Agents of SHIELD – What is going on?

I’m confused and clueless. Before I talk more about why, be aware that there are going to be spoilers for all seasons, including the Season 6 finale in this article. And, I want to ask those who haven’t watched this show yet – please do, NOW! Spare the first 16 episodes, and after that your mind will always be blown! I absolutely love this show, right from the first season. I believe this to be the perfect Sci-Fi show to exist, which blends into MCU quite perfectly, while having a large mythology of it’s own.

Coming to the point, Season 6, for some reason, felt different. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still upto the mark with the quality, still tied very well with their mythology, bringing back the Framework, Monoliths, Fear Dimension and more such things from their older seasons. But it still felt weird.

As I have already talked about the biggest complain I have from this season in my older article, I’m quite annoyed that the finale didn’t have anything to hint about it. The lack of connection to Infinity War’s Blip, despite Season 5 finale taking place at the same time has been a bummer since the beginning of Season 6, making the flagship show feel forced.

Season 5’s finale was titled ‘The End’, and it was quite wrapped up. Coulson was no more, Fitz on Earth died, Mack’s the new director, FitzSimmons were married, and everything else. If that were the ending, I wouldn’t have any complains from it. Now that we know the real end to the show is going to come in the next season, I’m probably expecting it to top something it may not be able to.

For one thing, they’re forcing Clark Greg’s role. Phil Coulson died back in The Avengers, came back and made a deal with the devil himself, and thus died another peaceful death, while on a holiday. Then comes Sarge, occupying the ‘created’ body of Coulson due to the fear dimension, sounds cool. He even calls Daisy by her old name, Skye. But, when he’s ultimately gotten rid of, there’s no Coulson to be found. Now, at the end, we’re given an upgraded LMD Coulson. See, we all love Coulson, but move on! We have great characters in the show who could’ve easily taken over after him passing away.

Every season has introduced us to something new to add in the mythology of the show, still somehow making it feel like a sci-fi, not a fantasy. 1st season was about defeating HYDRA, 2nd introduced us with Inhumans, 3rd had Hive and cosmic connection, 4th had Ghost Rider, LMDs, Framework, and the 5th had Time Travel along with Alternate Timelines, similar rules followed in Avengers: Endgame. Season 6 wasn’t that great when it comes to this. Chronicoms want a new planet, the possessing demons want a new planet, there is body snatching and more. Not all is explained well, doesn’t feel as intelligent as it’s older seasons, but is still good to watch. Except that it has totally discarded MCU, I have no complains from the season.

But, what exactly was the ending? If we think about the Time Travel rules, them going back to the past makes this some other timeline, not the one they came from. Hulk clearly explained that in Endgame.

If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past.

Hulk, Avengers: Endgame

Even if Season 6 takes place after MCU and AoS timelines diverged at some point, explained in detail here, it doesn’t mean that the science of the universe will change. I might be understanding their mission by going into the past wrong, but if they’re there to re-write history, it can not work with the given logic. It won’t affect the world Chronicoms are taking over in.

Google tells me they’ve to be somewhere around 1930s, if Empire State Building is being built. That means that SHIELD doesn’t exist yet, and there hasn’t even been ‘The First Avenger.’ I really am unable to understand what route they are going to take here, but I’m looking forward to the 7th season, how they end this saga, and what the brains behind the show come up with. Just, I think, I’ll stop expecting it to top Season 4. I don’t think anything can beat that, not even Agents of SHIELD itself.

I’m also wondering why Fitz had to mention The Ghost Rider a few episodes back. He’s getting his own show soon, so it was probably setting that up somehow because Fitz didn’t even use the parallel he drew in the end or anything.

It reminds me one of the best things about the show I forgot to talk about – FitzSimmons. If they aren’t the greatest couple ever. The universe would never let them be together, I assume. We’ve seen Fitz figure out impossible in Season 3 to get Jemma back, only to know that she’s fallen in love with the Hive. We’ve seen Jemma deal with the evil in Fitz inside the Framework, and we’ve seen Fitz freezing himself for the team, to wake up 90 years later. We’ve seen them marry, only for Fitz to die, and Jemma sailing into deep sea to find the one of this timeline. FitzSimmons are goals, more than most of the couples I’ve seen.

Daisy & Melinda May are the most bad-ass females of the whole MCU, who deserve a place in movies. Speaking of which, how did May survive that stab? I need a proper answer to that.

Well, I guess there are a lot of answers that we need in the next season, along with getting it back into the MCU timeline. I believe in the Agents of SHIELD writers to tie it all up. And, I’m low-key hoping for some kind of a spin-off too, since Marvel TV & ABC have had a good run!

References: https://aarnavg17.wordpress.com/2019/06/28/5-year-jump-marvels-misstep/