7x04 Out of the Past

[8.2/10] Super fun episode. I love the noir pastiche to this one. The black and white color-grading looked a little off given the bright production palette of the show, but there was some really nice framing and composition and camera movement to give it the visual feel of an old hard-boiled detective story. Coulson’s internal monologue was a fun one-episode addition, and while it’s fairly standard by now, the episode does a good job of melding the old turns of phrase from the classic private eye movies with the Shield scenario.

I also like the premise and conflict. There’s a lot of “Should we mess with the timestream?” quandaries this season, and I appreciate how this flips the one with Freddy Mallick on its head. Instead of deciding whether or not to let a bad man die, Mack and Daisy and Coulson have to consider whether to let a good man live. Agent Sousa died after delivering some important tech to Howard Stark in the past, inspiring future generations of Shield agents. Grappling with whether to “make waves” by saving him is an interesting dilemma.

I really enjoy where they come out on it! I’ll admit that I called the twist when they refused to show Sousa’s face whilst face down in the pool, but having LMD Coulson sub in for him for the shot is still a clever way to preserve the timeline as is, at least as far as anybody knows, while also saving Sousa’s life and making sure he lives to fight another day. I’ll be curious to see what they do with him on the Shield team going forward. Plus, it’s a fun meta-gag to have Coulson’s water-logged condition be the thing causing the black and white vision and voiceover.

The other bits in the episode are nicely done as well. Let’s start with the thing that broke my dang heart -- justice for Enoch! It was so exciting to see him again, still working the same bar, after he was accidentally abandoned back in the 1930s. But the running gag of people contacting him but not really being able to talk to him or revel in how excited he was to hear from familiar folks was played for laughs while actually being kind of sad. I hope he gets his due sooner rather than later!

I also enjoyed the reveal that May is now an empath. I don’t know why that’s the case, or why being in the temple or on the other side drained her of her emotions, but it’s a good concept and gives her some unique challenges as a character. I’m not positive where they’re going with it, but I’m intrigued to find out, which is good.

I also enjoy Deke and Yo-Yo working together to secure the important gadget that kick starts Shield. There’s some more good noir homages as they skulk around the home of a Shield scientist and run into some Chronomicoms. I also appreciate Deke running into Freddy Mallick and having to bring up the events of prior episodes to save his own life. It’s a nice way to show the ripple effect of all their choices and what the decision to let Freddy live in the past has led to. It’s also very tense, and gives Deke another reason to think that not everything in the past is so great...in addition to all the sexism and racism.

The Coulson/Sousa pairing also works surprisingly well, especially when the two are keeping things from one another. Their interludes on the train and conversations about what Coulson does or doesn’t know keep the noir game of secret going. By the same token, Coulson’s train-side chat with the evil Chronicom makes for an interesting bargain given his robotic condition, and I appreciate the concept that Sousa was close to smoking out Hydra back in the 1950s, which is what put a target on his back.

Overall, this one makes the most of the show’s 1950s setting with an appropriately stylized homage to the era, while simultaneously advancing the major arcs and conflicts of the show appropriately. Lots of fun.

Time travel is my favorite thing in the world. Literally nothing gives me more joy than a ragtag team in a futuristic vessel visitng different points in history. Whether it's Doctor Who, Legends of Tomorrow (the only good Arrowverse show we have left, I said what I said), Timeless (deserved 7 seasons tbh) or now Agents of SHIELD, the serotonin rush I get from watching some chaotic neutrals running around in period clothing is indescribable. Can't wait to see what our favorite Agents plus Sousa are gonna do (and more importantly, wear) now that they're in the 70s (that song at the end is from the 70s, right?). Another thing that I love to see in my TV shows are film noir episodes. Framing Coulson's inner monologue and the black and white as his systems malfunctioning was pretty nifty. The whole intrigue with Sousa's death was well-crafted and I'm glad he's gonna stick around. Poor Enoch got absolutely no love, hopefully he will be reunited with the team eventually. May being an empath is so cool! Didn't see that coming but looking back it makes perfect sense. Overall, this episode was a blast. Season 7 has really forced me to reconsider my top 10. The showrunners said that this season was an opportunity for them to have fun and celebrate the show and it definitely shows.

And now, for the next episode in my Top 10 (that you're undoubtedly chomping at the bit to see):
2x10 "What They Become"
Season 2 was really hard to narrow down since it's one of my favorites. Another strong contender from the first half of that season was 2x05 "A Hen in the Wolf House", which gets an honorable mention because it gave us Bobbi Morse and finally revealed what Jemma had been up to while she was gone. But "What They Become", just like "Turn, Turn, Turn" from last week, was a total game changer for the show. This is the episode where Skye meets her father and learns that her name is actually Daisy, this is the episode where she goes through Terrigenesis and we get a first glimpse of her powers. When she quaked off that cocoon... that was a cultural reset. This was a mid-season finale to rule all mid-season finales, which combined with an unbearable 3-MONTH-LONG (!!!) break afterwards puts it in the iconic category instantly.

A black and white episode? Looks like they're having a bit of fun with the final season. It felt a bit much that they've kept that style but it fits the story and was worth it for the end where Coulson's system got restored when May walked in :D "Internal monologue's gone" also explained a lot!

Enoch was killing it with his calm lines:

• "Agent Coulson, such a pleasure to hear your voice after two decades."
• "You may proceed with your saga of struggle."
• "Happy to connect you."

It's also nice that they've figured out what happened to May. Jemma's "for you that is Severely abnormal" was on point. (I miss Fitz btw!)

Coulson's death really was an inspiration for the Avengers.
It's nice that they could save Sousa without altering history (or rather without altering the history they know / their past)!
(And the "I thought I shook you" at the beginning is also nice - it kinda gives it away but not really. His "I'd give my life for it" to Daisy also hit hard.)

"Welcome to life after death. I'll tell you all about it." xD

Poor Enoch got left behind, again... They aren't really treating him that well lately!
It was a smart move of the enemy to leave one behind. It's a good thing that Enoch is also still there then - hopefully he'll figure it out and manages to keep history on track! He might be their only hope now!

It looks like the song at the end indicates that they jumped to 1973 or a few years later?: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Mr.Nice_Guy(song)