Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Last Day (5x08)

I'm confused but in a (mostly) good way. Let's dive in.

Cons:

So, the biggest problem here is that things are just a tad too confusing. I feel as if I need someone to create a timeline for me and really break it down. What happened to the versions of the characters that didn't travel through the monolith, and continued on through time as normal? We see glimpses of their lives from the years 2018 and 2022, but not much else. And what happens when/if our leads manage to make their way back through to the past? Can they actually change anything? What was Fitz saying about a time loop? Have they done all of this before, but they can't remember? How many versions of them are there? Ordinarily I'd say that we should give the show some time to explain itself, but this episode had a couple of moments where it was framed as if I was supposed to be having an 'aha' moment, but instead I felt even more confused. So. I'm a bit concerned about that.

If Deke's father really is dead, that's a wasted opportunity if I ever saw one. Are we all going with the theory that his dad is Fitzsimmons' kid? Because I'm totally down for that. Especially because he seemed to be a scientist. Could he have learned it from his parents? I shouldn't allow myself too much speculation. The point is, I hope there's more to this than meets the eye.

Pros:

The best thing this episode gave us was the relationship between May and Robin. Apparently, May becomes Robin's caretaker after her mother dies, to the point where Robin actually calls May "mom." She's the only one who isn't totally freaked out by Robin's premonitions, and the two of them talk about the future. May tells Robin to save certain revelations for the right time, even though they both know that May won't remember Robin in the future, as May will have traveled through time. (This is part of the convolution problem I was talking about, but it's still sweet in the way it plays out). Consequently, we get to see scenes of May helping the young girl Robin to fall asleep, cut together with scenes of May holding the elderly Robin in her arms as she dies. This was ridiculously sweet and so unexpected.

I don't love all of the stuff with Flint, Mack, and Yo-Yo, but I did like their story this week. It focuses on getting the S.H.I.E.L.D. tech from level three, and then saving the humans from the roaches when the Kree set them loose as a punishment. We get lots of running around, clever thinking, and a really bad-ass moment of Elena going slow-mo and taking out all of the roaches in a room in one quick flash. Great fun.

Fitzsimmons watch: they have wedding rings in the year 2022, so that's... excellent. Also, we see them beginning a nice make-out session when they get a moment alone down on the surface. Also excellent. On the angst front, we see Fitz getting frustrated with Robin because she keeps describing people's deaths, including Jemma's. Apparently, no matter what they do to try to fix things, everyone always ends up dead. May still has faith, but the others are losing theirs.

Despite the convolution of the time travel stuff, I will admit I like the intriguing hints we have of how things got this way. Obviously you've got Daisy, the Destroyer of Worlds, who was never seen again after breaking apart the world. We see May, Fitz, Jemma, and Yo-Yo, but apparently Mack is dead, or gone, and we don't get a mention of Coulson. It's intriguing to think about how all of this came to be. I was under the impression that this whole future arc would be coming to an end very soon, but after this episode brought up more questions than it answered, I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't stick it out a bit longer.

Apparently, Flint is the key to the gang returning home. How are they going to get to him? And what will happen when they do? Well... I guess we'll find out soon!

7.5/10