By The Nerdling

Spoilers for the future…

Mack’s Ew face is precious

Picking up from last week, Coulson and Talbot make their way through the snowy forest with Ruby following their tracks.  The two are quickly cornered by the Charkha-wielding teenager, but Daisy is quick to the rescue.  May and Coulson carry Talbot to the Zephyr while Deke stays behind to cover Daisy.  Quake needs little help in the confrontation.  Ruby has some good moves, but she is no match when Daisy sends her flying into a tree and knocking her on conscious.

Deke goes to disarm Ruby and is met with a spray of bullets courtesy of Hale.  Deke is shot in the shoulder and whisked away by Daisy to the Zephyr.  She and Coulson do what they can for Deke with an emergency kit, but they need Jemma.  Instead they get Piper, who has some med school training, and Mack, a man with steady hands and doesn’t get squeamish around blood, since Jemma has run off with Fitz and Yo-Yo.

Mack and Piper remove the bullet, stop the bleeding from a nicked artery, and save Deke.  When a heavily drugged Deke wakes he expresses his desire to put his “mouth on her mouth and move it around a lot.”  Mack and Piper rescue Deke again by knocking out with morphine so Daisy won’t hear.

“We have a rule…”

The invincible three arrive in England to look for Hale’s weapon.  Gideon Malick once hinted there was a high-level R&D base there.  “I was thinking we could come back to England for our honeymoon,” Jemma remarks before Yo-Yo tuts about being made a third wheel.  Once at the empty looking Hydra base, Fitz notices there is power being diverted to a certain floor.  Upon investigation, the group finds a chamber which looks like an updated version the one Steve Rodgers got his powers from.

As Jemma, Yo-Yo, and Fitz get to destroying various parts and set chargers to destroy the room completely, Ivanoff and several of his mechs arrive to secure the area for Hale.  Yo-Yo attempts to use her super speed to disarm the henchmen, but her arms are not calibrated to work when she uses her speed, sending electrical signals up her arms and causing pain.  Fitz and Jemma offer to stay behind and cover Yo-Yo so she can return to the Quintjet and call for help.  The married couple vowed they would never leave one another behind again.

Fitzsimmons engage in a tense firefight with the mechs and start to run out of ammunition. Yo-Yo is confronted by Ivanoff as she is attempting to leave.  Robot hands verses Robot body and the fight is exciting!  It is a pretty even match until Yo-Yo remembers her invincibility.  She rams Ivanoff taking the two out the window and smashing his head on the concrete ground.  Just as Fitzsimmons are surrounded, the mechs disengage with Ivanoff’s death.

But the group is not out of the woods yet…

Ruby Red

Upon their return to Hydra base, Hale has Ruby locked inside her now stripped bare room.  Ruby is not alone for long.  Alex comes for a visit (he remembers Hale’s code) and shows Ruby the decrypted specks to the infusion chamber.  Ruby pouts she has been grounded, but Alex gives her the you’re-stronger-than-your-mother pep-talk.  Hale returns to see Ruby’s room has been opened, but her daughter is still inside.  After a tearful conversation and an ass kicking, Ruby locks her mother inside.

Alex and Ruby have the gravitonium readied for transportation and head to England where they find Fitzsimmons surrounded by the destroyed infusion chamber.  Ruby holds Jemma hostage to make Fitz fix the machine.  It is then Fitz realizes they can’t break the loop, he would never be willing to sacrifice Jemma for the sake of the future.

Stunned Silence and Compliance

May confronts Coulson about his destructive behavior.  She feels he should allow his loved ones to decide with him how his last days should be spent.  “And that’s me.  I love you” May enlightens him.  Cue Coulson’s stunned face.  “I thought that would get you to shut up.”

Daisy comforts Talbot as best as she can and gets him to tell her everything he has told Hale about SHIELD over the last few months.  Talbot wishes to speak to his family to let them know he is okay and to apologize for abandoning them.  Daisy caves and gets him a satellite phone which will give him a few minutes to talk.  And the twist we all knew had to be coming.  Talbot’s wife is forced to read the compliance trigger phrase to activate his programing.

Thoughts

So that “I love you” has been so long coming and I could hear the screams of triumph from a thousand Philinda shippers.  Or maybe it was just the scream of this Philinda shipper.

I love that Deke didn’t want to kiss Daisy unless she wanted to.  Good to know consent is taught in the future.

It may have not been a surprise Talbot was brainwashed, but somehow it still stunned me when his wife told him to “take a deep breath.”  It also broke my heart because I love this character and I don’t want to see him die or be tortured anymore.

Fitz realized he would never sacrifice his wife to break the loop, but does anyone think Jemma might sacrifice him?  Especially since there is still a Fitzsickle floating around with Enoch behind Jupiter?

Yo-Yo finally dropped the bomb to Fitzsimmons her future self stated trying to save Coulson brings the downfall of Earth.  Once they get out of trouble, how do you think that info is going to be processed?

Only five more episodes left for the season (maybe series) and next week sees Ruby in the infusion chamber.  Will she become the Destroyer of Worlds?  Will Daisy somehow end up inside?  Will Talbot survive his programing?

Till Next Week!

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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, Facebook, and Instagram.