REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "The Last Day"
Ah, time travel. A concept many science-fiction stories want to cover, but few can get correctly. Nevertheless, it keeps persisting as if this next time will be the greatest trial since Back to the Future or 12 Monkeys. In a weird way, it’s almost a good metaphor for the show itself, something that keeps trying as if one day we’ll see something impressive. It’s admirable, and sometimes we get a bright spot. Now onto this episode.
I actually admire the way this show covers pre-cognition, that things that will happen will happen or have already happened. It’s the simplest idea that usually comes with the least amount of real or potential plot holes. Unfortunately, some people have the insane idea that it makes the story too simple (how?), so they try to spice it up with more confusion. This is sadly one of those times.
SHIELD’s way of spicing things up includes sporadically cutting back to our heroes at the end of the world on Earth in the midst of our heroes also still being in the future. I think the most annoying aspect of this choice is not just that nothing makes sense but that we can see where it could. It makes sense that the episode is splintered to give that image of time. It makes sense that we have only partial answers to what’s happening since this is only episode eight. It does NOT make sense to paint a weird picture where apparently every action is or was (?) for nothing. I’ll decide for myself if your efforts are fruitless, thank you very much.
In light of this, the episode also has a surprising number of callbacks. We get references to the monolith, Daisy’s father, the shotgun axe, Elena’s fallout with her friends, and more while most of the episode takes place on a run-down version of Zephyr One. I’m a fan of remembering that past episodes happened, but with the 100th episode coming up soon, I’m more curious. No, I don’t think this is building up to anything, yet I can’t help but feel a sense of appreciation. Five years have to mean something after all.
Meanwhile, Mack and Elena work to protect their surrogate son Flint and become superheroes. While looking seemingly hopeless on the outside, it functions as the one reserve of meaningful action. Since it looks like the world is destined for destruction, we can still have the satisfaction of knowing complete strangers might live to see another miserable day floating on a space rock.
Other than that, a good portion of the episode hammers home how impossible their situation looks. Of course, we know it’s meant to set up the convoluted way they’ll somehow save the world. Or at least that’s what it’s supposed to do. A show greater than this I might believe. For now, it just reminds me how about the convoluted way they’ll somehow save the world. If there is a clear explanation for this, I can’t find it.
What do we have now? If we’re really gung-ho about this Daisy destroying the world idea (which still have absolutely no concrete proof), then what really motivates the team to keep going? There is truly a moral obligation that they should take themselves out of the equation, and these are the characters who would ordinarily acknowledge it. I don’t want the characters I know to go down that path, especially when some of them have, but this episode has give me no reason to believe another way is likely or realistic.
Okay, I’ll be fair to the canon. They have established that there is a way to supposedly save the world, so there will be no retconning of their time-travel wackiness. However, it still feels like a weakening of it. When a story element like that is weakened, the rest of the season just stands like a Jenga tower after fifteen minutes of playing. Just one more move could crumble it. And I was just getting onboard with this season.
I’m sure we’ll get to some point of it all. I’m sure there will be something exciting. I’m also sure that Daisy didn’t destroy the world, and I’m tired of this being pushed around on both time zones. It’s almost as miserable as keeping Deke around more. Currently, the only good thing we’re getting out of this back-and-forth is seeing Fitz wearing a wedding ring. Hey, sometimes miracles can happen.
