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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: From the Ashes

"Coulson died a year ago. I'm done pretending like that didn't happen."

With the season finale right around the corner, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. puts Daisy's emotional journey at the center and finally addresses how she faced and has been dealing with Coulson's death.

Skye

When this season started, a year had passed since Coulson died and so had the time to grieve him. Daisy was in deep space running the mission to find Fitz. We never got to see her state of mind in the aftermath of Coulson's death. "From the Ashes" works well because, like "The Other Thing" did for May, it explores how the presence of a man wearing Coulson's face shakes Daisy and brings to the surface feelings or mourning and loss that she doesn't want to deal with.

As Simmons points out, Daisy has a pattern of leaving, although, to be fair, she left S.H.I.E.L.D. in season two for her own safety. Nonetheless, it makes sense that she would embark on the journey to find Fitz as a way to distance herself as much as possible from the place that reminded her of Coulson. Then she returns a year later and there it is, Coulson's double as big cosmic joke on her.

Daisy didn't want to consider Sarge having something of Coulson not only because so many of Sarge's actions were despicable, but because she didn't want that possibility as solace. She had buried Coulson and moved on, no reason to dig the grave. But as her confrontations with both Sarge and May proved, there was a lot she was repressing. I already knew that Daisy would eventually hug Sarge, because the season promo freaking spoiled it, but the scene still managed to surprise me for how well written it was. By simply calling Daisy by her old name, Sarge unknowingly let her know that he indeed had something of Coulson inside him. Chloe Bennet did a good job reacting to all of it and, again, the writing was on point: the scene evoked strong feelings of denial versus acceptance but never went into melodramatic territory when Daisy dropped the sword and went for the hug.

I'm still on the fence regarding this whole "Coulson plus Pachakutiq equals Sarge," but the interactions between Daisy, May and Sarge were the emotional set up the story needed before the finale.

The Fitzsimmons


The Fitzsimmons were a hoot this episode. I loved seeing all three of them work together to figure things out, and even more that the writers allowed Deke to have a win. Even with all the other emotional stuff going on, Deke's reaction to Fitz's approval was probably my favorite bit of the episode. Jeff Ward nailed that moment and he plays off DeCaestecker and Henstridge really well. More of that, please.

Mack and Yo-Yo

One thing I realized while writing this review is that the characters were split in three little families: May, Coulson and Daisy; the Fitzsimmons; and, finally, Mack, Yo-Yo and... Flint! I can't believe he is back, even if as a manifestation of Mack and Yo-Yo's current fear: seeing Izel's plan come to fruition. Can we keep him? We are probably keeping Not!Coulson, why not Not!Really!Flint?

Mack and Yo-Yo tried their best to fight against Izel, or at least to slow her down, and they were a great duo at it. It was clever of Yo-Yo to mention Keller to tip Benson off, and Mack and Yo-Yo's plan to get Benson out was pretty cool (although, Yo-Yo not being pulled outside the Zephyr was a bit of a stretch).

But not all of Mack and Yo-Yo moments were of peril, as "From the Ashes" saved some time to reestablish them as a couple. Even though he would defend his choice to surrender himself to Izel as a tactical one, Mack eventually admitted that feelings were involved in the decision. Like Daisy repressed her feelings regarding Coulson's death, Mack didn't allow himself to think about his love for Yo-Yo, and now that they are, uh, on speaking terms again, he won't lose sight of her. Will they survive Izel's apocalypse, though, and have the proper time to resume their relationship?

Intel and Assets

- The Chronicoms killed their leader Atarah and are now headed somewhere they plan to call Chronyca-3. Is it Earth that they want to conquer? I'm almost certain that whatever they are up to will be the set up for the seventh and final season.

- Also on the topic of family: Dr. Benson's deceased husband appeared to him as a manifestation of his fear. The scene was touching and very well played by Barry Shabaka Henley, but I thought Benson cracked somewhat quickly.

- The state of Yucatán has been mentioned before as a place where the space Monolith was located. Was it season two or three?

- The creation Monolith doesn't manifest people's fears only. Izel explains that, because the human mind is limited, it goes straight to the fears.

- I totally thought Daisy would answer something like "you would know" when Fitz said that a word of warning would had been nice. In fact, we haven't seen Daisy react to Fitz's return, have we?

- Like I said before, the season promo spoiled too much! They showed the scene of Daisy hugging Sarge, a turning point for her in the season. Come on. I would promise myself not to watch the seven season trailer when it comes out, but I don't know if I'll have that kind of self-control.

Quotes

Simmons: "Daisy, what did you just do?"
Daisy: "I took your advice, I stopped running from the problem and I tackled it head on."
Simmons: "I meant try a little emotional honesty, not murder."

Fitz: "A word of warning would've been good."
Daisy: "Would you have tried to talk me out of it?"
Simmons: "Probably."
Deke: "Definitely."
Fitz: "Obviously."
Daisy: "Exactly why I didn't say anything."

Three out of four... what? I'm drawing a blank.
--
Lamounier

2 comments:

  1. I've already seen the finale so I guess I'll just save comments for that review.

    Yeah them not addressing the Fitz surgery business has pissed me off!

    ReplyDelete
  2. For me, the best part of this one was the FitzSimmons. I've been going back and forth on whether or not I like Deke. I guess the simple answer is I like him like this. He *felt* like a family member.

    ReplyDelete

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