#rewatchingaos

Okay, I lied. The worst part is that this is the last time we're seeing Robbie Reyes in action, sharing the screen with Daisy.

Things have definitely changed from their fateful meeting all those weeks ago. For one, deadpan has replaced brooding as their primary way to establish communication: "What's new" asks she, surrounded by beheaded robots, after 10 days in digital hell and looking like it. "Nothing much" replies he, after beheading said robots on his first day back from literal hell. "Why are you so perfect" cries I, cursing TPTB one more time.

And then they fight together like they've been practising the whole time, before moving from deadpan to softness. She empathizes, he opens up, and they look at each other with those eyes when they (don't) say goodbye.

It feels like a To Be Continued, but it's The End instead.

Rude.

In other Rider, non Quake related, news, we have the big showdown between the Coulson Rider and Aida.

It's a quintessentially Coulson plan: exploiting the enemy's weakness - Aida's newly developed emotional instability in this case - with a side order of left field ("I live outside the box", 1x04) and self-sacrifice on top.

In retrospect, their tussle feels a little underwhelming, especially when weighted against the momentous consequences it carries into the following season.

For those who like to keep count of these things (that would be me 😁), Coulson is the fourth Ghost Rider's incarnation in the season, after Robbie, Johnny Blaze (4x06) and Mack (4x07). The Spirit of Vengeance gets around!

A Team That Suffers...

Mack's take two as a dad concludes in the most heartbreaking way possible, with him clinging to his digital daughter until she literally disappears in his arms. Can anything get more emotional and haunting than a little girl asking if she's going to die? Yep, rhetorical question.

Elena gets a front seat to share in all that misery and chooses to stand by Mack, even if it means they both might die. She also apologizes for thinking of getting him out while the kid was still "alive", which is nice if unnecessary, as Mack doesn't even dream of blaming her for it. Mackelena is strengthened and so are both characters.

Fitz and LMD Simmons play bait for a now completely psychotic Aida, featuring sharp implements. I don't think it recaptures the impact of the FS scene in Self Control and having the real Simmons unload an assault rifle on a target she can't kill feels like a poor substitute for actually empowering the character (which doesn't have to involve violence at all, needless to say). Is futile comeuppance better than no comeuppance? I don't know, but neither makes me happy.

May criticizes Coulson's plan (if only she knew...) and settles the ever important matter of that bottle of Haig. The conversation doesn't slow down Philinda's "will they, won't they" pendulum, as they agree to take a "couple of steps back", which also sounds a bit disingenuous now, because Coulson had already made the pact with the Rider and therefore must have known he was on borrowed time. This is the second season finale in a row where May doesn't have much to do, and I don't like it one bit.

A Ride To Hell:

Robbie makes the most of his last appearance: he is cool, badass, gallant - even unnecessarily so, had he gone for Aida rather than the Daisybot, they would all have had plenty of time for pie 😁 - vulnerable, soft and the best radio holder a hacker could ask for while she's trying to slow the collapse of a virtual reality.

The Rider, on the other hand, is a dick. It wants to destroy Aida, Coulson offers a way to do so, and it still wants more on top of that.

We'll never get a good (ok, one that I like 😁) explanation for the Rider's reasons.

Does he object to the "unnatural" means of Coulson's resurrection? (But it's standard science for the Kree)

Does he want the GH325 for himself? (What for? He's an incorporeal entity. But Mack will suggest it and he has insight from his own experience with the Rider)

Is it just a matter of having a price tag for the willing exchange of host bodies, no matter the circumstances? I guess so, but I'm still side-eyeing it.

Take Your Daughter To Work Day:

The parallel run of Coulson's and Daisy's arcs this season ends with a role reversal: he fights the Big Bad with superpowers and she makes the leader's Inspiring Speech™.

Just like it happened with the Secret Warriors - teased as the next big thing for Daisy in the S2's finale and then destroyed in the same episode where they properly debuted - the show will once again choose to subvert expectations, and four years of build-up along with it.

The truly unexpected part, however, will be how unsatisfyingly they'll go at it.

She's Got The Power:

Elena and Daisy are both put in situations where their powers don't matter. Elena because she's in the Framework with Mack, and Daisy because Aida is invulnerable to conventional (except Icers, but only if she's distracted I guess? 😈) and unconventional non-demonic means, and it's her human superpower - hacking - that's needed to save her friends. I like this. If you don't want your superheroes to solve your problems, have problems they can't quake or speed away, instead of just nerfing them or straight up ignoring what their powers do. Am I glaring at S6? Why, yes, yes I am.

Stuff:

Any word from Piper? -- Not yet, but she knows what to do if this doesn't go our way. Piper is plan D, as in Disaster 😁

[Aida] was created from the Darkhold -- Is that how she got her Inhuman powers? -- That was me. I devised a procedure which extracted dormant Inhuman DNA from subjects pre-Terrigenesis. The Doctor joined with the likes of Whitehall and Malick III in the creepy, ill-advised, sadistic and generally sickening quest to appropriate Inhuman powers. Bonus mention for Radcliffe, who tinkered far above the acceptable to give Hive his army.

My solutions only make things worse. They end up hurting or killing people. -- Good. That's exactly the kind of solution we need right now. I'm biased, but I feel like you guys are learning the wrong lesson here.

Should've forced Mack to come back with us. -- Wasn't your decision to make. -- Yeah, well, now we might lose both Mack and Yo-Yo. -- Again, not your call. I wonder if Coulson would be this practical if it had been Daisy who had plugged back in. I do appreciate the "people are responsible for their own actions" message, though, because Asgard knows Daisy needs to hear it, always blaming herself for everything.

How did you find me? -- I kept discovering [red yoyos]. In my pockets, in the streets. I felt like a pac-man gobbling up biscuits. Just when I think I couldn't love Daisy more, she goes and does this. 🤣🤣🤣

I've got a dozen intelligence agencies who now know that Mace wasn't an Inhuman. So, after freaking out for two years about Inhumans, they are now freaking out because someone wasn't Inhuman? These people just don't want to be happy, do they?😁

Is that a good news face or a bad news face? -- It's a weird news face. Robbie Reyes just stole his Charger out of a S.H.I.E.L.D. impound garage outside of Dover. What do you mean, weird? It's the best news! Also, S.H.I.E.L.D. has a garage in Delaware.

May casually carrying a severed head...😂😂😂

I've left messages for General Talbot, but he's not answering. Why would Talbot be ghosting Coulson when he all but begged him to come to the meeting? Second question, one general doesn't answer his phone and S.H.I.E.L.D. has no other recourse but to leave messages? 🤨

I don't know who sounds more like a lunatic, the Supbots touting the Darkhold like a pair of snake oil salesmen or Talbot using the word "commie" in 2017.

Aida, seriously, therapy. Just consider it. 😂😂😂 (you guys should get to it as well, when you get a minute...)

Quake, Johnson. I don't care what you call her. It's Agent Johnson to you, ma'am.😡

Chivalrous Rider, taking the knee to leave Daisy the kill shot. Worthy of a blue shirt.🤭

I missed it, didn't I? You two together, and we missed it. Damn. Fanboy Phil is, once again, reporting for duty.

It's the same tactic Aida used in the Framework. Unite people in their fear of Inhumans. -- But instead of a Cambridge incident... -- It's me. I'll be the monster. Always the scapegoat...

Can you destroy [Aida]? -- Maybe. But it's like Daisy said, she won't let me anywhere near her. Ok guys, I have a totally genius plan: we dress up Robbie in boring clothes, give him a wig, a fake beard, so when Aida shows up she won't know it's him and will be caught by surprise. What? It's not worse than some of their plans!😁

I have an idea that might solve all our problems. Or, Coulson can sacrifice himself for the cause striking a deadly, one-sided deal with the demon, tell no one, pass up at least one good chance to reverse its effects (with entirely understandable reasons), until he'll be forced to spring the news on his nearest and dearest at the worst possible time. Overdramatic, if you ask me, but I guess that works, too.😁

Wish I could get a couple of bars. Burrows and his unending quest for reliable mobile coverage.

This is a terrible plan. You don't know the half of it.

Really? You want to have that talk now? Why not? I think we have established many, many times that most of you have atrocious timing in matters of love. Mackelena are the only sensible ones who generally wait for the crisis to be over to talk - or kiss - things through.

I imagine where you came from was a whole lot worse -- [...] the main thing is, there, I'm just a passenger. Ghost Rider drives. And by "drives" I mean fights and kills. It's kind of all we did -- That sounds terrible...and painful and lonely. -- Yeah, that about sums it up. But I'm here now...and that's good. -- That is good. This could have been their "I know people like you" moment.

Let's say you manage to force Mack to the other side. Will he ever forgive you? Will he ever forgive himself for abandoning his daughter? You have to come to terms with the reality that he is willing to die in here with [his daughter] Radcliffe making the case for respecting Mack's agency. Who says people can't change?

There are lots of ways to express sadness and pain. There's music and art. -- And smashing heads on the floor. That's the one I like the best so far. AU in which Aida takes up painting - like Agnes! - and everyone gets pie.

So, they scanned Simmons' brain, downloaded it into her LMD they just dug up from the base's wreckage (I'm guessing) and then used it to tick off Aida - more than she already was anyway - to lure her into going after Coulson. And I assume the Jemmabot was aware of being an android, since all the other LMDs besides the Maybot were and are. So when she says to Fitz "You did this" she's being literal and it's not the real Jemma's resentment coming through. Or maybe just a bit of both? It'd be interesting if it was. Also, did the entire plan hinge on Fitz's acting abilities and Aida's inability to spot a LMD? Because that's...something.🤭

So it's Jemma now? Trying to humanize her? Oh...does this mean Aida knows she's an android? That can't be, she'd know something was up. Now I'm confused.

Everyone who cares about you is on the other side of that door. The only person I care about is right here -- [...] the only person I care about is here, too. -- Great. Just great. Am I the only sane person here? Radcliffe is unimpressed by Mackelena's suicide pact in the making. Clearly, he's no shipper material.🤭

I'm just grateful Ghost Rider kept its part of the deal and went back to you. -- You know why he made the deal in the first place, right? -- I do. -- Are you gonna tell the others? -- No. And I'd ask that you don't, either. I will when it's time. By which you mean you won't, right? 😁

I feel terrible that I tried to pull you away from her and worse that we couldn't save her. Can you forgive me? -- There's nothing to forgive. Those years with her, as a father, it'll always be a part of me. But they also gave me a glimpse of a life I could have here... with you. I really like Mack and Elena as a couple. They're direct, open, talk their problems through, and their romance usually doesn't cause or require collateral damage (reason why I think the exception, that doomed boyfriend storyline in S6, didn't work). Also, in light of this conversation, I'm more convinced than ever that Mackelena's ending was, at least partly, a miss.

I have to get this book some place safe. Don't bother...😈😁

I tried to take the blame for everything not too long ago. I dyed my hair. I ran away. I thought that separating myself from the team would help me protect it. But in truth, I kind of just lost myself. And you, you were the one who pulled me back in. This is not on you, okay? We all lost ourselves in there. And yeah, it might take you a long time to forgive yourself. But speaking on behalf of the team, you have nothing to apologize for. Fitz made it all about his hurt feelings, almost everybody else contributed an extra load of guilt on her shoulders, Fitzler brutally tortured her in the Framework...and this is what she does with it. Coulson's proud grin is mine. On a different note, having her validate her friends' behaviours in 4a by saying that *Fitz*, of all people, brought her back, is really fucking terrible. My sympathies to everyone who's had rough patches and had to watch through this treatment of mental health issues.

This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a... Appropriately, Radcliffe can't finish his last words, just as he pretty much failed to complete his work at every turn.

I was a little annoyed by the cavalier attitude toward possible jail time, because things aren't equal and there are two Inhumans on the team. If the tag hadn't teased space, I would have been seriously worried Daisy and Elena might have ended up at the Raft or somewhere equally awful.

If the show had been cancelled in S4 (it was on the bubble), the diner scene would have been the last, minus the kidnapping. Not a bad note to go out on, considering, and actually, very fitting for a show that revolved so much around the found family trope.

Stripped to its core, Self Control is stock AoS: friendly faces with a secret and ill-intentioned agenda are plotting behind everyone’s back and the base of operations is compromised and eventually trashed while a larger existential threat looms in the background. Been there, done that and will be there and do that a few more times still.

Yet Jed Whedon - who wrote the script solo - spins these familiar plot elements into a masterpiece, possibly because the focus stays firmly on the characters in the midst of all the drama, trauma, action, suspense, (dark) romance and the most WTFJust Happened!? cliffhanger since Ward shot Hand or Jemma was eaten by a Space rock, take your pick.

There’s also that thing AoS really likes, giving shippers what they want in a really twisted way🤭:

FitzSimmons contemplate marriage. But he’s a malevolent android and she stabs him to death.

Philinda speak openly of a future together and May says the L-word. But it’s a future for their trapped consciousnesses, neither is the real person and she blows him up.

Skimmons hug epically and help each other in their best “Us against the World” outing but Daisy ruins the mood donning her HMS FitzSimmons’ captain hat.

StaticQuake is given one moment to hope before being snuffed out by the reapparence of SkyeWard... which, in turn, slams fast and hard into a wall because none of it is real anyway.

I’m not a shipper and I still felt the pain.

Dreamers of Electric Sheep:

In a season that is about to make a pretty big deal of how humans might be the sum of their social “programming”, the Maybot arguably exceeds her technical one, inflicting a decisive blow to her creator’s plans and assuring the team - what’s left of it, anyway - retains a fighting chance.

That an LMD with May’s brain patterns would commit the ultimate sacrifice to save everyone isn’t surprising but her tragic final hour affords us the opportunity to witness a vulnerability the real woman rarely shows.

Her self-awareness isn’t programmed but gained - through an accident - and it gave her a perspective the other LMDs are incapable of. Watching Mace’s, Mack’s, Fitz’s and Coulson’s copies feels like watching extensions of Radcliffe (and Aida)’s will, in the same way the swayed Inhumans were extensions of Hive’s will. The Coulbot parrots the same argument about a life free of pain and regrets in the virtual world that Radcliffe believes, except the Framework’s lives of the agents, and Radcliffe himself, won’t look all that painless or regret-free and real Coulson will reject it all.

If free will means exercising choice, then the Maybot definitely has it. And all the sentience to go with it.

Speaking of free will, Aida makes another stride toward hers, circumventing one of her core directives to kill Radcliffe in the real world.

It would be easy to point the finger at Radcliffe’s ambitions and dubious ethics, amplified by the Darkhold’s influence, when the fault clearly lies in his choice of recreational fiction growing up: too much Asimov, not enough Terminator. *fistbumps Mack* 😁

Team Captain:

Daisy completes the reclamation of self and purpose mangled by Hive and shows why, when AoS isn’t trying too hard to subvert expectations, she is a natural leader. She musters confidence in their chances despite the direness of the situation, exhibits quick thinking making up a plan out of nothing - her speciality - and the empathy to take Simmons out of her spiral, telling her friend exactly what she needs to hear to get her wits back.

I’ll be honest, ordinarily I wouldn’t be a fan of Captain Daisy of the HMS FitzSimmons but here it works for me. Would it have been nicer if she had said something about her own bonds with her friends as the motivation for the following BAMFness? Definitely. But she’s speaking for Jemma’s benefit who “can’t think without Fitz” because, after what just happened, she can't think of anything but Fitz.

Me? She had me at “I will beat them, I know it”. Simmons needed more and Daisy delivered.

She’s Got The Powers:

Daisy vibrates air into a small spherical maelstrom and splits it in two, trashing one android and knocking out the other who would have turned into scrap heaps, too, if a glass divider hadn’t been on his side to absorb part of the brunt.

It’s not our regular Tuesday on AoS, as the show didn’t get this creative with her vibrational blasts as often as it probably should have. And, yeah, one might ask why didn’t she do it to the Macebot the second she saw him instead of wasting so much energy fighting him hand to hand but the fighting was cool. If you can’t appreciate a woman in a loose sweatshirt punching robots with her bare hands, you are watching the wrong genre. 😁

She also gently quakes Jemma’s bones, proving she’s capable to discern materials using her abilities, another example of her powers’ versatility.

B-Squad to the Rescue:

Piper, Davis and Prince earn a spot on the Agents of the Month wall, providing life-saving services not only to Skimmons - who would have been stuck on the (exploding) ground otherwise - but also all the knocked out agents they dragged to safety off-screen before the Playground went kaboom.

Stuff:

This is Jed Whedon’s directorial debut, and, clearly, first time VIP directors on AoS are given the goodies. Clark’s Fun and Games and Elizabeth’s As I Have Always Been are also highlights of their respective seasons (Clark wasn’t a first time director, but it was his first time directing AoS and, I think, TV).

What is it with this show and non-consensual, anaesthesia-free surgeries? Now I feel bad for the Superior Bigot and I really didn’t want to.

In the meantime, Daisy will contact the Inhumans, inform them she's coming to collect them personally. -- Yes. And then execute them on sight. -- Which reminds me, the hardware we brought from the Russian's loading dock... -- Still in the shipping container on Zephyr One. I'll oversee it's off-loaded down into the basement now. If anyone was wondering how the Daisybots Army ended up in that containment room and what was its purpose, this is the answer. 

I sometimes wonder what it would've been like if I'd never signed up. All the loss, the grief... All my regrets are piled up after that. Could've lived like a civilian, you know? The simple life. I feel like this desire for a “normal” life is the direct result of the wear and tear of the directorship. Agent Coulson was aware of what he had given up (see the speech to Mike Peterson in 1x10) but seemed, for the most part, satisfied with his life choices.

Are you saying we'll eventually be able to be... together? -- I'm saying that in the Framework, we already are. The Coulbot is either lying or unaware of the truth, since in the Framework May and Coulson don’t even know each other, let alone being together.

The Fitzbot is an excellent actor, pretending he’s the real guy. And Iain, pretending to be the android who pretends to be the real guy, isn’t too bad himself... 😉  

It’s one of us, Fitz. -- Regardless of who it is... it’s my fault. [...] I perfected the technology. I started this whole nightmare. I suspect S5 and onward Fitz would defend both the goal and the ultimate outcome of his participation. The technology works and it is useful, after all.

I had to restart the simulation to accommodate the new residents. In order to reduce their pain, to fix a regret for each of them, I had to restart the Framework simulation from those moments in time. So this is what actually led to the fascist takeover inside the simulation? Not just fixing May’s regret, which was done a few episodes ago, but the combined new trajectories all their lives took after one regret each was fixed? Because Radcliffe was okay with everything until now and I think he would have objected to a Hydra-led world, for accuracy’s sake if nothing else.

Are [the LMDs] commands working on a subconscious level to avoid detection, as with Agent May? -- There wasn't time for such subtleties. They're much more... objective-driven. -- Aida, people could be killed in that scenario! -- Only if they resist. Ah, well, no need to worry, then. It’s not like you’re trying to fool a base full of combat trained spies, one of them with superpowers and a notoriously short fuse when her friends are in danger....

Do you really think it's necessary for me to personally greet each of them? You don't think that'll take too much time? -- It'll be more efficient than you think. I have to give it to the Superior Bigot (and Aida). Murdering all the Inhumans with a replica of their most prominent hero and de-facto leader is fiendishly brilliant.

I was always trying to protect you, pursuing technological solves to the problematic scenario that you could be harmed or killed. But Radcliffe's cured death. Once I map your brain, we'll never have to fear losing each other again. Step 1 is admitting you have a problem...😁

I'm securing our future. So we can get married, grow old together. -- That's the first time you've mentioned it... getting married. -- I mean... I've thought about it. But I was afraid to bring it up. You know... I thought I knew your answer, but no one's ever 100%. -- I’ll tell Fitz when I see him. First time they talk about marriage and one of them is an android. I can just picture the writers’ room cackling maniacally while breaking this part of the script.

Daisy calming herself from the early stage of a panic attack is very reminiscent of Skye doing the same thing after she had found Eric’s body in 1x19. Nice character continuity.

Well, you, Doctor, exhibit poor self-control. Is that what we’re calling it this week?

So, we fight our way through the trained military personnel, then the ultra-powerful android doubles of our friends, somehow make it to the Zephyr, which we can't fly, to escape the base and try to plug our minds into an alternate reality. -- Okay, well, don't say it out loud, because that made it sound way worse. Let’s just keep it one thing at a time, okay? Jemma is in shock which explains her uncharacteristic defeatist attitude but this dialogue perfectly showcases the differences between their personalities. One prone to overanalyze everything, the other used to flying by the seat of her pants.

Daisy and I aren't the LMDs. -- I don't buy it. -- I don't care. 100 % done Simmons is the best Simmons.

[the Macebot gives no sign of physical extertion] Really? Not even winded? I know, he’s very rude. He could at least show you the courtesy of venting extra heat or something.

Daisy, this is for your own good. -- We didn't want to hurt you, but we have no choice here. If Daisy had a dime for every time someone hurt her claiming they had no choice... well, she wouldn’t be rich but she’d have several dimes.

Anyone here know how to fly the Zephyr? -- I-I just started training. -- Okay. Well, you're gonna try real hard. This casual disregard for actual flying expertise is unsettling. What’s next, stealing a plane and flying it into space?

[bleeding from two gunshot wounds] I need medical.🤣

Okay. Everything's under control. -- Whose control? Organic or synthetic, it makes no difference: May always cuts to the heart of the matter.

That pain, that regret... that's what made you a person ... a person I love. [...] My programming was to get the Darkhold. That came from Radcliffe. But my impulse, to keep Coulson safe and close, that desire... that came from me. And I'm sorry to say... you're not him. More manic cackling in the writers’ room...🤭

[Told about the simulation] How could they build ... -- The Darkhold. -- Al culo con ese libro (fuck that book). Truer words were never spoken.

Lincoln? Of course. It’s not AoS if Daisy isn’t put through the emotional wringer.

I’ve always wondered if at least part of the inspiration for the Framework arc came from the writers’ frustrations with the 2016 US presidential elections and its result.

It’s not just the numerous and very overt jabs - they’re not even pretending to be subtle - but the resolution: facts, as in the truth of the Patriot’s sacrifice and Hydra’s depravity, win over propaganda and the public “wakes up” and unites against the fascists. Wouldn’t it be nice if it was so straightforward in real life?

Take Your Daughter to Work Day:

At the beginning of the season Coulson was in a very similar place to Daisy, minus of course the PTSD and the death wish (that will come next season. Sort of?).

On a surface level, both were back to when the series started: she, on her own in her van, flouting laws and crusading. And he, a high-level agent again, leading his own team on a cool plane, picking up assignments he likes (for the most part).

Both chose this “regression” to protect the team in the wake of the Hive crisis: “I thought that separating myself from the team would help me protect it” Daisy will explain in a few episodes to a more receptive Fitz than the one who accused her of “turning her back” in 4x02, and Coulson has already said in 4x07 how stepping down from the directorship was the move that allowed everyone else to continue in S.H.I.E.L.D. and, presumably, to do so unhindered.

Both were forced back into their pre-Hive roles by circumstances: Daisy returned because of the Eli Morrow crisis and may have left again right after it if she had paid attention to land in a media-free area (🤭). And Phil only assumed his Shadow Director role because Mace’s qualifications were a lie.

So it’s very satisfying that in the same episode Daisy emerges from a new Terrigenesis fully healed with her powers again and Coulson fully finds himself, stepping up to lead the Resistance and inspiring the masses.

Tinker, Traitor, Soldier, Spy Redux:

When you get down to it, FW!Ward is basically doing exactly what real!Ward was doing until the Hydra’s attempted takeover (so before 1x17 and the subsequent murder spree): he is a spy, embedded in a rival organization for years, who is lying about himself to everyone there, including the woman he claims to love.

Except, of course, he’s doing it for a very different and, I think we can all agree, far better cause. Betraying S.H.I.E.L.D. made him a villain, betraying Hydra makes him a hero.

As an exercise in moral relativity and “Context Matters!”, FW!Ward is very effective. And he works as a foil for Fitzler, with the nurture vs nature argument that was seeded way back in season 1. Fitzler was raised by an overbearing, abusive father instead of his loving mother, while FW!Ward was “saved from himself” by a woman dedicated to the greater good (given it’s Hand, overbearing probably still applies 😁), instead of the self-serving, toxic asshole that Garrett was. And so here they are, on opposite paths again but in reverse.

As a “redemption” for real!Ward, however, assuming that was the intent - and it is debatable - I don’t think he works and Daisy’s line, that she now understands her Ward had good in him since the simulated one does, feels borderline disrespectful to her character, whose empathy and survivor’s guilt could probably be used for better things than forgiving remorseless abusers.

How does the obvious notion that Ward would have become a better human being if someone less awful than Garrett had offered him tutelage when he was a vulnerable, messed-up teen, redeem the adult who consistently chose to do ill, channelled his hurt into hurting others and never truly regretted it?

Will Fitz’s horror for what Fitzler did, and his better path in life, “redeem” the Doctor? Then why would FW!Ward’s dismay for his real world counterpart’s actions, and his different path in life, redeem real!Ward?

This “presumed redemption” angle is also further muddled by S7, when we are told (by Kora, in 7x11) that in a timeline where Garrett never “helps” him, Ward was going to be worse.

Stuff:

The Framework has its own Fox News stand-in. Naturally.

Unlike Afterlife’s crystals, the one used by May doesn’t contain any trace of the Diviner’s metal and is therefore completely harmless for humans. FW!Hydra did a better job growing the Terrigen and it’s also likely that post-Whitehall Jiaying considered the deadliness to humans a feature, rather than a bug, and never saw a reason to refine the process.

You’re looking better -- Yeah. Thanks for that. I guess Aida and the Darkhold agree with me that cuts, bruises and even scars should not be retained after Terrigenesis. Daisy’s real Terrigenesis worked differently - she still had the cut on her cheek after it - and she seems surprised here that her injuries are gone but in 2x16, during the acupuncture scene, there were no visible scars on her stomach where Quinn’s shots should have left their mark. 🤷‍♀️

No matter the circumstance, none of you can escape your true nature. [May], the Warrior. Mack, the Protector. And Fitz, well, he's a Romantic. -- And me, what, I don't make the list? You, my dear, are the Rebel with a Cause. 

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!! 🥳👏🙌

The same parameters that limit me must also limit you. My primary directive requires me to protect these people. [...] If they become a direct threat to the Framework, then they no longer require protection. Can I just say that Radcliffe bungled the Laws of Robotics? Protecting human life is the FIRST law and everything else is supposed to be subordinate. This part is definitely not the Darkhold’s fault. Bad priorities!

Anyone else getting sick of this propaganda crap? It's like sipping poison. Little bit every day, you don't even notice till it kills you. How unsubtle of you, AoS. Good. 

Still feeling the after-effects of the Terrigen. It's like a hangover made of bees. In S2 Daisy described her powers as a thousand bees inside [her] that she felt all the time. The technical aspects of the simulation remain impeccable.

What I don't get is how you can control your powers so quickly. A question I have about the humans powered up with the stolen Inhuman powers in S7 (other than Malick, who almost killed himself at first and, unlike the rest, had proper time to learn).

What kind of monsters would do this? -- Inhumans. The ever-present threat. Right. Inhumans are the monsters here...🙄

This woman, known by the alias "Skye," is a member of the Inhumans First movement. Her goal is to destabilize Hydra from within. We warn our audience that this Inhuman has the potential to cause mass destruction, and she has been known to target civilians. Aside for the “Inhumans First” membership, none of this is technically untrue. And yet...

Her name was Victoria Hand. She was the first person to tell me I could be a good man. Skye was the one who made me believe it. Skye. Who was working for Hydra. Willingly, apparently (why?). Honestly, I don’t think the writers thought the lives of the alt NPCs through, outside of the Ward & Fitz moral switcheroo.

This is quantum-energy manipulation. Darkhold tech. Aka the stuff with the magic boxes, Lucy the Ghost and Eli the Quantum Thief from 4A. When people hate on the Ghost Rider pod I get cranky, because it set up everything.

You can't blame yourself for their lies. Once you learned the truth, you fought back. As usual, May doesn’t hide from responsibility, even when the deck is fully stacked against her, but this is good advice that hopefully helped her. It sounds like Daisy was relating to her experience with her mom in S2, in which case this may indicate that she has forgiven herself for it... or that she’s much better at giving advice than following it.😄

[Aida] wants to circumvent her programming. Every step has been towards that goal. The Framework, Radcliffe, Fitz. We have to stop her. Aida wants to be free. By itself, that’s remarkable. And relatable. I think this is one of the reasons why she is such a great antagonist, one of the last, great villains of the show.

You believe me? -- Come on, girl. That's way too crazy a story to make up. Trip never, ever disappoints. 🤗

Don't you snap at me, boy. If I wanted you hysterical at every setback, I would have left you with your mother. According to the Declassified books, these scene with Alistair that highlights the perils of growing up without a female parental figure were shot, coincidentally, on International Women’s Day.

So the secret base is the base. Probably should've guessed that.   😂😂😂

Trip? That's the best news I've heard in weeks. Right?!

Clearly, I wasn't in on any plan, or I wouldn't still be in this bloody cell. I’m disappointed they left Radcliffe in the hands of the nazis, especially because him being him along May and Daisy during the escape would have been hilarious.

To save ourselves we need to save the world. Work, work, work,work... 😅

I'm just saying, if you need to shop for furniture, I'll take you. I know just the place. This is another unsubtle reference, I *think* to Bill O’Reilly and his sexual harassment scandal.

If you think you can force me, Sunil Bakshi, to go on air and slander Hydra, then you're delusional. I am the most trusted voice in journalism [Daisy quakes him into a wall] Just, uh, put it in the teleprompter, then. The unyielding hero Hydra deserves.... 🤣

Well, every relationship has its ups and downs. We'll get through it. I’m a bit unclear on how being a Hydra supporter is just some regular relationship hurdle to get over but I admire your optimism, Better!Ward.

Hydra doesn't think we're smart enough to know when we're being fed alternative facts to keep us afraid, to keep them in power. Unsubtler and unsubtler...(sic)

Now I'm choosing to stand up, to become a part of something bigger. I really do believe that together, we can accomplish anything. Because the truth is I'm not just a history teacher. My name is Phil Coulson and I'm an Agent of S. H. I. E. L. D. Did anyone not smile broadly at this? Like, I’m typing it and still smiling.

This episode sets up one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the entire show, namely Mack losing his daughter and then having to live with those vivid new memories alongside the old ones.

At this point in time the show hadn’t focused much on Mack’s tribulations but the Framework arc made up for it and then some. And then more some. Yikes. 

In hindsight, it might have been less painful for him if here Daisy had lied or just pushed him in, sparing him the slow torture of hearing his scared digital daughter’s mounting panic, but I suspect he would disagree. I think Mack would have chosen to be there for her even if he had been fully aware and had known how close to the end the digital world was. That knowledge would have likely fuelled his resolve to not leave her alone. And Daisy has lost her agency too many times - from the foster system to, most recently at this point, Hive - to take away his, even if it kills her to leave him behind.

Their scene, with both characters coming from a place of love, is harshly contrasted by the way Simmons finally comes face to face with Fitzler.

You really gotta feel for Simmons, who just a few weeks earlier was going apartment hunting (4x04) and now has been threatened, stabbed, shot and almost killed by two different versions of her chosen flatmate and future husband. One of whom she had to gruesomely stab to death (4x15), because why settle for traumatic when you can write horrifying? 😁

She never believed Fitz was lost in his Framework persona, highlighted by how she ignores Daisy’s sensible decision to leave his extraction for a time when all of their lives aren’t in imminent danger, and tries a desperate attempt to reach him through his father that could have cost them everything since Daisy, for her part, can’t fathom to advance the mission without her.

Luckily, it’s time for Radcliffle’s redemption.

I’m not sure if his very first selfless act since we’ve known him makes up for all the misery his actions have caused, even with the Darkhold’s corruption as the extenuating circumstance (which does nothing to excuse his S3′s shenanigans), but it’s a laudable u-turn for someone who, in the past, had let self-preservation override any other concern.

In between Mack choosing to stay and Fitzler being forced to go, stand May and Coulson. Unlike both Mack and Fitzler, neither value whatever ties they still have to the virtual world. Still, they perform a leap of faith, most impressive coming from May who has no memories of her real self, however hazy, and had just recently resolved to never trust blindly again.

Yet here she does, believing in a dorky high school teacher turned resistance fighter who’s actually a dorky superspy without the benefit of their 30 years old friendship backing it up.

And of course Coulson adds another almost-but-not-quite death to his record, a recurring circumstance that, at this time, hadn't quite yet turned into a meme.

Inescapable

About a year earlier (3x09) Simmons had earnestly declared herself against jeopardizing the many for the one and then had backed it up in spades, willing to be tortured to death, doom Will and doom Fitz - it’s not like Malick was going to let him go unscathed once they were done with her - to avoid the possibility that a yet unknown boogeyman would find its way to Earth.

Things have changed.

Now, Fitz comes first. Even when, maybe, pre-Framework arc Jemma wouldn’t have prioritized him over everything and everyone else, especially when there were still options and he was in far less danger than the rest of them.

I can see how their constant separation drama could have chipped away at her mettle on this particular topic, but I also think that in pursue of the Inevitability of FitzSimmons some of the characters’ individuality was lost and most specifically Simmons’, because Fitz was already all about her when it came to the root of his choices.

Said Inevitability seems also why, in the Framework arc, Jemma has to literally be dead for an alternate version of Fitz to fall in love with a different woman, even though Fitzler being who he is should be more than enough to justify FitzSimmons not happening.

And now I need to climb on my soapbox because FW!Jemma’s deceased status alongside Ward’s not-quite-redemption, more-like-closure+foil-for-Fitz storyline are the meta reasons why FW!Skye ended up working for Hydra.

Something that, all else being equal other than the Cambridge Incident and Coulson's different career - including the type of childhood that could shape fairly execrable individuals yet didn’t turn our Daisy into one - makes very little sense. If at all.

As a paradigm shift, the Cambridge Incident is the virtual world’s equivalent of the alien invasion in New York and Daisy had clocked S.H.I.E.L.D. as bad guys in that scenario. So why would the hacktivist we met in the pilot ever think Hydra was doing good work? Or be in a romantic relationship with a guy who, as far she knows, is Hydra? When Daisy learned of Ward’s true allegiances, she was disgusted. She infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. - a far less malevolent organization than Hydra even while Hydra was infesting it - for personal reasons but changed her mind on them and stayed because Coulson (and the others, but it was mainly because of Coulson) was not the Big Brother’s stooge she had expected but a good man trying his best to do right by people and oozing dadness.

And she was recruited, by Coulson, in a highly unorthodox team that was only formed due to his special circumstances, while every other agent with a clearance over level six we met during the first half of S1 thought it was a bad idea.

So how and why did all of it sort of happened anyway? None of the known changes explain it. Are we supposed to infer that Better!Ward took over Coulson's role but with a romantic twist (eww) and that was enough to make Hydra (Hydra, not S.H.I.E.L.D.!) palatable? And with what clout? Coulson had to pull rank and had the personal trust of Nick Fury to bet on the stray hacker. Better!Ward is nowhere close to that level of influence even four years later.

Also, from an out of universe perspective, Daisy should not be in a similar position to the “real” world when you remove Coulson from her life yet FW!Skye is: she is an agent for the organization tasked to protect the world, which, in the Framework, happens to be Hydra and not S.H.I.E.L.D. (even though it’s of course all pretence to perpetuate its power). One could argue that she’s in a very different position morally, but Coulson didn’t give Daisy her morals. Her compass was already pointing to chaotic goodness before he adopted abducted her, with emphasis on the chaos when fascists enter the picture. Here we have plenty of fascists and no evidence of any chaos.

Without Coulson, and in a Hydra-controlled world, “Skye” is hacking into the state news’ signal to broadcast anti-Hydra manifests, running a cyber guerrilla, or has managed to infiltrate Hydra as she did S.H.I.E.L.D., without getting herself killed, vivisected or brainwashed in the process, and stayed as a mole for the Resistance. Or, maybe more likely, she is dead.

On the other hand, we have seen how Simmons reacted after Puerto Rico, so FW!Jemma initially sharing Hydra’s stance on Inhumans would be in character. She could have become a double agent, once she had seen enough of Hydra’s methods, just as she was one for S.H.I.E.L.D. in Hydra in S2. Heck, she could have been in a relationship with Better!Ward, making that 3x09 retcon about her flirting count for something and mirroring the real world almost perfectly: Simmons loves Fitz and despises Ward, FW!Jemma could have loved Better!Ward and despised the Doctor. That could have also offered Simmons an opportunity to find a measure of closure with her own Ward issues, which aren’t less than Daisy’s. Or something else entirely that was still about Simmons, in addition to Fitz and their relationship.

But, FitzSimmons are Inescapable(tm) and the show has no interest in exploring, even in the background of a 5 episodes long What if, any part of Simmons’ story that isn’t about FitzSimmons.

So Jemma’s dead, the anarcho-socialist hacker is okay with Hydra without any context given and Coulson’s removal from Daisy’s life means less than it should.

I’m just gonna bask in Trip’s smile wishing things had been handled differently (including his part in the proceedings, frustratingly small) while I carefully tuck my soapbox away for future use.

Stuff:

Beta Team has spent 10 days freezing their asses on the Zephyr watching over their two sleeping beauties. A certain gentleman out of time is smiling.

After those 10 days the Zephyr has only 24 hours of power left. Coulson had bragged about six weeks in the air in the season premiere but running the Framework apparatus is extremely tasking, hence the shortened autonomy.

YoYo seems to be calling the shots on the Zephyr, either because she is level color-that-puts-her-in-charge or because the aforementioned sleeping beauties left instructions to make it so.

Just look at [Madame Hydra’s] uniform. It's so crazy hot. I mean, if you're into the whole "bad girl" vibe. Not me. I'm just making an observation. Sure, sure... I know all about this kind of observations. I make this kind of observations all the time. Embrace your fanboyness, Burrows.

Hey, person I don’t know. [...] You can finish hugging me later. Witness Trip’s chill when his personal space is invaded by strangers. Granted, she’s a pleasant looking stranger, but he's unfailingly gracious.

Simmons we can't rescue Fitz right now. [...] I promise, we will find a way to get Fitz once everyone’s safe, okay? -- Okay. That is not the stance nor the look of someone who agrees, Daisy. How do you not see it?

Come on, Dad. She’s the biggest hero in S.H.I.E.L.D. Out of the mouth of babes...😎

Daisy is delightful with Hope. I wish they had put her with kids more often.

I’ll make sure you’re exactly where you need to be. Nice doublespeak. Good thing Mack isn’t your Mack or he’d have caught on.

My days of following blindly are over. If there's any truth to what you're saying, you'll have to show, not tell. May dislikes expository dialogue and prefers it when information is communicated through action.🤭

You may not be the Fitz who was my good friend, a man I'd step in front of a train for, but you wear your fear the same way. Radcliffe is going to be true to his word and give up his life for Fitz (and the others).

How did a little pop tart like you evade capture? I assumed she put into practice the lessons you taught her mostly off-screen.

What can I say? I'm easy to confide in. With that smile of yours? Easy is an understatement. 😍

You and I, we must've, uh, you know -- Dated? -- Sure. We'll go with that. -- Uh, no. Sorry. -- Right. Me and Simmons, we probably... -- Nope. -- Agent May? Damn. And this is really a place you want to go back to? I know, Trip, it’s a freaking travesty. And their loss. But I don’t remember real Trip being this much of an aspiring player.

I've been nothing but a good father. If by “good” you mean toxic, then sure.

You're now the face of the Resistance. -- That's really not my style. I'm really more of a "work in the shadows" kind of guy. -- Really? That's how teaching 10th grade works best, from the shadows? I love that their dynamic is reminiscent of what we saw in the 4x14 flashbacks, him being kind of a dork and she snarking about it. Except young May was a much happier, almost carefree individual of course, so her teasing had a different bite.

How does the existence of an alternate reality come up in casual conversation? -- I'd like to think it's because we were bonding, though I don't really want to speak for her. 😂😂

But Fitz won't come with us now. We've lost him. -- No, we haven't. We will figure something out, but first, we have to get back to the real world before Aida makes us disappear. Okay? -- Okay. See, this is a true okay. You should have really learned how to spot the differences, Daisy.

Maybe it's your turn to suit up. The people could use another Patriot to look up to. -- Not gonna lie, I'd look pretty damn fine in that suit. -- Yeah, you would. Take care of yourself. Daisy gets to say goodbye to Trip. It’s not much but it is something.

It's not magic, May. It's science. I wish I had kept track of all the times one of the show’s scientists - and I think it’s mostly Simmons - made similar remarks because there were quite a few.

Wake up! There is no back door, just like she's not Moses about to take you to the Promised Land. -- That's it. What if I quake that thing? -- And part the Red Sea. -- They did not just go and use the Bible against me. 😂😂😂😂

The layout for the FS scenes in the steel mill is somewhat odd, with Simmons, Fitzler and Radcliffe having their dramatic confrontation while Daisy and Mack are on the other side...waiting? Somehow unaware of what’s holding Simmons up at gunpoint? Watching and just hoping for the best? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Its name is Aida. Artificially Intelligent Digital Assistant. And stop making excuses for it! Not making excuses for unapologetic villains is good advice.

I love you. -- And you mean nothing to me. I want to hear you say it. "I am nothing to you." Say it! Say it! Fitzler twisting the knife in the collective heart of the FS fandom...he’s rather talented at it, isn’t he? 🤭

She laughs at my jokes. We watch movies together. And when she's sad...when she's sad, I hold her. No. She's real to me. -- I understand. And she really does, as evidenced by how she’s interacted with Hope and most of the NPCs throughout the arc.

Listen to me, Fitz. None of that is your fault. -- I wanted to do those things. It felt natural. I think I'm a bad person. I bet Coulson was having S3′s flashbacks right about now. Happily, Fitz's instinct to atone for his perceived sins away from the people he's been put in a position to hurt will be nipped in the bud. Unhappily, he will be separated anyway and it's not going to be pretty.

Oh, Trip, how I have missed you all these years. Your positive attitude, your easy-going nature, your grace under pressure and your smile. I bet the show would have killed you anyway at some point, even if you had stayed and got the development you deserved, because you are that character, but everything would have been a little bit brighter with you around. It’s a privilege to have you back, if for too short a time.

Sadly, even your mighty powers of sunshine can’t quite dissipate the desaturated direness of the Framework.

While Daisy is busy being tortured - another day, another trauma to compartmentalize - Jeffrey Mace goes out the (super)hero way, keeping a building up until he can’t.

The Framework might be a fake world but the price to pay to be the shield (or the blocker, as he called his role in 4x13 with more than a little foreshadowing) is just as steep as in the real world.

His death triggers Gestapo!May’s realignment to May’s moral priorities, which leads to Daisy’s freedom and powers, both essential factors for the team's eventual escape from the virtual world. So he didn’t exactly die in vain but his loss still hurts, especially knowing how the virtual world will be gone in a few episodes, making all the effort he put into saving it from Hydra twice as meaningless.

My favorite thing about Daisy’s second Terrigenesis is the smirk.

She knows what’s coming and can’t wait to open her special can of whoopass on all deserving individuals, starting with a certain puppetmastering android. The difference with her first Terrigenesis, marked by terror and loss, couldn’t be more pronounced. And the difference with how she will get her powers back next season is a guaranteed whiplash. 💫🤬

My other favorite thing is that May is the one that makes it happen. 

In the real world, May’s relationship to all things Inhuman is complicated and painful enough: there’s Bahrain, there’s Andrew and there’s Daisy herself, who she must have feared could become her second Katya at least twice (S2 and the Hive crisis).

In the Framework she carries the guilt of hundreds of lives lost because of one Inhuman she saved and that has numbed her and blinded her to the evils perpetrated by Hydra. Yet when she starts to question everything she’s believed in until now, what is her first act? Trust the Inhuman with destructive powers. It’s strategic - Ophelia targeted “Skye”, she therefore must be important - and completely flips the script for everyone.

Coulson, for his part, continues to reassert himself over the meek propaganda teacher, charging in to free kids he knows, on an intellectual level, aren’t “real” but are definitely so to him on the emotional one. Professor Coulson failed them, Coulson won’t, mission priorities and orders be damned.

The rescue starts the chain of events that leads to Mace’s death and, once again, it’s a blessing that Coulson is not a young woman of color, or we would never have heard the end of how emotional and reckless he is from the usual quarters. 🙄😈😉

Wall of Valor:

It’s tempting to say that Mace was a fabricated hero in the real world and a real hero in the fabricated world, but Real Mace had sacrificed himself for the team, too, (4x13) and his demise works well with Coulson’s words to Mike Peterson in the pilot, how powers don’t make the heroes but what one chooses to do with them does (“it’s not what they have that we don’t. It’s what they do with it”).

It’s the human factor that matters, not the superhuman one. And Mace was always a good human, even when his heroic credentials were a fake and his methods to sedate mentally-compromised specialists a little questionable.

As Director, he was terrible at planning field operations - remember how he wanted to send YoYo alone to pick up a highly radioactive thingamabob against Eli Morrow? - but had a knack for PR and buttering politicians up, which was, after all, his true area of expertise. Once he stopped performing and lost his smarmy, too-friendly-to-be-true veneer, he revealed himself to be a genuinely likeable guy.

He loved his sports metaphors and always tried his best to smooth interpersonal conflicts and look for common ground. Given how the team’s unity will be tested and broken next season, his input going forward would have probably helped.

Stuff:

My Spanish is mucho bueno. Almost on par with Daisy’s Russian, I’m sure. 😂 (In the real world Coulson knows “vacation-Spanish” so maybe Professor Coulson does too. In which case I retract my jab 😁).

Rescuing Skye is not the mission. Well, obviously, since Coulson is not in charge.😁

What happened to you, Fitz? He had a bad childhood.😈

Binary ones and zeroes can’t die, nor do they feel the cold. [...] We’re wasting time. [...] Mace is risking his life going on these pointless missions. Yes, on all counts.

I got to ask, what is it about [Ward]? Every time I see him, I get this weird itch, like hives. Did we get along? -- Well, you crushed his chest with your cybernetic arm and left him for dead on an alien planet, so no. 🤣

Oh, lookie over there, Terrigen crystals. Terrigen crystals that don’t contain any trace of the toxic alien metal the Diviner was made of, to be precise.

This is made from various metabolic enhancers, gorilla testosterone, even a dash of peppermint. aka Cal Johnson’s recipe for superstrength and psychopathy.

“A team that trusts is a team that triumphs?” That's a little cheesy. *drinks* I’m sad, I think this is the last one.

I realize how it sounds. No one wants to hear they're just an avatar in a digital prison, but sometimes that happens, and here we are. 🤣🤣

You don't know me at all. -- Not well enough, apparently. Well, you guys were too busy being suspicious and he was too busy keeping up his charade for any true bonding to occur. It’s understandable.

I don’t need proof. This can’t be real. Because the man I love would never execute someone in cold blood. Fitz would never do that. -- He did. The real Ward would have rubbed this in with immense glee.

Beaten to within an inch of her life. Nevertheless, she persisted. This is a riff on something Mitch McConnell said when Elizabeth Warren was silenced in the US Senate. If anyone was still doubting that Fitzler is fully playing for the dark side, this clinched it. 😉

Fitzler, don’t you see that Ophelia doesn’t want you around while she speaks with Daisy? Don’t you wonder why? I thought your toxic dad taught you not to trust anyone. This would be one of those times to apply that lesson.

You know, I asked for a mani-pedi. Got tortured instead. BT Dubs, your psycho-prison sucks. Beaten within an inch of her life, nevertheless she sassed. Miss Daisy Johnson, everyone.

The convo with Aida is an underrated hero moment for Daisy, who refuses the temptation of an illusory life with Lincoln in a parallel to S3 when she had instead asked Hive to give her back the illusion of happiness he provided. She also calls Aida out as the Puppetmaster of the digital misery and, as usual, I'm not inclined to disagree with her assessment.

And what do you get out of all of this? -- What everyone else has. A choice. This sounds very poignant but with Daisy in that condition I can’t contemplate anything but Aida’s painful demise. 😡

And is Hope's mother here, as well? -- No, no, it's just me and Sparkplug. Yeah, about that... Where is Hope’s mother? I had assumed they separated due to the strain of losing their child but maybe not. Or maybe she isn’t there because Mack doesn’t regret the end of that relationship since he’s in love with someone else now. 

His co-worker spotted him hiding some contraband in his locker. A camera. -- Was there any film in it? -- No. No film. It was an antique, actually. They’re talking about Trip and you just know the “antique camera” was a vintage spy gadget from his Grandad’s Howling Commando’s kit.

How about that story on Bakshi News the other day? That Inhuman they found with lion paws for hands? So weird. Just the paws. This would be Johnny Horton who had already been mentioned in S1 by John Garrett as the first prisoner he had escorted to the Fridge.

Everything here tastes like tofu! Put me out of my misery already! Well, this is a twist. I thought everything’s supposed to taste like chicken. 🤭

I didn't think Fitz was capable of doing something like that. And he’s gonna keep surprising you... 

What if I didn't need to kill her? What if maybe she wasn't lying or maybe she was mentally ill or something? “What if” “Maybe”. Now, that's your mother talking. -- Sorry, father. -- There she is again. Not that it was ever in doubt, but clearly Mrs. Fitz is by far the better parent. I wonder what might have happened if in this one moment of doubt Fitzler had been conversing with somebody less toxic and more human being.

And in a hard world, we cannot afford the luxury of what? -- The luxury of sympathy. -- Exactly. We don't buckle to guilt or womanly sentiment. Everyone needs the strap across their back now and again. Teaches respect. You know that. You've felt it. Fine. He did have a bad childhood. Given all that’s being going on in the Triskelion’s upper floors even before Skimmons hacked in, my sympathy meter for the Doctor is still stuck on *very low*.

If the superstrength cocktail lasts for about an hour, wouldn’t it have made more sense to take it once she had reached her destination rather than when departing?

You feel that, don't you? The way he loves his kid? -- Of course -- Then doesn't that make it real? How rude of you to ask such pertinent questions! 

Coulson. What's he thinking? He’s feeling.🤗

Jemma volunteers to go on one of those pointless missions she was complaining about, with FW!Ward of all people, to protect Mack from going instead. 🤗

This is Agent May. There are kids in here. Why the hell are there kids in here? I’m thinking this is more evidence of Aida’s manipulations because otherwise how is she like #3 in Hydra and doesn’t know what they’re really doing in those “Enlightenment centers”? Clearly “Ophelia” made sure she wouldn’t find out.

Not only the world inside the Framework is significantly worse than the real one, none of the people who have had their biggest regrets erased are in any way happier for it.

Gestapo May simply traded one crushing regret for another.

Professor Coulson is a lonely, paranoid guy.

Dad Mack (Mack Daddy? *googles* oh. Yikes. 😬 No. 🤦‍♀️) comes the closest, but he’s raising his adorable daughter in the equivalent of nazi Germany.

SuperMace is living a life of constant loss while carrying the responsibility of the world on his shoulders against terrible odds. (kinda sounds like the protagonists of this one show I obsess about and, let me tell you, they are utterly miserable a good chunk of the time. 😁)

Radcliffe - not being able to cure Agnes was likely his biggest regret and the Framework has become that cure - is trapped with no hope and the full knowledge that his inventions have been twisted far beyond anything he might have wanted.

And Fitzler... well, I sense much fear in him. And anger. And hate. Such is the path of the dark side. 🤭

So if the purpose of the Framework was to provide happier lives, I feel we can say with a certain level of confidence that it failed spectacularly.

Of course, even before Aida’s wish to become a real girl made things exponentially worse, happier lives weren’t the primary goal, despite Radcliffe’s lofty ambitions.

When May was the only prisoner, the simulation was being constantly tweaked to keep her from fighting back. And this is exactly where everyone is: compliant and harmless to the program, even the Patriot because the Resistance is still working within the confines of the simulation and has no chance to hurt the overall structure of the Framework or impede Aida’s plans without the knowledge forthcoming from the real world.

Skimmons Co-Op gamers AU:

Ah, that special feeling when you boot up a game for the first time and begin learning about your character and their world, either thrust into a brand new life to roleplay or a blank slate with nothing, a nameless prisoner or, say, recently returned to life by magic or tech... 

Daisy and Jemma, for some reason, are entirely unenthused about the experience, yet the Framework is an amazing game and I say we should acknowledge Aida’s (and Radcliffe’s, and Fitz’s, and of course the Darkhold’s) prowess as a developer. The world building is top notch, the NPCs feel alive, choices most definitely have consequences (/nudge Bioware) and the gameplay is diverse with already plenty of action in the first hour. Granted, the tutorial is a little lacking, as they’re basically left on their own to figure out how to play, but that’s clearly a feature. Plus, they are pirating the game. Buy the damn thing before review bombing it on Metacritic, right? 😁

Even without fully appreciating the masterpiece they’re playing, Skimmons sus out fairly quickly why things are so out of whack, once they get over the initial shocks and the important business of deciding who had it worse: Jemma, who woke up buried in a mass grave, or Daisy, almost literally in bed with the NPC of her murderous, double-crossing former crush whose face is the same of her most haunting nightmare.

They both agree on option two, but as a starting point for a CRPG, dead in a mass grave is a bit of a classic. One more for the music box, eh?

Stuff:

Aida’s Framework is clearly a RPG, while Deke’s S6 Framework is more like an old school shooter, all corridors, cheesy banter and highly sexualized female eye-candy (🤬). From Golden Age Bioware all the way back to Duke Nukem 3D. As for S5′s Framework, we didn’t see much but I’m going with The Sims, Adult rated.

Daisy’s and Jemma’s regrets do not feature in the Framework at all and this is not an opinion. They hacked into the simulation, Aida never scanned their brains and didn’t update the program to fit them in. 

I’m fascinated by FW!Skye’s apartment. Would these be Daisy’s choices in interior decor, too, I wonder? It doesn’t feel like her, but I don’t know what would, so I’m just pausing a lot and checking everything lol. The highlight is what looks like an antique Chinese wardrobe, which suggests that FW!Skye, while unaware of her true origins, might have known about her ethnic background. And of course there’s the hula girl on the dresser.

You're on another planet this morning. Not yet!😁

Skye... there are things about me that you wouldn't like if you knew. Real Ward told her the same thing in 1x19, and a few minutes later she discovered Eric’s body. Fun!

Kill me already. There, there. *pats Daisy* Don’t worry, it gets worse.😁

FW!Ward may be fighting the fascists rather than helping them but he’s a pretty bad boyfriend when you think about it from FW!Skye’s side of things: he’s been lying to her for years and he’s working for the organization that’s been trying to kill/neutralize all her friends and co-workers. And the “it’s just not the right time” speech? Dude. You’re supposed to be good at this, what tired bunch of lame excuses was that?🤣

FW!Lincoln died during Fitzler’s experiments and his power will be one of the many in organic!Aida’s arsenal.

I don’t care what you’ve hacked. [...] Do I have to get you drug-tested? I feel like Gestapo May and FW!Skye were stuck in early S1 mode. If both of them had been working for a slightly more fascist organization, that is. I’m also intrigued by the implication that FW!Skye might have had a habit of lighting a joint or popping a happiness pill every now and then. She was working for Hydra in a green-tinted dystopia with a sad all-in-one office pc and no smartphones. I’d want to loosen up too. 😉

Simmons having to crawl out of her own grave is certainly an experience. Between that and her middle name being Anne, my Buffysense was tingling.

I think it’s because Elizabeth had a cold, but her raspy voice really fits someone who just dug herself out of the ground.

You make art? Fascinating. So incredibly lifelike. [...] You have dreams. This is all so real. So many computational layers. For the time being, Simmons is maintaining a healthy detachment, very aware of existing in a simulated world.

They can test for Inhuman DNA, pre-Terrigenesis? Interesting. So in the real world you can’t do that?🤔

Hydra-issued citizen's card. But I know for a fact that your name isn't Jason Rajan, so I wonder, who made it? Ha! You cheater! Your character is not supposed to know that! 😂

Not one smartphone. Yes, I noticed. Even the Hydra agents are using BlackBerries or whatever. As living in a fascist dystopia wasn’t bad enough, they’re all stuck with monochrome 320 x 240 screens.

Our friend here went hiking. -- Oh, yeah? In a dumpster or...? A fascist with a sense of humour!

Coulson’s “history” lesson is even more chilling because the guy we know would be horrified listening to himself spouting that stuff.

I'm sorry if she killed an Inhuman child, but if it saved everyone else... I think this puts to rest any notion that Daisy ever blamed May for the Katya situation. Back in S2 she brought up Bahrain - perhaps a tad indelicately 🤭 -  to make the point that Inhumans had reasons to be wary of S.H.I.E.L.D. and humans in general. Which they did and still do.

Hail Fitzler. Another one with a penchant for dramatic entrances, I see. You really want to stop smiling, Daisy. A grimace is far more appropriate. Punching him repeatedly would also be a-ok, believe me.

I know I sound like a lunatic, but you have had your mind wiped and implanted with false memories. Honestly, with all the fictional stories we have that revolve around exactly that, if someone said this to me, I wouldn’t think they’re crazy and my reaction might actually be excitement.

Coulson has a hula girl and Simmons thinks it’s because of T.A.H.I.T.I., but it’s likely because of Daisy instead. And the fact he’ll remember her name is a strong indication of that. Cal also had a hula girl. It’s a Daisy’s dads thing to do.

Your memory's been rewritten before! You are Phil Coulson, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and your subconscious knows that! This is why Coulson will (partially) remember and the others will not.

You're not even real, you rogue piece of code! Yeah, but he’s a smart rogue piece of code. Petition for Burnell to be in the player’s squad for the Framework RPG.

And for the record, Hydra? They’re all nazis. [...] every last one of them. And don’t you let anyone forget it. No worries, I won’t. ✊

Fitzler’s experimentation space is enclosed in a plastic tent, reminiscent of the makeshift operation room in 5x14 (or, rather, the other way around,).

This is crimes-against-humanity wrong. -- These are Inhumans. Fitzler’s mindset here, besides being abhorrent, helps explain why simply asking for Daisy’s cooperation in 5x14 won’t factor in the plan, despite being the avenue any sensible person not currently experiencing a psychic split with a nazi alter ego would have gone for first. Inhumans are pieces of meat to him, tools, not people. What they want or feel doesn’t matter.

Skye, you never leave early. You've been pissed at me all morning. Your attitude at work here sucks. It's like I woke up to a totally different person. Pissed at Ward, pissed at Hydra... sounds about Daisy.😁

Among Coulson’s news clippings there’s Doctor Winslow (Cal’s new identity after T.A.H.I.T.I.) arrested for subversion - he was experimenting to make Inhumans - Felix Blake being celebrated as a hero and Bakshi winning a Lifetime Achievement Award. He also has an ad for a String Quartet’s concert (with a note about a cellist), a calendar with a picture of a car that looks like Lola (and it’s the month of May), sketches of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s eagle and of course pages of “It’s a magical place” writings.

I saw that you were dead. Wait. Are you still dead? -- No, I'm feeling much better. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣   

Coulson gave me up, didn't he? He's completely different, Daisy. You wouldn't believe it. After the day she's had? I think she just might.

Everything's worse here. I woke up buried alive, was ditched on the side of the road, nearly arrested, and found Coulson brainwashing the young. -- It sounds bad, but wait till you hear how I woke up. -- [...] And [Ward] is who you woke up with? […] This isn't the Framework. This is Hell. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

You know, my father always said you have to have trust to be betrayed. Ah yes, your new, and definitely not improved, role model. 😬 Maybe this is the one good thing that came out of the Framework, in a really twisted way, because after everything Fitz may have felt less bad that in the real world his douchy dad didn’t stick around.

And what did they do to Fitz to make him such an ugly person here? -- Well, that one's easy. They stole [Jemma] from his life. Daisy and her OTP. But, no, it’s not the lack of Jemma that turned him into a nazi. And thank Asgard for that, because it would have been very disturbing.

In the comics Madame Hydra is Viper, aka Ophelia Sarkissian, a Hydra-raised supervillain. The name and the green aesthetics are the only things she has in common with AoS Madame Hydra. Although we don't know what kind of backstory Aida gave herself in her special brand of self-insert fanfic, so 🤷

I won't stand by as they try to destroy everything that we have built. I have to protect that. I have to protect you. Fitzler or Fitz, at the core there’s always the fear of losing his beloved.

You're the person that I go to when things get heavy. And this world is scary, and nothing makes sense, and... you're the closest thing I have to family. The last time Daisy had voiced this sentiment aloud was in S2,  speaking of Coulson to her mother.

Our questing duo has acquired a new companion, bringing their party to a total of four: their increasingly flustered selves, Professor Coulson - who majored in conspiracy theories and minored in home economics - and of course FW!Ward. Daisy is tentatively trusting him after he saved their skin twice. Jemma steadfastly refuses to.

As most things Simmons after S2/S3a, I suspect this has to do with Fitz. If the virtual world is so “upside down” that Ward could be a trustworthy ally, it may also be so “upside down” that Fitz is lost in his new persona. I don’t think Jemma was prepared to consider the possibility, let alone accept it.

Hail Fitzler:

If the Mengele-like approach to science and the Richard Spencer’s haircut hadn’t been enough of a shock already, Fitzler murders Agnes, tortures Daisy and Radcliffe and professes his love to Ophelia with all the dramatic flair we have come to expect from his non nazi edition (“I’d cross the universe for you”).

I’m not saying we should celebrate the real Alistair Fitz’s lack of parental instinct but, clearly, there are worse things than being abandoned by your dad at 10, if these are the results of him sticking around.

Unlike Professor Coulson and Gestapo May, Fitzler won’t wake-up to the evil realities of the virtual world and do something about it. That’s probably a part of why, once disconnected, Fitz will be so affected by his second life that he will eventually embrace his Framework persona.

There are at least two good reasons for Fitzler’s inability to break his social programming (given the context and Radcliffe's beliefs, it seems like a better way to put it than “stop being a nazi a-hole”, but either works for me 😁):

1) His life changed from an earlier point in time than everyone else’s and having his father in his life likely means that he lost his mother. If not her presence, certainly the impact of her influence: in the one single moment of doubt Fitzler will exhibit, FW!Alistair will rebuff him with “that’s your mother talking”. Whatever contributions FW!Mrs. Fitz was able to make in raising him, they were not valued nor heeded.

2) Aida needs him and has adjusted things accordingly. She inserted herself in his life, taking over Jemma’s role as kindred spirit and life partner and likely encouraged his despicable ethics: they serve her purpose and she’s an android who has learned hers from Radcliffe.

Stuff:

Amy, we've been over this. Until first bell, this is my time. I guess Daisy has been telling Coulson “the gist of it” all night since it was dark when she popped up in his car and he was leaving the school, and now they’re in class and school’s about to start. Also, Amy is Clark Gregg’s daughter as I imagine anyone who may be reading this already knows.

Hydra used Cambridge to take control, in the name of law and order... to justify everything. How depressingly familiar.

I would’ve figured it out a long time ago if it wasn’t for the mind-control soap [...] That blue soap everyone uses? Hydra loads it up with chemicals. It seeps into our bloodstream. Implants false memories into our brains. They want us to believe this is a magical place. But don’t worry, I’m clear. I make my own soap now. Did they really make a soap joke while depicting a fascist dystopia run by neo-nazis? Huh.

Mack’s fashion sense as a dad has reversed to his pre field agent days: plaid shirts over henleys and jeans.

They busted my neighbor for a laptop last night. Meanwhile, the place is getting more dystopian by the minute...

Apparently, in the real world, I have a robot hand. Pretty cool, right? [...] Bona fides? I always wanted to do that. Absent saving-the-world duties, Coulson’s full dorkiness is loose. 😂

I hate to say this, but I think we can trust [Ward]. -- Until we can’t. Betraying those closest to him is his signature move. And I hate to say this, but Real!Ward betrayed you but he never betrayed Garrett. Following to the bitter end a guy who murders and enslaves people isn’t exactly the best credential, but it is a precedent of his capacity for enduring, if entirely misplaced, loyalty.

If you were able to get through to Coulson, then surely I could get Fitz to remember me. [...] This reality may be upside down, but Fitz is still Fitz. Tsk, tsk. Obviously Jemma never watched the Mirror Universe episodes in Star Trek. Disappointing.

Daisy, it's too dangerous. -- I'll be fine. The last time you said you were fine, you had a broken arm, a broken soul, and had almost gotten yourself killed, so forgive me if I don’t find that reassuring. 

Who is she? -- No one. She doesn't matter. She's plotting against me. Well, that went from 0 to 100 fast. Too bad Fitzler is too whipped to question it.

You'd really do anything for me, wouldn't you? -- I'd cross the universe for you. I’d advise against that. The universe-crossing shortcuts opener is currently powerless, would rather chuck your girlfriend into a black hole, and also ships you with someone else.😁

Madame Hydra’s restricted files? You have lost your mind. -- The soap made me do it. Despite placing a lot of trust in this version of Ward, Daisy’s discomfort and irritation around him are palpable. So of course she resorts to sarcasm and sass, her default mode when things are not fine.

I’ll be fine. Go. Concern increasing...

For the season, it's been unusually rainy.  -- Rain or shine, the man with the umbrella is always ready. Seriously? Could your secret code be any more obviously a secret code? 😂

And hello SuperMace. I can tell by your scruffy stubble that you carry a Heavy Burden(tm).

I can't believe it's really you. The Patriot! The Inhuman leader of the Resistance. He's kind of a big deal! So, here's how it goes, then: May's the Warrior, Mack's the Protector, Fitz’s the Romantic, and Coulson is the Fanboy. 😁

Got to say, the whole Rebel Alliance aesthetic's really working for me. And of course Mace doesn’t fully appreciate the compliment, as one would expect from a man with his disturbing opinion of Han Solo (4x06).

And believe me, we will defeat these terrorists, and we will make our society great again. I would make another drinking game out of all the shade the Framework arc throws at right wing American politics and personalities, but current events don’t make it all that amusing any more.😞

Tell you what, how about if we make some popcorn and watch a video? -- “Chopping Mall"? -- Again with that silly robot movie? Okay, who are you and what have you done with Mack? Oh. Right. “Chopping Mall” was referenced in 4x09 and also parodied in 7x07, apparently to the dismay of its director who didn’t appreciate the homage and called it plagiarism.🤦‍♀️

I'm sorry. With all that's going on, I can't send a team today. -- Then send us. Already sounding like the Coulson we know, isn’t he?

You are not crazy. -- I live alone and make my own soap. -- It's quaint. Hipster, even. -- That's not how my ex-wife saw it. The ex-wife is Audrey, right? He had the string quartet clipping the previous ep...

I was their slave. Treated as less than human. You know...you are not wrong. Unfortunately, all the kidnapping, murdering, torturing and future plans for genocide and world domination have greatly diminished my sympathies.

Daisy just can’t help it with her big heart. She comforts Hope, reassures Mack his virtual daughter is okay and feels all the feels, realizing too late she’s being played.

Oh, Jemma, if only you knew the trials and tribulations I've endured. I daresay she doesn’t much care to know at the moment. Once again, my dear doctor, you are terrible at reading a room.

Catch up later. We need to move. Indeed. I hate it when characters who are supposedly in a hurry stand around to talk. Grab Radcliffe and drag him to the Quinjet, you can berate him on the flight back!

Going down? This was a low blow, AoS. Daisy wins a 1 vs 4 elevator fight without her powers and you barely showed her throwing a couple of punches. Why do you hate me?

Aida sort of killed me, as well. She found a loophole. I mean, it was really rather clever. If I weren’t dead already, I’d be impressed. Again, I don’t think your guests want to hear about her cleverness.

You put yourself into the Framework. You’ve been manipulating it ever since. The whole thing is an unmitigated disaster, and all you do is lie! -- Sometimes it’s okay to lie to save a life. You taught me that. As much as it serves to mitigate the guilt he must be feeling about the whole deal, the accusation that Aida manipulated things in the Framework to suit her aims makes complete sense. And we see her feeding a distorted and self-serving version of the truth to Fitzler in this episode after all. Her rebuke, though, is perfect. Radcliffe really can’t shift all the blame on her.

Skye! What happened? *narrator’s voice* She was, in fact, not fine. 😠😩

He’s gonna kill her. -- Fitz would never do that. -- Are you sure? Completely sure. That’s why it’s devastating.

Today, for the first time, I couldn't look my little girl in the eye. I need to make that right. I’m here to help. The world may be “upside down”, but Mack is still upright.🤗

You don’t want to do this. -- Yeah, I do. I guess you don’t know me at all. You know, when you say it like that, looking straight into the camera, one might take it as you’re speaking to the audience....