I’m a week late. Let’s not talk about it. The point is, it’s here!
Last week, it would’ve been another Catch-Up post but in a completely not shocking turn of events I did finish the whole series in the last week, so you get this instead. It’s not nearly everything I could possibly say about this show I love so much… but it’s a little something. Something that would’ve probably appeared in the Catch-Up but as we’re done, why not do it justice?
So, without further ado, let’s dive in.
An Introduction
It’s been awhile since we’ve done one of these but here we go.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. is an American television series based on the Marvel comics spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division). AOS aired on ABC. The Series was set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with this version of the organisation having ties to the cast and characters of The MCU, often referencing events of the movies, most notably the Captain America trilogy, or having cameos of minor members, as well as tying into continuity of other Marvel shows like Agent Carter.
AOS was created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tanchareon. The latter pair were joined by Jeffrey Bell to serve as the series showrunners, while Joss Whedon began work on Avengers: Age of Ultron. The show was produced by ABC Studios, Marvel Television and Mutant Enemy Productions.
In May of 2013 the show was picked up for its first season of 22 episodes with the pilot airing on September 24th, 2013. It would run for seven seasons with 136 episodes, concluding on August 12th, 2020. The first season had high ratings, and though they would fall with subsequent seasons they were still consistent and received positive reviews.
The main cast includes Clark Gregg reprising his role from The MCU as Phillip Coulson. As well as Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May, Chloe Bennet as Skye/Daisy Johnson, Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons, Iain De Caestecker as Leopold Fitz and Brett Dalton as Grant Ward in its first season. Throughout the rest of the seasons they would be joined in variation by others including B.J. Britt, Nick Blood, Henry Simmons, Adrianne Palicki, Luke Mitchell, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward and Enver Gjokaj. Along with a long list of truly excellent guest stars. This show has a stellar cast and I cannot state that enough.
In brief: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. follows Phillip Coulson and his small team of agents as they investigate the strange cases no one else can in a world of superheroes, grow closer, grow to trust each other, and deal with all the weird and sometimes traumatic stuff this line of work throws at them. It has all the found family vibes you could ask for. Some truly brilliant character development, and all the weird shenanigans you might expect could come with a world like this, superpowers being least among them.
We watch this cast grow, evolve and develop and the journey is brilliant and well written from beginning to end.
As always, further details on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. can be found on IMDb.
You can currently watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Disney+ in the UK.
As always, SPOILERS
Predictions and Presumptions
Look, the irony that Season 1 tells us repeatedly that psychics do not exist only for them to meet a minimum of three before the end of Season 5 is hilarious. For one of those psychics to be Raina, who followed a fake one, and the other two to be related is even better.
So the third brings us here in Season 5. Young, confused and overwhelmed by all the death she sees she’s hardly ever clear on whats happening… So, of course we make decisions based off of a child’s drawings. That’s the next logical step, really, isn’t it?
I love Enoch, but even I think that’s questionable. Regardless, it’s to prevent an extinction level event, is it not? And Enoch is notoriously reckless, apparently.
So, you see the future, the world cracked apart, hear the presumptions and guesses of future individuals, individuals whose history has been erased, and see a single piece of CCTV footage. All with one conclusion, Quake cracked the world to pieces. Quake, Daisy Johnson, is the Destroyer of Worlds.
Predictions, accuracy yet to be determined but we’ll roll with it, tell us it will happen. Tell us Phillip J Coulson will put the pieces together. Tell us to send them forward to see the devastation, and they’ll fix it! They’ll prevent it. They will.
Presumptions tell us Daisy is the Destroyer.
You should never assume.
This is my grievance. Season 5 is a damn strong season and I love so much of it. I never stop loving these guys regardless of what they do, what happens around them, what the plot is. It doesn’t matter, these characters can drive us through many awful things and the slight masochists in us will still love it because we love them. They are a fantastic cast, and I love them all the same and more each time I watch it. So, while Season 5 is a strong end to this chapter for them and hardly falls flat, I do believe at least seasons 2-4 were their strongest seasons.
Regardless, I do love it… but, guys, come on! Why are you assuming? Because they are assuming! They don’t know all the facts. They see the end results and that single piece of CCTV and assume. They hear people driven mad by desperation and with limited resources declare that Quake tore the world apart and just roll with it? Their evidence only proves she was there! It hardly proves she did it. All you’ve confirmed for me is that she definitely didn’t survive it.
At the very least FitzSimmons should understand the difference between correlation and causation, like come on! They are smart, intelligent people, all of them have proven this to be the case even if they can’t hold a candle to the brains of FitzSimmons. Are you guys kidding me right now?
You Met Daisy, Right?
There’s always a focus on whether she could have done it. Daisy’s always declaring she’s not that powerful, that she physically couldn’t have done it. These focuses on events coming together, that you think are going to lead up to it, and so, of course, Daisy should be distanced from them, right? Daisy should stay behind because of the risks (thank god, Coulson would not ever leave her behind). Hear the name ‘Destroyer of Worlds’ and Daisy’s association and she better not go near any of that, right? Best do our best to ensure she never gets those powers back.
Sure, Daisy doesn’t think she’s that powerful, but let’s take every precaution to ensure she never could be or is nowhere near it.
Sure, world ending paranoia can do some crazy things to your thought processes. Hell, FitzSimmons and Yo-yo think they’re invincible. Daisy thinks she could be a murderer a few billion times over. It’s all the same really.
See, because here’s what I consider: Whether she would. The physical capabilities of Daisy’s powers aside and whatever miraculous turn of events that could result in her gaining enough power to do so, there’s the small fact of: Why would she?
Not a single one of them consider Daisy’s character in this entire situation. Including Daisy! Who is feeling guilty about something she doesn’t even know she’s done yet! It might just be me, but someone who feels guilty over an action she has not taken does not scream ‘Destroyer of Worlds’ to me.
It comes down to the fact of: Have you met Daisy?
Because this is Daisy Johnson we’re talking about here. She wears her heart on her sleeve, always has done, and by the gods, is it a good one! The girl has been through some shit and are you really telling me you don’t know the core of her personality, fundamentally who she is? She is good! Almost to a fault. Daisy would have to go clinically insane in the next couple of months for me to believe she could even consider destroying the world.
They’re all so concerned with whether she could they’re not even considering why she would. In my opinion, the why is generally, kind of important. Whole criminal cases are built upon the why, they themselves have hunted for motives, to understand them, to find their villains. If you considered the why maybe you’d be more concerned with Daisy’s mental stability or something, maybe they’d be some clues in it that could help you prevent it! You are good people and smart people! While some of you are going mad with claims of invincibility you are on the whole not idiots, why are none of you stopping to consider why?
If you considered why, you might also consider that perhaps there is something worse coming that could lead to this. Perhaps, you would consider that Daisy, like she usually is, was fighting the good fight. Perhaps you would consider ways in which Daisy could lose her agency that could get her to this action.
Allowances for Understanding
See, because there is allowances. Daisy has a history. It’s not one she likes to talk about but it’s there, and it’s rather cold of Fitz when he brings it up. She has turned on them before. In my opinion they don’t really compare to Fitz’ incident in Episode 514: “The Devil Complex”, but that’s a larger conversation for a different day.
The point is, the times when Daisy’s turned on them she’s been manipulated or “under sway”.
So, I will allow them that there is a very real possibility that Daisy could turn on them, the point is none of them really consider this as a factor. Keeping her away from the plot in general is a good way to avoid the situations in which she would, but that’s not why Daisy’s benched herself, is it? She saw CCTV footage, was nearly murdered, and assumed the future people with no record of their history must be correct.
Jiaying manipulated her, and when Daisy found out the truth she was immediately apologetic and Team S.H.I.E.L.D. again. This Daisy is three years of development past that, so let’s safely assume she’s not going to fall for the same tricks again. Besides, she’s not likely to have a fifth parent pop up out of nowhere to trick her into anything, is she? So, manipulation aside, that leaves ‘sway’.
Hive is… complicated. They describe his ability as if the Inhumans are ‘addicted’ to him, which I understand from a narrative standpoint but is bloody confusing to think about in practice. It makes sense for his control to have some leeway for agency instead of them becoming mindless robots because they can really mine the guilt in those actions after the fact… which they did, for half a season, so ya know. However, thinking about it practically, the mind control involved gets very complicated and there’s a real debate as to what actions are Daisy’s or Hive’s or some amalgamation, whether her desires are his or her own or etc etc. It’s really a whole separate post, but we all agree it’s creepy as shit, and all the agents agree they don’t blame her (except Daisy, of course). There’s really even a debate as to whether you can consider ‘sway’ under mind control.
For the purposes of this, we will… because, assuming Daisy doesn’t go clinically insane, one of the few ways in which I can see her tearing the world apart is under mind control. I bring up Hive for this, because it’s evident that not only are they not unfamiliar with this, but they’re also familiar with this in Daisy herself. It’s probably also relevant to mention that they’re quite aware that Hydra also traffics in mind control, they have seen it in action several times.
Furthermore for the purposes of this I am going to associate Daisy’s Emo-Phase in Season 4 with the ‘sway’ of Hive. It is recovery and actually very typical of her character, which is its own larger conversation I’m not going into now. The point is it’s guilt and shame fuelled, and actually she is still doing good even if she no longer associates herself with S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s even implied she loves them so much, that this is protection. She might be doing the vigilante shtick but she is still good. So, regardless of Fitz’ claims that she’s turned her back on them we’re just going to associate this as one event with Hive.
I’m really saying, they have precedent. They’re not making mention of the factors involved, there’s no indication they’re even thinking it, but I will allow that there is precedent for the idea that Daisy would turn against them. The circumstances usually have to be extenuating, and we’re not really considering that, but the concept is there. These are my allowances for their presumptions. I can understand why they would make them when you consider this is their history. Does it validate them? Not entirely because they don’t bring it up. It’s hard to assume these are the considerations they’re making when there’s no evidence they even thought of it, aside from a comment from Fitz lashing out, actually…. but, my bias heart loves them all the same, so I will allow them this.
I am, however also, just saying if you considered the why you might put effort into protecting Daisy from things like this… rather than the world from Daisy.
In The End
Now, yes, if you consider how the plot eventually plays out not only do characters actually go insane (See: Ruby & Talbot), but characters do, in fact, experience that Hydra patented mind control (again: Talbot) and even get manipulated, though this time, by aliens (once again: poor Talbot).
I hadn’t considered this till I typed it out, but all the why’s that they don’t consider could lead to Daisy’s Earth destroying presumption are exactly the things that happen to Talbot. I know we had a lot going on, but I’m starting to feel they missed the mark this season.
Regardless, I was going to make the point that we should throw all that aside when considering how ludicrous their presumption is because when they assume Daisy’s going to do it, they don’t know this information yet!
All they have is CCTV footage, which once again, only confirms she dies!
They have a very much sane, in full control of her actions, and good hearted Daisy stood in front of them and have assumed! The only person who makes any sense is bloody Coulson and he’s got a suicide wish this season! Of course he doesn’t care about the risks! He knows her better than that, and all the rest of them, including Daisy, should too.
I get she doesn’t necessarily have a full understanding of her powers, even though it’s been several years and doesn’t whatshisface actually say “I know you know how powerful you are” or something to her. She’s fairly confident in the idea that she couldn’t do it, but does she not know herself? Her core personality! Is she really so scared of herself? Daisy, girly-pop, are you okay? I thought we were past the fear. We worked through it three seasons ago!
They make this assumption before any of the pieces show up in the plot that justify these assumptions. Like they have no reason to think that Daisy could go insane before Ruby goes insane. Even then what possible reason could there be for Daisy to go into the machine? She’s not an idiot. Then the mind control comes up with Talbot and not a single person thinks his current mental instability could be a warning sign! They’re all too distracted assuming the wrong thing! (or saving our father figures…)
This whole season is just me screaming “Yes, but have you met Her??” at my screen.
Then all the pieces play out and they were, arguably, preventable. Stuff didn’t have to happen the way it did, but it did. It’s my opinion that the world cracks apart because Talbot kills Daisy and takes her power, which side note, proves me right. The CCTV does, in fact, only tell us she is dead… murdered before the world exploded it would seem. It changes because they allow Coulson to die, because Coulson’s cool with it and Daisy allows it, which hurts, but there we go. We don’t get the “Something is different.” until after they start to realise the serum is not where they thought it was, and then Daisy sees it but by that point Fitz is already dying but there’s already a second Fitz technically and Coulson was dead either way.. so ya know, exactly what specific thing was the new choice that changed it feels unspecific and up to interpretation but for now we’ll go with Daisy surviving her fight which is only done by her making the choice to theoretically sacrifice Coulson but he’s already made that choice himself by putting the serum in her suit anyway, mostly because if she dies and gets absorbed so does the serum. Though, the quote does come before she sees it, like I said, there’s a matter of interpretation involved.
Yes, I recognise that one of the reasons Daisy gets the ‘Destroyer of World’ monicker in the future is because she identified herself as that to Father Kasius in the present timeline right before in 521: “The Force of Gravity”, but shh, they didn’t know that either.
In the end it’s a lesson in why you shouldn’t see your future, really, it messes with your head. Makes you illogical and do stupid things. Like even if they didn’t know the brand new ‘Destroyer of Worlds’ lore, and all immediately get super paranoid, I don’t see a world where Coulson responds to Hale’s offer with “Yes, we should put my daughter in your evil Hydra machine.”, regardless of how desperate they could be. I don’t see a world where Daisy would be up for that, even if she wasn’t inexplicably scared of a presumed future. Seeing the future makes you paranoid and desperate, and things are better when we don’t. If anything it made the whole season much more complicated… which is, of course, why they did it.
The pieces work narratively, it even makes sense for them to be not quite at their A-Game when they’re desperate as hell. I just wish they’d all stopped to consider the ‘why she would‘ for a brief minute. They may have figured out how insane of a presumption it is.
Like I said, you should never assume.
An Aside
The most glaring factor in how preventable this was, though, just as a simple side note, is that Robin knew. The whole freakin’ time! Talbot asks if she’s seen him do it, and she nods! She knew who! Are you really telling me she never drew that? You know the worlds going to get destroyed but she didn’t draw the figure who did it? Really could’ve saved us just like so many side quests! Talk about plot convenience.
Season 5 has some really solid moments but ‘Oh, that’s convenient.’ can be whispered just as many times. Graviton is no less a compelling villain than half the ones we’ve seen before, and the plot is no less compelling if not a little visually dark. I may not be a big fan of Space but it’s really good for The Bus Kids vibes, as much as they get frayed. May, Phil and Daisy in their pseudo family roles are doing great this season. Not to mention the Philinda kiss. We get a Lincoln mention! One of my all time favourite Coulson/Daisy scenes when they say they love each other. FitzSimmons wedding! Some really good moments and character arcs throughout the season and I quite like Dove Cameron as Ruby, but they’ve had stronger season plots. Seasons 2-4 are some of the most solid seasons of TV I’ve watched (though, I am biased). They can do some truly brilliant things with their storytelling but so much of this season is matters of convenience, or narratively appropriate but still annoying paranoid idiocy.
I love it no less. My frustration will always be love. I can scream ‘Have you met her?’ every time I watch it, a hundred times and I will still watch it again, I will still love them and fall in love with them more. It’s them. They can do no wrong, not really. No love lost at the mention of conveniences or annoyance. Have they done stronger? Yeah, I love it anyways.
To Conclude
This had a Season 5 focus, but I have many things to say about them and they are sure to come up again. I love them so much I revisit them frequently, I will always have more to say. For now there’s this.
I hope it was a fun read, to the degree that it could be considering content.
I know this post is a week late but I hope you will join me (now in a week) for the next one!
You can follow me on Instagram at: @thebomff or on Threads at: @thebomff
On to the next!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, narratives or characters present or referenced in this post. All rights belong to Marvel and all other relevant parties.