7x01 The New Deal

The beginning of the end is officially here. And it has the coolest vintage title card.

I absolutely love time travel, especially semi-historical hijinks, so this season's premise is right up my alley. Everyone looks great in their 1930s get-up and everything from the cinematography to the music is amazing. I much prefer this to the whole ancient-deity-from-a-far-flung-planet stuff from last season; this episode really felt like we were back to good old-fashioned espionage and secret agent work.

Highlights of the premiere include: Daisy putting the fear of God in that one cop, Coulson going full fanboy over meeting FDR, Patton Oswald returning (I've missed him!), Freddie turning out to be none other than Malick's father (also how does Hydra actually being an ancient Hive-worshipping cult fit into them going full Nazi and SHIELD being founded? I am very confused), Simmons continuing to be a smol yet terrifying force of nature and May turning into... the little girl from The Grudge? I mean, fuck it, why not? Ming-Na has the range.

I said last year that I wasn't ready for this show to end and that still stands true today. It's been such a big part of my life these last 5 years. 5 years! Do you know how many shows I've dropped or watched and forgotten about in that time? Yet SHIELD is always, always in the back of my head like a lingering ghost, these characters interwoven into the very fabric of my being at this point. I hold them so close to my heart and it hurts to know that we're nearing the end. But I also feel an immense sense of gratitude for the fact that we're still here in the year of our Lord 2020 getting fresh AoS content when probably all of us lowkey thought this show was gonna get cancelled two or three years ago.

Now, I don't want to spend this last season wallowing in sadness, so I thought: what can I do to celebrate this show? And I decided that starting next week, aside from writing nonsense about each new episode, I'll be talking about my top 10 favorite episodes of the entire series! Which should be interesting considering that, despite loving the show to death, I've actually only watched the whole thing once (I've been planning a rewatch for ages, but real life keeps getting in the way) and I honestly don't remember that much from the first couple of seasons. But even back then, there were some absolute bangers in the mix that snatched my wig so hard that I can still recall them in detail despite last watching them in 2015. Nobody asked for this and nobody cares, but I'm gonna do it anyway. I think it'll be nice to revisit our team's past adventures.

See y'all next week for another one of these... whatever these things I write are, brought to you courtesy of my last two brain cells.

[7.7/10] This was tons of fun as a way to kick off the show’s final season. After going into cyberspace, outer space, underground, alternate futures, etc., Shield is going back to the past, which is way more entertaining than I was expecting given the tease at the end of last season. The premise that they’re following the Chronicoms’ “waves” to prevent them from destroying Shield is a solid excuse for the adventure, and the period clothing and fish out of water shtick suits the series well.

The first half of the episode does a nice job with divide and conquer. I like Daisy and Deke dealing with the crime scene proper, facing off with the Chronicoms and getting to the bottom of what happened with the faceless men. Coulson and Mac using the former’s old Shield history lessons to sneak into a speakeasy and run into the shady businessman grandfather of Agent Koenig is a nice bit of fanservice. And I also enjoyed Simmons and Yo-Yo back on the Zephyr, dealing with the personal implications of Yo-Yo getting more lifelike arm replacements. Each of these finds something exciting or interesting for our heroes to do and makes the most of the “superheroes hiding their identities in the past” conceit.

Things kick up a notch in the second half where most of the team reunites. Simmons, Yo-Yo-, and Enoch interrogating one of the hunter Chronicoms is pretty hardcore, with Simmons in particular showing a sort of ruthlessness we haven’t seen since her anti-Inhumans days. By contrast, the scene where Daisy, Coulson, Mac, and Deke scout out a party for FDR is much more lighthearted fun. Coulson fanboying over FDR is a treat, and it’s a good excuse for some more intense fights with the killer robots.

I also really like the swerve here. It makes sense that the Chronicoms would be after FDR if he had a hand in forming Shield, but the misdirect gives this one a little more juice. The idea that the Chronicoms have studied Earth’s history and know which “thread” to pull, have identified the ancestor of Gideon Malick, and aim to stop Shield by stopping Hydra so that Shield has no need to form, is an intriguing premise. It forces the good guys to help their enemies so that their squad exists, which creates all sorts of interesting moral complications.

Along the way, there’s lots of nice touches here. For one thing, the period clothing and efforts to fit in were way more entertaining than I expected. The show doesn’t dwell on it, but at least touches on the prejudice that Mac and Daisy would face in the 1930s, which I appreciate. (Mac’s constant refrain of “ripples not waves” was good in that regard.) And there’s plenty of that fun, Whedonesque banter that keeps this one light and poppy even when we’re dealing with killer robots. (Insert 1930s baseball reference.)

Plus the production design is quite good. The 1930s sets and stages are all convincing but exaggerated enough (maybe some “close enough” stuff they repurposed from Agent Carter?). There’s also some legitimate body horror here, from the cops who have their faces stolen to the Chronicom who completely melts.

There’s also some nice, introspective character moments beneath all the flash and jokes. Coulson freaking out about all that’s happened in the past two years and the knowledge that he’s an LMD is well done. Yo-Yo and Simmons talking about Yo-Yo not wanting to hide or forget what happened to her is a strong interpersonal moment. And Daisy and Coulson chatting about the weirdness of it all, in a way that’s casual but heartfelt, makes for a really nice moment, especially with Daisy’s apology and Coulson’s reassurance. The two still have a good rapport, which helps paper over the contrivedness of Coulson being back from the dead again.

Overall, this was a superb way to start season 7, jumping into the new premise with gusto, adding in plenty of quippy humor and neat twists, and remember to add in some strong character beats to reacquaint us with the good guys before things progress. Looking forward to see what the show does in its final stretch.

An interesting start into the final season! :)
I don't like time traveling (in general) but it's fine so far in this case as they don't plan on really altering anything (considering the big picture - the plan is to keep history on track) and it's entertaining and interesting.

I really missed Simmons! (and of course Coulson, Daisy, Fitz, and many others!)

I'm not surprised that Daisy immediately pressed the button and I'm glad she did :) I too want to have Coulson back <3
"Hey guys. Why is no one talking?" xD

I didn't like that Mack shut LMD Coulson down though!

"It was a very nice letter." - Now I too really wanna know the content :D (IIRC it wasn't read yet but I'm not sure as there was something?)

Kinda a bit of a nice "twist" having to save Hydra for once.

PS: I kinda really want to have Coulson back permanently but I guess it's super unlikely given that he hasn't made a return to the big screen? But maybe it's for the best as he's one of my favorite Marvel characters and I'd rather have nice memories of him than to see his character getting ruined (but that certainly wouldn't have to happen - it just seems difficult to keep it up). Anyway, I definitely hope that he'll have a nice farewell and maybe he could happily life on with May?