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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Collision Course, Part 1

"The past doesn't matter."

This was a very exciting episode, especially the final few minutes. Collision course, indeed, as the agents on ground, air and space were all headed to the same point.

I liked that "Collision Course" didn't keep us guessing the identity of the Beast and revealed in a very straightforward way that it is Izel. After "Toldja," it was kind of obvious that Izel was either the Beast or a red herring, and if she isn't the latter, there is no point in stalling about her being the former. As the season's mystery begins to unfold, it's clear that the plot revolves around the war between Izel and Sarge, and the Earth is simply caught in the middle. There's new information coming from several people here – Sarge, off-screen Benson and Izel herself. Let's recap:

Izel is from a dimension of fear and darkness. The Monoliths, also known as the Di'Allas, were stolen from her world. She's been looking for them, and that's why she went to Chronyca-2 and why she is headed to Earth now. She creates the Shrike, who possess people and drain energy from the planet until its destruction. That has caused the destruction of a few planets so far, including Chronyca-2 and Jaco's, and it has also pissed off Sarge along the way. It's not clear yet why Sarge wants to take her out so badly and prevent her from destroying other planets – even if he sacrifices one last one in the process – but he says it himself: he is motivated by hate.

I love how well this connects with the show's mythology. Last season, the explosion of the three monoliths created a dimension of fear. Well, maybe it didn't create a fear dimension, but it was a bridge to one. And it makes so much sense that the last planet Izel went to was Chronyca-2, since, I'm assuming now, Enoch and Noah were the ones who took the Monoliths to the Lighthouse last season. The show never explored that story as well as it could have, and I'm glad they are revisiting it now. There are some lingering questions yet to be addressed, though. Why does Izel destroy planets? What does she have to gain from it? Once she finds the Monoliths, what will she use them for? Why is Sarge still so vague about his past? We must all stay tuned.

Simmons was quick to shut down Fitz once she realized that Izel was talking about Monoliths, but why didn't she come to the conclusion that Izel is bad news? If there is a person traumatized by Monoliths, that's Simmons. There was even evidence that something fishy was going on, and yet neither Fitz or Simmons realized they were driving home a dangerous person. Not so smart, right? They did have the time to discuss their peculiar situation, what with this Fitz being the second one and all. That was a conversation I expected to take place in "Inescapable," and I'm glad to see it finally happen. Of course Fitz is going to have trouble with being "the replacement." Even though the approach was somewhat comedic, written and played as if Fitz was being jealous of himself, it's a perfectly reasonable existential conflict for Fitz right now. I wonder if we will see more of that later.


Also going through complicated questions is Daisy, who finally has a moment alone with Sarge and tries to dig some information out of him. She is yet another person from Coulson's life that can't accept that this man just happens to be his exact replica. So far she has shut down any possibility of Sarge having some connection with Coulson (beyond the looks). As she says it, Sarge's existence is the universe pulling a big cosmic joke on them, but maybe she wants it to be something more meaningful and less painful. Could it be?

Intel and Assets

- I'm loving Mack and Deke's interaction this season. 10% of Deke's company? Mack knows how to negotiate.

- Sarge didn't pick Snowflake because she was his favorite, but because she was the expendable one. Poor Snow, I actually like her. She is nuts in a cool way.

- Deke and Snowflake ("Snowbunny?") are now a couple. That's so ridiculous and fun. It also means that nothing will ever happen between Daisy and Deke, which is the right choice, really.

- I loved Yo-Yo speed-chaining Pax and speed-pushing Jaco inside the containment module. They never saw what was coming for them.

- Also loved Mack and Yo-Yo's conversation about how he needs to look up to Jaco. Winston James Francis is indeed a very big man.

- Bad continuity when Sarge "teleported" to the Zephyr. There was no guard there while Pax set up Jaco's jacket to his arrival.

- I was not expecting to see Enoch again. What will the Chronicoms use Fitzsimmons' brains for?

- It seems that a magical sword is the weapon to defeat Izel.

Quotes

Mack: "I'm not very fluent in vague."

Sarge (to May): "You just kinda glare all steely-eyed like that and then beat people senseless."
Clearly, Whedony is an interplanetary language.

Daisy: "I'm a hacker."
Snowflake: "Like, you hack off limbs?"

Mack: "You ever hear the name, uh, 'Izel?' Keeps popping up on his research. Something from Incan mythology."
Yo-Yo: "Oh, right. So, because I'm from South America, I must know something about Incan mythology?"

May (re: Izel): "What's her motive?"
Sarge: "Hatred. For all living things."
Daisy: "What's yours?"
Sarge: "Love. No, it's hate. That's my thing too."

A solid, cool episode. Three out of four puffies (they were back!).
--
Lamounier

2 comments:

  1. I don't believe the show was saying that Enoch and Noah brought the Monoliths to the Lighthouse. If that were the case surely Enoch would have mentioned that when the Chronicoms were looking into time travel. Also SHIELD had a pic of those 3 Monoliths in 6x05 which I don't think they would have had time to take in 5x11 (though I guess Coulson had a pic of Sif from 1x15 so who knows. I think the most likely explanation is that the Kree may have done something in the past since they ended up with another space Monolith that hasn't really been explained so far.

    Now in regards to Izel I really have to wonder why she needed a ship if the Shrike were able to get to Earth through a rift or something. There has to be a reason why the latter is possible but Izel can't use that method herself. And if she knew that the Monoliths were on Earth what was taking her so long to finally go there?

    Still pretty miffed that the Fitz situation is being played comedically given everything that happened to Daisy last season that hasn't been addressed.

    Dekeflake is an unexpected but welcome couple. If it gets him away from Daisy I'm all for it. However I'm not putting my guard down until Deke dies, Daisy hooks up with somebody else or the series is over.

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