5x14 The Devil Complex

You better believe that I spent the last 15 minutes of this episode screaming internally. You know that meme with a cartoon dog sitting inside a burning room, saying "This is fine"? That's me right now.

I'm just... speechless. I don't know how to process everything that's happened. I can't even name all the emotions that I'm experiencing at the moment. A part of me wants to cry, another wants to laugh, but not in a good way - more in the awkward, panicked way, like when something bad happens and you react in the most inappropriate manner imaginable.

Let's start with the most obvious thing, the one that I've talked about quite a few times in the past: Iain de Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge's acting. Those two are like goddamn magical unicorns blessed with so much talent. Separately, they're utterly magnificent and deserve all the awards (which they'll never get because there is no justice in this world). But when you put them together, it's honestly one of the most powerful things I've ever seen. It's a nuclear reaction, a supernova, galaxies crashing together. It takes my breath away. Remember when FitzSimmons were supposed to be the comic relief in season 1? That definitely didn't go according to plan. Those two are the beating heart and the soul of this show. I'm not exaggerating when I say that one of the main reasons why I want Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to go on forever is because I can't get enough of the magic that Elizabeth and Iain create whenever they're on screen together. When I watch them, I understand what it means that something is greater than the sum of its parts. The showrunners truly hit the jackpot of the millenium with those two. They elevate the quality of the show with their brilliance. In their hands, even the weakest of scenes and the corniest of dialogues turn into something special, and great moments become mindblowingly epic.

Fitz and The Doctor's interactions left me with my jaw on the floor. Especially that tiny moment when The Doctor mocked Fitz's stuttering (by the way, that's some excellent continuity right there, Fitz's aphasia coming back and getting worse when he's very stressed or upset). It made the big reveal all the more shocking and heartbreaking for me. I didn't see that coming at all, and I swear my soul left my body for a second when I realized what was going on. I'm almost in physical pain just thinking about it. I have no idea how Fitz is going to come back from this. I have no idea how he can ever patch things up with Daisy. I can't believe the writers did this to me. Can I sue them for causing me emotional distress?

Jemma finding out that Deke is her and Fitz's grandson was so lovely and touching. I always cry when Elizabeth cries, so naturally, I turned into a sobbing mess. And of course she threw up at the end there, and we know that in TV world women only ever puke for one of two reasons:

1. They've had too much too drink (alternatively, they took drugs - I'm looking at you, Jessica Jones).

2. They're pregnant.

Since Jemma wasn't knocking back shots or snorting cocaine in this episode, I think it's safe to say that there's a lil' British science bun in the oven. Normally, I'd be fucking ecstatic about this, but I think this episode has killed my ability to feel happiness, at least for the time being.

I guess some other stuff happened in the episode, the Russian dude from last season is back, Hale is working with the Kree or something, Hydra's back (could we perhaps stop beating that dead horse already?), but to be honest, I currently don't have the emotional capacity to give a fuck about any of it. I need to lie down on the floor, curl up into a ball and stay there for a while.

See y'all next week for more suffering!

[7.6/10] I gotta admit, I am just tired of the Tyler Durden twist. It’s done well here, and Iain De Caestecker does a great job at playing both sides of Fitz, but I’m just exhausted by the “they were the same dude the whole time!” routine.

It serves a good purpose, showing that there’s a darkness in Fitz that can’t be elided, that is a part of him, whether he’s “The Doctor” or not. Thematically it works. And it’s clever to have the misdirect that this presence is a manifestation from The Fear Dimension, pulling the rug out from under the audience at the very end.

But something about it just didn’t work for me. Maybe it’s the tiredness of the trope. Maybe it’s that, even with the indications of Fitz’s darker side after The Framework, it feels a little out of character (though at least the show gives us the handles that Fitz is massively underslept and at the end of his rope). It’s at least tense and more than a little disturbing when Fitz comes to and yet still chooses to extract Daisy’s power-dampening chip. (Her delivery “I will never forgive you for this” is especially distressing, and the show doesn't skimp on the gore of him yanking that wire out of her skull.) It just feels like the show going for shock value and emotional punch when both are undercut by my instant roll-eyes from that sort of twist.

The rest of the episode is hit or miss. The “I faked you out” “No I faked you out!” bit between Coulson and General Hale is a non-starter full of clichés. Lord knows I didn’t need the return of Anton. I like doing the all-star baddie thing, and I’m certainly a sucker for continuity and callbacks, but at this point, it’s verging on the “too cute” territory, and bringing back weak characters from last season isn’t exactly winning me over.

That said, I’m intrigued by Coulson going into the belly of the beast as he’s de facto kidnapped by General Hale, and I like the notion that Hale is essentially restarting Hydra with the help of someone implied to be Kassius’s dad or grandpa or something along those lines.

Otherwise, I like that the show is taking the slow path with Yo-Yo’s recovery, and showing her frustration with the learning curve for her new limbs. I like that Fitz’s greatest fear is implied to be the astronaut from Jemma’s journey to the blue planet coming back. May and Coulson’s conversation about whether he’s going to go away with Hale is cute. And I appreciate how the show slow burns the mystery of exactly what’s going down, even if I don’t love the answer.

Overall, an episode whose reach exceeds its grasp a bit, but which is at least going for interesting things and putting on a showcase for one of the show’s best performers.