Agents of SHIELD (SPOILERS)

[ZeroBG82]

It looks like there are two different timelines, both of which converge on the same point in 2091.

No, there is only one timeline. One in which our heroes are kidnapped from the diner, travel to 2091, then return to the past and still fail to stop the destruction of the Earth. The flashback characters acknowledge events that happened in the 2091 future, so, again, those are our same characters after they return to the present day from the Lighthouse. We aren't seeing two timelines, we're seeing a loop. The question becomes, how do the SHIELD team break the loop? What can they do differently to change their fate?

[AndrewCrossett]

No, there is only one timeline. One in which our heroes are kidnapped from the diner, travel to 2091, then return to the past and still fail to stop the destruction of the Earth. The flashback characters acknowledge events that happened in the 2091 future, so, again, those are our same characters after they return to the present day from the Lighthouse. We aren't seeing two timelines, we're seeing a loop. The question becomes, how do the SHIELD team break the loop? What can they do differently to change their fate?

If it's all the same timeline, then how can Fitz be in two places at once without causing a paradox?

[LoganAlpha30X33]

There are plenty of time travel tv shows and movies where one character can be in two places at the same time, besides the Fitz in the cryo tube on the ship is technically outside of time or else he would age so...

[AndrewCrossett]

There are plenty of time travel tv shows and movies where one character can be in two places at the same time, besides the Fitz in the cryo tube on the ship is technically outside of time or else he would age so...

Well the cryo-tube isn't a demiplane... he's still present in this reality. I guess if they can hand-wave away how the earth can still be habitable in this condition, they can hand-wave time paradoxes.

Maybe we're going by Doctor Who rules, where there's only a paradox if the two versions of the same person come into physical contact.

[Forseti]

Frankly, I never seen or read anything with time travel where being present multiple times at the same time causes a paradox. Doing that seems to be a staple of the time travel stories I've consumed. People watching themselves doing stuff they did earlier or haven't done yet, that sort of thing.

[cullenn]

Frankly, I never seen or read anything with time travel where being present multiple times at the same time causes a paradox. Doing that seems to be a staple of the time travel stories I've consumed. People watching themselves doing stuff they did earlier or haven't done yet, that sort of thing.

Post-Crisis DCU used this rule for at least a few years: see the Time Masters series and the concurrent Morrison Animal Man run.

[Donald]

The Agents re-assemble the monolith, go back in time taking Pebbles with them. He looses control and cracks open the Earth. Daisy tries to stop him but adds to the damage with her power.. They have to leave him in the future to save the Earth.

[90'sCartoonMan]

I loved May taking on Robin as her daughter. That was touching, especially considering everyone else around her seemed to give up on making sense of what she was saying.

And Yo-Yo taking out those aliens was awesome.

Maybe we're going by Doctor Who rules, where there's only a paradox if the two versions of the same person come into physical contact.

Fitz seems to think it's Doctor Who rules judging by his stance on fixed points in time. There's got to be more to Daisy quaking the Earth apart than what we hear, but given the stories in the past and future, is there any way to prevent it?

[ZeroBG82]

Fitz seems to think it's Doctor Who rules judging by his stance on fixed points in time. There's got to be more to Daisy quaking the Earth apart than what we hear, but given the stories in the past and future, is there any way to prevent it?

I suspect she was trying to stop it, rather than causing it. And a third party, as yet unrevealed (perhaps Gravitonium being a clue here? Please?) is the cause. And I suspect Flint is the solution. In the current version, the agents return to the past without him, and Daisy isn't enough to prevent whatever goes down. But this time they'll find a way to take Flint with them, and the two Inhumans will be able to control or mitigate whatever goes on. Flint will be the new element, previously outside the loop, that let's them change their fate.

[tabo61]

That scene of the Shield ship being pulled into space was fantastic.

[numberthirty]

That scene of the Shield ship being pulled into space was fantastic.

Yep.

When they got it right this season, it has been brilliant.

[Shadowras]

Great episode had some cool fights and reveals. Any ideas on who Cassius fortune teller can be?

[numberthirty]

One other thing...

Natalia Cordova-Buckley is aces. It's a shame she was featured more earlier on.

[numberthirty]

Great episode had some cool fights and reveals. Any ideas on who Cassius fortune teller can be?

I get the feeling that it is someone from "Our" past who lived through it.

[AndrewCrossett]

The bigger question is, if Kasius has some kind of precog in his pocket, why haven't we heard about it yet? Kind of a big weapon to hang onto for so long.

It might be Ben, brought back to life. He's not a "Seer" really, but he could read the SHIELDers' minds and find out what their plans are.

It was nice to hear Fitz address the reason why the remains of Earth are holding together in such an impossible way... unobtainium! I mean, gravitonium.

Poor Sinara. There should be an addition to the list of Rules for Villains: never attack your enemy with a dramatic wuxia leap. You will always get impaled.