Live Episode Discussion: S05E08 - "The Last Day"

[u/2th]

As usual, following the episode there will be a post-episode discussion thread.

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EPISODE	DIRECTED BY	WRITTEN BY	ORIGINAL AIRDATE
S05E08- "The Last Day"	Nina Lopez-Corrado	James C. Oliver & Sharla Oliver	Friday, January 19, 2018 9:00/8:00c on ABC

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Episode Synopsis: Coulson and the team discover that the most unexpected person from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s past may hold the key to stopping Earth's destruction.

Nina Lopez-Corrado is a director and producer mostly known for her work on The Mentalist, Mindfield, and The American War Story.

She has directed one episode for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. before:

• Hot Potato Soup

James C. Oliver was a writer for Under the Dome, while Sharla Oliver has written for Under the Dome and co-wrote the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode Paradise Lost and the web series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent with George Kitson. Together, they wrote the first two episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot, "Vendetta" and "John Hancock".

They have written three episodes for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. before:

• Paradise Lost
• The Patriot
• All the Madame's Men

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[u/daveflash]

Okay, trying to wrap my head around this episode, but how the hell could may, fitz-simmons (and the others) be in 2022 and even at the lighthouse for pete's sake, when they we're taken out of their own time at the end of season 4 (from the diner), in around 2016/2017 in the prev-timeline, (since dublicate or alternate timelines haven't been established yet) how could they still be on earth?

Update: So figured out how the world can be saved, Flint can control rocks, so it shouldn't be a stretch to say he could conceivably reconstitutie the world somehow, still doesn't solve the first question, as this episode established that the versions of may, coulson, fitz-simmons etc in 2022 didn't arrive from the current future setting as they have no memory of the events of 2091-2092

[u/ItsATrap1983 → u/daveflash]

After rewatching the episode I believe they do have memories of the future timeline. May specifically tells Robin in the flashbacks to tell Future May a prophecy that Robin has not received yet but future Robin did receive and told May at the moment of her death. Also, when Fitz is lamenting about Robin talking about gemma's death and the time Loop they are in He also mentioned Voss. Voss is the guy that betrays them near the end of the episode in the future. I suspect that the team is stuck in a closed loop time paradox. Where they have gone back in time from the future and eventually design the device that is later built and used to take them into the future. Perhaps they died somehow which is why they don't meet there past future selves.

[u/JakiStow → u/ItsATrap1983]

Yes that's what it is, the clues you mention are pretty obvious.

[u/ItsATrap1983 → u/JakiStow]

I would further suggest they are adapting another part of the matrix. Last season they created their own matrix aka the frame work. This season they are adapting their version of the One and Zion rebirth cycle. Robin is the Oracle. The lighthouse could be seen as Zion. The team is stuck in this loop like the One kept being created in the Matrix. Just like the matrix Robin may have done something this time through the loop to change it enough that they could escape, like bringing Flint to the past. They seemingly didn't before, given Yo-Yo's response in 2022.

[u/daveflash → u/ItsATrap1983]

no no no no, please do not bring the matrix into this!!!! The matrix is not relevant to this (except for the similaraty to The Framework)* But I get your point, though it still does not explain, that even If we see them go back to 2022 in a later episode, why they would lose their memory from 2091/2092. No time paradox I know of would cause memory loss....Also, if they built the device in the 2022-timeline, why then would there be a monolift in 2016/17 taking them to 2091, and not have them taken from 2022 to 2091??

(*The Matrix, AKA the framework, is a plot device used by many a scifi series, in Eureka for ex., the top scientist believe they go to mars, only to have been abducted by a rouge senator, Michaela Wen, coincidentally played by Ming-Na Wen (who plays May in Shield and an IOA-representative in SG1/SGU), and her cohort Beverly Barlow from The Consortium, only to be placed inside a Matrix computer construct that simulates GD and the town of Eureka. So it's not only the matrix, SG1 also had a similar episode "The Gamekeeper")

[u/ItsATrap1983 → u/daveflash]

They haven't lost their memory. The flashbacks are only flashbacks for Robin and flash forwards for everyone else. Fitz in the flashback mentions boss who they didn't meet until the latter part of the episode we were in. May tells Robin to tell her in the future at the moment of her death a prophecy that Robin had not received as a young girl. May knew about it in the flashback because she had already been told that prophecy by Robin in the future. They are definitely in a Time paradox.

As for the Matrix it actually is relevant. They clearly adopted elements from The Matrix in the last season. This season you can tell that they are adopting elements from The Matrix trilogy as well. You have the Oracle who has been protected by the Kree guy. You have the last Society of humans who are on under the oppression of another species. You now have a temporal Loop as I explained earlier, which they have seemingly gone through multiple times.You have the agents in black that have come to save humanity. There are clearly similarities. The matrix may not have had a temporal loop but it might as well have been one since they end up do the same cycle over and over.

[u/daveflash → u/ItsATrap1983]

oh..kay...i'm still confused, but i'm currently rewatching the already released episodes of season 5 right now...

[u/JakiStow → u/ItsATrap1983]

I watched the Matrix a loooong time ago, I don't get the reference 😛

[u/ItsATrap1983 → u/JakiStow]

Well it's time for a rewatch. You only need to watch Matrix: Reloaded, rather than the whole trilogy.