Danny Hale reviews the eighth episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5…
The opening minutes of ‘The Last Day’ gave us the full reunion we were looking for; bringing the rest of the team to the Zephyr on the Earth’s surface and face to face with May. Her expression when she saw Phil despite her usual stoicism was especially moving and I’m learning to savour every moment these two get together on screen this season. What followed were a lot of revelations, even more questions and possibly, finally, a way home for our team.
We are quickly introduced to Voss this week as he welcomes May to the Zephyr. He has been living in close proximity to Robin for years and while he claims his knowledge and understanding of her visions is limited by the episode’s end I think it’s probable he’s withholding more information. I won’t lie, I warmed to Voss immediately and seeing him interact with Deke with his obvious affection for him it actually made Deke more likable too. Of course, this was misleading as Voss is pretty quickly revealed to be hiding an ulterior motive. It appears he has betrayed Deke’s father and clearly wants to prevent Daisy from ever returning to the present day in case time repeats itself. The motivation to stop Daisy I understand but how this ties into him having the monolith piece is unclear. Was this also in order to prevent the destruction of the world? Or does Voss hope to discover a way to travel through the monolith himself?
Robin’s visions and our subsequent glimpses at an alternate timeline are fascinating and while raising a dozen other questions it all also reinvigorates the concept of our team preventing the impending apocalypse. ‘The Last Day’ did a great job of raising the stakes and revealing a much deeper and complex plot behind what we’ve seen so far. The idea that these characters have (mostly) survived the end of days only to spend decades trying to develop the technology to go back in time and prevent it adds a massive amount of weight to the on-going storyline. And while we obviously did not experience this timeline, the glimpses we get and the changes in the characters we see convey a lot more than what we witness. From Fitz’s palpable frustration to May’s maternal side that she bottled away after Bahrain all those years ago we can see how much they have been through. In fact May and Robin’s final scene together in both timelines was beautiful and hearing so much talk of May’s injuries and being nothing but a fighter it was great to hear that she is “meant for more”. (Once this does not result in May dying for the greater good then I’m cool). And while I feel Robin knows too much to be able to keep around for long I still hated seeing her death coming, taking away the team’s best chance of answers. Let’s hope her final words to May see the team through to the end.
Kasius meanwhile, appearing far more menacing now that he’s murdered his own brother and his precious prize has escaped to the surface of the Earth, is upping his punishment of the humans on the Lighthouse. While this week only saw him cut the power this was already enough to start turning the humans on Flint and blaming him for all the Kree will now dish out. It’s clear Mack and Yo-Yo will only be able to protect Flint for so long and with Kasius’ next act of retribution imminent it’s all likely to go down next week. Not that we didn’t get some nice moments of action this time around; Yo-Yo blitzing around a room taking out enemies is always a good time and what a great show this is that we can watch Mack and Yo-Yo armed with guns blow an alien apart without even skipping a beat.
Overall ‘The Last Day’ was very packed but delivered an emotional punch and enough surprises to leave me even more eager for next week’s episode. With Robin’s final words urging the team to seek out Flint it’s clear his powers will be integral to locating the missing monolith pieces and sending our team home. Perhaps the team will return to the Lighthouse for one last confrontation with Kasius or maybe the fight will come to them. Either way our final clip shows Sinara reaching the Zephyr where a clash between her and Daisy is all but inevitable. ‘The Last Day’ has greatly expanded this season’s plot, upped the tension as Kasius turns his wrathful attention to the inhabitants of the Lighthouse and with Robin’s death sends us forward with great but tantalising uncertainty.
Danny Hale
