Going back to where we started, the episode was divided into two storylines. There was Coulson and company, who were on route to kidnap General Hale. Then there was the rest of the SHIELD crew who were left behind as they tried to figure out how to close the Fear Dimension. All in all, a busy episode.
Coulson’s side of things was simple. It mostly consisted of a series of conversations between Hale and Coulson, as both tried to get a beat on the other. I enjoyed the repour that Hale and Coulson had with one another. You could see that both believed they were in the right. Obviously, it’s hard for Coulson to prove SHIELD’s innocence in everything that happened near the end of season four. Not everyone is going to buy the excuse that it was a robot that tried to kill Colonel Talbott. Especially since the designs were SHIELD made and anyone who could support their claim is dead or working against them.
That said, given the scene at the very end of the episode, it’s hard to believe that Hale meant any of what she said. It seems that her goal is bring Hydra back all along, and that it’s all about a quest for power. I wish that wasn’t the case because I feel like Hale acting in what she believes is the planet’s interest is way more interesting than just trying to bring Hydra back for a third time. But it’s clear that she has other plans for Coulson.
The real meat of the episode was back home at the Lighthouse. Fitz was wracking his brain and running himself ragged trying to figure out how to close the Fear Dimension. Apparitions were showing up left and right, making sure that everyone was constantly on edge and stressed out. Meanwhile, you have Deke who can’t help but stare at Fitz and Simmons like he’s never seen another person before. It’s both adorable and a little obnoxious. But for a man who spent most of his adult life without any family, I can understand why he’s so star struck.
Things get out of control when Deke offers to help Fitz work on one of the robots they took from last week’s episode. But surprise! This isn’t the Fitz we know, it’s the Fitz from the Framework, supposedly out of the Fear Dimension and ready to get to work. It isn’t long before he confronts Fitz Prime and gets to work. On what, we can only imagine.
There’s a bit of dramatic license taken with this part of the story. Because we aren’t sure what he wants. Is he here to bring back the Framework? Kill the Inhumans? Or is he trying to help Fitz solve his problem. I wondered for a bit if Fitz would work with him to figure things out. He’s so desperate that maybe he would take the advice of his evil reflection to save everyone else.
This all leads to a nasty confrontation between Daisy and evil Fitz. He’s got her strapped to table and prepping to perform surgery on her. He wants to remove the inhibitor from her brain so that she can get her powers back. It was a clever bit of storytelling, I’ll give them that much. I thought for the longest time that Daisy would never get her powers back because it cost the show too much money. Though, I suppose they also need to reintroduce the tension of whether Daisy is responsible for destroying the world or not. It also wound up being the key to solving the Fear Dimension problem. With her vibration powers she could compress the Gravitonium enough to help seal the Fear Dimension once and for all.
The big revelation though is that we’ve all been Fight Clubbed. It turns out that evil Fitz was never spawned from the Fear Dimension. Instead Fitz just snapped under the pressure of everything that was going on. The evil Fitz was a split personality that manifested physically. He did what Fitz couldn’t, which was kidnap Daisy and give her powers back. It was a gruesome turn for Fitz, who had always been a bit scarred by his time in the Framework.
It was good to see him reconcile this when in the brig. His talk with Jemma was emotional. You feel bad for the two. They can truly never catch a break. I admit to being very surprised that Jemma tried to rationalize what Fitz did. That maybe he was right in doing what he did – morally speaking. This no doubt comes from a place of desperation. She doesn’t want to lose Fitz again. I’ll be curious to see the fallout from this in next week’s episode. I can’t imagine people are going to be pleased with Fitz’s “the end justifies the means” approach to things.
Lastly, I want to touch on the scene between Simmons and Deke. It was probably Jeff Ward’s best scene thus far. The entire scene was filled with bittersweet emotion. You could tell that Deke was working himself up to telling her what was going on the entire time. I’m glad that the writers only waited once episode before Deke spilled the beans. This isn’t something that needs to sit and stew for a while. Appropriately, given everything that had just happened to her, Simmons vomits. It was humorous touch to cap off such an emotion scene.
Overall this episode was filled with lots of events that will be felt far and wide throughout the show’s cast and for the episodes to come. As we draw ever close to the potential series finale of the show, I can’t help but wonder where the pieces will fall.
Written by Peter Freeman, AGENTS OF SHIELD Beat Writer
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