Doctors and robots in the (light)house
May. 29th, 2018 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessAgents of SHIELD 5.13 The Devil Complex
Previouslies made me think ‘you haven’t fully developed the fear dimension, show’. This was an attempt to make up for it. I can’t say that they made the most of it before closing it, but given all the other stuff they brought back this episode, we might see a rehash of it later down the line. At least the twist about Fitz went somewhere interesting.
The first scene between Fitz and Simmons had a weird tempo – there was a beat missing and it seemed to sit on the fence on Simmons’s feelings about there being no honeymoon. In hindsight, it wasn’t a great establishing scene.
It felt like a good time to have Coulson and co come face to face with Evil Lady General (no, her name hasn’t registered). She was a bit bland and non-specific in what she said – it boiled down to ‘I do what needs to be done’ and Phil wasn’t buying it, rightly. We knew even more than him, and bought it even less.
Cue May and trying-hard-to-redeem-herself Piper meeting the guy who really hadn’t impressed himself on my memory, but he was followed by someone I did remember, The Guy Who Became Robots from last season returned. (Did he have a massive fanbase?) His accent seemed stabler, but I can’t say I was overjoyed at his return. And he wasn’t the power behind the general, oh no.
I was sniffy about the Confederacy (partly because May had snarked about interfering Russians already, and I don’t think this show handling modern American politics directly is a good move) but oh no, it’s Hydra. Again.
What I did enjoy very much was May and Coulson’s so married argument about whether he should go along on what she called a suicide mission (again) or not.
Meanwhile we got to ponder whether Yo-Yo or Mack was the worst patient. Her argument about anomalies would have been stronger if Anomaly!Simmons hadn’t nearly smothered her that time, and while she’s stronger now, she’d still need someone to rescue her. Mack was also ridiculous about his protective instincts despite needing to rest his shot leg. (I am feeling very sorry for Simmons, doctoring to them and her unwell husband.) The point about trying to change the timeline was good and reiterated throughout the episode.
But the episode mainly revolved around Fitz. So, let me talk about Deke and say that I thought we had just enough of his wide-eyed wonder at watching his grandparents who he’d never met, as young people at the beginning of the episode. (Scots don’t say ‘Blimey!’ in a Cockerney accent, though.) The scene where he revealed this to Jemma was absolutely lovely and full of emotion – I forgave them for it being all about Fitz (what, did Deke’s mother never say how wonderful her mother was in her own right?) because we were seeing Jemma be herself i.e. wonderful, too.
And before that, there’d been plenty of emotion flying about. I’d thought Framework!Fitz aka The Doctor was an anomaly, although he seemed to be doing a lot of stuff that we hadn’t seen an anomaly do before, but the idea of him being Fitz’s biggest fear was potent, and watching our Fitz revert to post-injury Fitz was involving in and of itself, so I was responding, not theorising.
I mean, I thought, and still do, that Simmons could do no better than shoot Fitz with a tranq so that he got some sleep, because that was a big part of the psychic split. And I see his point about the way to destroy the fear dimension. He might even have persuaded Jemma of it, but would never have got Daisy’s consent.
Speaking of Daisy, she really has a negative plotline this season – all ‘I don’t want my powers back because of this awful thing I may or may not do’. Her distress and the betrayal by Fitz were palpable.
Anyway, the twist of Fitz really being the Doctor and having a mental breakdown in response to lack of sleep, inordinate stress and needing to find a way of doing something very difficult worked in the moment. The fact that he hadn’t, couldn’t discuss it with HIS WIFE until after the event was distressing. Don’t break Fitzsimmons! (They won’t, but they sure push it.) I’m glad they’re working through what Framework!Fitz means for Fitz now. I liked de Caestecker’s performance, although I think I’d have preferred it if the episode revolved around one of the ladies.
So, it was the emotional stuff from our heroes that saved this. Otherwise, it’d be unadulterated complaining of the ‘give me ALIENS’ variety from me.
Previouslies made me think ‘you haven’t fully developed the fear dimension, show’. This was an attempt to make up for it. I can’t say that they made the most of it before closing it, but given all the other stuff they brought back this episode, we might see a rehash of it later down the line. At least the twist about Fitz went somewhere interesting.
The first scene between Fitz and Simmons had a weird tempo – there was a beat missing and it seemed to sit on the fence on Simmons’s feelings about there being no honeymoon. In hindsight, it wasn’t a great establishing scene.
It felt like a good time to have Coulson and co come face to face with Evil Lady General (no, her name hasn’t registered). She was a bit bland and non-specific in what she said – it boiled down to ‘I do what needs to be done’ and Phil wasn’t buying it, rightly. We knew even more than him, and bought it even less.
Cue May and trying-hard-to-redeem-herself Piper meeting the guy who really hadn’t impressed himself on my memory, but he was followed by someone I did remember, The Guy Who Became Robots from last season returned. (Did he have a massive fanbase?) His accent seemed stabler, but I can’t say I was overjoyed at his return. And he wasn’t the power behind the general, oh no.
I was sniffy about the Confederacy (partly because May had snarked about interfering Russians already, and I don’t think this show handling modern American politics directly is a good move) but oh no, it’s Hydra. Again.
What I did enjoy very much was May and Coulson’s so married argument about whether he should go along on what she called a suicide mission (again) or not.
Meanwhile we got to ponder whether Yo-Yo or Mack was the worst patient. Her argument about anomalies would have been stronger if Anomaly!Simmons hadn’t nearly smothered her that time, and while she’s stronger now, she’d still need someone to rescue her. Mack was also ridiculous about his protective instincts despite needing to rest his shot leg. (I am feeling very sorry for Simmons, doctoring to them and her unwell husband.) The point about trying to change the timeline was good and reiterated throughout the episode.
But the episode mainly revolved around Fitz. So, let me talk about Deke and say that I thought we had just enough of his wide-eyed wonder at watching his grandparents who he’d never met, as young people at the beginning of the episode. (Scots don’t say ‘Blimey!’ in a Cockerney accent, though.) The scene where he revealed this to Jemma was absolutely lovely and full of emotion – I forgave them for it being all about Fitz (what, did Deke’s mother never say how wonderful her mother was in her own right?) because we were seeing Jemma be herself i.e. wonderful, too.
And before that, there’d been plenty of emotion flying about. I’d thought Framework!Fitz aka The Doctor was an anomaly, although he seemed to be doing a lot of stuff that we hadn’t seen an anomaly do before, but the idea of him being Fitz’s biggest fear was potent, and watching our Fitz revert to post-injury Fitz was involving in and of itself, so I was responding, not theorising.
I mean, I thought, and still do, that Simmons could do no better than shoot Fitz with a tranq so that he got some sleep, because that was a big part of the psychic split. And I see his point about the way to destroy the fear dimension. He might even have persuaded Jemma of it, but would never have got Daisy’s consent.
Speaking of Daisy, she really has a negative plotline this season – all ‘I don’t want my powers back because of this awful thing I may or may not do’. Her distress and the betrayal by Fitz were palpable.
Anyway, the twist of Fitz really being the Doctor and having a mental breakdown in response to lack of sleep, inordinate stress and needing to find a way of doing something very difficult worked in the moment. The fact that he hadn’t, couldn’t discuss it with HIS WIFE until after the event was distressing. Don’t break Fitzsimmons! (They won’t, but they sure push it.) I’m glad they’re working through what Framework!Fitz means for Fitz now. I liked de Caestecker’s performance, although I think I’d have preferred it if the episode revolved around one of the ladies.
So, it was the emotional stuff from our heroes that saved this. Otherwise, it’d be unadulterated complaining of the ‘give me ALIENS’ variety from me.
