Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Spacetime (3x15)

Wow, this was a seriously powerful and impactful episode. It had a few little things that didn't quite hit their marks, but for the most part it was stellar. Let's get started.

Cons:

I'll talk about the main plot in a moment, but the basic premise involves Daisy seeing the future. To try and stop that future from happening, Coulson suggests that Daisy stay put at base and have May go and do the things that Daisy was doing in her vision. This plan is circumvented when Andrew shows up to turn himself in. He says he can feel his final transformation into Lash coming on, and he wants a chance to say goodbye. He also wants to make sure that S.H.I.E.L.D. is the one who has custody of Lash once Andrew is no longer in control at all.

The scenes with May and Andrew were... well, they were okay, mostly resting on the strength of the acting. But they still came across as rather cheesy: they even had a moment where they each put their hand to a pane of glass separating them and it just didn't feel earned. Also, I get that there had to be a reason for May to stay behind so that the future would play out just like Daisy saw, but this wasn't quite strong enough of an excuse. I feel as if May still would have wanted to go on the mission. From what they knew at the time, Daisy, Lincoln, and a new Inhuman named Charles were all potentially going to die on this assignment. I feel like May would have made the tough sacrifice and left Andrew alone in that case.

For that matter, another irritating thing about this plot thread with Lash is that it cut short a lovely little subplot with May and Simmons. I wanted to see them continuing to work on finding Lash, and maybe bonding over their shared guilt over the situation. But now that plot thread is over before it got a chance to get going!

The only other slightly irritating thing is that in Daisy's vision, she sees Coulson shooting her. Obviously this doesn't happen like she saw it - more on that later - but Lincoln has this moment where he tells Coulson that if he does shoot Daisy, he (that is, Lincoln) will kill Coulson. It was such an annoyingly cliché line, and it didn't do much to help me understand the strange and interesting relationship between Lincoln and Coulson. It felt out of place.

Pros:

The subplot with May wasn't terrible, though. Like I said, the acting was great, and it made the goodbye fairly emotionally effective, even if it did veer a bit into cheesiness. And this story with May and Andrew took up a very small part of the episode. The rest was just straight-up awesome.

Basically, Daisy and the others meet a new Inhuman, a homeless man who shows you the future when he touches you. Hydra gets to this man, Charles, before Daisy and the others can save him, but Daisy does touch him briefly first, and sees a vision of the future. Many confusing, disjointed images appear, including Fitz and Simmons holding hands in the snow, Coulson shooting Daisy, a fight scene where Daisy takes out multiple men, Lincoln's face covered in blood, and Daisy being unable to save poor Charles up on the roof of a building. The group work together on how to save Charles, but things turn out pretty much just how Daisy saw them in the vision. She ends up on the roof, unable to save Charles.

I loved all of the planning sequences, as Daisy taught May the fight that she was going to have to do, working with others in a simulation to try and cut down May's time. S.H.I.E.L.D. used its computer resources to find the building based on what Daisy could remember, and its human resources to work out what to do once they got there. It sort of felt like old times, the entire team working together. There was one random non-main character working on the fight simulation with May and Daisy, and everybody kept forgetting his name. That was a funny little nod to how insulated this show can get.

Charles, the Inhuman, has the most tragic story. His wife comes in and explains how the whole thing started, and why Charles ran out on her and their daughter, Robin. Every time he touches somebody, they see these horrible visions of future death. He sees the visions, as well. He can't hold his daughter without her screaming in terror, and he can't hold his wife without putting her through pain as well. He carries around this little wood carving of a robin to represent his child, and as the episode ends he asks if Daisy might be able to help keep Robin safe. Daisy promises she will. It was all just so very heartbreaking! What a bleak episode!

One of the best things about this episode was the way that Daisy's vision played out in some unexpected ways. Everything she saw came to pass, but she didn't understand everything she was seeing. For example: Coulson doesn't shoot Daisy. He shoots through a two-way mirror, behind which enemies were waiting to take Daisy down. Fitzsimmons aren't holding hands in the snow, but rather in ash from the fire burning up on the roof. When Charles says "I was hoping you could help," he wasn't talking about himself, but rather his daughter. And Lincoln's head wound... well, that happened pretty much just like Daisy saw it. I do hope he's okay!

This episode didn't go too much into all the twisty issues of time. I liked Fitz's explanation of how the 4th dimension is fixed and how time doesn't really exist. I also liked the predestination element, where Fitz and Simmons held hands because they knew that Daisy had seen them do it. That was a really sweet little moment for the two of them, particularly when Simmons said "maybe some things are inevitable." If anything is inevitable, it's that those two are meant to be together. So sweet!

Coulson and Daisy had a few lovely moments together. Daisy's instincts in this episode were to run full-tilt into danger to save Charles, but she still respected Coulson's authority and backed down. I think we're being set up for a time when that might not be the case - when Daisy might trust in her own powers more than she trusts in S.H.I.E.L.D. She is certainly very bad ass. I loved the fight sequence that we had earlier seen her rehearse with May. It was a nice payoff to see her going through it herself. She only used her power once, towards the end, but it did become necessary. Just before Daisy goes off to try and save Charles, Coulson pulls her aside and tells her to be careful and come home safe. He even calls her "Skye." Daisy corrects him, but it was sort of sweet to have this callback moment. It reminded me of the father/daughter vibe they have between them. Daisy is the name that connects her with her lost family - with the father she'll never talk to again. Skye is the name she had when Coulson found her and made her a part of his own family.

While all of this is going on, we get to see Malick and Hive causing their own mischief. Malick gets his hands on exoskeleton technology that gives him the strength to crush skulls, and he nearly uses that strength to kill Daisy, before Charles shows up and saves her by touching Malick, showing him his future. Hive uses his own creepy powers to kill multiple important men of business, which is always gruesome to see. While monitoring this building and planning the rescue, Coulson and the others see Grant Ward. They quickly realize that this is another entity at work, and decide not to engage with him just yet.

I love the fact that Hive confronted Malick on what it is that he actually wants. After all, villains always say they want to rule the world, but Hive wonders what exactly that's supposed to mean in practical terms. After all, Malick already has an insane amount of influence and resources. He can do or have whatever he wants. Is that not enough? Malick, it turns out, wants power. Not the power of influence, but real, immediate, personal power. Basically, he wants to be a superhero. Or, super villain, I guess. Here we're toying with the idea that not everybody can be trusted with Inhuman powers. Malick certainly doesn't need any extra advantages to cause real harm.

Also, Coulson and the others now know about Ward... sort of. They may not have the whole story, but they certainly know something is up. I loved the moment when they briefly saw Ward's face on the screen. They all just sort of froze, looking completely incredulous and frightened. It was a lovely reminder of the earlier plot lines of this show, and how Ward's betrayal really did bond them all closer together.

Also, it drives me nuts that Malick saw his future and that we didn't. Whatever it was that Malick saw, it made him very, very afraid. I love this plot device, of him knowing how the end will come, and us not having any idea. It's so stressful and intense!

Finally, we have Daisy's last vision. As she reaches out to touch Charles in comfort, she sees the inside of a spaceship, with a person - possibly her, maybe somebody else - likely dead inside. We don't know what this means, or how this will come about... but it's not looking good for someone, anyway.

I loved this episode. It kept me engaged pretty much all the way through. The May and Andrew stuff wasn't bad enough to slow things down too much, and this was the first time I've felt fully invested in the Hive story line. I can't wait for "Ward" to come face to face with his old team. That possibility has really reinvigorated the entire story for me.

9/10