'All Roads Lead...' All new 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' is out now! | S05E
The Destroyer of Worlds rises (and falls) in an explosive instalment of ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’
Gravitonium is nasty, you guys.
It’s almost hard to remember all those years we spent wondering if ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ was ever going to address what happened to Franklin Hall and the gravitonium; but with each successive episode from the show’s fifth season, the rare element becomes more and more central to the story – and ‘All Roads Lead…’ ups the ante.
SPOILER ALERT!
Coming off of last week’s cliffhanger, Talbot is a man on a mission – and that mission is to kidnap Robin Hinton. With HYDRA in control of his mind, Talbot infiltrates Robin’s room and begins to go through her drawings (bonus: the little “redrum” reference to ‘The Shining’). He begins to feverishly question Robin but when she struggles to explain her drawings, he knocks out Polly and kidnaps the young seer.
Elsewhere in the Lighthouse, Deke is asking Coulson and Mack for dating advice – but considering Mack’s last interaction with Yo-Yo and Coulson’s dumbfounded reaction to May’s declaration of love, they don’t have any advice to give (bonus: I’m looking forward to Deke’s delivery of lemons to Daisy’s quarters). Coulson and Mack, however, soon notice a glitch in the security feeds and when they go to investigate, Coulson puts two and two together and realises that Talbot’s six months with HYDRA did more damage than they thought. Before we know it, Talbot is holding Robin at gunpoint; but Coulson has the bright idea to use Talbot’s own programming against him and manages to get him to surrender, freeing Robin.
Meanwhile, Daisy and May have stormed Hale’s underground base. And when they find her, the general surrenders. Hale makes it clear that she doesn’t care about old factions anymore; right now, she just wants to protect her daughter.
Somewhere in England, Fitz and Simmons are being held hostage by Ruby and Von Strucker. While repairing the particle infusion chamber, they continue to warn Ruby that the infusion isn’t a good idea. However, raised to believe that the Destroyer of Worlds moniker is her birthright, Ruby ignores the two scientists and gleefully goes through with the infusion – much to her later resentment. Ruby only manages to absorb 8% of the gravitonium before she starts screaming – now that Ruby’s head is filled with the voices of Hall and Quinn, she’s starting to lose control. When Von Strucker goes to comfort her, she accidentally crushes his skull in with her newfound powers. She begs Fitz and Simmons to reverse the infusion, but they can’t, the infusion only works one way; and upon learning this, she throws them against a wall.
The already unstable Ruby is losing her sanity by the second, but thankfully; Hale, May and Daisy have arrived to save the day – until tragedy strikes.
A shaken Yo-Yo has found her way back to the chamber room and immediately recognises Ruby as the person who cut her arms off. Ruby’s newfound powers are going haywire, and Daisy tries to calm the young Hale down. In Ruby, Daisy sees a reflection of her younger self: an angry and rebellious young woman who is just trying to find her place in the world; and that view is even stronger now that Ruby has her own set of powers. But alas, it’s too late. Yo-Yo uses her superspeed and slits Ruby’s throat with her own chakram – and as far as Yo-Yo’s concerned, she just saved the world. One has to wonder if this truly is the end for Ruby, or if the gravitonium will bring her back to cause future problems for our agents…
In this week’s stinger scene, Hale pays a visit to the Confederacy; and with nothing left to lose, she tells that exactly where to find the gravitonium they so greatly desire – with S.H.I.E.L.D.
Man, oh man. Season 5 has had more than its usual share of doom and gloom. Yo-Yo’s arms got cut off, Fitz’s mind snap made itself known in the worst way possible, and Coulson is marching towards death. And to really raise the stakes, all of this is unfolding while the team has the omnipotent prophecy looming over them.
We’re going to need a lot more Deke to counterbalance all this pessimism and despair.
New episodes of ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ are updated weekly on Amazon Prime Video.
