S06.E07: Toldja

[paigow]

After finding themselves in yet another gambling dilemma, a mysterious stranger offers Enoch and FitzSimmons a ride home.

6/28/2019

[bethy]

Yea! Enoch and FitzSimmons! I was afraid after last week’s heavy FitzSimmons episode we go back to all-earth. 

[Lantern7]

Apparently, guillotines are a universal thing. Good to know. Anybody else have Jeff Probst blaring in their heads? "Last person holding their chain wins reward. Wanna know what you're playing for? Your very lives! I mean, it should be obvious, right?" Cut to Enoch on the side: "Yes, it was obvious to me."

AoS still leaning into the crazy. Part of it might be to steer casuals away from trying to fit it into MCU continuity. Either way, it's still fun. "He's breathing fire!!!!" "Say again?" "FIRE!!!! HE'S SPITTING HOT FIRE!!!!" "So he's rapping now?"

And that's exceeded by the stupidity of putting two Shrike hosts in a cell, then keeping the door open while they go through crystalline metamorphosis. Bonus: Rando agent with the gun just standing there as he gets skewered. Maybe Sarge watched the series on his way to Earth. He would know that the people he'd be dealing with would be that easy to screw with.

Deke is still a thing, I guess. If I'm Mack, I'm shoving his into a locker, then getting agents to pound on it with batons for several hours. He is so useless.

[blugirlami21]

I'm so over Sarge. He's like quippy, mysterious Coulson on crack. Just tell us what we need to know to save the planet. We have been through probably worse things. The shrike just aren't that scary tbh.

Was everyone on that quinjet braindead? Why would you ever put two potentially murderous species in a room together? When weird stuff started happening, why would you let them continue to stay in the same room? You didn't need Sarge to tell you how to fix that situation. It's common sense.

I'm glad FitzSimmons are finally coming back home. I'm really gonna miss Enoch, I was hoping that Fitz would offer him a home on Earth, alas.

Also can the Deke/Daisy crush thing die? It's so awkward and time wasting. 

Edited July 1, 2019 by blugirlami21

[Terrafamilia]

Mac really doesn't know how to deal with terrorists, does he? Sarge and company are all going to be stuck on Earth when it gets destroyed so if they don't get a little more cooperative they'll die along with everyone else. As soon as Sarge started spouting his "answers" that don't really tell them anything Mac should have said "I'm done" and stuffed him in a tiny little cell and told him that unless he gets serious with the disclosures this'll turn out to be the last planet he'll ever visit.

[AimingforYoko]

2 minutes ago, blugirlami21 said:

Also can the Deke/Daisy crush thing die? It's so awkward and time wasting. 

I think it's funny, because it's totally one-sided. It is not a will they/won't they, unless it's a will she/won't she quake Deke into a wall.

[KittenPokerCheater]

Unpopular opinion:  I like Deke.  And I like how upset he was that Fitz had died/was still alive.  He might be comic relief, but I appreciate the moments when we get to see him as more than that.

I will miss Enoch a lot.

So is the woman with the jump drive the creator?

[Chyromaniac]

As someone who lives in Des Moines, it was amusing that they decided to use a big sweeping aerial shot for Fort Dodge, while apparently my city is just a studio backlot apartment building...

[thuganomics85]

Well, I certainly would have predicted that Fitz and Simmons (and Enoch's!) next adventures would involve guillotines and a wild Anthony Michael Hall.  Their ride is truly full of surprises!  At least they've kept their heads thanks to this mysterious woman, who is played by Karolina Wydra, who tends to end up playing bad guys (True Blood, Justified), so, yeah, I think she'll be bad news!

Oh, Deke!  At least you were right about Michael Jordan being an innovator, even if you didn't know what for.  Of course, I'm not referring to his successful basketball career, but for giving the world Space Jam, which clearly changed the face if cinema!

Definitely didn't see the logic with putting both of the infected guys in the same containment room.  With so many unknown variables, it's best not to do stuff like that.

So, Jaco's species apparently can breath fire?  At least he spared the agent, so he's not that bad of a dude.  But that's what Crazy Snowflake is for!

Love you, Mack, but Sarge really is toying with you.

Why, yes, I might have gotten a little misty-eyed over Enoch's departure.  He even got a huge from Fitz and fooled him with a "bluff!"  At least giving him that communication device likely means he'll be making a return of some kind (probably closer to the finale, I suspect.)  Joel Stoffer really has been a great addition.
 

[Enigma X]

Cocky NotCoulson bugs. It is not interesting tv to me. 

[Raja]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Why, yes, I might have gotten a little misty-eyed over Enoch's departure.  He even got a huge from Fitz and fooled him with a "bluff!"  At least giving him that communication device likely means he'll be making a return of some kind (probably closer to the finale, I suspect.)  Joel Stoffer really has been a great addition.
 

He even gave a just in case phone like Steve Rogers to Tony Stark and Carol Danvers to Fury

[blugirlami21]

21 minutes ago, Enigma X said:

Cocky NotCoulson bugs. 

I completely agree. I just feel like they give him too much attention. Nothing he has revealed has been interesting or profound. Aliens are coming to earth to destroy it? So it's Tuesday then? Is he up to date on Earth? Just imagine how dumb he would sound if they were a part of the snap timeline.

I do find it interesting that biologically he has the same dna as Coulson. I really just thought it was a skin he picked. I wonder where they will go with that.

[dwmarch]

2 hours ago, KittenPokerCheater said:

Unpopular opinion:  I like Deke.  And I like how upset he was that Fitz had died/was still alive.  He might be comic relief, but I appreciate the moments when we get to see him as more than that.

I will miss Enoch a lot.

So is the woman with the jump drive the creator?

I also enjoyed Deke's emotional moment and I appreciate that he's turning into more than just comic relief.

I had the same thought about the mystery lady who is ever-so-conveniently heading to Earth.

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Definitely didn't see the logic with putting both of the infected guys in the same containment room.  With so many unknown variables, it's best not to do stuff like that.

Simple necessity, they only have one containment pod.

[swanpride]

Deke being all upset about Fitz was the first really great moment in this episode...otherwise...honestly, I could have done without visiting Kitsun again. That felt a little bit like filler to keep them away from home an episode more.

I now officially hate Sarge. If he really cared about rescuing the planet, he would share information, instead of risking the whole damned world by not saying anything about keeping the Shreeks away from each other. And frankly, maybe Mack should have just told him "deal is off". Because if Sarge expects him to act honorable, and still doesn't share information, it makes him so - much - worse!!!!

The scene in the cargo hold was great, though. I mean the moment when Yoyo had to protect the other agent...just sticking a red-shirt in there made it so much engaging, and it was great to see Yoyo using her arms for once.

[blueray]

13 hours ago, blugirlami21 said:

Also can the Deke/Daisy crush thing die? It's so awkward and time wasting.

I agree. At least it's only one sided. But I wish Deke would let it go.

I liked this episode but I agree it was really dumb to put the two together. Even if they didn't know that they were going to react to each other, they would know that they at some point will become dangerous. It's bad enough dealing with just one of them.

This episode I was definitely more interested in Fitz/Simmons story as oppose to the Earth one. I still don't like evil Coulson. The only part I did like was when the alien started breathing fire.

[CooperTV]

May relayed the info about the shrike, we saw what happens to those poor schmucks infected with it, so we know we can't save them. What we gonna do? We let the door to a containment chamber unlocked (after we throw two of the evil creatures together, because reasons!), we're gonna stand around gaping at it like morons and we're gonna be surprised when it'll all go to shit. In other words, oh, no, we can't deal with this situation that could totally be avoidable if we used basic precautions created for five-year-olds!

Deke is there, and also gets emotional about Fitz's death because... it's a movie about family the script requires it. Deke/Daisy scenes have to go.

What's next? Oh! Be a SHIELD director is so HARD, you know? You can't date a girl you like because the scripts requires for us to care for her bland side piece who died by swallowing an alien bat (SO SAD!), and we live for our teen angst (even though we're in our forties).

FitzSimmons plot went nowhere, so great! So much time wasted!

Ugh.

[swanpride]

Naturally Deke would get emotional. He is quite attached to Fitzsimmons. Last season he spend a lot of time trying to connect with them.

[Enigma X]

I like Deke but never expected to.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

Good episode marred by May and Yo-Yo acting like amateurs and putting two Shrike together after specifically noting that the Shrike were headed for each other, thus giving them what they wanted. I saw that coming a mile away, no special knowledge of the Shrike was required. And May, of all people, doesn't find the fact that the Shrike are "calm" suspicious? How long have they been doing this, exactly? When you write your secret agent characters so that real-life civilians could do the job better, you're writing them wrong.

If you want to create a crisis that needs Sarge to resolve it, make it one that the agents actually couldn't have seen coming without his information. Like the initial thing where the Shrike came back to life because the knife was taken out too soon. That they couldn't have predicted. This, just about anyone could have.

Edited June 29, 2019 by Noneofyourbusiness

[Noneofyourbusiness]

14 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Simple necessity, they only have one containment pod.

So lift off with two.

[Terrafamilia]

Since cold affects the shrike I wonder if any of them will think of trying to scrounge up whatever might remain of Donnie Gill's old freezing tech.

[swanpride]

I wonder if they scrounge up Donnie Gill again. Since we never saw his body (and I really want a confrontation between him and Fitzsimmons) I could certainly life with a "he was just in hiding" explanation.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

50 minutes ago, swanpride said:

I wonder if they scrounge up Donnie Gill again. Since we never saw his body (and I really want a confrontation between him and Fitzsimmons) I could certainly life with a "he was just in hiding" explanation.

Or he's still frozen at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to be retrieved.

[redfish]

Quote

I now officially hate Sarge. If he really cared about rescuing the planet, he would share information, instead of risking the whole damned world by not saying anything about keeping the Shreeks away from each other. And frankly, maybe Mack should have just told him "deal is off". Because if Sarge expects him to act honorable, and still doesn't share information, it makes him so - much - worse!!!!

I think there's more to Sarge's explanation that he's letting on. He's painting himself as some shades of grey hero but he just comes off as a jerk.

I also think that woman who's giving FitzSimmons a ride back home is also connected to Sarge's story.

[AnimeMania]

51 minutes ago, redfish said:

I also think that woman who's giving FitzSimmons a ride back home is also connected to Sarge's story.

Or she was the owner of the Monoliths and she would know how to send Enoch and the other Chronicoms back in time.

[foxfreakinmulder]

On ‎6‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 6:47 PM, KittenPokerCheater said:

I will miss Enoch a lot.

So is the woman with the jump drive the creator?

I will miss Enoch too. It also crossed my mind about the women being the creator. So glad FitzSimmons are coming home and it will be interesting since Fitz doesn't know Deke is his grandson. Wasn't Simmons pregnant at the end of last season?

[Raja]

2 hours ago, foxfreakinmulder said:

I will miss Enoch too. It also crossed my mind about the women being the creator. So glad FitzSimmons are coming home and it will be interesting since Fitz doesn't know Deke is his grandson. Wasn't Simmons pregnant at the end of last season?

She was TV trope pregnant. She threw up, thus it had to have been morning sickness was the immediate guess 

[MisterGlass]

I agree with others who felt this episode was a bit of a filler.  It felt like it was time for an 'answers' episode with the capture of Sarge, but it was more questions episode instead.

I also agree that these characters are smart enough to keep these creatures separate.  That was contrived.

On 6/28/2019 at 9:47 PM, KittenPokerCheater said:

So is the woman with the jump drive the creator?

17 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Or she was the owner of the Monoliths and she would know how to send Enoch and the other Chronicoms back in time.

I suppose she could be both.  They commented on the unknown monolith earlier this season.  It could be tied to her, since she's looking for an artifact, and to the shrike, which crystallize.

[tennisgurl]

Come on, putting the monsters together in the same small room?! Thats the worst way you could possibly hold those things beyond giving them the keys to the jet and letting them fly it themselves! 

And suddenly a wild Anthony Michael Hall appears! Do you think this guy, The Collector, The Gamemaster, and tons of other intergalactic weirods all get together for a big convention every once in awhile to laugh about weird murder games and silly outfits they get to wear? Nice that FitzSimmons get a ride home, but you know it wont be that easy. 

Deke being so upset about the future version Fitz dying and them going off to find the new one was a really good moment, probably the best one that Deke has had for awhile. I like when they use Deke as more of a real character and not as sketchy comic relief. 

Sarge is a creepy, even if Gregg Clark is going great with the part, and I am still kind of interested in what his deal is. Jaco is more interesting to me right now, he actually does seem like he isnt really an evil person, just very loyal to Sarge and thinks that by helping him he can stop other planets from dying like his, which is a lot more interesting than Sarge, who is just super smug. Plus, his species can breath fire!

I hope that Enoch can come back and visit sometime, I am going to miss him and his bromance with Fitz!

[Raja]

To be fair it wasn’t just a room it was a  containment pod which has held everything put into them except Ghost Rider 

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

I didn't have a problem putting them in a containment pod - I had a problem with putting both of them in the same pod.  It was clear those two were heading to meet up - why would you give them what they wanted?  It was just stupid and clearly a plot point and I found it really annoying.

[Loandbehold]

3 hours ago, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

I didn't have a problem putting them in a containment pod - I had a problem with putting both of them in the same pod.  It was clear those two were heading to meet up - why would you give them what they wanted?  It was just stupid and clearly a plot point and I found it really annoying.

Agreed. Now, it's possible that the ship only had one containment pod, but, since they know so little about the Shrike, that means they should have either taken two planes or had one team sit on their captive until the other team locked theirs up at SHIELD HQ and then picked up Team 2.

[bluvelvet]

I like Sarge actually.  I do think he is cocky but I assume that will get dealt with as the series progresses.  Thunk Gregg is doing a great job with the role. 

Mack and Yo-yo not being together makes no sense. Hopefully this gets tabled soon. 

Glad FitzSimmons are finally going home. I was getting tired of the always in danger angle. 

[AnimeMania]

Something tells me that Sarge will learn to love Earth and become the new Coulson.

[bethy]

I enjoyed this episode and that we got to see both storylines. I'm looking forward to the team's reunion soon, though. 

I thought the scene between Deke and Mac was really good. And I liked that Mac was actually sympathetic toward Deke's feelings about Fitz. I kind of can't wait to see how this alternate Fitz reacts to Deke given the different circumstances of their meeting. 

[Hanahope]

I can't believe they were stupid enough to put the two shrikes in the same container.  

If it was cold enough to freeze/kill the shrike, how did Yo-yo and the other agent survive?

The woman that bought FitzSimmons was handling one of those shrike knives.  She has to be connected in some way.  Is she the creator? Does the creator go to each planet that's attacked by the shrikes?

Will they ever explain why Sarge looks like Coulson?  

[Raja]

2 hours ago, bethy said:

I enjoyed this episode and that we got to see both storylines. I'm looking forward to the team's reunion soon, though. 

I thought the scene between Deke and Mac was really good. And I liked that Mac was actually sympathetic toward Deke's feelings about Fitz. I kind of can't wait to see how this alternate Fitz reacts to Deke given the different circumstances of their meeting. 

I was sure Mac was going to say to Deke or hold on to the fact for the audience only that grandma Jemma asked him to hold off making a notification when he said it wasn't his call in an earlier episode.

[Archery]

When Jaco was spitting fire, I was shouting, Show, STOP KILLING THE PRETTY!! I'm glad it listened. 

[swanpride]

I wasn't too worried...the redshirts have a pretty good survival rate in AoS. Once you are a mauve shirt you are in danger.

[ACW]

On 6/29/2019 at 4:10 AM, swanpride said:

I now officially hate Sarge. If he really cared about rescuing the planet, he would share information, instead of risking the whole damned world by not saying anything about keeping the Shreeks away from each other.

I don't think that Sarge has ever claimed to care about rescuing any one planet.  He wants to stop the Shrike permanently.  My assumption has been that he intends (and has attempted) to do so by incinerating them all (and/or their creator) once they've all arrived.  The fact that this will also incinerate the planet is regrettable, but necessary.

[Affogato]

46 minutes ago, ACW said:

I don't think that Sarge has ever claimed to care about rescuing any one planet.  He wants to stop the Shrike permanently.  My assumption has been that he intends (and has attempted) to do so by incinerating them all (and/or their creator) once they've all arrived.  The fact that this will also incinerate the planet is regrettable, but necessary.

That explains his attitude towards the planet. Good slushies but don’t get too attached. 

Edited July 4, 2019 by Affogato
Mispppell

[Affogato]

On 7/2/2019 at 10:13 AM, Hanahope said:

Will they ever explain why Sarge looks like Coulson?  

Sarge is 100 years old and not only does he look like Coulson but he is genetically the same.  Time travel.

Which Fitz is working on, which might explain Coulson. Cloning? Actually  Coulson but a mindwipe? 

He also is in a similar profession and has a similar team and the name rings a bell. Similar team, similar style in a rough way  

[KittenPokerCheater]

Multiverse shenanigans at play, maybe? 

[swanpride]

Maybe Sarge was created in the explosion? If you combine time/space/alternate reality, you could end up with an alternate copy of Coulson ending up in the past on some far away planet....

[VCRTracking]

Anthony Michael Hall! That's three actors from Weird Science in the MCU(Hall, Bill Paxton and Robert Downey Jr.) and two on the show.

Clark Gregg continues to be great. I really do believe he's playing a different guy from Coulson.

Deke had me laughing when he was totally failing to impress Daisy and on the verge of tears when he found out Fitz died and Simmons went out to space to get another version and nobody told him.

Aww at Enoch saying goodbye to FitzSimmons. I hope he shows up again. He's so amusing. "I don't know how I'm feeling."

Edited July 5, 2019 by VCRTracking

[bethy]

A couple of belated thoughts:

• I like Not!Coulson. Our SHIELD heroes are sometimes a little ... smug, and Sarge's refusal to be impressed by the team was kind of appealing to me. Don't get me wrong. I love Director Mac, but his whole "See, we are awesome because we saved both people"--when even a moron (and by this I mean myself) could have told them that putting two people infested by Shrikes together in the containment pod was probably not a good idea--was a tad self-righteous. So Sarge's, "Sure. Let's see how that works out for you" made me kind of smile.
• Was this the first time we've seen Simmons and Fitz talk over each other and actually stop and say, "Oh, you go first"? I feel like usually they just talk over each other without pausing because they're both saying the same thing. Here they were still saying the same thing, but there seemed to be a bit of a misstep in their usual dance. It made me a little sad to see them out of sync.

[Jack Shaftoe]

I was thinking "Hey, this is a pretty solid episode" and then everyone started doing the most stupid things possible, so that Sarge's blackmail could work. Not just the nonsense with the containment module that everyone has mentioned already but also Khan entering Jaco's cell without any backup. Sure, the guy started breathing fire which  was unexpected but he also could have simply beaten Khan up since he is like two times bigger. Yo-yo at least had the excuse of having superpowers when she did the same earlier in the episode. Oh, and there was a random FitzSimmons torture scene but that's happened so much that I only rolled my eyes once. At least they didn't kill Agent Khan or Agent Diaz but some random red shirt, I like seeing recurring characters among the supporting cast, makes SHIELD feel less of an organisation with a staff of just the main characters.

What's with all the totally human looking "aliens"? Budget not enough for blue paint or rubber foreheads? Enoch's goodbye was pretty moving.

Daisy has been great this season, she even mentioned that Coulson made a lot of mistakes too but was good at hiding them. Though, the way things are going and all the anvils about Mack not being a good director I expect him to step down pretty soon. And Daisy is right to be mystified by Yo-yo and Mack breaking up - when she locked him in a cell last season this was not a god enough reason somehow but he is the director now and they broke up for a reason that remains vague?

Deke had the full right to get pissed at Mack but he is comic relief who isn't particularly funny and is welcome to leave at any point as far as I am concerned. Plus, Daisy is the great hacker, why did Deke get to hack Sarge's tracker while Daisy was busy doing nothing important?

I did like May's reaction upon hearing that Daisy and company had found Fitz. Understated but moving.

Mack should have told Sarge "If you are going to blackmail me I am going to keep you locked up until the shrikes destroy the planet, killing all of us. We are in one boat, genius". Or at least "I lied about the deal, who is stupid now?".

Edited March 29, 2020 by Jack Shaftoe

[Kel Varnsen]

On 7/2/2019 at 3:36 PM, Archery said:

When Jaco was spitting fire, I was shouting, Show, STOP KILLING THE PRETTY!! I'm glad it listened. 

I wasn't worried, mostly because this show doesn't seem to be able to afford any kind of person burning alive effects. This show isn't great, but how cheap it looks really makes it so much worse. I mean would it kill them to have one windowless room that isn't a dark grey colour?

On 3/29/2020 at 2:29 PM, Jack Shaftoe said:

What's with all the totally human looking "aliens"? Budget not enough for blue paint or rubber foreheads? 

I may have been falling asleep but I swear in the background of the guillotine scene there was a guy wearing a Halloween costume Captain America helmet.