Danny Hale reviews the twentieth episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4…
Well that was a rollercoaster; ‘Farewell, Cruel World!’ saw our team make a break for the exit to the Framework while Madame Hydra finally activated ‘Project Looking Glass’. With only two episodes remaining in season 4 the setup ‘Farewell, Cruel World!’ has left us promises a truly epic finale.
Before jumping back into the Framework our opening scene this week gave us a welcome look at Yo-Yo and agents Piper, Davis and Prince and what took place in the days after Simmons and Daisy uploaded themselves into the Framework. We learn that Elena eventually orders the quinjet’s cloaking be dropped in order to stay afloat and wait for Daisy and Simmons to return. It is this that allows Aida and Ivanov to locate them and launch their attack. This immediately set a time limit on Daisy and Simmons getting through the backdoor and perfectly set up the episode that followed.
Daisy’s appeal to Simmons to leave Fitz behind, temporarily, was a strong moment; their situation has hit dire levels and Daisy is right that they need to escape and regroup; Fitz is too far into this world. Simmons understandably appears unconvinced and once discovering that Fitz’s father and he are “inseparable” in this world she takes matters into her own hands. The scene between Alistair and Simmons went from bad to worse; in a world where Hydra rules supreme it’s clear that Alistair truly believes he did right by his son and that he does love him. Simmons’ argument then felt weak and from Alistair’s point of view, ridiculous. The fact that Simmons then shot and killed him, granted in self-defence, was a frightening turn of events and may have pushed Framework Fitz too far.
I was disappointed in Radcliffe to hear him apparently sell out Daisy and the team this week. I completely understand why he did it; he was offered immortality at the cusp of death, I still hoped from more from him. The fact that he was using this in order to ensure Fitz made it back to the real world was a neat surprise and a wonderful final act for his character. Holden Radcliffe has always been a strange villain, if villain is the right word. All of this is undeniably his fault but his intentions have been oddly good-natured and his connections to our characters prevent me from hating him. He really has been a great addition to this show.
The final scenes in the steel mill were intense and a great setup for the’ backdoor’; Aida having reprogrammed the original location replacing the intended public park fountain with a pit of molten steel. The team’s discovery of this new setback coupled with May’s exasperation and Mac realising he’s being lied to all added to the pressure knowing that Fitz and his team were en-route. I think since the reveal of Doctor Fitz I have been waiting to get himself and Simmons face-to-face on-screen. Unfortunately this now comes hours after Simmons murdered his father, most likely squashing any residual memories that Fitz may have of her. In fact upon his arrival he orders Simmons to her knees and shoots her when she refuses. The more Fitz does the more this is going to weigh on him on his return. In the end though it was Radcliffe who saved Fitz and while I know Fitz won’t listen, I really appreciated that Radcliffe told Leopold to not bear the guilt, that it was all his fault and his doing. He really does know and understand Fitz and pushing him back into the real world will likely be Radcliffe’s finest act. To then see Mac insist on staying once learning that Hope is not alive in the real world was far more emotional than I was expecting for a scene that I was pretty certain was coming. Chloe Bennett really likes to break my heart in these moments. Worse, I temporarily completely forgot about Elena until I saw Daisy wake up and come face to face with her on the quinjet. Fingers crossed for a one man Yo-Yo team jumping into the framework to save him before it’s destroyed for good!
Finally seeing Coulson wake up in the real world was incredibly exciting; we’ve been gone so long and so much character work has taken place for each and every member of the team that I cannot wait to see the fallout. I loved May and Coulson’s reunion too, it’s been a massive amount of time since these two have really been together. Iain De Caestecker’s performance as Fitz emerges into the real world was incredible, the weight of everything he has done crashing down on him. His “I think I’m a bad person” delivery was heart-breaking followed by a creepy out of focus Aida strolling into view. To see Aida breathing and feeling was quite the change and I felt a much stronger sense of vulnerability from her making me second guess her intentions now that she’s ‘free’. But, before May can take a shot at her Aida (Ophelia?) grabs Fitz and TELEPORTS. It was an awesome, awesome moment and left my mouth hanging open. What else has Aida programmed herself to do? The possibilities are very exciting.
There’s so much that could still be discussed about this episode; I loved Daisy’s great moments with Trip, they had great chemistry and I felt I mourned Trip’s death all over again through Daisy. In fact I think I found their goodbye this week was more emotional than his original demise in season 2. Ming Na-Wen’s expression after Coulson’s almost fearful, “I’d like to think it’s because we were bonding, though I don’t really want to speak for her . . .” was hilarious and making me realise how much I’ll miss “squirrely” Coulson. “Farewell Cruel World” started great and went from strength to strength. Aida and Fitz are missing with the latter struggling to process all that he has done, Mac still remains in the Framework and Daisy, Simmons, Yo-Yo and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are about to blown out of the sky. This leaves May and Coulson to presumably deal with a now unleashed Ivanov. What could go wrong?
Danny Hale
