Agents of SHIELD season 7, episode 8 review: After, Before

The Agents went through deja vu yet again in Agents of SHIELD season 7, episode 8. Spoilers follow.

Agents of SHIELD season 7, episode 8, “After, Before”, saw the Marvel TV Agents go through dire calamities yet again.

Two weeks ago in “Adapt or Die,” Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet) was kidnapped by Nathaniel Malick (Thomas E Sullivan), who then stole her Inhuman abilities. Then Zephyr One malfunctioned and left Mack (Henry Simmons) and Deke (Jeff Ward) stranded.

Last week in “The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and The D,” it was a standalone adventure for Mack and Deke as they dealt with early-1980s SHIELD, depression, grief and plagiarism.

Still, viewers learned that head Chronicom Sybil the Predictor is working with the now-Inhuman Nathaniel, which doesn’t bode well.

Time keeps on skipping, skipping, skipping, into the future…

Back on the Zephyr, the team traveled from the Fourth of July 1976 to a pit stop in January 21, 1982, which is where Mack and Deke were stranded. They then jumped to September 10, 1983, where May (Ming-Na Wen) and Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) were sent to rescue them (and the Coulson LMD hard drive). The next jump the Zephyr makes takes them to October 6, 1983, where they rejoin everyone else.

Since SHIELD is no longer in control of the Time Drive, the Zephyr is failing, and fast, much to everyone’s alarm. Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) described it as a rock skipping on a lake – each jump is shorter and shallower, until eventually it sinks.

After, Before…

There are 20 minutes left until the power cell either jumps again or utterly fails…which equals two days in real time, and no way to physically reach the part they need due to an energy barrier. Theoretically, Yo-Yo could zip through to yank the bad part out…if she had her speed, which she doesn’t, because of the shrike infection from “The Sign/New Life” (6.12/6.13).

Daisy (far from well, but walking now after about two years more or less in a cryochamber) suggests that Yo-Yo visit her mother Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) in Afterlife in China, reasoning that since Daniel Whitehall hasn’t harvested her organs yet at this point in the timeline, so she wouldn’t have that motivation leading her to commit atrocities.

With trepidation, May and Yo-Yo agree to this plan to see if Jiaying can restore her powers. It doesn’t really work, but she at least figures out that it’s a mental block, not a physical problem.

Meanwhile, the Afterlife residents have their hands full trying to contain a resident named Cora, who unleashes wild blasts of energy at random intervals.

Chaos. Mayhem. Bedlam.

Cora nearly commits suicide before Nathaniel stops her and persuades her to join him and Sybil in their cause.

On the Zephyr, the team makes their final preparations to abandon ship and hope they’ll survive long enough to land somewhere in time. The dire stakes, imminent doom and claustrophobic nature of being cramped on a plane are very reminiscent of “FZZT,” (1.06), one of the series’s most underrated episodes in my opinion.

A teenage Gordon teleports May and Yo-Yo to the Quinjet, and they barely succeed in re-docking before everything goes out. Then – JUMP.

Summary

Back in Afterlife, Nathaniel and Cora have taken control of the base, made everyone a prisoner, and plan to unleash anarchy onto the world at large. This is October 8, 1983.

SHIELD shrapnel

• Though tense, there were a handful of quippy zingers worth noting: “Finally, the scientist from the future and I are on the same page,” Sousa comments after Simmons explains she has no idea how to fix the plane. Also, after Yo-Yo complains that this plan is incredibly thin, May responds, “Rather a thin plan than have to live through the 80’s again.”
• Once Jiaying explains that they’ll have to use May’s empathic abilities to solve Yo-Yo’s problem, and they unsuccessfully attempt it, May scowls. “This is literally my worst nightmare.” They figure a way out, though – a sparring session does the trick.
• And the root cause? Guilt and fear from when Yo-Yo murdered Ruby Hale in “All Roads Lead…” (5.18). She was going to literally blow up the planet, yes, but by that point the gravitonium had warped her mind – she was still a teen somewhere down deep. Also, as a child in Columbia, Yo-Yo’s father got mixed up with the “wrong crowd,” leading to her move to her uncle’s house, which was raided by gangsters looking for valuables to settle the debt. Yo-Yo protected the valuable cross necklace she wears as an adult, which indirectly led to her uncle’s murder.
• In this timeline, Cora is Jiaying’s daughter, meaning that if Mary Sue/Skye/Daisy is born, then she would be Cora’s younger sister. Cora has the same Quake powers, but also seems to have the same light/energy powers as Marcos Diaz/Eclipse from The Gifted.
• As her goodbye message reveals, Simmons lost contact with Fitz during 6.13 when she traveled with Enoch back to the temple to save everyone from Sarge and Izel.

Next week Agents of SHIELD season 7, episode 9, “As I Have Always Been,” will air on ABC on Wednesday, July 22, at 10 p.m. ET. Have you been enjoying Agents of SHIELD season 7? Let us know in the comments below!