TV Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 Episode 9

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 Episode 9 “As I Have Always Been”

Director: Elizabeth Henstridge

Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward, Joel Stoffer

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 45 minutes

Well, that’s definitely one way to bounce back from a weak stretch.  Following two messy installments Shield came out of its mid-season funk with a thrilling hour that features healthy doses of humor, plot, and pathos.  A time loop! A murder mystery in a time loop! Elizabeth Henstridge directing for the first time! And a major, superbly handled, probably permanent death.  This episode has it all.  Oh, and they even remember that Coulson and Daisy’s relationship is supposed to be at the center of the show!  There’s a lot to love here and while to some extent the episode might seem even stronger because of how relatively weak the last few have been it’s also undeniably excellent on its own terms.

It can be tedious if mishandled but the time loop or Groundhog Day episode, as it is often called, is a staple of genre television for a reason.  When done right, having one or more characters experience the same day over and over can be a recipe for both excellent humor and character work and that’s precisely what Shield delivers with its take on the concept.  “As I Have Always Been” starts with the now-familiar issue of the time drive being out of whack.  Yo-Yo’s repairs didn’t do the trick last week and now the malfunctioning device has sent the Zephyr hurtling towards a time vortex and the agents don’t have long before they’re all obliterated.  Before they can even really start working on the problem, however, the danger of the situation asserts itself.  Mack’s eyes are burned when he tries to repair a radiation leak, Yo-Yo is trapped on the Quinjet, unable to help, Enoch and Simmons are off being shady again, and Daisy sets off to put out a fire, just as the Zephyr makes its next uncontrollable jump.  But then Daisy wakes up in the healing pod again, just as she had before entering the chaotic scene, with Sousa asleep in a chair beside the pod.  An experienced Shield agent who deals with weird science fiction and supernatural phenomena all the time Daisy figures out her situation much faster than the usual time loop protagonist but that doesn’t mean she’s able to accomplish much right out of the gate.  She puts out the fire but isn’t even able to wake/turn on Coulson before the Zephyr jumps again and the day resets.  The third time around she does get to Coulson who awakens exasperated and ready to get to work.  Apparently the ship has repeated the loop many more times than even Daisy realizes.  Because he was in his sleep mode Coulson is able to remember each loop and theorizes that being in the healing pod usually means Daisy can too, unless she dies during a loop, in which case her memory resets along with the day.  This exposition-heavy adjusting period is around the point when many time loop movies or episodes, even the best among them, can get a little dry but Drew Z. Greenberg’s sleek script and the actors’ performances make Daisy and Coulson’s brainstorming a fast-talking, quippy delight.  Clark Gregg and Chloe Bennet’s considerable comedic talents are on full display here as they both manage the difficult task of keeping the viewer emotionally invested in the scenario while also allowing the fun of it to brighten their reactions just the right amount.  Coulson’s identity issues relating to his new robotic being have been treated very seriously throughout the season, as they should be and they’re even treated as such again in this episode (which, it should be noted, glides between different tones with incredible grace) but it’s also a lot of fun to see the bizarreness of Coulson’s situation played more for laughs for a little while.  Gregg has always excelled when Coulson gets sassy and his frustrated explanations of the time loop and just how long it’s been going on are hysterical, as is Bennet’s incredulous depiction of Daisy’s reaction to the implication that she’s died several times already.  After what is implied to be at least dozens of failed attempts to prevent the catastrophe and break the loop Daisy and Coulson realize that Simmons should have the knowledge they need.  When she and Deke inform them of the memory-blocking implant they’re able to convince them that the current situation is dire enough to warrant removing it.  But before they can do so disaster strikes again when Jemma collapses, dead, after inhaling toxic fumes.  After a few loops in which Daisy and others also die while trying to safely remove the implant Coulson realizes that the deaths aren’t caused by malfunctions.  Someone is sabotaging the ship to keep the implant in place.

It would be almost unthinkable for a lot of other shows but of course, a straightforward time loop story wouldn’t be enough for Shield.  The brief addition of the murder mystery element is wonderfully handled.  The idea that any of these characters (even newbie Sousa) would consciously betray the team, especially in so deadly a manner is preposterous, and yet that’s exactly what makes the mystery so intriguing.  On a lesser show, this twist easily could have led to disaster as a result of the writers trying so hard to do something unexpected that they betray the characters and or upend narrative logic.  But Shield manages to take the most logical route while still making the reveal satisfying.  It turns out that Enoch is the saboteur, forced to follow programming that Fitzsimmons themselves installed that has him act to stop the removal of Simmons’ implant at all costs.  It’s the only answer that really makes sense (Coulson also could have been programmed but he was chosen as one of the investigating characters so he was out as a culprit) and significantly increases the intrigue regarding the question of Fitz’s location (and any other secrets Jemma may have purposely forgotten).

It also pivots Enoch into a key role within the episode which has both hilarious and heart-wrenching results.  There are nitpicks I could make with the series of sequences in which the team tries and fails to subdue Enoch long enough for the implant to be removed (mostly revolving around the idea that Enoch could defeat the entire team including Daisy, a repowered Yo-Yo, and fellow Chronicom Coulson when May almost dismantled him herself at the beginning of the season) but they’re so genuinely funny and Henstridge and editor Kelly Stuyvesant do such great work giving them chaotic, zany energy that said complaints feel inconsequential.  The bits in which bruised and disheveled Daisy and Coulson note that Enoch did not appreciate the irony of their situation or when the entire team lies in a broken heap and someone asks if Deke’s dead and when hears that he is asked if they should care, to which someone else replies no are particularly funny.

But the episode quickly, yet smoothly, shifts from comedy to tragedy.  Once the team manages to successfully remove the implant Simmons, apparently reacting to the flood of restored memories, cries out in a mix of fear and heartbreak which should give everyone a fresh dose of anxiety about what exactly is going on with Fitz.  She then remembers how to fix the time drive but sadly notes that the only tech they have capable of doing what they need is Enoch’s power source.  Daisy and Coulson take this information onto the next loop and upon hearing what needs to be done Enoch goes from unwitting enemy back to hero and friend when, without hesitation, he plunges his hand into his chest and removes the power source.  As the rest of the team rushes to repair the time drive Coulson and Daisy stay with Enoch as he meets his end.  I’ve never been as enamored with Enoch as some other fans are and there have been times both this season and last that I think the show has become too much of the Enoch Hour but overall he’s a solid character and Joel Stoffer has consistently delivered excellent performances throughout his tenure on Shield and does so again here.  The moment the episode gets its title from in which a teary Daisy assures Enoch that he’s a great friend to the team and he replies with the titular phrase before drifting off is a particularly powerful one but the character’s whole long final dialogue is captured incredibly well thanks to the contrast between the calm stillness of the moment and the frantic energy that Henstridge brought to the rest of the episode.  But it’s not just a great send-off for Enoch.  The scene also adds new layers to Coulson’s current struggle and provides an ominous warning for the future.  Shield‘s former director spent the episode angrier than ever at his current artificial state of being, despite Daisy’s bitter reminder that the people around him suffered more when they lost him, but Enoch’s sacrifice forces him to accept that artificial life can be just as real as a human one.  I would’ve liked a little more friction between Daisy and her surrogate father over their differing views on his death before we got to this resolution but it was still a very well-written and performed arc and after far too much time of shelving it I can’t reiterate enough how happy I am to have the Daisy/Coulson relationship back in the spotlight.

And then there’s that message from Enoch about the future.  He reassures Daisy that her Shield family will make it out of their current mission alive but also says that it will be their last mission together as a team.  It’s delightfully unclear what this could mean within the show’s narrative but it also functions as a solid meta indication that we really are in the home stretch of the series.  If the final episodes are as good as this one, which ranks among Shield‘s all-time best, we’re in for a hell of an ending.

Notes:

• Among everything else going on this episode also fully committed to the Daisy/Sousa romance.  When waking up at the start of a loop Daisy asks Sousa why he’s so concerned for and protective of her.  He replies that he’s known people who are similar to her in their stubborn insistence on self-sacrifice and serving the greater good at whatever cost to themselves (a nice, subtle reference to Peggy Carter) and that as one such person Daisy deserves someone to watch out for her.  At the start of the next loop, she kisses him.  They’re both very good, very romantic scenes that do a lot to sell the pairing, and Bennet and Gokaj’s chemistry continues to be excellent.
• The decreasing distance between the Zephyr and the time vortex was a nice way to give a sense of urgency to the time loop shenanigans.
• So between Jemma’s reaction to her memories and Enoch’s reference to how Fitz “was” his best friend, it seems like the writers want us to think Fitz is dead.  Whether or not that winds up being true, I’m going to throw my wild theory that I haven’t seen many others share out there: not only is he dead but Jemma had to kill him for some reason.  I sincerely hope that’s not the case and I don’t suspect it ultimately will be it’s the vibe this episode gave to me.
•  Speaking of Jemma, in addition to all the other reasons this is an impressive directorial debut for Henstridge is the fact that this is by no means a light episode for her acting-wise.