Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: After, Before (7x08)

Elena gets her groove back!

Cons:

I really loved focusing on May and Elena for a good chunk of this episode, but the story felt somewhat crowded and also oddly... muted, by bringing in not only Jiaying (it was cool to see her again), but also a host of other people living at Afterlife, like Kora, and the guy working with the Chronicoms... etc. I didn't dislike the story, but it crowded up the frame, so to speak.

Still missing Fitz hours, folks...

Pros:

But like I said - focusing on May and Elena in this episode was such a treat. They have a good odd couple energy, honestly. May is still emotionless herself, but she's starting to pick up on how other people feel even without needing to touch them. Elena, meanwhile, is obviously stressed nearly to the breaking point, because if she can't get her powers fixed, she might not be able to perform a key function that will save the ship and allow them to get back home to their own time. So the negative energies are just feeding between them, growing in intensity.

I liked the story of Kora and Jiaying, although as I said, it did make parts of the episode feel a little cluttered. Jiaying was such an interesting character back when she was in the show in early days... she was the catalyst to make Skye, now Daisy, into an actually compelling character. She treats the Inhumans under her "care" like experiments, she's afraid of them... but her love for Kora feels genuine at the same time. Very twisty. Felt like an interesting parallel to the strained mother/daughter dynamic that Daisy and Jiaying might have had, had they been given time to know each other. It's complicated shit! We also get a teaser at the end showing Kora and another Inhuman whose name I've forgotten... they've taken over Afterlife and are planning on introducing some chaos to the world. I don't know where this is going, as it seems not to fit in with the Chronicoms' other plans, but I'm excited to see where it takes us!

I really did love the scene where May tries to help Elena access her emotions and figure out her mental block for her powers. Yo-Yo is discouraged to discover that her powers aren't working for psychological reasons, instead of physical ones, but she does get some baggage out in the open when May abandons the meditative approach and tries to kick her ass instead. Elena is carrying guilt over events of her past, and while it seems healthy that she's working through them, by the time they have to go back home to rendezvous with the others, Elena is still blocked. I love that the little side-quest appears to have failed at first - it parallels nicely with the way Mack had a side quest to rescue his parents, which appeared successful, but then... wasn't.

Back on the ship, there are a lot of little mini threads being explored which I quite liked. Coulson is still being reunited with a physical body that's only half-built, and Daisy is still weak after what she went through a few weeks back. Sousa is game for whatever, confused by what's happening but fully with the team. Simmons leaves an "I love you" message for Fitz, because if they have to abandon the ship, they might not be able to find each other again. These two are star-crossed lovers to the nth degree, and while I'm ultimately frustrated, narratively speaking, with the lack of Fitz in this final season, I do love how much angst they've managed to wring from these two.

The ending, where Elena has a breakthrough and gets her powers to work again, was so satisfying! She looked so happy, so proud, so at peace. And even better, she's actually sort of managed an upgrade for herself. She doesn't have to be a "yo-yo" anymore, and bounce back to where she started. She can just be fast, and stay put. I'm excited to see how that might affect her strategic role in future fights.

Shout-out to my favorite comedy beat of the episode, when the intimidating folks at the Afterlife think Elena is lying about being Inhuman because she can't show her powers. They present her with a bit of obelisk, saying that a regular human will die if they touch it. Elena reaches out and grabs it without hesitation, cutting off the man's threat mid-stream. That was so funny! And it got even better when May reminded her that she's holding it with her prosthetic arm, so she actually has to touch it to her face. That made me chuckle!

That's all I've got for this one. The preview for next week looks like a time loop episode, which... man, I should have known they were going to go there, what with all the time shenanigans this season! I'm so excited!

8/10