My thoughts on the fifth season

Here are the things that I disliked about the season. You may notice that this post is much longer than my first post. This does not mean that I hated the season. While I rate it below the fourth season, particularly below the last nine episodes of the fourth season, I rate it about equal to the third season and clearly above the first two seasons. However, when writing for fans of the show, I can get away with simply listing the things that I liked without having to defend my opinion or cite several examples. When writing about what I do not like about the season, I do have to defend my position and cite examples.

Again, I abhor spoilers and have been avoiding articles and threads that cover the sixth season. I am sure that there is information that contradicts some of my speculation. Please let me and the other spoilerphobes find out when the episodes air and not before.


Filler

At midseason, we had a debate as to whether there was filler in the first half of the season. I was on the side of there being filler. (Actually, I am not completely convinced that "filler" is the best word, but I cannot think of a better word right now.) The way that I see it, episodes one through five, much of episode six, and all of episode eight were primarily setup and exposition. This left only one third of the first ten episodes devoted to things actually happening. This is the wrong ratio or, at least, the wrong direction.

The (in-universe) purpose of sending the team into the future was to gather information that can be used to save the world. In other words, they learned that:

• The world will be largely destroyed.
• Someone named Kasius will enslave what is left of humanity.
• Kasius will have an interest in Inhumans.
• The phrase, "Destroyer of Worlds," will be relevant.
• Robin Hilton and gravitonium will be useful.
• Mack will not live long after returning to the present.
• Trying to save Coulson will lead to the destruction of the world.

It took a full ten episodes to learn the above. Just about everything else was irrelevant to what they needed to save the world.


At the time, I believed that there were many elements that seemed insignificant in 2091 but would become crucial by the end of the season. For example, I expected that there would be something in the Grill subplot that would become a key factor in saving the world. Now, I have to say that I was wrong and that beren44 was right about how the first ten episodes could have been condensed to four or five, although I think that five may be more reasonable than four.

That being said, I did enjoy the episodes. It is just that the episodes were good pieces of a narrative that were not put together well. If this were a new show about a handful of people from the present being transported to a dystopian future, and if that show planned to remain in the future indefinitely, the first ten episodes would not be so bad because there would presumably me a lot more than 3 1/3 episodes devoted to things happening. Perhaps if there were a lot more information that turned out to be useful to save the world, it would not be so bad. For me, the problem was that I knew that the team was going to be sent back to the present where the important events would occur. The show simply took too long to get there without giving us much that was relevant on the way.

I Thought That There Was an Actress Named Elizabeth Henstridge on the Show


I started looking at the amount of dialogue that each character speaks in each episode partly to answer questions like this quantitatively rather than through an impression. The reviewer got the sense that Simmons has been on the periphery this season. I agree, but I can also say that she was among the top five characters with the most dialogue in an episode for only four episodes across the entire season. Either she was dumped into peripheral plots or she played a peripheral role in the main plot. In other words, some variation of the word, "periphery," describes her role this season. Overall, she had less dialogue in this season than in any other season of the show, even less than in the second season when she missed three entire episodes infiltrating Hydra (I counted Fitz's hallucination as a separate character).

In some ways, the fifth season paralleled the fourth season. In both seasons, she did surprisingly well (third of all characters) in the opening episode and was very prominent in three episodes starting about two thirds of the way through the season. For much of the rest of the season, she was sidelined. For example, it felt like she was promoted to SADIST in the fourth season so that she could say, "I'm sorry. I cannot participate in the main plot of this episode because I have to attend a meeting." The fourth season also contained a three episode streak ("Lockup," "The Good Samaritan," and "Deals with Our Devils") in which she had no interaction with any of the regular characters other than a brief interaction with Fitz in the beginning of "Lockup" and another at the end of "Deals with Our Devils."

However, the show's treatment of Simmons was not as bad in the fourth season as it was in the fifth season. In the fourth season, she got to go gallivanting with Daisy as part of the main plot in "Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire." When her time to shine arrived, she became the only character other than Coulson to have the most dialogue in an episode for three consecutive episodes. Furthermore, this was in "Self Control," one of the best episodes of the entire show, and in the first two episodes of the Framework arc, one of the best arcs of the entire show.

The fifth season contained no equivalent of "Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire." When she finally had the focus on her, she finished in the top two for three out of four episodes as part of the "We are invincible!" story arc, an arc that I will get to later in this section on things that I did not like about this season.

Henstridge is probably the best female actor on the show. She took a plot hole ridden script for "4,722 Hours" and almost singlehandedly turned it into the high point of the entire show. An actress of her talent elevates the show when she has the opportunity. Unfortunately she was shoved to the side for most of the season and given bad writing for the one time in which she was not.

In case you are wondering, I have posted my data on character dialogue as IMDb lists:

• Season 1
• Season 2
• Season 3
• Season 4
• Season 5
• Season 6

Too Much Focus on New Characters

Simmons was not the only character shoved aside. This was also the worst season by far for Coulson and Daisy in terms of the amount of dialogue that they had, and it was Mack's worst season since the second season when he was officially a recurring character. For Daisy, this was in part because she may be moving from being a co-lead to being part of the ensemble. However, for all of these characters, this was also in part because new characters were prominent. In the first half of the season, Deke had more dialogue than any other character had with Kasius coming in second. Over the entire season, Deke had more dialogue than any character other than Coulson.

As far as the writers knew, this was the last season of the show. If this were the case, the one thing that would have been most important to me would be to spend what time was left with the characters that I grew to care about over the first four years of the show. This does not include Deke, Kasius, or anyone named Hale (although Kasius was a good villain).

I am worried that this will continue in the sixth season. In addition to the seven regular characters from the fifth season (and they ALL better return eventually including Coulson and Fitz), Deke will become a regular character. It is likely that Davis and Piper will be around at least part time. In addition, there will be new characters described in articles that I have not read to avoid spoilers. It will be tough to give all these people sufficient time in a thirteen-episode season, especially if other recurring characters show up as well (e.g., the Koenigs may return, the writers have suggested that Talbot may not be dead, and I doubt that we have seen the last of Taryan).

Team Constantly Separated

Unless I missed something, these are the only times this season in which all seven main characters were in the same room at the same time:

• Flashbacks to the diner scene at the end of the fourth season.
• When the team arrived in 2018 (with Daisy unconscious) in "All the Comforts of Home."
• When the team watched a video of the Kree beacon in "All the Comforts of Home."
• When the team bickered in "Option Two."
• Just after the team elected Mack as the leader in "The End."

The show has improved a lot since the first season, but one thing that I miss about the first season is that the entire team often worked together on a problem. Since then, the team has spent more and more time split on various barely connected subplots. The fifth season was rather extreme in this regard.



A very rare occurrance during the fifth season: All seven members of the team (plus Noah) in a single shot (from 5x11 "All the Comforts of Home").

Daisy in Charge

I have covered my reservations about Daisy being in charge elsewhere, but, as I am summarizing my feelings about the season here, I will repeat them.

First, Daisy herself is unqualified:

• She is too impulsive.
• She is not diplomatic.
• She lacks experience.
• What leadership experience she has is poor (led three people for a few months—1/3 dead, 1/3 quit, 1/3 mutinied).

Some have suggested that Daisy has leadership potential. If she does, I must be missing something.

Also, even if she were the right person, how she was given the power was done poorly. Coulson simply handed the job to her as if S.H.I.E.L.D. were a family business to be passed from father to daughter. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not a family business. It has to be accountable to someone, presumably whoever is funding S.H.I.E.L.D. (The films suggested that S.H.I.E.L.D. is accountable to an international World Council. At times, the show suggested that S.H.I.E.L.D. is accountable to the U.S. government.) Whoever this someone is had no say in the matter. The subordinates also had no say as the subsequent mutiny demonstrated. Furthermore, there is no S.H.I.E.L.D. to be director of. S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded at some point when Fitz was in prison. Finally, if there was someone within S.H.I.E.L.D. who could anoint a new Director, it may not be Coulson. Coulson either stepped down as Director or was fired (depending on the episode) between the third and fourth seasons. At very least, Simmons is of equal rank to Coulson if not Acting Director.

Hale Hydra

I have some problems with the first part of the season, but Kasius and Sinara were compelling. In the second half of the season, the Hales were not. Dove Cameron may be a good actress, but I saw no evidence of that on the show. She either was incapable of creating a compelling character or she was not trying. We have had over-the-top villains on the show—Garrett and Cal come to mind—but Bill Paxton and Kyle MacLachlan were much better actors. This is not all Cameron's fault. Garrett and Cal (and Kasius) were well written, whereas the writers did not see Ruby as being more than a whiny brat.

Mama Hale was simply dull. I can understand that her frustration at having her potential ignored simply because all Hydra could see was that she possessed a uterus. She may have wanted to be an astronaut, but being a Hydra astronaut simply means that she would have spent 14 years alone on a planet. (Granted there was a very nice perk at the end of the 14 years.) I simply did not care. Also, I was already starting to get tired of Hydra by the time Talbot took them out near the end of the third season. I think that the show can do better by creating new villains rather than relying on the same old organization.

One interesting thing that we learned about Hydra was that they were a very patriarchal organization. I wonder if this could be the explanation for why Simmons languished in the lab so long when she infiltrated Hydra between the first and second seasons.

Everyone Is Stupid

One aspect that has created a lot of discussion early in the season is Simmons's apparent loss of about 80 IQ points. To summarize what I and others have noted:

• She examined dead bodies without protective gear even though in "FZZT" she almost died due to an alien virus contracted from a dead body.
• She failed to realize that recognizing constellations meant that she was not merely in the Milky Way but that she was in the Solar System.
• Despite many warnings to avoid calling attention to herself, she performed first aid on a wounded servitor with techniques more advanced than what a local human would know.
• She referred to "advanced procedures" to Kasius when knowledge of advanced procedures would raise very uncomfortable questions.
• She twice screamed "What is wrong with you?" to Kasius.
• She attacked Kasius with a butter knife.
• She asked Fitz to marry her when she does not know the post-Framework Fitz well enough to marry him. In fact, she later seemed fine with someone who she knows has sadistic and evil tendencies.
• Back in 2018, she conducted surgery without gloves or masks.
• She got the idea that she is invulnerable and created a very risky test with a 75% chance of getting herself killed if she were wrong.

This is frustrating to me because Simmons is one of my favorite characters. There are several reasons why, but one is that when an ensemble contains a smart female character (e.g., Lisa Simpson, Hermione Granger, Willow Rosenberg), that character is usually one of my favorites. I prefer my smart women to be smart.

I do have to give her credit for figuring out how to get the Zephyr to the Lighthouse. Even Enoch was (eventually) impressed. She also figured out how to reboot the trawler.

However, it was not just Simmons who was stupid this season.

The characters as a whole failed to blend in to the surroundings when they first arrived in 2091. For example, despite warnings about the consequences, Daisy insisted on charging into unknown territory to rescue Simmons from Simmons's failure to blend in. I understand that blending in a new situation and maintaining a low profile can be difficult. It is not as if Daisy worked for a spy agency for the last few years. No, wait, she did work for a spy agency. She was an idiot.

Coulson, Mack, and May all continued to act suspiciously in "A Life Spent" even though they knew that Zev was looking over their shoulder. When Zev inevitably caught them, they refused to do what was necessary. When this episode ended, I thought that that was Simmons-level stupidity. I understand that maintaining cover is a difficult skill. It is not as if they worked for a spy agency or anything. Never mind, they were idiots.

Upon returning to 2018, Coulson fell into two of Hale's traps. The first I understand. The bait was a trusted former colleague, and it would be a boring show if the villains were so inept that they never got the best of the heroes. However, the second time, knowing that Hale was inclined to set traps, Coulson walked into a trap nearly identical to one that Rosalind Price set up in the third season.

Mack (and Fitz) fell for Simmons's trick with the phosphoric acid despite it not being a particularly good test of her hypothesis as there was a 25% possibility that she would avoid the acid by chance. Meanwhile, Mack and Fitz missed the fact that acid would burn her mouth and esophagus before reaching her stomach, and that she would probably smell the acid before it even reached her mouth and esophagus. Even if they believed the act, the best course of action would have been to dilute the acid in her stomach with the water that was allegedly in the final beaker while sending the character with superspeed to fetch the antidote.

I could go on by describing events like Daisy giving Talbot a phone when it was likely that Talbot's family was compromised or May firing a gun in closed quarters.

If the idea was that the Framework or time travel messed with the characters' heads, thus causing them to act stupidly, the show could have done a better job at showing that. Instead, this came across as contrived reasons to get the team in trouble.

Timey-Wimey Crap

I understand that most shows, including science-fiction shows, are written by writers who took mostly humanities courses in college with the bare minimum of science courses. These writers write dialogue for actors who also took mostly humanities courses in college (if they went to college) with the bare minimum of science courses. The problem with science-fiction shows is that among the people who watch them are people who took too many science courses and write 13,000+ word analyses of the shows.

In some cases, a show can get away with ignoring real science and using its own. For example, Doctor Who (where the "timey-wimey" phrase came from) has its own rules about time travel. I do not mind as it tends to be consistent in its rules, which, admittedly, are not much more than "anything goes."

Sometimes, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. invents its own science. For example, EMPs in the show do not work like EMPs in real life. The psychology used to explain the Framework and its effects does not resemble human psychology. Anything involving a certain guy with a flaming head or the Darkhold probably belongs in the realm of fantasy rather than science fiction. As long as the show is consistent with its rules, I am OK with it.

There are times when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. likes to think that it uses real science. In "Spacetime," Fitz described the concept of spacetime. This was not some pet theory of his. Instead, it represented a time in which the writers took the effort to research real science (albeit dumbed down for the other characters) and incorporate it into the show. Once this was incorporated into the show, it became part of the show's science.

In the real world, time travel forward in time in four-dimensional space is theoretically possible. As one approaches the speed of light, time will slow down compared to those who are traveling considerably slower. Time travel backward in time is impossible in four-dimensional space. I will not go so far as to say that time travel backward in time is theoretically possible in five-dimensional space, but I will say that it is hypothetically possible. In any case, time travel back in time requires at least a fifth dimension. Traveling back to 2018 thus established that there is a fifth dimension.

Once a fifth dimension is established, then there is a possibility of multiple timelines. The timeline that Fitz saw in episodes six through ten existed/exists/will exist. That world will be destroyed. Daisy will be blamed. Survivors will gather in the Lighthouse. Kasius will enslave the survivors. The team will eventually show up and kill off the Kree. Humanity will live in freedom until Taryan comes and exterminates all of humanity to avenge his sons' deaths. (Come on, you did not really think that humanity had a happy ending, did you?)

Someone as smart as Fitz should realize that the team could easily be in a new timeline in which the fate of earth has yet to be determined. At times, he acted as if his science education came primarily from Back to the Future and Groundhog Day. His refusal to recognize the obvious became very annoying and, in fact, could have been listed in the Everyone Is Stupid section above.

I admit that I am being arbitrary as to when I expect the show to adhere to real science and when I accept flame-headed demons. However, once the writers took the effort to research real science, I feel that they should have stuck by real-world science in that area.

We Are Invincible!

The one time when Simmons finally was at the center of the show, she was saddled with an inane plot in which she got the idea that the existence of Deke meant that she and Fitz were invincible. Besides not necessarily being true, as they were likely in a separate timeline, she seemed almost wild-eyed in her enthusiasm for this idea. Henstridge is capable of being subtle, so I have to assume that portraying Simmons as nearly insane was a conscious choice, albeit a bad one.

I will at least give Simmons credit for asking Deke if she were horribly maimed in the future. However, she did not take into account the possibility that she spent a significant amount of time in a padded cell wearing a straitjacket or that someone else may be killed or maimed rescuing her from her own stupidity.

I admit that bunch of robots with automatic weapons and nearly unlimited ammunition being unable to hit her and Fitz at near point-blank range provided evidence for her case. I am also aware that Elena shared this idea. This bugged me less as she has always been more hot-headed than either Simmons or Fitz and was never presented as being a scientist. It seemed less out of character, although it was still annoying.

Selfishness


This review went easy on them. Every S.H.I.E.L.D. facility has a Wall of Valor containing the names of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who sacrificed their lives to protect innocents. These two were willing to risk the lives of billions of innocents to save their own skins. I understand that Fitz and Simmons do not want to die nor do they want the other to die, but the billions of people that they were willing to risk also do not want to die and have loved ones as well. The most charitable explanation is that Fitz and Simmons are weak, too weak to be part of S.H.I.E.L.D. in any capacity outside a lab. Admittedly, this is not new. In "Maveth," Simmons sacrificed the lives of twelve people to save herself while Fitz was busy bringing Hive back to earth to stop Hydra from torturing Simmons.

Part of the problem is, as the quote said, Fitz and Simmons are supposed to be heroes. I do not want to say that characters must be either all good or all evil. In fact, I like moral ambiguity. In Game of Thrones, nearly every character acts in her or his own self interest, with some occasionally doing the right thing if it is not too much trouble. The Australian Red Cross has found that, across the first 67 episodes, 23 different characters and one anonymous group have committed 103 separate violations of International Humanitarian Law, not counting other evil acts committed outside armed combat (e.g., marital rape or tossing ten-year-olds out windows). Many of these were committed by people who were considered to be good guys, at least by Game of Thrones standards. The few who put honor over self interest are generally viewed as fools and have short life expectancies. In The Sopranos, most of the characters were outright villains who sometimes do terrible things for the sake of doing terrible things. If Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were like these shows, I would not have a problem with Fitz and Simmons's actions. However, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is different. It aims at a younger audience (for example, it regularly gets Teen Choice nominations) and therefore has clearer divisions between heroes and villains. The fifth season is a bit late for the show to veer suddenly into Game of Thrones territory.

(I have watched every episode of The Sopranos, but I am only as far as season 6 of Game of Thrones. No spoilers please.)

So, in "All Roads Lead...," what was the difference between Hale, who was supposed to be a villain, and Fitz and Simmons, who are supposed to be heroes? Hale was willing to endanger a handful of people to avenge the death of a loved one. Fitz and Simmons were willing to endanger billions to save a loved one. Hale collaborated with aliens who wanted to enslave humans. Fitz and Simmons collaborated with a nutcase who wanted the power to destroy the world. Is the line between good and evil thin enough to pass between Hale and FitzSimmons and, if it does, who was on which side?

This selfishness was not limited to FitzSimmons. One can say that May was equally selfish when she destroyed to odium in "The End" to ensure that the centipede serum would be used to save Coulson rather than to save the world. On the other hand, I do not know if anyone other than some of the characters thought that it was a good idea to take a person (Talbot/Graviton) who was already very powerful, dangerous, and out of control and give him a substance that will make him even more powerful, dangerous, and out of control. The action may have been for the best even if the motive was selfish.

Fear Dimension

It is plausible that there may be alternate dimensions. I will even go so far as to say that it is plausible that blowing up melty rocks will open a portal to one of these dimensions. However, any alternate dimension will be a varied as ours. Having a "fear dimension" is about as implausible as a dimension with nothing but shrimp. The show could easily have come up with something more plausible. For example, the portal could have opened in an atmosphere with hallucinogenic gas that causes people to see their fears. The problem is that the writers seemed to want the characters to be in real peril. If this is the case, the dimension could have creatures that resemble boggarts from the Harry Potter books. Having something that was simply a fear dimension feels like lazy writing.

Aftermath of Fitz's Death

I do not have a problem with killing off a Fitz. In fact, it was unlikely that the show would have one Fitz on earth while there is a second orbiting Jupiter, at least not for long. I also do not have a problem with his death scene or with the wordless scenes that followed. In fact, they were well done. I do have a problem with the show trying to fool us into thinking that the characters actually cared enough about the Fitz that died to have a memorial service for him when they instead had the attitude that there was an equally good substitute in the freezer.

A colleague still died. Unless the characters still held a grudge for his actions in "The Devil Complex" and afterward, it seems to me that the Fitz who died was worthy of a memorial service and a plaque in the Zephyr. In fact, Fitz is probably more worthy of the plaque than Coulson was. After all, Fitz designed the Zephyr in his spare time when, in the real world, it would take teams of engineers years to design a plane like that.

It felt almost as if a couple who is pregnant with a second child loses their first child and thinks, "We have a second child on the way so it does not matter." They may love the second child, but they still experienced a loss. In the show, 17% of Fitz's dialogue and 18% of his screen time took place after he was put in the freezer. This part of Fitz is gone. Simmons in particular should feel this loss. The Fitz who she married is dead. She did not marry the other one (yet). He cannot be a complete substitute.

Deke's Reappearance Spoiled

Deke's reappearance in "All the Comforts of Home" was supposed to be a surprise. It is too bad that the publicity people had to ruin it by having Jeff Ward (and nobody else introduced this season) participate with the rest of the cast in promos for the 100^th episode that took place after the return to the present. This showed that he would still be part of the show then.

Key Points Needing Off-Screen Explanation

Anton Ivanov may belong in the company of forgettable villains like Eli Morrow and the Hales rather than with the great villains like Garrett, Ward, Raina, and AIDA/Madame Hydra/Ophelia. However, he has been a moderately important villain across two seasons. If he is to be killed off for real, it should be clear unless the intention is to create an "is he dead or not" mystery. When Elena killed the real Ivanov's head, there was a bit of blood. However, the D in LMD stands for "Decoy." Their purpose is to fool enemies into thinking that they are human. This means that LMDs bleed in situations when humans bleed. Even the quickly slapped together LMD Fitz in "Self Control" had enough blood to fool Simmons for a bit. The writers could easily have added a line of dialogue indicating that we were seeing Ivanov's real head. The crew should not have to tell us after the fact that Elena killed the real Ivanov rather than just another of his LMDs.

The crew had to do this again with the "Quake Ball" that saved Daisy when Talbot tried to drive her into the ground in "The End." When rewatching the scene, I could see the visual effect that was intended to be a "Quake Ball," but it was not clear what it was supposed to be. Daisy has cushioned falls before, starting with Rosalind Price in the third season. However, she always cushioned falls. This fall was not cushioned. It created a giant crater. It blew chunks of asphalt a few stories into the air, and it caused damage to nearby buildings. Whatever happened appears to be a brand new power.

The most plausible explanation that I can come up with is that she did two separate things: (1) she used her powers to create a crater, giving herself a bit more time to (2) cushion her fall. If this is true, then she accomplished more than just saving herself. She also inadvertently got revenge on Fitz for removing her inhibitor by killing him.

I would compare this to the end of "Maveth" when the containment module carrying Mack, Daisy, Fitz, and Coulson arrived on the Zephyr to the delight of everyone except Simmons. Even though she could clearly see Fitz through the window of the module and should have been able to see him walk out unless she has severe glaucoma, she still stared forlornly into the module as if Fitz were at best a distant second on the list of people she was hoping would return. This was not the intended interpretation, which forced the writers to dump the director under public transportation and say that the scene was directed wrong.

Minor Issues

These are a few things that merely bugged me.

• I wish that I did not know about Hunter's return before he appeared on screen.
• I am not a fan of having Deke be FitzSimmons's grandson.  It felt to contrived.
• Dog murdering should have simply been Garrett's twisted idea and Whitehall should have brainwashing to himself. Making these universal in Hydra takes away from the individual characterization and pushes them toward being more generic Hydra leaders.
• Early in the season, the show seemed to use the Framework as an excuse for how characters suddenly acquired new skills. For example, Mack is now fluent in Spanish because a school system that omits any mention of the Holocaust, the Trail of Tears, or Martin Luther King would require all students to learn Spanish. Fitz suddenly gained action-hero skills even though he played the same science and engineering role in the Framework that he does with S.H.I.E.L.D.