Daisy saw terrible futures as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×15 got seriously existential in “Spacetime.”
Written by Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon, it’s not surprising that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×15 deftly makes mince of both our minds and our hearts. Tonight’s episode not only signals the event horizon for season 3, and not only lays Hive’s bloody card on the table for S.H.I.E.L.D. to gingerly collect. Channeling those odd, world-tilting episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Spacetime” asks questions beyond the bounds of its own story, posing viewers in the position of characters — and more unnervingly, posing characters in the position of viewers.
Before “Spacetime,” Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans were privileged with information about the season’s, ah, let’s call it “atmospheric” conclusion. The breached ship, the blood, the crucifix, the unknown agent — all were handed to us in a comforting framing device, enhancing the series’ inherent fiction.
Now, our privilege has evaporated. Daisy has pressed fast-forward on the cosmic DVD (or Blu-ray, or whatever) and we’ve all watched the final scene. We viewers are conditioned to helplessness in the face of looming fictionalized disaster, but watching characters locked in the same hopeless inevitability is another thing entirely. The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have become spectators on their own lives, meaning that Tancharoen and Whedon have chosen to thin the line between Us and Them to an unnerving degree.
Now, “Spacetime” doesn’t quite loop this concept straight around and demand we ponder how helpless our own actions may be, so neither will I. But the episode is inescapably coded with the DNA of that idea, and uses it to construct the almost violent sense of metaphysical claustrophobia that pervades the story. Coulson draws lines around Daisy, strengthening the walls of a world that would swallow her whole; Daisy tries to teach May her own future, fighting for space on a rapidly shrinking path.
Of course, none of it matters. Fitz is right: Time is an illusion, Charles is just life’s ultimate spoiler, and free will does not exist. Sorry, it’s just the facts, ma’am.
But hey, at least Fitz and Simmons hold hands. And Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×15 does weave its theme of powerlessness through every strand of the story. If Daisy and her desperation to change an unchangeable future provides the central thrust, the two other threads provide a really ingenious support.
The first of these stories is Andrew’s. Alone among the episode’s factions, the embattled Dr. Garner has already figured out how to deal with the crushing weight of inevitability: Surrender.
Serene as a monk, Andrew surrenders himself to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s custody and ministrations. With Simmons’ last-ditch attempt at a cure seeping into his veins, Andrew accepts not only his mostly-hopeless preset, but also his future… and the past that led to his devastating circumstances. Unlike May, who is haunted by the (inevitable? avoidable? argh!) effect she had on his life, Andrew is at peace, content to take his place in that silent plan. He is with his love; he is where he is supposed to be. And now he’s also Lash, for what seems to be the last time.
While I doubt this part of the story is entirely over, I’m going to take a minute to be emotionally and intellectually devastated. Cool? Cool.
The second supporting thematic thread also comes out of “Spacetime” teetering toward devastated, and it’s just about the last person I expected. It’s not that Gideon Malick hasn’t been pulling his weight as a bad guy, but let’s face it — fabulously wealthy evil old men tend to be a little one-note. I never expected Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to provide any variation to that tune.
And I was super wrong. Except perhaps for Daisy, it is Malick who emerges from the episode the most shaken; the most trapped, the most helpless. Hive (who, I increasingly suspect, is using Malick as a game to pass the time) teases him with “true power,” but in fact, Malick is powerless. The strength provided by the poor-man’s Iron Man appendages is procured by Inhumans, and used to Hive’s purposes before it collapses under Daisy’s assault.
And worse — Charles touches Malick, poisoning his every ambition and aim with the rot of the inevitable future. Malick did not “move Heaven and earth” to rescue Hive; Hive’s rescue was predestined. There is no reward for his twisted faith, no blessing for his perverse righteousness. For the first time, the chessmaster recognizes himself as a worthless pawn, destined only for sacrifice.
The larger strategy remains a mystery. Lincoln speaks of a greater purpose, Andrew placed himself in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hands, Hive surveys the world like he built it, but no answer has been suggested. We don’t know who is playing this game, or for what purpose. Like these characters, we know almost nothing.
All we know is that Tancharoen and Whedon are behind it all. And that is a sobering advantage indeed.