REVIEW: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S7E8 – After, Before

Boy do I wish Nathaniel had died when that building fell on him. Sigh.

All right. Loved seeing Jiaying again. Dichen Lachman is the best. I think she really did have Kora’s best interests at heart. Kora’s powers looked freakin’ amazing, by the way. Makes me sad to imagine what could be, if Kora had met her (half?) sister Daisy instead of the fake Quake that is Nathaniel. Still not surprising that Jiaying’s other daughter would be incredibly powerful, too. I suppose Jiaying could have lots of other kids, given how long she’s been alive…

The amount of awesome in this photo is almost too high to be captured on film.

May and Yo-Yo were fantastic this week, as I figured they would be. Interesting that May’s empathic ability seems to be getting stronger. As Elena pointed out, though it’s been useful it could also have some real drawbacks. Heh. But at least May seems to be herself again! Just in time to have to guide Elena “on an exploration of her emotional past”. *cackles* Also, “Please tell me we’re not going to spoon.” I just love them both. Of course they enjoy sparring more than they enjoy “spa treatments”. Glad that Jiaying recognized May as the awesomeness that she is. That little Mandarin exchange between the two of them was a fantastic moment. Also good to see further evidence of May as the kickass pilot that she is. And of course, hooray for Yo-Yo getting her powers back and better than ever!

Seems like Coulson is taking the ol’ resurrection hard this time. Not that you can blame him, at this point. Selfishly, I’m glad to have him back in a new LMD/Chronicom body, though. Or at least I was, until I saw that promo for next week which had a very disturbing moment in it. Maybe it wasn’t what it looked like?

Deke silently witnessing his grandmother’s heartbreaking message for Fitz was well done. It’s really not fair that Fitz doesn’t get this chance to develop more of an emotional connection with his grandson, and vice versa. Deke and Simmons’ relationship has been one of the many great things about this season so far.

Talking of Simmons, of course she would do her utmost to save everyone’s lives. That’s what she does. And she does it well. However, I’m just going to repeat: we gotta get more than one actual scene of Fitz in the remaining episodes, or else. (I don’t know what I’m threatening exactly, but it’s serious, okay?)

Enoch was once again brilliant and hilarious. I could rewatch the scene where he assures Deke and Sousa that Sousa looks nothing like a Neanderthal over and over again.

Simmons’ excellence includes making a new, miles-better prosthetic for Sousa. Yay! He shouldn’t have to limp through the future. Also, him sitting next to Daisy as she continues to heal? Awww. He’s always been such a class act. That includes his sincere apology to Simmons for freaking out earlier. Incidentally, seeing Dichen Lachman on my screen again reminded me: of course Sousa would fall for Daisy. In a different world, he was in love with her mother.

I’d find it pretty traumatic to wake up while my body was in the middle of being 3D-printed.

Daisy is still not out of danger of being wiped out of existence by the end of the episode. Which is concerning. I don’t want all the other Inhumans to be cut up and used by Nathaniel, either. Which is why he needs to die in the next episode. (Not sure about Kora’s fate. We shall see.)

Next week: a time loop episode! It looks like intense, mind-bending fun. Plus, it’s directed by Jemma Simmons herself!