Fitz frantically searches for the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. while getting a little help from an old friend and some ferrets.
Spoilers for the Present
“Who wants pie?”
Still processing the kind of person the Framework showed he could be given different circumstances, Fitz is ready to surrender and take all of the blame when the lights go out at the diner where S.H.I.E.L.D. is having their last meal. But before Fitz can finish saying “this is my fault,” everyone is gone. The actual military arrive seconds later.
General Hale (Talbot’s replacement) assumes Fitz used his super-science-mojo to rescue his friends. Her underlings, Lt. Evans and Lt. Lucas, put Fitz under every lie detector test possible and find not only does the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist not know what happened to the others, but wants to find them more than they do. The two lieutenants convince Hale to provide Fitz with paper, pens, and a TV for watching soccer.
Six months go by, Fitz writes angry letters to soccer fanzines and works every angle he can think of as to what happened to his friends. His final conclusion, they were abducted by aliens. He’s right, but is laughed at by the military skeptics. “ET took my friends” theory is the last straw for Hale and looks to put Fitz away for good when Lance “I’m Fitz’s lawyer” Hunter appears!
“We’re here to surprise you, so act surprised.”
The angry soccer letters finally caught the attention of the disavowed S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the nick of time. Hunter managed to assemble a crack team of one very paranoid ferret enthusiast to break Fitz out (RIP Rusty). Using the gone (but not forgotten) Rusty’s equipment, Fitz and Hunter do what the military couldn’t. Track down the bald-headed, alien leader of the tactical team that took Coulson and Co, Enoch.
The Chronicon in a human suit is incredibly helpful to Fitz and Hunter. Enoch shows the two a video of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents going thru the monolith and explains he was sent to Earth over 30,000 years ago to observe humanity. He recently learned of an extinction-level event from a seer and the others were seen preventing it.
Who is this seer, you ask? Robin, daughter of Charles Hinton, the Inhuman from season 3 who could see and show the person he was touching an impending death. After Terrigenesis, she can see fragments of the future, past, and present all jumbled together. The children’s drawings on Enoch’s refrigerator are her predictions. Fitz was held back from going thru the monolith with the others because Robin eventually sees Fitz is needed later to save them.
“Release the ferrets”
Hale and the others trace Fitz and Hunter’s footsteps and learn about Robin, forcing Enoch to take the group to a lighthouse with an underground bunker at Lake Ontario to keep Robin out of military hands. Enoch does not know who or when the bunker was built, but it sure does look familiar…
Knowing his friends will need reinforcements in the future, Fitz hides Coulson’s gadget hand, Mack’s shotgun-ax, Daisy’s gauntlets, and various weapons for May in the walls of the bunker. Now how does he get to the future to save the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Enoch’s vessel. One problem, it is back at the base Hunter just broke Fitz out of. Rusty may be gone, but his contributions are still endless as his ferrets are used to distract the guards long enough for two men to grab the cryro-tank Enoch arrived to Earth in and the Zephyr.
Fitz freezes himself inside (“I love you”, “I know”) to take the long way to 2091. Enoch moves Fitz-cicle to a nearby satellite area off Earth. Hunter ops to stay behind in the bunker to protect Robin and her mother, Polly. Hale shoots Evans and Lucas in the head for losing letting Fitz and Robin slip through their fingers.
Thoughts
“Rewind” was the episode I’ve been waiting for since the revelation S.H.I.E.L.D. was in the future and I’m glad the writers didn’t delay Fitz’s story too long.
Again, keeping with the fallout of the Framework last week’s episode touched on, Fitz has to struggle with the man he was inside the program. Now in order to save his friends, he needs to find the balance between the man he is and the man he was.
Hunter has been missed big time. I actually forgot how great the bromance between Fitz and Hunter was. As soon as the two started arguing about Man U vs Liverpool and then hugged, I was hit with season 2 nostalgia.
Someone on Reddit pointed out the brilliance of Rusty (“God bless his cold, black soul”). The never seen friend of Hunter was a joke brilliantly meta joke about a certain show that never happened.
So, my theory about the future is an alternate timeline just got smashed with Fitz going thru a cryro-freeze to get to 2091. The question now becomes, how do they save Earth when “Spacetime” made it very clear that time cannot be altered.
My only guess is alternate timelines are going to be used to get S.H.I.E.L.D. back to the present time and also explain why all of a sudden Mutants are a part of the MCU (I’m formulating a few theories about their incorporation and will do a separate post about it later).
Does anyone else think the Lighthouse bunker was built by a Koenig brother?
Best Lines (All Hunter):
“See? It’s even got cloaking” (Rusty’s RV after it backfires).
About Bobbie “We are 100% compatible… 50% of the time. Nearly got married again. Until the ninjas showed up.”
After Fitz tells him to get the Zephyr started as they are being shot at “Shouldn’t you do the technical, and I’ll…”
No new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this week, but next week looks like it will be epic.
Until 2018!
The Nerdling was born in the majestic land known as Texas and currently resides there after several years of journeying through Middle Earth in a failed attempt to steal the one Ring from that annoying hobbit, serving the Galactic Empire for a time, and then a short stint as a crew member on the Serenity. Since moving back to her homeland, Nerdling flirted with a hero reputation. Saving children from the dangers of adoring domineering, sparkly vampires (champions with souls are the only vampires worth loving) and teaching normals the value of nerdom, all while rooting for her beloved Dallas Stars. Then came the Sokovia Accords and her short spell of saving others came to an end. With Darth Vader’s reputation rightfully returning to badass status, Nerdling is making her way back to the Empire. They do have cookies, you know. You can find her on Twitter @nerdlingstale.
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