Agents of SHIELD, Season 4, Episode 20: Farewell, Cruel World!
We're at the final home stretch for the fourth season of Agents of SHIELD, and boy, what a fun romp it has been. This episode basically ends the Framework world subplot for a majority of the cast. I get that it's partly because of the Rule of Drama, but dammit, Daisy, you're an Inhuman with the power to create shockwaves, just push Mack over the edge. Or break his legs or something. Like, I get that literally tearing him out of the illusory world will be traumatic, that he truly believes that he's just a regular dude with a daughter, and that in the real world Hope is dead... but come on. (Or just, y'know, alternatively, lie to Mack and tell him his daughter's alive in the real world) Like, yeah, he's going to go through a helluva mass of depression once he gets back to the real world, but that's better than him being, y'know, fucking dead.
That aside, though, the episode kind of made that faulty argument that Mack and Daisy are doing relatively well-done, and the sheer urgency of what's going on kind of makes Daisy's choice somewhat understandable... but that's still kind of a silly bit, really, and probably one of the weaker bits of the storyline as a whole.
Especially since this episode's opening scene reminds us that, hey, Yo-Yo exists, and reminds us that Mack isn't disposable -- there's someone waiting for him back home. The Yo-Yo (and Agent Piper, Davis and... other dude) scene is a nice, quick info-dump as to the state of the Zephyr crew, and how Simmons and Daisy are on a timer to get everyone into the escape point that Radcliffe has built into the Framework before the Zephyr blows up.
And in the Framework, it's basically 'get everyone to believe them and get to the right place at the right time', but things are more complex. I've touched on Mack seeing this world and his duties as a father as his one and only priority, and he gets left behind at the end of the episode, but so was Fitz. Fitz easily carries the episode on his back and turns this 45-minute episode into something far more entertaining than just 'boy, hope we evade the Hydra army!'
Fitz and Simmons' relationship has been one of the biggest constants throughout the series' four-season-old life, and it's in no small part thanks to the strength of their acting skills. No, not all the stories featuring them have been consistently good, but it's the strength of the bond developed over more than eighty episodes that makes you really believe that Simmons would go on a one-woman warpath. When everyone else gives up Fitz for, well, basically dead (or 'deal with later'), she confronts Fitz's father, Alistair, and in an effort to arrange a meeting with Fitz and accidentally shoots the man dead.
Fitz's anger, confusion and pure, unadulterated horror when he hears his father telling him to be strong, a gunshot, then a silence over the phone is absolutely well-executed, and that really sells why he goes on his own personal rage-filled assault on Simmons, shooting her leg and about to execute her if not for the intervention of Holden Radcliffe, the one wild card in all this. So, yeah, Fitz might have been pushed into the swirling vortex and gets successfully booted into the real world, but how will 'attempting to shoot Simmons in the head' affect their future relationship? Or, more importantly, how is Fitz going to deal with the fact that he basically killed two innocents while in the Framework -- Agnes and Director Mace? The brief moment that we saw him back in the real world shows a little of his 'oh god what have I done' bit, and, yeah, everyone might tell him that it's not his fault (it isn't, technically) he still remembers that he did it, in addition to all the horrors he committed on the virtual population of the Framework world. And, more interestingly, will any of his more sadistic personality traits, or his affection for Ophelia/Aida carry over to the real world?
Of course, Madame Hydra has built the weird dimension-defying Darkhold reconstruction thing, and recreated her body in the real world. And apparently it comes with Inhuman powers! I'll just chalk it up to 'Darkhold knowledge you cannot understand', but it's a pretty forgivable convolution of the plot. She has Gordon's teleportation powers, I assume, because she just teleports in, steals Fitz and blinks back out, leaving Coulson and May absolutely confused about that the fuck's going on.
So yeah, basically it's a slightly weaker outing compared to the previous episodes. Coulson, May, Daisy, Ward and even Radcliffe are just mostly along for the ride. The Superior and Yo-Yo are just waiting for the Framework story arc to end before they can be relevant again. Fitz, Simmons and Mack are the big ones, and they certainly don't disappoint. Well, Mack a little, but part of me likes just how well-done the actual storytelling portion of Mack's story and the whole 'reality is relative' bit is that I kind of want to forgive it. But the thought that we're going to spend part of the next two episodes just trying to get Mack back (I bet Yo-Yo will have her go in the Framework) is going to be irritating.
Also, as a side-note, Triplett taking over the mantle of the Patriot in the Framework world is a nice bit for him, even if I'm sad that we're not going to get Triplett or nice-Ward back in the real world via the same reconstruction technology they're using for Aida.
Still, despite my misgivings, it's easily one of the best, most solid and well-written story arcs in easily the most kickass season of Agents of SHIELD so far. And while the episode is less compelling than its predecessors, it's still a decent capstone.
No comments:
Post a Comment