S7E07 Spoiler Thread :)

Man...first Mack had to see his daughter die...twice. Now he lost his parents. His tragic story can rival Bruce Wayne's. O.O

So... yeah. That was... an episode... I guess. One that I will most likely never watch again. Ever. In fact, I think once we're done commenting on it, I might just go ahead and pretend this episode never happened. 


Just so I can get this out of my system, though, here a few impressions: 

- I honestly thought I could not hate Mack any more than I already did. BOY, was I wrong! That sanctimonious, rude, dismissive, unreliable son of a bitch needs to step down as director immediately or - if necessary - be removed from that position by force. Preferrably the latter. He abandoned Deke, he abandoned the mission and thereby he even abandoned the entire fricking world. As far as I'm concerned, Mack doesn't even deserve to wear a S.H.I.E.L.D. badge, let alone run the organisation! 

- So apparently Deke kept gushing about Mack for a year, about him being the best leader ever. Sure. I mean, f*ck the real Coulson, right? 

- There were actually two instances in this garbage pile of an episode when the corners of my mouth twiched upwards. One, the robot going "Exterminate!" Fitzsimmons would have appreciated that one. Two, the little robot in the end driving up and down the stairs. I mean, sure, it made no logical sense that it would do that, but it was still adorable. 

- Deke has no regards for interlectual property. Mack was at least right with that one. Doesn't change the fact that while working on his music career, Deke also established a base, brought Coulson back, recruited a team, began training said team, kept looking out for mini-Mack and spent over a year reaching out to the grown-up, a-hole version to try and get him to come back to the mission and the agency. Doesn't mean I would want Deke to become the actual director of Shield at any point, but at least he displayed a f*ck-ton more leadership potential in this episode than Mack ever did. 

- "The past is sacred." What the fu--? Ugh! Honestly, I just can't even. Just get the f- out of here! 

- So, is May herself again? Because that was normal May. It seemed like she did already show signs of her usual persona in the previous episode, so I'm assuming that is intentional and not just Ming-Na screwing up the acting. 

- I. HATE. The shotgun-axe. 

- TV Coulson was easily the best part of this episode. There could have been more of him. 

- I liked discount Winona Rider. And the Brigitte Nielsen stand-in was actually slightly entertaining, too. 

- Why did the laser in the end not hurt Deke? That was weird. 

- Deke was originally introduced as a rather competend fighter, who even took on May, plus, he's been spending a lot of time in his framework game, learning how to shoot. He should not need Mack's help to handle three silly low-tech robots. 


To sum things up: All in all this episode was definitely NOT my kind of humour, BUT I think the concept could have worked if there had been other characters in the focus. Mack is horrible. Just... horrible. And the fact that the character keeps displaying the worst kind of behaviour over and over and over again and yet the writers keep promoting him makes me want to puke. And while I do actually like Deke a lot, I also think he works better in small doses. To have him at the centre of an episode with a "whacky" concept to begin with just keeps pushing things into cringe territory imo. So, if we had to spent an episode on someone being stranded in the past for a few years, I rather it would have been Elena in the 70s or something. This episode did not work for me at all. 

So, yeah, this was me telling you how I really feel!

I was sick of self-pity moping Mack five minutes into the episode. On a side note, since he didn't touch the groceries Deke brought and there was no other interaction, where was Mack getting the money for all the model cars and beer? I'm not even going to start on what would happen to someone's body if their entire intake was just beer and no food for an extended period of time.

I don't think Deke was ever a real member of the team with Coulson in charge.
Another reference you probably don't know.  The red eye moving from side to side is from the Cylons of the original Battlestar Galactica back in 1979. 


They also completely ignored that the actual SHIELD should be around and Deke's group going around using their name and logo is just asking for trouble.
I also thought May was completely back to normal.  Makes me wonder if they had a stop in the middle themselves and were simply unable to reach Mack and Deke because of a combination of distance and Mack wanting to be unreachable.
Agreed, except i still want to call him Phil Headroom.
I'm not sure I'm with the Winona connection.  I liked the character and wouldn't mind her sticking around, but I guess I either didn't get the same vibe or missed a couple of her movies that you've seen.
It just wasn't all that powerful.  Remember, the blonde wasn't hurt badly either.  It was probably enough to cause pain, but not do severe damage.
Lasers that would kill would be high tech.  And I think Deke would have handled them if Mack hadn't joined in, it just would have taken a little longer.  The biggest thing Mack did was being calm and collected about the situation.

And what was up with the way Elena was running when she was getting to Mack?  We've seen her run with a proper stride before, but this time she was running like she desperately needed to go to the bathroom.

To not even mention the fricking house he lived in. Yeah, it was weird that they didn't even put a throwaway line in there about how Mack was financing his living. 


True, but his first contact with the team in the future was while Coulson was still leading them. And that was when the entire team's mentality impressed Deke enough that he was ultimately willing to die for them, so I don't think he should be knocking Coulson like that. 


Oh, come on, give me some credit! I know my pop culture basics!  

Plus, they used that effect more than once on the new Galactica show, so it's not exactly something that's burried in the 70s/80s. 


Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. For the duration of the episode I can buy it, as "The Deke Squad" seemed to remain pretty much contained to the Lighthouse. But I wonder what the plan is going forward, especially for the new agents Deke recruited. 


Well, let's hope the show gives us a few straight answers on that question next week. Given their track record in that regard, though, I wouldn't really count on it. 


Works for me. 


I guess the haircut just really reminds me of her in Stranger Things.


The blonde was hurled halfway through the corridor, though. 


Except they did not kill, did they?  


Well, I was still mindful enough not to trip over any filters, but that was about the extent of my restraint.  

I am going to try a new strategy. I will assume that it is not realistic to see much of Fitz this season. This way, the show can prove me wrong.

I noticed that Deke altered the lyrics to "Don't You (Forget about Me)." For example, "Slow change may pull us apart/When the light gets into your heart, baby" became "Slow change may pull us apart/Or if the knife stabs into your heart, Daisy." And there were people last week who poo-pooed my concern about a Deke-Daisy-Sousa love triangle. A fickle woman who cannot decide between two men is one version of a love triangle, but not the only one. I concede that no woman on this show has shown so much indifference toward a man who was clearly infatuated with her since Simmons in the second season. Obviously, that went nowhere as we have yet to see the man in question this season.

With all of the blood and gore, I can see how someone might mistake this for a fifth season episode.

Was I the only one who saw "R. Glass" on a uniform and wondered if it were a reference to the actor who played Dr. Streiten, among other characters that we may be familiar with?

We saw Mack use a chain as a weapon, but without fire. I guess that this is because Ghost Rider is no longer inside him.

I see that Sibyl declared that she and Nathaniel make the perfect pair. If Nathaniel meets the same fate as the person who made a "perfect pair" with Sibyl earlier in the episode, a lot of people on this site will be very happy.


From what I can tell, a lot of people were wondering where the money came from. For Deke, his band eventually reached the point where it made enough money to support him, but it was not clear where he got the money to form the band or to live on until they became successful. For Mack, it is just a mystery. Part of me suspects that they raided a cash cache (see what I did there) at the Lighthouse, but that would conflict with Mack's holier than thou attitude.

For anyone who is actually wondering what would happen with a long term diet of alcohol, see Korsakoff syndrome.


I am sure that the show had Cylons in mind, but KITT from Knight Rider also had a red light that moved back and forth. There were a lot of references in this episode. I doubt that anyone caught all of them. If the writer and director were to rewatch this episode today, they would probably miss a couple that they have forgotten.


I am old enough to remember that Max Headroom actually did sell Coke, the kind that Deke thought that Cricket sold, not the kind that Cricket probably sold.

Good point about the bike. Hadn't thought of that. 

I also assumed Mack might have had some cash on him while getting stranded, but it would hardly have been enough to support him for more than a couple of days. But, yeah, good thing he went for a ride when he needed air and not just for a stroll. (Although, that would have made ditching Deke a lot harder! )