5.19 Discussion thread (Spoilers)

That was a WTF episode!  I did see that twist coming! 

Not sure but I think Tonight's episode was a reference to one of two things:

- The Defender's battle against The Hand
- The events of Infinity War in New York.

Jake Busey's character referenced to something weird happening in New York. So those two are the only explanations.

Interesting. While making sure my DVR was set up correctly, I caught part of Once Upon A Time, and one of the witches(?) opens a portal that looks amazing like a Dr.Strange/Ghostwriter portal...  But I digress...


You know last week when I said I expected the last four eps to be in high gear? I wasn't disappointed. This might have been the best opening of an episode in the entire 5 seasons...


The show opens with a plan to disposing of the gravitonium using the Zephyr to sling it into the Sun. This might be a bad idea. Even though our sun is destined to become a red giant, the gravitonium could do a number on our sun...

And, not to anyone's surprise, the team is unhappy with each other. Daisy and Yo-Yo have it out, and Coulson tells everyone to do their jobs.

Agent Kim: Is this normal?
Agent Thomas: The weird missions? Yeah. The fighting? That's new.

Look at all the extra cast members. Shouldn't they be wearing red shirts? Okay, some of them should be wearing red shirts.  You know they're going to die, that's what extras do on this show...


Daisy (to May): You going to ask me if I'm okay?
May: Not if I don't have to.
Daisy: Good. Then tell me what the Candyman's got.
May: Think he's found something connected to the Deathlok program. Garrett. Could be a stretch but...
Daisy: It could keep Coulson alive.
May: Whether he likes it or not.
Daisy: So Creel's been put on-board.
May: And he's on an IV drip, so he's not a danger to anyone. Once you have him, Robin and her mom set up, go dark. I'll cover for you here.
Daisy: Okay, thank you... for being... sane.
May: Robin said someday Coulson would put all the pieces together. That has to mean something.

Robin also said, "Coulson is going to die", didn't she? I have to admit, I forgot all about Tony "Candyman" Caine...

(Deke, Fitz and Jemma working with the gravitonium)
Deke: Look. It's not like I'm just going to blink out of existence. I lived in this one timeline, but now I live in this new one, and I think I'm going to stay, the one with the sun and tacos and all that, 'cause that's the multiverse, that's science.
Fitz: Or you're a canary in a coal mine.
Deke: I don't know what either of those things are.
Fitz: We won't know if we're successful in changing the future unless you blink out of existence.

I have a few problems with this. Was it ever established Deke came back to present-time before? Wouldn't the events of Dr. Strange and Ghostrider (though the Team might not know about Dr. Strange) prove the existence of the multi-verse? I think there's flaws his (and Jemma's) logic...


(Talbot wakes up and calls for Coulson)
Talbot: Phil. It's like a record that keeps skipping in my head. The numbers. I was with Robin...
Coulson: Okay, calm down.
Talbot: ..but I was at the control box, why? What was I doing there?
Coulson: Trying to get the doors open?
Talbot: No, I'm Air Force, Phil, I know enough about navigational aids to know that every hanger has a landing... assist. I had to comply.
Coulson (realizing what Talbot is saying): The landing assist beacon. The only way to get a signal out.
Talbot: 43.9462-76.1191. Phil, tell me that's not what I think it is.
Coulson: Our location.

Cut to camera outside of the Lighthouse. Camera pans up to a spaceship.  Fade in main titles.

HOLY SH... CRAP!  One of the best openings of the entire five seasons.

A sidenote: Talbot kept saying "dash seven six point one one nine one". It is *not* "dash", but "MINUS". 43.9462,-76.1191 are the Earth Coordinates to a place called "Sackets Harbor" on the shores of Lake Ontario in New York, about 40 miles North of Syracuse. (I didn't check google streets to see if there's a lighthouse close to the place, but the shoreline suggests one should be there...)



(Alarms going off in the Lighthouse)
General Stoner: Greetings, elite citizens of the Lighthouse. Project Reclamation has been triggered. It appears you are experiencing an apocalypse level event.
May: Ah, this guy again?
Stoner: Please remain calm. This moment in human history is what this bunker was designed for.
Coulson: That is actually kinda reassuring.
Stoner: Please go to the main computer terminal and choose from the following options. If the Lighthouse is experiencing an extreme weather event, press 1.
Agent Kim: Agent Coulson, I can't silence the alarms.
Stoner: If you're experiencing a nuclear attack, press 2.
Coulson: Screw it. (Presses 2.)
Stoner: For an alien invasion, press 3.
(May groans.)
Stoner: You have selected nuclear attack. For your own health, safety and radiation protection, all outer doors will remain sealed for 15 years.
May: Did he just say 15 years?
Coulson: How was I supposed to know there would be an alien invasion option?
May: You always listen to the whole menu! Always!

HAhahahaha... (Shots of all sorts of doors closing.) I wonder what picking option 3 would have done?


Coulson (over intercom): You may be noticing that the Lighthouse is going into lock-down mode. This is not a drill, the lighthouse is keeping us safe. All exits including the hanger has been sealed, to protect us from any outside intrusion. Which is good, (cut to shot of Mack) because there currently is a sizeable alien spaceship overhead. Oh, and due to a technical malfunction, the lighthouse thinks we're under nuclear attack, so we may be trapped inside for 15 years... ish...
Deke: No, no. That's so stupid. (unintelligible) still doing here.
Coulson: I'm sure there's a way around that. So in the meantime, there's no reason to panic. The lighthouse survives the Earth cracking apart, so one flying saucer, probably no big deal.

(Qovas appears on screen)
May: Oh, now what?
Couson: Oh, hey, I know this guy.
Qovas: Phil Coulson. Humanities shield.
Coulson: Yeah, I remember you too. The lighting wasn't great, but the whole vision thing was hard to forget. Did General Hale send you?
Qovas: You will be dealing with me now. I'm here for what was promised. The gravitonium.
Coulson: Yeah, that's going to be a hard pass. Maybe you haven't realized it yet, but this bunker? It's apocalypse proof. It can withstand a nuclear blast. We have years of food, water and air.
Kim: Is that true?
May: Not good food.
Coulson: And I'm pretty sure the world is going to realize there's this giant ship in its atmosphere. And I'm thinking in the current political climate, it won't be long before you're blown out of the sky.
(Qovas signs off, lights come back on)
Coulson (to May, pleased with himself): Too much?

HAhahahaha... *That* is Agent Phil Coulson!


Mack is (understandably) seriously angry (or maybe disappointed) at Yo-Yo.
YoYo: You need to trust that I know what I'm doing. Please Mack. You know me. You know I may run away, but I'll always come back to where i started.
Mack: I know. I just don't know if I'll be here when you do.

Well, I saw this one coming. I might have to side with Mack on this one...


(In control room, Coulson is starting to wonder where Daisy is...)
May (confessing to Coulson): Daisy's fine. She's gone dark. Daisy's mission wasn't just about Robin, Polly and Creel. She's following a lead.
Coulson: A lead on what?
May: A way to keep you alive.
Yo-Yo: What?
Coulson: I don't want that. My orders were very clear about that.
May: If there's a chance we can save you, don't you think I'd take it?
Coulson: Right now, we all need saving from out new overlords out there, and our most powerful team member is gone.
Yo-Yo: No, no, no, no, no. I kill Ruby for nothing. It didn't matter. It's all happening right now. Everything she told me.
Coulson: She who?
Yo-Yo: This right here? This is how we lose...

Well, nothing like a little confirmation that the world is coming to an end, huh?


Aliens use the 084 to invade the lighthouse, and it puts Deke in his element. He knows the lighthouse, how to hide in it, and how to get around in it.

Coulson: It's not just the cameras, everything's glitchy.
Mack (entering control room): You getting the same thing I am?
May: Energy fluctuations all over the lighthouse? Yeah.
Coulson: Could mean they're already inside.
(Deke falls out of vent)
Deke: They're already inside.
Mack: We don't even know who they are.
Deke: I do. (To entire team) They're Amorthum(?) Marauders. They're intergalactic scavengers with no planet of their own, so they just take from others and where ever they go, darkness follows.
May: Darkness. That's a little vague.
Deke: Well, it's not the concept of darkness, it's literal darkness. It follows them because they're magic, and they can see in the dark and we can't, so it makes them kill us better with their... their claws.
Kim: Did you say, claws?
Deke: Yeah, did I not mention the foot long razor claws? Because, yeah.
Mack: Well, the people in the future survive, there must be a way to stop them.
Deke: No, we didn't stop them. We just gave them whatever they wanted and then said, "Thank you" and cleaned up the bodies after they left.

Marauders? BadassFitz was a Marauder. Same guys?


Meanwhile, in the real world, Daisy is meeting Caine.
Caine: Weird kid. Drew me a picture of a blue lady juggling someone's balls.
Daisy: Pretty sure they were her balls.

Sinara! HAhahahaha...

Caine: Aliens, you know? Have you seen all this weird stuff happening in New York?
Daisy: No, I can't watch the news, it makes me crazy.

This was clearly an IW reference, yes?

Caine: It all goes back to this one Hydra dude, named John Garrett.
Daisy: Yeah, I'm familiar. (Aren't we all...)
Caine: He was being kept alive by this secret sauce, all kinds of ingredients. He called it the "centipede serum", I think from the shape of it. (Gives Daisy a box) That's the last one, so don't waste it.
Daisy: I'm familiar. This is a start. Thank you.
Caine: Well, the thing about it though, Garrett's cocktail had an extra healing component that was designed and developed by the Nazi's. So that's impossible to get.
Daisy: Nothing is impossible. It's one element. What is it?
Caine: I have no idea. All I got is a name of someplace where they found it, and I can't find it on any map.
Daisy: (looks at report, sighs) That's because it's not a place.

(See epilogue for comments...)


Deke saves Fitz from a maurader. Neither seems overly concerned that a redshirt just got redshirted.
Fitz: What are you doing here?
Deke: Without you, there is no me!
Fitz: I've never been so happy to meet someone so self-serving.
Deke: If anyone asks, we scared that thing off, okay?
Fitz: Or he could just kill us later. (Camera pan to sparking box)
Deke: Don't tell me that's the override. How the hell did they find that thing? The lighthouse is enormous.

That's something interesting to say, considering how you just happened across this room as well...


I've decided someplace during the show Qovas needs to die. The last part about "Lay waste to anyone who stands in our way" sealed the deal for me...


Deke and Fitz hiding:
Deke: I can't be stuck in here again. There's so much I haven't seen. I haven't seen the ocean, I haven't seen the Great Wall, I haven't seen Orlando... (BWAhahahahaha...)
Fitz: What happened to your multi-verse, I thought you were everywhere at once.
Deke: Shut-up!

That's no way to treat Gramps, Deke...



So Talbot becomes Super-Talbot. How does Talbot know what he's doing with the gravitonium, which switches to throw, etc? Why is the chamber equipment even hooked up? Talbot is the destroyer of worlds?  He'd be my last choice...

Pretty unbelievable, but kick-ass, nonetheless. I guess they were able to excise Hall and Quinn? Frightening to think that an unstable Ruby could have done...


In the control room (Fitz has stuff to make fire, so they can see when the lights go out...)
Deke: Don't worry Gramps, if they want the gravitonium, they gotta to go through me.
Fitz: Deke, whatever happens next... Never call me Gramps again.

HAhahahaha....      Good ol' sentimental Fitz...

Super-Talbot enters the control room, kills all the marauders (which make cool folding sounds when dying, I mean, even Coulson flinched), crumbles the ceiling, and lifts a slab of the floor with Coulson (and himself) into the air.

Talbot: I told you I could fix this.

You know last week when I said I'm not sure what purpose Talbot's arc was? Never mind. His part just got bigger...


Epilogue:
Daisy shows up in a cemetery (at night), and starts digging up Mom.

DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA? I THINK OF ALL THE BAD IDEAS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND, THIS MIGHT BE ONE OF THE REALLY, REALLY BAD ONES. Besides, Garrett's serum wasn't successful, until he got some GH formula...


Other thoughts:
Voss said there was a light in the sky (i.e. the alien invasion), then Daisy destroyed the Earth. There was no light in the sky. The alien ship (according to May) appeared from nowhere.

LOL, I think the first 10 minutes setup the tone, pace and storylines for maybe not only this ep, but maybe the rest of the season. You should probably watch it from the start...

To be fair, they say the best doctors have the highest patient death rates, since they're the ones who take on the most severe cases. Coulson has to make decisions based on some pretty unique circumstances...

It's not like Coulson had a lot of choice this time. He didn't even move. Talbot moved the piece of floor they were on.  That was sort of impressive.

Well, he probably would have done better if they kept the hardware up to date. Do you complain that some websites take too long to load? There you are...


Talbot wasn't the immediate threat. When choosing between Talbot and aliens with sharp pointy things at the end of their arms who really aren't deterred by bullets as the immediate threat, you probably choose the aliens...


He more than wants to die, he has to die. However, death is never a permanent thing in the comics.  There is a loophole here someplace... 


He had no lemons. I was disappointed.


Can Jiaying be killed?

This reeks of like, going through the locked door in the basement of the haunted house just before midnight of the anniversary of a mass murder that took place. Oh, and it's rained, all the roads are flooded out, and it's foggy outside.

The Defenders aired months ago, so there's no reason to asume the line about stuff happening in New York could be a reference to it as opposed to the events in Infinity War that literally hit theaters two days ago. Which means, realistically speaking, AoS should hit the stuff that happened at the end of the movie by next week. Oh, damn...




Wow, Talbot takes in the gravitonium. Consider me utterly surprised! NEVER would have guessed that! But I'm cool with it. I love Adrian Pasdar, so if they have his guest star again, I'm happy to see him doing more than huddle in a corner, muttering stuff and talking about how he's going to comply. Plus, I'm still just happy that Barbie Doll is dead! Easily one of the worst characters and definitely THE worst villain of the entire show!

As strange as it might sound, but an alien invasion was about the best thing that could have happened to Deke, at least from a character/writing POV. Yeah, sure, his fish-out-of-temporal-water arc was fun, but the character couldn't just live from being the comic relief (or the guy who almost gets killed for Skye). Back in the first half of the season he had had a purpose as the team's reluctant guide. He knew the lay of the land, the players, etc. In the present time there hasn't been much point to the character yet, aside from being adorable and giving Fitz somebody to be rude to. (Seriously, I want the old Fitz back! Does he have to be such an ass-hat all the time??) Now with the alien invasion, Deke finally gets to be useful again and I'd say that was about damn time! 

Sooo... is Peter Mensah's character hiding his true skin colour for some reason or is he really not Casius' father after all? Huh. I thought he would be. 

Coulson being all humbled when Mack gave him the shotgun-axe. Lol! I think this was literally the only joke about that thing I EVER found funny. 

Still being annoyed by Coulson not taking the reigns, or at least not soon enough. Okay, I guess he wants Skye to fight her own battles now that he wants her as his successor, but I still thought it was very odd when he let her and Yoyo hash it out in front of everyone. 

I'm with Deke on the whole timelines thing. There is an infinte multiverse, not just one timeline that's set in stone! 

Come on, Davis, tell us how you survived last season! I want to know. ROFL, though, at his and Piper's talk and him pointing out that the rest of the team doesn't care. That was almost meta! 

Am I the only one who's seriously disturbed by the fact that Skye is digging up her dead mom to take some body samples of her, btw?? That's kind of drastic, even for this show!

Talking of drastic: The FX team is really having fun with the gravitonium killing, isn't it? Damn, that was a gruesome scene!