For last week’s heartbreaking episode, click here.

We are only one episode away from the end of the futuristic arc of season 5, and three episodes away from the explosive 100th episode! Can you believe it?

Let’s jump in!

Heroes

Source: Marvel Television/ABC Studios. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Yo-Yo, Coy Stewart as Flint, Eve Harlow as Tess, Henry Simmons as Mack.

In 2091, aboard the space station known as the Lighthouse, two Kree guards patrol the hallway with large, intimidating weapons. Some humans run past and they open fire and give chase, but lose them. Another human, Gunner, lures them towards him by throwing rocks. They chase him down a hallway and turn the corner only to get gunned down by the human survivors, led by time-travelling S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie and Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez, and the teenage Inhuman Flint. They’re taking back the floor. Problem is, now the overlord Kasius knows they are there.

Kasius does know, and is furious that the humans have somehow found weapons. Startled by his rage, one of his servitors drops a box she is loading onto the ship. He threatens to kill her and she hastens away. He is annoyed that there is a rebellion right as he’s fleeing with the Destroyer of Worlds (whom he hasn’t captured yet), and decides it is time for his secret weapon: his newest acquisition. The people need to see that he is a god.

Aboard the crash site of the Zephyr One on the ruins of Earth, other time-travelling S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Phil Coulson, Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons and Melinda May are all working on repairing different parts of the plane, trying to see if they can get it up and running again after 80 years of lying dormant. Their new friend, intergalactic Chronicom alien-robot-thing Enoch, is confused about their plan, thinking they should instead seek shelter from the impending gravity storm. Coulson isn’t clear on the specifics either, but explains that they are going to return to the Lighthouse to pick up Flint, because he can somehow build a new time-travelling monolith and return them to present day. Everyone fails at their assigned task except Simmons, who gets the avionics system back up and running, but Fitz’s tinkering shuts it back down again. Meanwhile, May still can’t get over what Robin Hinton told her before she died – that she was a mom. May asks what they are going to do with the traitor Samuel Voss for killing Robin, and Coulson is leaving that up to their ally Deke Shaw – after all, Voss killed his dad Owen.

In lock-up, Deke interrogates Voss. Owen and Voss were best friends. Why did he do it? Voss explains that he and Owen didn’t see eye-to-eye once S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up from the past. Owen still believed that they would fulfill the prophecy and save the world. Voss was more of the mindset that they were the ones who destroyed it, so killing them before they have the chance would save it. It came to blows, Owen came at Voss with a knife, and he did what he had to do. Deke tries to shoot Voss, but can’t bring himself to do it.

On the Lighthouse, Yo-Yo is teaching Flint how to shoot. Mack is not pleased, and says that when more Kree show up, Flint isn’t fighting them. Yo-Yo argues that Flint can handle himself, but Mack refuses to turn these innocent civilians into soldiers. Gunner runs up and tells them that Kasius sent a messenger – his acquisition. They make their way through a crowded hallway to find the messenger – their dead friend Tess, brought back to life. Tess tells them the horrible story of her resurrection (mirroring Coulson’s after his death in The Avengers) and tells them that Kasius is a god. Yo-Yo and Mack disagree; he is just a man. Yo-Yo wants to kill him, but Mack urges caution. Tess gives Kasius’ demands: Everything he needs to keep Inhumans breeding, every child over 10, and Yo-Yo, Mack, and Flint as bait for The Destroyer of Worlds, Daisy. Otherwise, he will kill them all with the press of a button.

While still trying to get the Zephyr running, Coulson takes a break to charge some juice into his robotic prosthetic hand. He tells Daisy that they will return to the Lighthouse, get her power inhibitor removed, and find Flint. Daisy admits that she would rather just be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent; if she isn’t Quake, she can’t destroy the world. Elsewhere, Fitz and Simmons try to configure the wiring but are frustrated that it has all been rewired. Simmons realizes that it matches the designs for Fitz’s experimental upgraded Zephyr (Zephyr Two?). They remove a panel, and sure enough, it contains gravitonium for artificial gravity. They realize that they wouldn’t have gotten the idea if they didn’t see it first, thus confirming Robin and May’s theory that this is all a timeloop. Fitz is defeated, but Simmons is more optimistic: This means they return. Back in the cockpit, as the gravity storm worsens, they get the plane up and running. They begin to take off, but the engine blows out. Enoch again suggests they all go to the caves to wait out the storm.

Flint, Yo-Yo and Tess insist that they play along with Kasius, but Mack is searching for a deeper meaning into Kasius’ words – kill them with a press of a button. He searches behind the panels of the oxygen supplier, and finds a bomb. He realizes that Kasius could incinerate the entire station if he chose to. Mack removes the bomb, but it takes an hour and he has no way to disable it. They tell the survivors that they are giving in to Kasius’ demands. Gunner starts a revolt, but Mack silences them – they will protect their kids by turning Mack and Yo-Yo in to Kasius. They may die, but they may kill him. It’s the only way. They say their goodbyes to Flint and leave with Tess.

The storm is getting unbearable, so S.H.I.E.L.D. starts corralling the True Believers off the plane into the caves – including Voss, whom they refuse to kill. Daisy commends Deke on doing the right thing, but he isn’t so sure that he did. Noticing Robin’s carved bird flying through the air, Simmons has an idea: With the new Zephyr upgrades, they could effectively ride the storm and drift to the Lighthouse without engines – assuming their thrusters don’t lose power, they crash on Earth, and the debris doesn’t take them out. All May needs to do is fly through a gravity storm. As the last Believers scramble out of the plane, they accidentally let in an outsider: Sinara, Kasius’ enforcer.

Tess returns to Kasius alone, which annoys him. She is not empty-handed, however: She has a vial of blood and a Terrigen crystal that Mack and Yo-Yo stole from his lab after killing all his guards. They sent her back with a message – to meet them face-to-face or they will blow up his ability to breed Inhumans “with the push of a button”.

Trying to take off, May can’t get the anchors to loosen. Daisy leaves to manually disengage them, and Deke follows. In the hangar, she is attacked by Sinara and they fight. The anchors are disconnected, and they continue to fight in zero gravity. As they fight, Deke struggles to reach the box containing the hooks that are used to anchor humans during the storms. The flight is getting rough, but Fitz tells May that they aren’t high enough to engage the thrusters – it’s too dangerous. Simmons apologizes for her plan. Enoch complains.

Kasius leaves to meet with Mack and Yo-Yo face-to-face, and recognizes Yo-Yo, calling her by her real, full name. Strange. They have a stand-off, before Yo-Yo decides to end this. She rushes at him, but he has a force-field set up. He anticipated this. As Flint rushes up and cryptically tells the gang that “it’s done”, Kasius is left no choice. He detonates the bombs. Luckily, they banked on the fact that he was a slow talker. They rallied all the humans on all the floors, disconnected all the bombs, and moved them to the floor above the showdown, with everyone else seeking higher ground. They cut off Kasius, Mack, Yo-Yo, Tess and Flint from the rest of humanity, sparing them Kasius’ wrath.

On the Zephyr, Deke finally reaches the case and uses the hooks, pulls Sinara away from Daisy right as she was getting the upper hand. At that moment, May gets the go-ahead and activates the thrusters, righting the ship and restoring gravity. (Enoch declares their plan a good one.) Sinara makes one last leap at Daisy, who uses the momentum to her advantage impales her with a steel beam.

Rest in peace, Sinara. You were pretty cool. I’d hate to hear when Kasius finds out.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s winning streak isn’t quiet over yet. As Tess runs over to the side of the humans, Mack activates his own bomb – blowing up everything Kasius needs to breed Inhumans. He screams in rage as they flee. Daisy radios Mack and they begin to form a plan. After exiting a special, mysterious room, Kasius reveals that he knows exactly what S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plan is. His bodyguard asks how, and he reveals a secret: S.H.I.E.L.D. had a seer? Well, he has one too.

That was a pretty cool episode. After getting beaten down and beaten down, damn, it feels good for S.H.I.E.L.D. to win for once. Even if I will miss Sinara.

This episode didn’t quite feel penultimate to me, however. It was more of just moving pieces into their place. I give it a 7.5/10.

Crackpot Theories and Speculation

Who is Kasius’ seer!? The cast said that they were shocked when they found out. My guess is that it is Yo-Yo. We know from the flashbacks of last episode that after S.H.I.E.L.D. returned to the present with all the knowledge of the future, Yo-Yo quit to kill some Kree around 2024 or so. Maybe she was captured and Kasius is keeping her alive somehow? I can’t think of another way that he would know their secrets and know Yo-Yo’s full name.

Until next week – the final episode of the first arc of season 5!