Project T.A.H.I.T.I.

S5:E12 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “The Real Deal.”

We're back after another long delay, and this was recorded several months ago, so we're a bit out of date with our "current events" references. We got into some wild digressions, starting with some‪ Star Wars talk circa the Mandalorian's second season where we complain a bit about Filoni, because he's kind of awful, and gush a bit over Taika Waititi, because he's freaking great. Jess talks about how even Billy (boyfriend of the pod) gets sick of Filoni's nonsense sometimes, and we compare and contrast Filoni and Waititi's relative weakness and strength at subverting problematic tropes.

We then get into the episode of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. we're covering, the 100th episode! The episode title gets some guff. We left off with Noah, the mediocre Chronicom, saving the day by sacrificing himself for the team, and catch up with found footage of Andrew/Lash, apparently back from the dead. This sets up the "best of villains" episode in a unique way, without relying on a clip show formula. Fitz shows Coulson and May the drone footage showing them what appears to be the outdoors inside the base, and hypothesizes that the monoliths' destruction opened a portal to another dimension. Mack tells Yo-yo he'd leave S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. if she wanted to, but she insists they have to stay.  Daisy and Deke search the store rooms and Deke attempts to bond with Daisy, which she rebuffs. This is one of many examples of Deke's personality solidifying into the character he will become, the annoying kid brother of the team's "family." Jess calls out some of Daisy and Coulson's similarities as empaths, and we enjoy that Deke and Daisy's eventual relationship is just a friendly/familial one, and that they backed off any attempt at a contrived and predictable attempt at romance. A Kree warrior shows up and attacks them in the middle of their storeroom run. They dispatch him and regroup with the team, where after taking the Kree warrior into consideration, looking at the footage of Lash, and identifying Deke's fear of the open wilderness (hence the forest/outdoor level) Fitz dubs the dimension they've accessed "the fear dimension," naturally. Fitz mentions a potential sacrifice and looks to Deke, who gets very defensive, but he meant he needed his anti-gravity belt. Coulson volunteers, Fitz suggests Piper go to redeem herself, and everyone argues with them. Daisy says she'll go, but Coulson insists she needs to stay to lead, and she argues that they're so broken, there isn't even a S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. left to lead.

Deke is sent out by Coulson for supplies and is uncharacteristically grumpy when he tells him to go, reminding him not to get arrested this time. Coulson joins the rest of the team and Jemma explains that the necrotic tissue has grown to Coulson's lungs and heart, and that his condition is terminal. He's known since they last saw Ghost Rider, having given up whatever Project T.A.H.‪‪I.T.‪‪I. had done to him to bring him back in return for hosting the Rider. Coulson is frustrated, having never had any agency when it came to his own life, but the team, and Daisy in particular, are exceptionally hurt. Yo-yo wakes up to a sadistic Jemma channeling Nurse Ratched who tells Yo-yo to give up and let Mack leave her, gaslighting all Twilight Zone style her before trying to smother her. She's stopped by Mack who reveals she's an LMD, and the real Jemma comes in and sees what's going on. We think it was Mack's fear, and we realize we never see Yo-yo's own fear manifestation. Deke is outside and sees General Hale's troops have invaded the town looking for them, and gets anxious. He ends up in a funny disguise where he looks like a time traveller from 30 years in the past instead of the future, in a baseball cap, carrying a red, white, and blue bomb-pop and a Zima. May and Coulson have a heart to heart, and talk about him hiding his dying from her, and his pushing the team away, denying what they really mean to each other. Fitz prepares Coulson to seal the portal, and Coulson gives a speech that's somewhat problematic about how S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. is an important symbol, and it reflects the issues with patriotic idealization of an inherently corrupt system that was founded on oppression. We go on a bit of a digression discussing what it means in terms of copaganda from the show, and also the deeper levels in which the character of Phil Coulson's words are meant to ring hollow, and are somewhat betrayed by the denial of his current situation. And we discuss how voting is such a frustration situation, because it's one of the most effective ways to create change, but it also requires participation from those being oppressed in the very system that works against them.

In the basement, getting ready to destroy the fear dimension portal, Coulson encounters Mike Peterson, Deathlok, the character he tried to save in the first episode of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D., but he appears as his pre-cyborg/pre-Deathlok self, and tries to convince Coulson that none of what was happening was real. This is Coulson's fear, that he's never come back from the dead, and the entire series of Agents of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. has been what's happening to him on the operating table, and that it was him trying to live out his fanboy dream life as they experimented on his brain at the brink of life and death. The fake Mike Peterson makes Coulson begin to doubt his reality, and question his very existence. Daisy and Fitz argue about what to do, and she puts him in his place, calling him Leopold, and May tells them both to shut up. And this makes Jared tell a pretty ridiculous story involving his dad walking in on his brother...in the middle of something. Coulson tries to ignore the fake Mike's attempts to discredit his life when a Quinjet arrives. Having been called by Deke, the Quinjet brought the real Mike Peterson/Deathlok, along with a team of what's left of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. there as reinforcements. Deathlok shoots the fake Mike, and as Coulson activates the device a gravity well starts to absorb the fear dimension rift when a bunch of villains show up to to stop them, like the Vrellnexians and Hive. It's a bunch of chaos as they fight off the villains and are pulled toward the gravity well when the plan is successful, and the smoke clears with Coulson in Deathlok's arms, asking for assurance from Mike that he was real. Still at the local police station Hale wonders who Deke might be before leaving after words of a Daisy sighting is reported, having been sent a tip by Deke to get them off the trail. Coulson, Fitz and Deke are on the elevator at the base, and Coulson and Fitz talk about Deathlok saving the day, which Deke thinks is about him. On the weird forest floor (which like, should've disappeared with the villains, right?), the elevator opens where Fitz walks out, dressed up all nice, for his and Jemma's wedding (*squee*)!! It's super sweet, and the two of them finally get a little bit of a break. Us viewers find out that Deke is their grandkid right as Deke and Mike Peterson discuss what side they should be on, and Deke punctuates his family reveal by saying he doesn't really know either of them, and cements the goofball character Deke was always meant to be.

And now, as always, Black Lives Matter. Now more than ever voting, and voting laws, are important in the U.S., and under attack by the far Right. Visit blackvotersmatterfund.org/donate/ to help protect voting rights, improve lives, and strengthen communities.

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on Apple Podcasts!

Ep 103 - Assembling for Avengers: WandaVision Bonus Episode - Jess and Jared look at the first Marvel show on Disney+, WandaVision!

We look at how it connects this new era of the MCU to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Marvel television, and some thoughts on the dangers of fan expectations, the future of Marvel TV on Disney+. And we talk about grief. And Agatha. And Monica. We get into the meat of the story, comics connections and differences, Agents of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. connections, Hayward, and Wanda's status as a complex character who's not purely heroic, but not a villain.

We also discuss the appearance of the Darkhold and the obvious lack of followthrough from some S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. viewers who are just now questioning its canonicity in the greater MCU. We discuss the twins, and their inevitable future as MCU Young Avengers. We discuss of the grief process in WandaVision vs. the MCU films, and the benefit that the show's format gives their examination of loss, and what it means to move on. WandaVision was able to go more into depth about what enduring the grief process feels like, and came at a time where the entire world is plagued with an epidemic putting us all in a grief-filled existence.

Plus: We want a Jimmy Woo show with Darcy! Give us Jimmy Woo: Agent of S.W.O.R.D.! And Jimmy and Coulson are our Marvel TV dads, and we love them! And Jared is convinced that we're getting Young Avengers soon!

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on iTunes!

S5:E11 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “All the Comforts of Home."

In our first episode of the season back in the present we meet our "favorite character," Ruby, and we begin by reexamining some of our initial reactions and feelings about the character and what she represents. With the benefit of time and consideration Jess repositions Ruby's writing, and sees how it was more thoughtfully, and well written character than we had originally understood her to be, and that there is a meta commentary there, about how adolescent women are demonized and demeaned across all areas of our culture.

We open on Ruby, a "stereotypical" teenage girl in a stereotypical teenager's room, covered in posters, listening to pop music with headphones on her bed laying the wrong way on her bed with her feet in the air. We soon meet her mom, who Ruby quickly confronts, demanding to know if she's a good guy, or a bad guy, and saying that since they're going after S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. that she wonders if they're not the bad guys. Her mom, General Hale, tells her that she just follows her orders, and that everything she does is for Ruby, though Ruby incorrectly predicted she'd say everything she did was for the greater good. Here is where we learn about their weird mother-daughter relationship, and that Ruby is obsessed with Daisy Johnson AKA Quake. But more importantly, the team! Our favorite S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. Agents have returned from the future to the present day Lighthouse. They show up disoriented in different waves and gather together and Fitz confirms that despite their familiar location, they had made it back to their home time period. ‪‪A hologram of an old school S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. Director, Rick Stoner, played perfectly by Patrick Warburton, appears to give the rundown to the team via an outdated pre-recorded message. The base was top-secret base designed for a post-apocalyptic situation to help repopulate the Earth, so, exactly what it ended up being used for in the future. Coulson mentioned how injured Mack had gotten, and Yo-Yo turns it back on him and he brushes his injuries off, but she knows what Coulson isn't telling the rest of the team about his own dark, crazy future sci-fi poison-filled wound. Yo-Yo, Mack and Jemma leave to get Mack medical attention and Coulson sends May to take the tour with hologram Rick Stoner, and she drags Fitz along. Daisy comes to furious with Coulson for using an Icer and taking her back to the past against her consent, and though she doesn't forgive him exactly, she understands his decision. Fitz and May are going through a storeroom and find all three monoliths, and a douche-bro Chronicom who was in the AWFUL Paris Hilton vehicle "The Hottie & the Nottie," Noah. Noah is the anti-Enoch, and is a dismissive, self-important robo-twit. He tells them that everyone with knowledge of the bunker is inside the bunker, and assures them that they're safe. May has a very cheesy "small but active fan base" line that is super meta, and made us chuckle.

Jess noted that a lot of aspects of this season make us sure that they'd intended, or rather believed, it would be the final season of the show.‪ In the Lighthouse's monitor room they note "potential alien contact," that will lead to the end of the world, and there's a pretty by the numbers UFO-looking flying saucer in space on its way. They need to go check it out in St. Louis, and are still wanted for the crimes that AIDA and Ivanov framed them for. They show that they're outside this small town of River's End in the Lighthouse. When the team leaves the Lighthouse and has to steal a van Mack ‪‪is mortified, and May, and even Yo-Yo, are a bit annoyed with how strait-laced he is, though Jemma finds it wonderful. Daisy gets more comfortable with the computer room in the Lighthouse than Noah seems to appreciate, getting under the Chronicom's skin. Noah ‪‪is a dick, and he's ineffective, but he's not actually against the team, he's just really bad at helping them. The team goes through all the bad things they've lived through before to assure themselves. As a River's End cop shows up Fitz seems almost ready to shoot him, which is super dark and messed up, but Mack diffuses the situation. At this point Deke shows up suddenly outdoors and falls in love with being outside, and hugs a tree. An old white lady of River's End thinks Deke is high off his ass, but she's also pretty cool about it. Deke is super good at being a silly in this scene, and almost ate ice cream out of a trash can, until he sees a dive bar and discovers that he doesn't love beer, but he *does* love Zima! Deke has a fantastic time in the bar, eating cheeseburgers and onion rings, and drinking more and more Zimas. Deke tries to run out on his tab but is too drunk, and flips over a pool table. The team leaves the van on the side of road to be returned to owner and gets to the Zephyr so that they can get to St. Louis. Jemma figures out it's not from space, but the light came up *from* Earth, Hydra's way of calling the Kree to Earth. Yo-Yo and Mack are in the cargo hold and Yo-Yo is still more worried about the time loop than anything else. Daisy's gamer-ing it up, with her feet up on the computer eating cereal from the box, and Noah is so uptight he mentioned that everyone knows that Enoch was always reckless. Deke has showed up on police records and Daisy has to get him, so she dresses up in Noah's suit to go incognito to the River's End police station.

The Zephyr arrives with the rest of the team in St. Louis where Fitz says he detects someone inside, and in the lab Piper is there, saying she was laying low waiting for them. We had forgotten about Piper being turned against the team in this episode, and though it's justified, it's also something neither of us care for. Jess's Billy has a connection to Piper's actor, Briana Venskus, as part of the L.A. motorcycle community. Daisy comes to the police station to get Deke and seems a little out of practice, and one of the cops seems to ‪‪I.D. her, and makes a call that gets word of Daisy to General Hale. Daisy gives Deke a hard time for getting arrested immediately, but he's too drunk, and too happy about being in a non-post-apocalyptic future stuck inside the Lighthouse in the cold of space, and he wants to know if she knows about Zima. Back in St. Louis we see that Piper's beacon was actually meant to call Hale's people, and Ruby is there in a mask with a team of robot drones, and Piper was tricked by Hale into turning on the team thinking she was helping them, and without a lot of options. Piper explains what she thinks the deal is, that they're bringing the team in to keep them safe, but Ruby orders the robot goons to attack, and uses the same weapon as Xena, a chakram, to attack the team themselves. This makes Jared go on a little Xena rant about the absurdity/insanity of Xena, but as Jess points out, Xena's Lucy Lawless is a S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. vet! In the violence Ruby uses the aforementioned chakram to cut off both of Yo-Yo's arms, and it's gruesome, and not good. May and Mack go berserk on the robots before they even seem to know they're robots, but they *really* lose it after that, with their past histories with robots giving them some serious anti-robot prejudice. The Xena connection re-contextualizes the violence we've seen in sword and sorcery and fantasy fiction, and makes one think of the trauma victims of dismemberment must endure. Daisy and Deke get back to the Lighthouse and meet up with Noah, who promptly tells Deke he didn't think they should rescue him. Deke really comes into his own here, coming out of the John Cusack movie entitled nerdy straight white dude protagonist place he'd started from and firmly establishing himself as the comic sidekick, and excelling. Jeff Ward does very well with his comedic timing and rapport with Chloe, and this is where we fell for the character. They avoided a lot of problematic relationship tropes by changing the character's focus from a wannabe space badass with an unrequited love for Daisy, to comic relief doofus just reasonably crushing on Daisy, or from the show's Star-Lord, to Kramer. And total non sequitur, but they offered the part of Superman from Superman the Motion Picture to Burt Reynolds, which is nuts. We get a rad visual from the Lighthouse's docking bay, with a platform emerging from the water on the coast next to the Lighthouse with a waterfall on each side, and it makes Jared think of Disney's Gummi Bears, because he's who he is. We talk a bit about what S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. says about law enforcement and its greater failures. We appreciate that they don't make their "super cops" out to be infallible, even though it isn't perfect, and are critical of law enforcement agencies in general. We get a "reveal" of Ruby's identity, and of her room being in the bottom of this big ol' military bunker. Back at the base Fitz, Daisy and Noah are trying to turn the beacon off, but it begins to overload and he warns them to run and jumps on the beacon to absorb the blast, sacrificing himself for the team, and redeeming his douchebag nature. In the closing scene Crusher Creel is running with a hoodie on in Philadelphia and an unmarked black car pulls up with Hale to recruit him to her cause, and though he's suspicious, he's resigned to his fate and gets in the car.

And now, as always, Black Lives Matter. Now more than ever voting, and voting laws, are important in the U.S.. Visit blackvotersmatterfund.org/donate/ to help protect voting rights, improve lives, and strengthen communities.

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on Apple Podcasts!

S5:E10 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Past Life."

We begin with a discussion of some when-it-was-recorded Agents of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. news, referring to post-series finale interviews with Mo and Jed, and Brett Dalton, and Elizabeth Henstridge's episode by episode watch-along with fans! We found out why Ivanov sucked so bad...well, another reason, with a connection to the upcoming Hulu Marvel animated show, MODOK starring AoS's own Agent Koenig, Patton Oswalt. We get into a little about how rewatch nostalgia for older shows is rough, because stuff does not always age well, and oftentimes we can see how much stuff tended to be very problematic with the benefit of our current perspectives.

The Zephyr arrives at the Lighthouse for Kasius to discover Sinara's lifeless, impaled body. Sinara's character was fridged, and the vast potential that her character was given was never given a chance to be fulfilled. The S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. team was prepared, and fled the Zephyr to the containment pod, leaving only Enoch on the ship to protect half of the Monolith, and the portal (don't call it a time machine) device, ready to rendezvous with the team when they return with Flint. Mack, Yo-Yo, Flint and Tess are waiting for the rest of the team to return on the Lighthouse, but Yo-Yo remembers when she was revived, and the cries of pain she heard from other Inhumans being tortured nearby. They all have their role to play, planning to save the other Inhumans from being exploited by Kasius, with the others helping get Flint the rocks he needs and to where he needs to go, and back to Enoch and portal with the team. Yo-Yo tells Flint to take care of the big guy, asking him to watch out for Mack on her behalf. Kasius has gone totally delusional about Sinara's death, disconnecting from reality, and reacting to the Kree doctor's explanation that he couldn't use the same process he uses on humans and Inhumans to resurrect her by executing the doctor immediately. Jared poses the question..."can an eternal be murderable?" and "is 'murderable' a word?" With the last of Robin's drawings recovered by his men Kasius figures out that S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. team was going to use the Monolith to return back to the past, and the Inhumans' trainer take Odium and go be a berzerker and die for Kasius. While this is going on Mack and Flint are bonding, with Mack talking about looking forward to getting to ride his bike, referring to his motorcycle, and Flint asks him if that isn't what little kids ride. Mack vehemently defends motorcycles as rockets with two wheels, and not at all childish, and it's a very cute scene. He tells Flint he'd be welcome to come back to the past with them, but Flint doesn't want to leave his time. Fitz and Simmons show up with the rest of the Monolith rock The rest of the team are rescuing Inhumans, and taking out the Kree to help the surviving humans, and May and Deke have an exchange about guns being something that need to be regulated, in a very true, if not obvious, reference to real life gun control, and the lack thereof in the U.S.. The Inhuman trainer comes for Daisy on Odium, and despite being shot at by Coulson continues to come for her for a moment, he turns his attention to Coulson, slamming him against the wall and distracting him long enough for Daisy to get something to stab him with. With the Odium-enhanced trainer taken out Daisy notices Coulson clutching his chest, his shirt ripped open, but denying that he was wounded, and insisting it was merely a wardrobe malfunction.

Tess and Deke are reunited, and they discuss how they appreciate each other's friendship more since she died and was resurrected. Coulson sees her struggling with the adjustment to life after death, and mentors her a bit, telling her its all worth it to be able to help those in need. We still don't like that she was killed for the development of Flint and Deke, and even bringing her back doesn't make it less gross and problematic. Kasius is talking to Sinara, despite her being really dead still, and has gone full on bananas. He intends to bring glory to his family, and looks and sounds like someone totally deranged at this point, with nothing connecting him to reality, and intends to go out in a blaze of glory with odium. We find his other Inhuman seer, and it's Yo-Yo! We were way off with how long she would be around, but this older, alternate timeline Yo-Yo meets our Yo-Yo, to explain that she has been brought back from the dead over and over again by the Kree, killed and resurrected repeatedly, tortured, and used her for information, and to harvest her DNA. The older Yo-Yo explains that she's been trapped in a time loop, and that they've gone through this conversation more than once before, and that they will not be able to stop the loop. Meanwhile, Enoch calls the team requesting for help, and Deke volunteers, dismissing Daisy's intention to help, telling her that she needs to be ready to return to the past. Deke tells her to stop being so ready to die for people there, and that she is actually meant to be a hero to save people in the past. They say goodbye, and this is where he falls for her. At this point Jemma has gone from anti-Inhuman bigot to Inhuman power expert, and coach. She talks Flint through how to feel out and sense rocks with his powers, and understand and use his abilities. During their conversation Fitz was setting up a decapitation wire behind them to behead the crew of Kree soldiers coming after them, and it was horrific, and kind of awesome. Fitz was being practical, not monstrous, at least, not intentionally so. Nevertheless, Jemma is understandably disturbed, as it recalls his time as a Nazi dude in the Framework. Back to the Yo-Yos, where the older Yo-Yo tells us how she was upset she couldn't change Coulson's choices. Daisy tells Coulson and May she won't come back to the past, and that it can help prevent the Earth's destruction. He ignores her wishes, hitting her with an icer and knocking her out. While this is happening we hear older Yo-Yo tell our Yo-Yo that Coulson is dying, and they need to let him, and close the loop. This is where we get Yo-Yo's problematic arm loss reveal. We don't have the expertise or bandwidth to speak on it with authority, but it felt somewhat sensationalized and ableist, if not exploitive, and above all, it seems unnecessary, and done with no consideration to members of the amputee community, and in a very gross way puts another Woman of Color in the series through significant trauma for entertainment purposes.

Fitz gives Flint Deke's Star Lord-esque helmet to gather more rocks in space to make up for missing components of the monolith. A bunch of scenes converge, with Coulson carrying Daisy's unconscious body, the Kree attacking Enoch, and Kasius going in to the older Yo-Yo's cell to get something from her, Kree going through Kasius's throne room as Flint bursts through from outside with rocks, sending the Kree flying out into cold space and their deaths. Deke shows up to help, and asks if they should fix Enoch, but Enoch insists their time is better spent fixing the portal device, damaged in the fight with Kree. Flint is looking around him at the rocks he's controlling and all that he's just done, and the rest of the team arrives without Yo-Yo, and Mack notices Fitz mention his fiancée and he gives his good buddy a hard time, and then realizes that Yo-Yo is missing. He goes after her while Daisy meets Flint and‪‪ they have a sweet introduction, and May encourages Flint to go ahead and save the day, showing a sweet and motherly vibe in the way that May would/does. Flint's sand/rock power effects look pretty cool, and make use of some of the style or technology they used for Ward/Hive's powers (total aside, but Ward/Hive's mind control squid powers reminded Jared of Jarro, the Starfish Wonder in recent DC comics, who is amazing). Also, Jared was aghast to learn that lots of people thought that Billy Zane was the Mummy in the Mummy, and he was *not*. And Jess realized that she needed to watch Doom Patrol, because Brendan Fraser is a sad robot daddy, and it's great, and insane! Tim Dalton is great in it, and Diane Guerrero is also amazing in Doom Patrol, and Jess recommends Diane Guerrero's book In the Country We Love: My Family, so check that out! But getting back to S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D., Mack hears Yo-Yo's screams, but it's the older Yo-Yo in a trap laid by Kasius in the arena. After slitting Yo-Yo's throat violently he goes after Mack all 'roided out on Odium. Mack smacks Kasius with his shotgun axe, and then shoots the Kree guards and Kasius, which is pretty rad. Meanwhile, Deke and Enoch are trying to repair the portal's gateway, and that he would have to give up his life, causing his battery to combust and power the device. Deke and Enoch are both willing to sacrifice themselves to save their friends, and it's very touching. We talk a little about Jeph Loeb's probable involvement in all the gross and weird problematic deaths, abuse, and exploitation of the People of Color on the show. Coulson tells Flint to get everyone to safety, and he goes and says he has more work to do. Kasius with his Odium strength is whaling on Mack, which is hard to believe, because Mack just doesn't look like he's going to be thrown around by Kasius. Mack is taking being thrown into walls and smashed all over the place, but defiantly standing up, and Jemma shows up and disables Kasius with the ear bug thing he used to fill her ears with white noise, getting some sweet revenge. Mack stabs him in the chest with the shotgun axe, and Mack is despondent, believing that Yo-Yo was dead, until our Yo-Yo screamed his name, running through the doorway and into his arms. Enoch is dying, ready to power the machine, and Fitz asks him to hold on a little longer and calls him his friend. They show up with Coulson carrying an unconscious Daisy, and hoping she will forgive him, as Deke sends the team back to their own time, and Enoch explodes to save the world. Flint and Tess note that Deke didn't make out of the range of the blast, but fall short of proclaiming him dead. Flint is left to remake the Earth, and prepared to do so. 

And now, as always, Black Lives Matter. Now more than ever voting, and voting laws, are important in the U.S.. Visit blackvotersmatterfund.org/donate/ to help protect voting rights, improve lives, and strengthen communities.

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on Apple Podcasts!

S5:E09 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Best Laid Plans."

This is our 100th episode, so we start with...being sad about Ruth Bader Ginsberg's passing (you can tell how long ago we recorded this). So, get ready for a 10 minute rant about the state of politics from about two and a half months ago! Also, we were both just getting some relief from being inundated with wildfires at the time of this recording, so if our vibe is "abject terror," you know why. Also, there were some technical difficulties, with some distortion, and some plane sounds, and sirens so, please bear with us!

The episode starts with Kree going after the team in the Lighthouse, and Mack and Yo-Yo are taking them on. Mack begins to take the leadership role he's destined for. The humans took back an entire floor from the Kree, infuriating Kasius. Kasius is confounded by the attack/rebellion, and perplexed by their having a supply of guns (thanks to Fitz's preparation in the past). Kasius is starting to lose his shit, proclaiming himself the humans' savior, and God. On the Zephyr the team and Enoch discuss how Flint is going to save them all and fix everything, as Robin's prophecy has told them. While May struggles with the emotions that come with her newly developed maternal relationship with Robin, and Daisy and Coulson tell her that they can see her as a mom, in a very sweet moment. As Deke prepares to deal with Voss, his father's killer, Coulson leaves it up to Deke to deal with it as he wants, either because he's also gone through a revenge arc, or because he's just not invested in Deke's future. Voss explains that Deke's dad and himself ended up fighting, and he only killed him in self defense. While Yo-Yo tries to teach Flint how to use their guns, Mack gets protective of him, wanting to spare him from further violence. Kasius sends a resurrected Tess to negotiate with the humans on his behalf. She tells them about Kasius's newfound (or just heightened?) God complex, and they realize that he only wants Mack, Yo-Yo and Flint so he can draw out Daisy. Despite Coulson wanting Daisy at full power, Daisy wants to keep the power inhibitor the Kree have given her, and it hurts her to feel like she's not "enough" for her father figure without her powers.

It seems like Coulson may be trying to rush his mentoring of the team members, since he knows his time is limited and he's dying. Jemma and Fitz figure out how the Zephyr's space-ready modifications were made, using Fitz's designs and with Gravitonium, and they begin to figure out how the Earth was destroyed. While Fitz is coming to stark conclusions and fearful predictions, Jemma centers him with optimism to counter his fear. While they're pummeled with the remains of buildings from the Earth's surface May tells Enoch she's had a building dropped on her before, which we *think* was a reference to her knocking down the building with the Berzerker Staff, but it might be something else? May gets the avionics going and they flee the barrage of buildings and ruins being chucked at them. The team starts to figure out how Kasius is planning to destroy the entire Lighthouse with the hit of a button. On the Zephyr the non-S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. members onboard get ready to flee to hide in the caves on the surface of Earth's remains. Daisy compliments Deke for not killing Voss for revenge, and they have a discussion about whether or not killing someone makes them a bad guy, if it's for the right reasons. We finally get a little more of the story of Earth's destruction, finding out that an alien invasion precipitated the cracking open of the planet. ‪‪In retrospect, the way they wanted us to believe Deke was considering killing Daisy to save the planet, and how Deke ends up, ‪‪is kind of crazy. They realize that Kasius has them over a barrel, and that they can't stop him from blowing up the Lighthouse, so Yo-Yo and Mack decide to give themselves up. Flint tells Tess she's the only person he has, and she looks to Yo-Yo and Mack, and assures him she's not the alone in being there for him. May has to pilot the space Zephyr through a gravity storm, and makes a "mom face," as Daisy puts it, when they question if she can pull it off.

Kasius is notified that Tess returned alone, making him even more furious and unhinged, and Tess gives him the message that they're holding the research floor hostage, showing them Terrigen Crystals and Inhuman blood samples she'd been sent with to drive home that they have control of his future ability to create and manipulate Inhumans. Daisy helps get the Zephyr off the ground when their anchors won't release for May, and Deke follows her (to make us think he might kill her?). Kasius recognizes Yo-Yo immediately when he comes to meet with her and Mack, and explains that the deal to give the Kree Inhumans was made long ago. Sinara shows up as Daisy tries to release the anchors, and they start to fight in some zero gravity action before May hits the artificial gravity button and slams them to the floor, which is all pretty cool. Deke helps Daisy against Sinara, immediately regretting getting involved, and then Flint shows up where Yo-Yo and Mack are with Kasius. The gravity switches off and on again on the Zephyr, and Sinara ends up impaled.‪‪ Mack tricks Kasius into setting off his explosives, that had all been moved to a single location, far from the evacuated humans, and Kasius is furious as they escape in the chaos, screaming "NOOOOOOO!" like he's at the end of Revenge of the Sith. Kasius is prepared for the Zephyr's return, as he reveals that he has his OWN seer (which we know is future Yo-Yo). And Jared's timeline confusion is made even worse!

And now, as always, Black Lives Matter. As the time this posts, U.S. democracy is being challenged by a dangerously delusional politician who refuses to acknowledge being voted out of office, and now more than ever voting, and voting laws, are important in the U.S.. Visit https://fairfight.com/ to help promote fair voting policies and encourage voter participation, education, and reform.

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on Apple Podcasts!

S5:E08 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “The Last Day."

In an odd episode for us, recorded in the late afternoon, we begin by diving in to a discussion of the prophetic child, Robin, who the entire episode centers around. The episode, as Jess points out, is disjointed to illustrate Robin's existence perceiving reality disconnected in time, and accentuates the emotional weight of this episode's story. We recorded this WAY back in August, so we talk a little about the online discussion of the series finale, and Jess takes notice of Davis being actually really hot in real life, and Jared concurs, and notes that he's married to Dichen Lachman, so that's not really surprising. And Chloe posted a photo of Jeff Ward with a porn 'stache, which ‪‪is so amazing it has to be seen to be believed. We take a brief detour to talk about covid restrictions and delays impacting television production and end up talking a little bit about PEN15 (check out on Hulu!) and it's absurd hilarity. Also, Jess started watching the next episode by mistake 😂

When we actually get into the show we're on the Zephyr with May piloting and Robin coming in to predict their immediately forthcoming crash in a gravity storm. We start to get an idea of this episode's theme/main subject, as Samuel Voss explains that Robin sees time all at once and out of order, and is impossible to interpret or understand. Voss also mentioned that Robin is how he knew where to find them all. May reunites with everyone, and Deke is super impressed with the Zephyr, and a little in awe of Fitz's intelligence, having retrofitted the Zephyr for space flight. We aren't sure if Deke knows Fitz is his grandfather yet, but we land on probably not. They return to the Lighthouse where Kasius and Sinara discuss her hunting down "the Destroyer of Worlds," and he says he'll take care of the human traitors there on the station, which includes Flint, and Mack and Yo-Yo. And the other humans are being super gross apocalyptic space future Karens to Flint, turning on him and being super bigoted against him for being Inhuman, and a young Black man. Mack puts a stop to it with his Mack-ness, and then we revel in Henry Simmons's amazingness and physical massiveness with some cast size comparison via Instagram photos discussion. We go back to the team on the Zephyr discussing Robin's inability to distinguish timelines and eras, and Fitz and Jemma ask everyone to not overwhelm her. Robin says "‪‪I already told my mother everything," and that "Philip J. Coulson can bring all the pieces together," and "this is the day it all ends." Coulson mentions it being a shame that Daisy can't use her powers, and Deke is shaken by how much he believed has been turned on its head, with the survivors on Earth's surface, and his father not having died when he had thought. Daisy and Deke bond a little over their father issues. Yo-Yo reaches out to Flint, connecting over the isolation and alienation that came with becoming an Inhuman. Jemma and Fitz are amazed their design worked and the Zephyr can fly, and they notice something they aren't familiar with, a portal Deke's dad had made from their design. Jemma and Fitz are *finally* alone, and make out a bit. Back to Robin, they ask Enoch for help, who says the only way to get through to her is to spend days at her side. May wants to flirt with Coulson who won't have it, and she admits she's having a bit of an identity crisis, something that comes to a head as the episode continues. They end up having a time travel disagreement, with Fitz sure that the timeline can't be changed. Robin explains to them, maybe not? Yo-Yo can't say the alien species's real name, and sticks with "roaches," which we can relate to. Samuel discourages Coulson, but finding remnants of a monolith have him hopeful they can find more to get a way back home to the past. They can't remove Daisy's inhibitor, Jemma says she can't do it without risking permanent damage to Daisy's brain. When Deke finds out Voss was hiding a piece of the Monolith he gets really upset, and Fitz figures out that the time machine needs the Monolith piece to work, and suggests asking Robin how it works. Mack takes care of the Roach with his shotgun axe, proving its awesomeness to Flint, and saves the old Karen who'd turned on Flint, because Mack is a billion times better than her.

Robin and May, in the past, are walking through the Lighthouse where Robin asks about Flint long before he would be born. May wants to listen to Robin and follow her prophecies, and Yo-Yo won't have it, and doesn't have faith in her predictions. May mentions Mack, upsetting Yo-Yo, and Robin continues to mention Flint, causing Yo-Yo snaps when she says Flint will save Mack. May asks Yo-Yo to have faith, and she says she lost her faith a long time ago. And Fitz, like Yo-Yo, can't handle Robin's predictions, even if he believes them more than Yo-Yo does. Back in the future present Deke mentions that the Monolith shard belonged to his mother, and Sam hits him in the head when he confronts him with it. Flint and Mack and Yo-Yo get all the Roaches in one room and Yo-Yo destroys them to a rad '80s synth soundtrack, very appropriate for a Chopping Mall fan like herself, and strikes a triumphant superhero pose. Old Robin meets with Daisy, coming full circle with their first meeting, and bringing Robin into their world, when we first meet her and Daisy gave her her father's wooden robin carving. Daisy tries to ask her about the Monolith and she hides as Samuel shows up, almost as if she's frightened of him. When Fitz and Jemma figure out the machine's frequency they discover they've been locked inside by Samuel's men, who tell them if they don't fight, they don't have to die. Daisy thinks about how she shouldn't be powerful enough to destroy the planet. Samuel shows her a video of Daisy arguing and then leaving on a Quinjet right before the Earth "cracked like an egg," Robin says it's too late to stop it, and isn't talking about the Earth. In the other timeline's past we see Fitz and May arguing about Robin, with May defending her, and Fitz yelling at her, and he says, "we know we can't fix it, because we've tried it time and again!" Samuel tries to kill Daisy, and then successfully kills Robin, who calls May "Mom," as she fades away. She explains to May how she raised her in the other world, and it goes back to that timeline to see how the pieces all come together, and Robin developing her relationship with May in two different lives and timelines. On the Lighthouse Mack and Yo-Yo and Flint start a human revolution against the Kree. Back on the Zephyr Deke accepts that his father really is dead, killed by Samuel, and May comes out to say that she knows how to save the world, but wants to know "who's Flint?" And Sinara goes after them with the order to how no mercy.

What follows is a rambling discussion of "timelines" and "versions," that doesn't *super* make sense, and we're very confused the whole time. We discuss this for quite a while, and I'm not sure we get any closer to figuring it out, because there are a lot of futures, and pasts, and we don't know some key components at this point, and I'm not convinced it makes any more sense when we're all caught up either. Listen, it was late when we recorded, it was still unfolding at this point in the story, and ‪‪I don't think it even adds up when it's done. But we have some befuddled fun tying ourselves in knots with the partial information we had at that point. Bottomline, we confused ourselves a bit. We finish with a brief discussion of the Batman trailer, which Jared had not yet seen 😂

And now, as always, Black Lives Matter. As this episode posts, democracy is being challenged by a dangerously delusion politician who refuses to acknowledge being voted out of office, and now more than ever voting, and voting laws, are important in the U.S.. Visit https://fairfight.com/ to help promote fair voting policies and encourage voter participation, education, and reform.

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on Apple Podcasts!

S5:E07 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Together or Not at All."

This one starts with some current events from a month or two back, and we rail on Jeph Loeb after an interview with Peter Shinkoda about his time on Daredevil and the Netflix Marvel shows, where we learned Loeb was openly racist, and discriminated against Asian actors. We now know for a fact that much of the quality and thoughtful work on the Agents of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. was in spite of Loeb's toxic, racist influence, and in no way because of it. And Mo, and the crew that she brought together with Jed, are even more appreciated, knowing what they were working with.‪‪ We also mention learning the actor who played Gabe Reyes, in addition to not using a wheelchair, isn't Latinx, so there's another gross case of white washing. May and Enoch are both captured by some giant hook/claw machine grabber, and taken away suddenly. Daisy and Sinara have battled in the arena, May is on Earth's surface, and Fitz, Jemma, and Daisy are escaping to Fitz's ship. Fitz is super sweet with Daisy, and it makes what's coming even more difficult to watch, and Jemma's earbud implant goes off and Fitz helps remove it while Daisy, powerless from the Kree's inhibitor, takes on a Kree with hand to hand combat. They watch the ship explode, and need a new strategy. Kasius is distressed by his new scar, and his brother looks at him like he's crazy. Sinara is still mad at Kasius for using her like a weapon that could be discarded, understandably. Also, totally randomly, but "Anton Ivanov" was named "A.‪‪I.," soooo, that's a thing.

Coulson and Mack watch them take Tess's body after the Kree had her killed to make a point. Kasius tries to appeal to Sinara, and uses their relationship, to help him placate his brother until he leaves. Daisy, Jemma, and Fitz escape in an elevator, but when it's stopped they have to escape out of the top. Cut to May running from "Roaches" on Earth's surface, severly injured and still standing, and she's saved from the alien predators by...Enoch, sentient Chronicom, and trusted friend! Enoch explains he's with Fitz, and there to help, and May remembers him from the diner they were taken from to be sent to the future. Humans are getting their throats slit by Kree warriors pursuing Fitz, Jemma, and Daisy, who notice the open escape hatch, and follow. Yo-Yo and Mack help Flint deal with Tess's death, and Mack volunteers to talk to him, since he's Super-Dad. Kasius and his brother have a conversation where we learn that Kasius was shamed by running from battle instead of trying to die for his family honor, and punished by running the humans on the Lighthouse. Fitz opens up the walls and discovers the secret to the Lighthouse's gravity...Gravitonium from Season 1, and Ian Quinn. A Kree warrior comes in, and Fitz ends up shot, and they pretend to surrender for a moment, until Daisy beats his ass, and they flee in the haze from a busted pipe, and runs into Deke. Deke meets Fitz for the first time, and he has a plan to help them, but Daisy is reasonably skeptical. Mack bonds with Flint, offering to be there for him, and stopping him from turning himself in out of guilt, while encouraging him to use his powers to help others. Mack continues to be the best dad, and leader, ever.

The team reunites, and Fitz explains how he got there from the past "the long way." While the team members catch up they notice that Flint has "turned himself in," but he actually used his powers to kill a Kree soldier with his rock controlling power. Sinara tries to use Flint as bait, and the team comes rushing in for him. Coulson shoots Sinara, and Mack hits the Kree on the head with a gas can, and they start shooting wildly. They've barricaded themselves in Grill's factory, arguing what to do next, and they decide to go to Earth's surface. Flint blocks the door with his rocks, but the Kree are shooting through the walls. Deke thinks to use his anti-gravity belt to help them escape up the rock chute, and they narrowly escape as Sinara and her men enter the room. Flint has a great hero moment, deciding to stay and help everyone left on the Lighthouse station from the fallout from their escape, and Mack and Yo-Yo join him while the rest of the team figures out how they'll get back to the past/present. Fitz tells Mack that he left a bunch of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. weapons hidden in a wall, and Mack complains that it's on the level infested with "Roaches." Coulson fanboys like crazy, flying a spaceship. Kasius's brother taunts him, saying he would take Sinara from him, and Kasius killed his brother in retaliation. He sneered that Sinara isn't a piece of property, and we learn that Sinara had helped Kasius flee combat years before, and they plan together to earn their way out of the Lighthouse and his lower position in their culture. This is the most likable Kasius is in the entire season, showing his true respect and appreciation for Sinara, and illustrating his situation. Fitz and Jemma's alone time is interrupted by the ship crashing to Earth's surface, and May wakes up on the Zephyr, and before her is standing the precognitive Inhuman Robin, now an old woman.

And now, as always, Black Lives Matter. If you are a citizen of the United States 18 or older you can make your voice known. Please vote, and visit www.whenweallvote.org/ ‪‪if you are not yet registered to do so. And if you have the means, you may want to contribute to www.blackvotersmatterfund.org to help empower marginalized, majority Black communities across the country. Your vote matters, or no one would be working so hard to stop people from voting. 

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on Apple Podcasts!

S5:E06 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Fun & Games."

We begin this one with saying hello to our friend Regina, and giving a shout out to Coulson sitting in the director's chair for this episode. We find out about what May's been up to, but first we get to know a future kid named Flint a lot better by getting a look at his life in the Lighthouse. He barters with Grill, and Grill shows a little bit more compassion and generosity than he has until this point. We're extremely derailed by a Rizzoli Isles DVD cameo (?!) for a moment, but it was worth it for the laughs. The Kree find Flint and take him away, and through talking to Tess we learn that the Kree are "harvesting" the children, meaning they're taking Inhuman kids to activate their powers and use them in gladiatorial combat. Fitz's Boushh-like marauder identity is called Boshtok. Coincidence? Also, we talk about how the show has evolved so slowly that we never really noticed it had become Star Wars/Star Trek level sci-fi. We talk a little about how Joel Stoffer, AKA Enoch, is joining Stranger Things for the next season, and how this episode is where we really started to dig our Chromicom friend.‪‪

Fitz has infiltrated the Kree nobility dining with Kasius before they watch a battle in the arena, and tries to connect with Jemma, but has no idea that the Kree have already made her unable to hear him. Kasius explains what's up with Jemma being a time traveling servant to Fitz, and fetishizes Jemma a bit, and its all very gross and weird. Fitz plays up his morally ambiguous marauder character, and Kasius lays down what the harvest of the Inhuman population is all about. Meanwhile, Flint is worried about being exposed to the mists a couple years early, and Yo-Yo feels for them, relating her own experiences with the trauma of Terrigenesis. We learn that Kasius was exiled from Hala and his brother inherited their empire. Daisy and the mind-reading Inhuman Ben are talking, and he is resigned to living as a slave to the Kree, and warns Daisy that he won't hold back if they have to fight. Fitz covers for not eating alien slug by acting like he hates the super rich, and it was some quick thinking, and had a ring of truth to it. The super douchey Kree/alien rich dude, Gaius Ponarian, in this episode, is played by character actor Patrick Fabian, and he was on EVERYTHING over the years, *including* Rizzoli and Isles. Flint was spared by Yo-Yo, and Coulson figured it out, and they explain to him that Yo-Yo is an Inhuman as well, and Flint reveals that the other humans are told that Inhumans are treated really well. Flint asks if Mack's an Inhuman too, but Yo-Yo explains that he's just "really cool." Damn right! Yo-Yo and Mack are starting to bond with Flint, taking him under their wing. Kasius finds Fitz's grim cover identity "refreshing," relating to his apparent rage, sociopathy, and cruelty. He gives Fitz a front row seat for the arena, but Ben doesn't fight another Inhuman, he faces off against May! Kasius gets information about his family, and we begin to see that Kasius is an outcast, and for all his power on the station over humans, he is not well liked in Kree society, and owes his position to a caste system. What's made clear is that no one on the station wants to be there. We make some unavoidable parallels between Kasius and Trump, but the less said there the better.

Ben's telepathy makes him a formidable match for May, able to predict her every move. He's not cruel, but he's ruthless, and completely devoid of hope. May makes eye contact with Fitz, who disrupts the fight and gets it cancelled, and May sent to the Earth's surface. Is Fitz's cover less a cover, and more him relating to Kasius through his time in the Framework? Grill asks Tess if she's seen Flint, and threatens her with severe consequences, but she denies knowing anything. Yo-Yo and Mack relate to Flint, Yo-Yo explaining her own Terrigenesis, and Mack revealing how much he loves tacos (what kind of future has no tacos?). Yo-Yo's characterization is excellent, and she's given more space to be a fully realized character independent from her relationship with Mack. We reflect on Yo-Yo's development, and how it's been strong, but hasn't gotten as much time as many other characters. Our conclusion: we wasted SO much time on Lincoln. Grill shows up and says he was on to them, knows that Yo-Yo took Flint, and plans to sell him to Kasius. Kasius knows that Ben betrayed him and deceived him, and he has Sinara make a public example of him. Daisy says it was her fault and Kasius says he will deal with her later. Flint's powers respond to his reaction to Grill torturing Mack and Yo-Yo. Daisy and Jemma talk a little about Fitz being hot as a bounty hunter/marauder, but Jemma prefers him in a cardigan. Flint uses his powers to protect them from Grill, but accidentally kills him with a boulder. Fitz is furious that he can't bid on Daisy, but Kasius insists it will be more interesting to add his brother to the mix. The Kree miss the team hiding behind Grill's door, and somehow go unnoticed. Kasius's douchey brother arranges for Daisy to fight against Sinara, intending to sacrifice her to show Daisy's power. Coulson and Mack look for Tess and find her dead, left to draw out Flint, and it's pretty much horrible fridging, and not acceptable. Kasius's brother "Faulnak" (?) is initially unimpressed with Daisy, but she kicks all sorts of ass, though it doesn't really phase Sinara's badass self. Fitz, Jemma and Daisy go ape shit, and Fitz kills a bunch of folks in the arena box, and Jemma slits Kasius's throat and then escapes with Fitz in a fairly Star Wars-y move. Enoch pretends to be a Kree in the last moments of the episode, and is absolutely hilarious when doing so.

And now, as always, Black Lives Matter. If you are a citizen of the United States 18 or older you can make your voice known. Please vote, and visit www.betterknowaballot.com ‪‪if you are not yet registered to do so. If you have the means, you may want to contribute to www.blackvotersmatterfund.org to help empower marginalized majority Black communities across the country. Every vote matters, or those in power wouldn't be trying so hard to steal our votes and stop us from voting. 

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on Apple Podcasts!

S5:E05 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Rewind."

It's a fast-paced, fun, Fitz-filled, silly episode, and our real introduction to Enoch, sentient Chronicom, and trusted friend. We figure out where Fitz went after the rest of the team are sent to the future against their will, and without their knowledge, and get to know an important S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. character who will always remind us is *not* a robot! Fitz struggles with his search for the rest of the team until he accepts Robin and her Inhuman gift and the magical kind of world they live in and the logic and reason he tries to apply to a chaotic, and impossible/magic universe. 

Where we left off Talbot was comatose and believed to be shot by Daisy (and our timelines are *totally* jumbled from this time travel and the framework, and multiple story arcs per season are throwing us off big time). We pick up where Fitz is left alone at the diner when everyone else was taken to be sent to the future. He gets interrogated by Talbot's replacement, Brigadier General Hale, but can't cooperate because he literally knows nothing, breaking him down, and he agrees to use the considerable resources of his mind to help them figure out what happened to the team, and they put him to work in his cell. Enter: research montage! When he's brought in to report on his findings Fitz considers that he might have just lost his mind, but when he's assured the other customers in the diner had lost time as well, he remembers a high pitched noise before their disappearance. He makes a request to send in letters to a football/soccer fanzine, which seemed innocent enough that they obliged, but Fitz wasn't just venting about his favorite sport, as we soon see. He keeps track of time with monkeys, and scrawls equations all over the walls. As time goes on his hair and beard grow and he keeps reading his football fanzine, and doing his research, for six months, when he suggests they were abducted by aliens. When they had just decided to stop giving him a chance his "lawyer" showed up, and it's Hunter, having gotten secret messages from Fitz in the letters to the football 'zine! Hunter busts him out, literally, by blowing a hole through the wall. As they flee toward the helicopter pilot Hunter had brought in, he crashes, and they're forced to run on foot to Hunter's "plan B," an RV. After Fitz catches Hunter up he refers to AIDA as a sex robot, and flusters the hell out of Fitz, given his history with Ophelia. ‪Fitz verbalizes that he worries the universe is keeping him and Jemma from being together. In his research of the events surrounded the team's abduction Fitz notices the vans/trucks changing the graphics as they approached and left the scene, and figured out who took them, tracking down Enoch. They discover his home, the drawings on his fridge, and footage of a monolith taking the team, before encountering him, and getting his introduction schtick. He sent them to fulfill the prophecy, and assures them he only intends to help. He connects them to Robin, the seer, and the source of prophecy, and Fitz begins to see what's going on. They show us that those drawings on Enoch's fridge were predictions made by Robin. Enoch helps them escape the people after them and go to the lighthouse, all based on the prophecy, and explains that he only intervened when he did because they were facing an extinction level event. This is where Fitz questions if he didn't get sent to the future because he no longer deserves to be with Jemma, and when he asks Robin why he was left out of the prophecy, and her mom explains that she experiences the past, present and future all at once. We get hints of May's relationship with Robin as her adoptive mother, and one of the drawings has a bunch of bodies on the ground, and we don't know exactly what that's foreshadowing. They end up having to return to Brigadier General Hale's compound to get Fitz to the rest of the group, and he ends up in a ridiculous southern disguise. They end up using Hunter's hillbilly American allies to their advantage, and release a bunch of ferrets to distract them and then find what they were looking for, the Zephyr!

Fitz and Hunter secure the Zephyr even while they're outmatched by Hale's sheer numbers, but flee in a rad escape, and a much needed win. Hale executes her lackeys mercilessly. At the Lighthouse Fitz prepares for his "trip" to the future by putting a cache of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. weapons and supplies (including Mack's shotgun axe), in a wall and then gets into the device that will reunite him with Jemma...Enoch's cryo-chamber! They're freezing our boy to get him to the future! Also, the multiple timelines are boggling our minds (how many Enochs are there by the end?) Fitz and Hunter have a great Han and Leia moment, and as Fitz is thawed out in the future Enoch prepares him for his role posing as space scum, and Fitz assures him he's ready for it. We close out the episode with some gushing about Enoch, and his actor Joel Stoffer, and being totally tangled into an impossible time travel/timeline knot.

And now, as always, Black Lives Matter. You may consider visiting www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-daniel-prude to help provide resources to the family of Daniel Prude in pursuing justice for his senseless murder at the hands of Rochester Police. 

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

And follow us on Twitter: @projectTAHITI, send us an email: [email protected], and rate/review us on Apple Podcasts!

S5:E04 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “A Life Earned."

We begin with the Kree taking Daisy's blood. Kasius claims to have saved humanity, and begins to see Jemma and Daisy are connected, and reveals he knows about the prophecy, but thinks the time traveling S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. team are there to help *him*. So he plans to sell Daisy to the highest bidder, and threatens to injure/torture Jemma if she doesn't agree. We go to May working for Grill while the trawler is grounded, and Grill zaps Mack for talking, and then drafts him to be his replacement muscle, perpetuating Mack's cycle of being forced into violence by his circumstances and awful people. Mack, as Black man, has been continually forced into this position, which is incredibly relevant and reflective of the pervasive white supremacist tendencies of our entire society.

Oh, and *Ward* bought Jess a drink from a stand at a mall, and they hung out with Coulson, and they might've gone to the beach...in a dream she had! But back to the episode, at the Kree Inhuman gladiatorial arena Daisy meets a shirtless telepathic Inhuman warrior boy who gives her the lowdown on their future/Kree "grown" synthetic meat, but they can't get to know each other too well before Daisy is told to provide a demonstration for Kasius. Mack and Yo-Yo are going to act as Grill's muscle and Coulson wants to explore the Kree level with May, even though they're going in unaware of what they'll be facing, and May is *kind of* Coulson's muscle, come to think of it. Daisy fights for Kasius to save Jemma from his wrath, and he snubs Lady Basha. Deke is there for his payment, and gets a coin made from a rare metal, and Kasius asks Deke to bring in any more people connected to the prophecy, but there's more than meets the eye. The Inhuman telepathic guy, *maybe* named Ben (we just don't know), knows they're being sold into slavery because of his telepathy, but keeps it to himself, because his family *will* be rewarded for it, and punished if he reveals the truth. Deke lies about where Daisy is, sort of, and Coulson buys it, to a point. Coulson shows Deke the transmission from the surface, and convinces him to help them get there to check it out. Mack and Yo-Yo discuss the limits one is willing to go to in order to survive, and Yo-Yo exposes some of Mack's relative privilege that he has never had to compromise his morality to survive. Sinara took a soldering iron from a dude ominously and mentions to Kasius and Daisy that she saw someone else help Jemma when she healed someone before, and asked who else might be from the prophecy. Daisy tells them a bullshit story about traveling through time from the diner with Jemma alone, and the ‪‪Inhuman telepath helped coordinate Jemma and Daisy's story.

Sinara is on to them, and Kasius is mad that they can't punish anyone yet. Deke takes Coulson and May to Level 36 and makes good on the promise. The telepath tells Daisy that Kasius hates his life and plans to use Daisy to destroy the station. Coulson, May and Deke get to a lab and see a human baby incubating, and Coulson notes how grimly dystopian it has become, with the Kree sterilizing the humans so they depend on Kree genetic engineering for reproduction. Coulson threatens Deke, through May, to tell him what's going on with Daisy when Kree goons show up and May takes them down, but Deke is injured, and then Sinara shows up as Coulson helps Deke escape. Yo-Yo and Mack bust into Gunner's quarters for Grill, and offer to get rid of the package they had for them, but it was stuff for his child, and Gunner freaks out on Mack and tells him he doesn't deserve to have children, and Mack's heart is broken as he's enraged to the point of beating him senseless. May and Sinara face off in an awesome scene, and then Coulson pops Deke in the face after seeing to his wounds. And Coulson calls Deke out on profiting from other people's suffering, but Deke stands up for himself, and explains some of what he's been through, and that his dad's voice is the one they've heard transmit from the surface, and that all he's done has been to survive. Mack slips Gunner and his wife and kid money to make up for what he'd done, and to get Grill off his case. Mack's position of there always being a moral choice cannot be applied in their current situation, and the differences between his and Yo-Yo's outlooks are accentuated by the facts of life in the dark future they've found themselves in. We discuss a future death spoiler for this season, and how time travel works in S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D., and whether or not timelines are erased, or if folks are just moving from one dimension to another? And how does time travel *really* work in Back to the Future? Deke's from another timeline, but he's around, so his history wasn't undone...Hmmm... Mack is worried that he's losing himself, and questions if he was a good father or not, because he was more hurt by losing framework Hope than losing his real world Hope, but Yo-Yo assures him that his love for framework Hope was because he's a great father, not the opposite. Grill tells him he's fitting right in, and it all breaks him. He's emotionally shattered. We digress for a moment to remind you to check out some S.H.I.E.L.D. vets, Blair Underwood on Netflix's Self-Made, and B.J. Britt on Pitch on Hulu, and then recap Kasius trying to sell Daisy to a group of rich bidders, and Fitz wants to bid!

And now more than ever, fuck the police. Now as always, Black Lives Matter. You can visit www.gofundme.com/f/justiceforjacobblake to help with medical expenses and counseling for his family and to help pursue justice. 

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