Episode 5.22 discussion (SPOILERS!) :)

Well, what do you think?  I still think they're going to find a way to save him...

Yep!

AAAAIIIEEEEEEEEE! My eyes! Hurts the eyes! Can't unsee it now!

I hope that the writers know whether there will be a seventh season (yes, I am greedy enough to want one) before they finalize the writing of the sixth season. I agree with those who said that the episode felt more like a series finale than a season finale.

That was a nice model of Chicago that was wreaked by having the plastic spaceship crash into it. Between that and the obvious green/blue screen, I found the effects to be charmingly crude.

It does not feel in character for Deke to simply walk out of the crisis the way that he did. In every other crisis so far he rose to the occasion while complaining the entire time. My guess is that the writers knew that they could not afford Jeff Ward as a regular if there were a sixth season, but wanted the option of at least a guest appearance. As a result, they left his fate ambiguous. I think that the idea of him blinking out of existence if the timeline is broken is silly, about as silly as the idea that if one dies in the Framework, one dies in real life as well. I assume that he packed whatever he could take with him and returned the rest (except for Fitz's multitool) to storage.

The idea of Mack being Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is better than Daisy being Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., but that is not saying much. Unlike Daisy, he has leadership potential. However, he seems more like a sergeant than a general. As long as Fitz has the Doctor in him, Mack may be the most moral of the characters. The problem is that he has a dogmatic morality, which does not work in a world filled with ambiguity. That being said, if the next Director has to be a member of the team who is neither Coulson nor May, the choices are limited:

• I have already noted my reservations about Daisy (e.g., lack of experience, too impulsive, not respected, not diplomatic).
  
• Elena has many of the same faults as Daisy. I will give Elena credit for prioritizing saving the world over saving an individual, even though she cared as much for that individual as anyone else did.
• Fitz had extensive experience at the top of a large organization. Unfortunately, it was (1) an evil organization (2) in a virtual reality. If the team were to remove the Doctor from Fitz, what is left is arguably the most moral member of the team, but one who lacks the strength of personality and confidence to be Director.
• While Coulson has acted otherwise, the chain of command in S.H.I.E.L.D. was not clear. My best guess is that the highest ranking member is Simmons, not Coulson. However, when Simmons was the highest ranking member of S.H.I.E.L.D. not trapped in the Framework, she f---ed things up so badly that it is not plausible that S.H.I.E.L.D. can ever regain respectability again.

Maybe Davis is up to the job. At least, why did he and Piper not get to vote?

The reality is that Mack is merely the Director of a band of improbably resourced vigilantes. S.H.I.E.L.D. is kaput.

On the other hand, I like the police officer's reaction ("Thank God!") when Mack made his announcement. Earlier in the season, I floated the idea that the River's End police recognized the team but said nothing because they did not believe reports that the team were villains. This idea was debunked in the very next episode. It is rather implausible for S.H.I.E.L.D. ever to be a legitimate organization again unless there is widespread rejection of the idea that they were villains.

I agree that Daisy should not have survived Talbot driving her into the ground. She theoretically could have used her powers to soften the blow. However, if she had, there would not have been a crater. If the force of the blow damaged the pavement that much, Daisy should have been spattered all over the place.

The idea that a simple action could break a time loop is a bit silly. However, if there was an event that did so, it appears that it was Simmons not injecting Coulson with the serum. That was the moment when Robin noted that something changed.

I wish that I did not have to keep using the word "silly" when describing the science in this show.

It seems that Talbot was defeated a bit too easily. I would have liked the rest of the team to have participated, but I also believe that Mack's priority on saving civilians was reasonable.

I loved Fitz's death scene. There was great acting by Iain De Caestecker, Henry Simmons, Ming-Na Wen, and I will add Elizabeth Henstridge as well for her two wordless scenes. I have a major problem with how the team handled the death afterward. They acted like there was a spare Fitz around so this was no big deal. A person still died, a person they have known for years. He went through all the pain, terror, and suffering that a person goes through when dying, although he was clearly in shock, which helped alleviate that. There is still a body that needs to be dealt with, assuming that it was not just left at the scene. If this body is buried, will he be buried with his wedding ring, or will the ring be swiped so that Frozen Fitz can use it?  Unless the team is still resentful over Fitz's Doctor-influenced actions, I wish that the team acted as if the life that was lost had value despite a replacement orbiting Jupiter.

Furthermore, Frozen Fitz is not the same as the one who died because the latter has a full season's worth of experiences that Frozen Fitz does not. Frozen Fitz never got married, never had a wedding night, and never met his grandson. The first two can be repeated, and legally this time, but it will not be the same for Simmons. Meanwhile, Frozen Fitz will have to deal with the fact that Simmons married and had a wedding night with someone else. Also, one of the benefits of having close relationships (of all kinds, not just romantic) is that there is another person who has shared our experiences and has memories of these experiences. Frozen Fitz will not have any shared memories of anything that the team has done over the past season.

The hint was that the team was going to use the Zephyr to go find Frozen Fitz. I hope that the writers think this through before doing that. It is plausible that the team knows that Enoch and Fitz are orbiting Jupiter. It would be a natural question for Fitz to ask Enoch, and Fitz could have told the rest of the team. However, even the fastest probe took over a year to reach Jupiter, and probes are launched when earth and Jupiter are at an ideal point in their orbits. The Zephyr needs to be refueled every other week or so. I doubt that there are gas stations along the way. Admittedly, as long as it is pointing in the right direction, inertia will take it where it needs to go. This will reduce energy usage as long as it does not need to spend energy on other things, like life support. Furthermore, it is a big plane, but it probably cannot hold enough food and water for a multi-year round trip, and I doubt that there is a water recycling system.

It seems much easier just to send a message to Enoch saying something like:

If Enoch does deliver Frozen Fitz, I hope the team understands how damaged Fitz is. The Doctor will still be in him. Fitz will need intensive treatment from a neurologist and/or psychiatrist, so the team will have to find ones they can trust. I am a bit concerned about Simmons. Initially, she preferred cardigan Fitz. However, by the time she became "invincible," she seems infatuated with the darker Fitz to an unhealthy level.

I noticed that Simmons took a drink along with the rest of the team. I really hope that this means that speculation of her pregnancy was false. Judging by Talbot's beard growth, at least two to three months passed since Simmons vomited, so she would definitely know by now if she were pregnant.

It is nice that Coulson left a note saying how proud he was of Daisy. Did he leave notes saying how proud he was of Simmons, (Frozen) Fitz, Mack, Elena, Davis, Piper...?

Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War