stream device sent from the future. They’re using a scientist who SHIELD thought his methods were too dangerous to work on a device similar to what Coulson used to talk to Sybil.
Later they see fluids being drained out of Mr. Lee, the Inhuman who could materialize blades and who wanted Kora taken care of because she was too dangerous. Nathaniel says they found a less messy way to extract the powers, but it’s still painful. He asks Kora why doesn’t she put him out of his misery? She puts her hands on both sides of his face and lights up. Garrett exclaims that he wants a power like that. Malick says not to worry. He’ll get one when they take it away from SHIELD.
Visitors At The Lighthouse
Mack, Elena, Coulson, and May head down the elevator at the Lighthouse and are greeted by Roxy. She mentions she got accepted into the SHIELD academy since Deke wasn’t authorized to make her an actual agent. She mentions the others in the Deke Squad also joined and maybe they’ll all meet at the Triskelion someday. After she leaves them to their “top secret” stuff, Coulson points out it’s 1983 and the Triskelion wasn’t in use yet. More signs of the timeline being changed.
Mack asks Coulson if he has an idea what to do next. When Coulson points out Mack is the Director, Mack says they don’t have time for formalities. They need him. Coulson says the timeline is falling apart. They have to put it back. Nathaniel is running around with stolen powers, and they promised Jiaying she wouldn’t have to fight him alone.
Coulson says they need to send Jiaying the coordinates to the Lighthouse. Daisy doesn’t think it’s a good idea. Coulson agrees but says they can’t lose any more parents. May looks at Elena and then is about to tell Daisy about Kora, but Jiaying and Gordon immediately teleport in.
Jiaying is unsure of accepting their help. She says she doesn’t know them, and they brought “that man” to their doorstep. Daisy says they want to save Inhumans. Elena volunteers to go to Afterlife, but May points out she’ll lose her powers again if she gets caught. Coulson says he’ll go since he’s disposable (or recyclable). Gordon says he can drop him into a secret place inside Afterlife and leave. Jiaying wants to go to get Kora, but they convince her she could just set Kora off is she saw her. Jiaying finally relents but tells them they have to bring back her daughter.
Daisy talks to May out in the hall and asks if it slipped her mind that she had a sister. May counters they were just trapped in a time storm. Daisy wonders why her mom never mentioned she had a sister. May tells her Kora took a gun and thinks she was going to use it on herself. That’s probably what happened in the original timeline.
Things Get Even Messier
As soon as Coulson and Gordon teleport into Afterlife, Gordon gets shot in the back by a stun gun. Malick is there to greet them, saying there was a 94% they’d arrive there. Coulson tries explaining that teaming up with Sybil is dangerous. Coulson is brought into another room where he’s greeted by Garrett. He;s now aware of his future, including his death at Coulson’s hand. He’s in a chair and is about to get Gordon’s powers. Later, Coulson and Gordon are left alone in the fortified Inhuman room. Gordon teleports them out. Unfortunately the strain is too much for him. Coulson is greeted by Mack and Elena who free the Inhumans. Coulson finds Kora and zaps her with an Icer gun.
Sousa urges Daisy to talk to her mom since this is before she was torn apart by Hydra and changed her outlook on the world. He says the timeline is already messed up, and this is her chance. As they talk, Daisy gives a little demonstration of her powers. Jiaying is impressed and asks who taught her to use them? Daisy replies, “You, at Afterlife…in about 30 years.” They talk about Kora being warped by Malick and how Jiaying couldn’t help her after she went through Terragenesis. Daisy says she can relate to wanting to help someone and not being able to reach them.
Meanwhile, Malick and Garrett teleport into the Lighthouse. May has a little run in with Garrett, but he teleports away. Nathaniel comes across Jiaying and Daisy in the hall. They ask where Kora is, and he says she couldn’t make it. He adds Jiaying still has Daisy. Isn’t one daughter enough? Jiaying now realizes when Daisy was talking about her mother letting her down, she was talking about her. They try talking, but Nathaniel butts in and starts telling the whole story. Daisy blasts him before he can reveal who finally kills Jiaying. Nathaniel points out he’s not had the quake powers longer than Daisy. He moves to strike, and Jiaying starts to drain his life force. He ends up blasting her and snaps her neck.
As Daisy rises to unleash her powers against Nathaniel, May shoots him from behind. She only wounded him, and he runs away. May realizes Nathaniel wasn’t after Jiaying’s power and is confused. At the same time, Garrett grabs Simmons and teleports her away. They meet Garrett in the Zephyr and take off. They tell Simmons that Sybil ran the numbers. Every outcome where they don’t come out on top had one thing in common–Fitz. He’s gotten in their way long enough. Simmons is going to take them to him.
Unbeknownst to them, Deke is still on board working on the time drive.
Thoughts
The timeline keeps getting messier and messier. Nathaniel Malick has been causing all sorts of havoc by stealing Inhumans’ powers and giving them to others. We find out that he isn’t necessarily aligned with Hydra. He mentioned not having a use for his father’s way of thinking.
Gordon’s death messes up the future, but the big death is Jiaying. I half expected to see Daisy start to fade away like Marty McFly in Back to the Future. This could means Jiaying will be able to “heal” herself from getting her neck was snapped. How do her healing powers actually work? Hydra tore her apart and she was able to be stitched back together. Could she heal from a broken neck if her spine is aligned properly?
The other possibility is this is already an alternate timeline. Sousa being pulled out of the timeline could have happened. Other changes such as Hydra launching Project Insight 40 years early is a big change. The death of Mack’s parents changes his history, and Gordon’s death changes his interaction with them. Of course Nathaniel being alive and Garrett having powers are drastic changes.
Then there’s the mystery of Fitz. Daisy tried asking Simmons if she remembers where they were before and did it get violent when the Chronicoms were hunting them? Simmons asks if Daisy knows something? Did she say something in one of the time storm scenarios? Daisy said she didn’t, but something happened when the implant was removed. Simmons was devastated and inconsolable. Later when talking to Deke, she wondered why the time drive isn’t communicating with Fitz anymore. She starts to imply maybe the Zephyr’s just been pre-programed to follow the Chronicoms. When Deke asked why didn’t Fitz help, Simmons was silent.
Will Deke be able to stop Malick and Garrett in order to save Simmons?
Three more episodes remain. Although it’s sort of two if it’s a “two-hour” finale. Next week is a “Brand New Day.”
What the Heck is going on?!? 