Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Brand New Day

August 7, 2020 5:26 PM - Season 7, Episode 11

Daisy worries the team is becoming people who used to work together. Mack explains '80s telephone usage to a millennial. Yo-Yo owes Mack $20. Sousa has no intentions. Computer genius Coulson tries to convince May it's a brand new day.

AV Club review

posted by sardonyx (5 comments total)

I enjoyed this episode. Sousa getting sassy about “Quake” was hilarious, but the “What are your intentions” talk with Mack cane off a little weird, like he was being drafted into being Daisy’s boyfriend despite his own wishes. “Daisy wants you. What Daisy wants she gets. If you disappoint her we will kill you. What you want is not relevant.”

I’m not a big fan of Nathaniel and Kora being the antagonists to wrap up this story. Nathaniel because he’s such an edgelord douche with no evident motivation other than to destroy SHIELD and HYDRA to loose anarchy upon the world (it’s easy to talk about everyone being equal when you have quake powers and can kill anyone else instantaneously), and Kora, because what she wants seems to flip 180 degrees every ten minutes. The Chronicoms are at least consistent about purging all life from the Earth so they can take it over, since obviously the Earth is the only planet in the galaxy that can support a race of time traveling robots. Oh well.

But I did enjoy that ending but with the Chronicom fleet taking out the SHIELD outposts one by one. With the Shrike, the end of the world felt too abstract—if they build this giant tower, human life will end somehow!!! But seeing Earth’s only line of defense against alien invasion (pre-Carol) blink out on the map was chilling.

Great to see Fitz again, appreciated that his return was sort of undersold by the show. The cryptic comments about bloodwork and the wham line “Who’s Fitz?” means they’re going to have to cram a lot of heartwrenchingness in the last episode.

It was a fun first half of the season. The second half wasn’t fun but it was true to the show’s journey. I look forward to the final episode with trepidation—certainly a Whedonesque show won’t end without a final devastating main character death (cough Fitz cough). I enjoyed our time together, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and will miss you when you’re gone.
posted by ejs at 11:05 PM on August 7, 2020 [4 favorites]

I have a suspicion that Daisy will end up filling her mother's role in Afterlife, helping new Inhumans cope with their powers. if not her, Kora. And Fitz? He's definitely been dead a long time by now.
posted by Servo5678 at 11:45 PM on August 7, 2020

I don't think Sousa is as straight-laced and square as the team thinks he is. I seem to recall him taking off-book approaches in Agent Carter. I can see a character like him trying to get his feet under him in this new world, and falling back to the norms he's familiar with, but overall, he seems to be taking this wacky time-travelling future in stride and rolling with it. That definitely requires some adaptability and flexibility and a willingness to toss all his previous realities out the window.

As for this episode, I don't really feel like I an say too much as pretty much everything was a set-up for the big finale.
posted by sardonyx at 8:38 AM on August 9, 2020

I'm glad we got one more fistfight from May. This show really brought me back to the 70s and 80s with it's fistfights.

Also I'm glad we got to see the Triskelion blown up. Nice movie callback.
posted by Catblack at 6:32 PM on August 9, 2020

Mack called Sousa "the Man out of Time", which IIRC was a Captain America arc...
posted by mikelieman at 8:22 AM on September 27, 2020