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Five Thoughts on Agents of SHIELD’s “Farewell, Cruel World!”

By | May 3rd, 2017
Posted in Television | % Comments

The season finale grows ever closer, so it’s time to leave the Framework. Things are moving along at a nice pace, stakes are high, and we know it’s too soon for the good guys to get the big win they need just yet.

1. Family Mack

The more we saw Mack and his daughter, the more I knew he wouldn’t leave the Framework easily. If he did, he’d be one of the ones most hurt by it. It seems I was right on the money there, as he outright refuses to leave, even when he learns the world is fake, if it means leaving his daughter behind.

And I can see how it would be tough for him. Imagine learning that the most important person in your life actually died years ago, and the only version you see now is a virtual replica. It would be a pretty messed-up experience, to say the least.

Which makes it all the more annoying that Daisy didn’t see that coming, and explained everything to him right when the exit was within sight, instead of just saying something like “I’ll explain later, we need to move.” That might not have worked either, but it would have at least been a better idea than saying “Yeah, we need to leave this world now, PS your daughter is dead in the real world.”

2. Ten Days in a Plane

Fiction has an odd way of using time; sometimes it’s unclear just how much time has gone in the fictional universe, as days are skipped by or minutes are condensed into seconds. In this case, it seems that the SHIELD ship has been flying around for about ten days while Daisy and Simmons are plugged into the Framework.

From a viewer perspective, it didn’t really seem that long. A few days, sure, but things were still moving so quickly that it really didn’t seem like over a week. But instead we see the SHIELD agents still onboard worrying about fuel and power after staying in the air for so long.

Now, I want to know what that week was like. Did they gather around the table playing cards all week? Did someone bring a book? It must have gotten exceedingly boring after the first day or so.

I’d like to imagine that they spent some time playing “Dungeons & Dragons”, while occasionally glancing over to see if Daisy or Simmons were waking up. “Nope, still in the Framework. Anyways, I attack the orc – that’s a 19 to hit, plus my flanking bonus.”

3. Who’s Coming Back?

Last week, some articles floated the idea of using the Framework and AIDA’s new device to bring back deceased characters, like Trip or Ward. And as much as I like seeing Trip back, I have to say that would be a horrible idea. It wouldn’t even be those characters, just digital replicas in fleshy bodies with no memories of their real-world counterparts.

However, using it to revive Radcliffe is a possibility that Fitz presented. While Radcliffe’s redemption arc demands his sacrifice, his chance of escape, to give the agents of SHIELD a chance, still raises the possibility of reviving other characters who died in the Framework. It’s unlikely, but it gives them an out, assuming their brain-data wasn’t erased post-mortem.

Which, knowing AIDA, it probably was.

4. What the Fitz?

As I previously predicted, Fitz was going to have a whole lot of issues to deal with after getting unplugged, and it doesn’t take him long to realize that after he leaves the Framework. This arc has been a wild ride for him, between one direct murder, one indirect, plenty of torture, and his attempts to kill Simmons.

And yet, is that lingering affection towards AIDA (or rather, Ophelia) that I detect? That puts him in an awkward position indeed. And I must compliment Iain De Caestecker for being able to go between all the emotions Fitz has had to display throughout this episode; hopefully the next few episodes will give the fallout from this the time it needs.

5. Wait what?

Continued below

So… AIDA can teleport now?

Well, let’s go back a second. I did quite like the moment where she was happy to see Fitz, then realized that she could actually feel happy. That said, if she couldn’t feel anything before, then that adds a few questions to her motivations (particularly, why she was so obsessed with being with Fitz), but rather than trying to decipher all that, I’ll just say the moment was very well-delivered.

Yet there was no hinting that gaining a human body would suddenly give her the power to teleport, so that was completely out of the blue. Hopefully, they’ll explain that a little more down the line – data from Inhuman teleports? Darkhold magic? Any sort of reasonable explanation will suffice.

Until then, my final thought of the episode will just be a solid “Wait, what?”


//TAGS | Marvel's Agents of SHIELD

Robbie Pleasant

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