But isn’t the Zephyr itself the time machine? I guess we don’t know everything about how time travel works here, but it seems like they brought May on board, and the next thing that happened was the Zephyr jumped back to 1931 to avoid the missiles headed at the ziggurat. (We would learn later that this was following the wake of the Chronicoms that went back to 1931, but that seems like a small retcon. It sure seemed like Jemma was in control of that first jump, unlike the jump from 1931 to 1955) How would those other agents go back to the future while the Zephyr went to the past? Was there a 2nd time machine off screen?
So Coulson’s eye flicker at the end of the previous episode was because he was rebooting into “hardboiled self-narrating detective” mode, until Jemma got a chance to fix him. Well done.
Good episode in general too. Though I really can’t wait for the next “mid-70’s cop show” episode. And Enoch is still a gem every time he’s on screen.
Good call. The two lines were about half an hour apart in the actual episode. It was clear that Sousa was known because he was the first SHIELD agent killed in the line of duty, but at the time they thought it was the Russians.
Not much to say this week other than that I loved the Noir episode. Didn’t really need an explanation of why it was in that style, but it was a cute one. Hope to see Sousa for the rest of the season.
I’m glad May’s blankness got some explanation, but I’m still kind of meh on that plot.
I’m really enjoying this season. The use of known times in the past gives the show some grounding that the alien futures lacked.
Admittedly, the “we can’t change the past because we don’t know what will happen to the future oh wait we can change the past oh wait we can’t oh wait we’re doing both” has already gotten old and stale.
And it’s also been confirmed that the actual Peggy Carter won’t be on the show at all.
But the cast is having so much fun with the past that most of the other nonsense is forgiveable. Except the way they have infinite time period clothing and props and money despite their not knowing when they’re going. Did they borrow a matter duplicator from Star Trek?
Yep. Never trust a trailer - lesson (re-)learned. Loved the episode. Enoch continues to be a riot.
I’m assuming they’re using the Terminator solution - “Nice night for a walk. Nothing clean, right. Your clothes, give them to me.”
In the first episode, Simmons opened a drawer full of money arranged by year. She took an appropriate stack and then sent Deke out to shop for period-appropriate clothing. She probably does the same thing every time they jump.
Simmons spent an unspecified but apparently lengthy period of time preparing for the time trips; in addition to building the device, she apparently laid in supplies. Smart!
In fact the 1st episode Deke mentioned how cheap the clothing was.
Brian
Another good one last night. That opening was just about perfect. (Though for some reason, I think would have been better to have an “AND” in front of Jeff Ward. Or maybe even “and Jeff Ward as ‘Deke’”. 
I wouldn’t be surprised if some SAG rules dropped a wet blanket on that.)
Maybe Jemma’s not full LMD, but enhanced with some Chronicom tech, so maybe the EMP didn’t fully knock her out, but somehow disrupted whatever’s in her neck. Awesome that they got the same actor for young Gideon as from Season 3. Too bad they had to recast Nathaniel, but oh well. I hope Sousa changes his mind about staying in the 70’s. I’d love to have him stick out the whole season. I’m not thrilled with Deke’s 180 on changing the past, but thankfully we don’t have to see Wilfred and his awful makeup job anymore. 
Was nice to see Patrick Warburton again as General Stoner. I’ve been binging through the MCU movies with my kids for the past few weeks, so when they started referencing Project Insight with language echoing Winter Soldier, I perked up immediately. Very cool.
One does wonder, though, if shooting the rocket down was an option, why they didn’t do that to start with. Mack did say something about their position being exposed now, but so what? just cloak and get out of there. Now they have a mess on their hands, with Daisy and Sousa captured, May and Coulson captured, Mack’s parents of all people in trouble too. And every time someone leaves the Zephyr, they risk being left behind. Not all of them are as immune to age as Enoch. You’d think they’d be more concerned about that.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform with the blue coveralls and white strapping (as worn by May and especially Coulson) was reminiscent of the uniform Nick Fury wore in the original comics:
Freddy Malick was already supposed to be six years dead by the time Deke shot him, so the timeline’s already good and fracked.
Covertly flooding the secret base to prevent the launch is way different than openly shooting down a giant rocket flying over the coast. Now everyone knows they’re there.
The opening credits, Enoch, and Patrick Warburton were the best part of the episode.
“STTAs? Synthetic or organic?”
And Warburton pointedly NOT hitting on Agent Chastity McBride was hilarious. Good to see SHIELDs HR department was ahead of their time.
Yeah, that was great. He’s got the acronym at the tip of his tongue.
Here’s a link to Stoner’s past appearances All General Rick Stoner Scenes Agents of SHIELD S5 on Vimeo (“Welcome to the Lighthouse!”)
I foresee Nathaniel stealing Daisy’s power, and then battling it out with Yo-Yo, whose power will be up and running 
at the last second. (Wonder if she’ll be able to run without having the slingshot back.)
Okay, I musta missed something somewhere along the way. In a previous episode, how did every member of the team know how to contact Enoch after so much time (1931 to 1955, I believe)(and, poor Enoch, ‘Connect me to the Zephyr!’, no ‘Long time, Enoch, how ya been?’)? He answered the phone, ‘The Crazy Canoe;’ was that physically the same place as the speakeasy? If so, okay, good thing the phone # never changed, and that Deke, who never used a phone (?), also had the number memorized. SHIELD briefings gotta be thorough, man!
Alright, I guess I explained my way outta that one. Somebody tell me how Enoch knew, in 1973, to show up with a getaway car at that exact moment. Are we handwaving with the explanation that Chronocoms (sp?) just ‘know’ the past, present and future? Or was it more the ‘cool factor’ of him showing up in the nickatime for a rescue?
I don’t think Nathaniel will be successful. Daisy will prevail somehow.
What I’m wondering about Yo-Yo is, what would have happened if she made it to the door before the Zephyr jumped. Would she have snapped back to where the Zephyr used to be?
Coulson knew the number. He was the first to call. Chalk it up to LMD memory + SHIELD history geek memory, and handwave the number not changing (or it did change, and he had all the numbers for the place over the years memorized?) Once Enoch patched him in to the Zephyr, everyone on the Zephyr would know how he did so, and it would behoove them to memorize or at least write down the number. Then Deke and Yoyo left on their mission, knowing the number. They were the only other two people to call. Also, Deke had over a year operating a tech startup between S5 and S6. He must have used phone then (though not a rotary dial version. That probably should have given him some pause. Maybe he saw it in an old movie during that time.)
Enoch had been tending bar at the Crazy Canoe until very recently (They asked someone there and I don’t remember how long he’d been missing, but not long.) He must have gotten wind of Project Insight and maybe spotted the Chronicoms. That would be enough to know that the team would be arriving soon. He could have been lurking nearby watching for them to show up, and trying to stay out of sight from the other Chronicoms.
The Crazy Canoe didn’t change its password in 40 years, so the phone number probably didn’t change either. Hopefully, Deke got a brief course in antique tech before being sent outside during the 1930s.
I clearly remember the bartender saying Enoch hadn’t been around in more than a year, but Enoch obviously stayed nearby, keeping watch, in order to come to the rescue in his sweet ride. I say to myself, what? Why the tiny detail of his disappearing, only to have him shortly reappear in such a dramatic fashion? The Rule of Cool, or Some Things Happen In Film Just Because.
I was watching a movie recently. Family was taking the kid to a special hospital, a mansion at the end of a tree-lined road on the property. Road led to a perfect circle right in front of the ominous-looking front door. The circle was just wide enough for a single car to drive on it, and there were no other lanes that cut off, presumably to a parking lot. I guess there were other roads off of that tree-lined road; we just weren’t shown such. Family pulls up and - what would you do? - parks short, not right in front of the door, where disembarking and unloading of suitcases would be the most convenient. In fact, if the ominous door were 12 o’clock, the car was parked at 2 or even 3 o’clock. Why, says I? Doesn’t make sense; nobody really does that. It’s because the car would then have been blocking shots of the ominous front door, or at least limiting the scenes in front of the door that immediately followed, with regards to medium or long shots (we don’t want the car or even interactions with the car distracting our pretty shot). Rule of Cool dictates actions that don’t make much sense or would be unlikely in the real world. Carrying the Idiot Ball is a different story.
So, back to Enoch. It’s 1973, and we’re back at the SHIELD secret bar. I did think it was neat, if just a bit anachronistic, to have the keypad take the password ‘Swordfish,’ but let’s move on. Enoch stayed there for decades, but suddenly disappeared with no explanation ‘a year ago,’ only to appear in a boss wagon with the best safety rating JUST when the team needed a getaway car. No reason why things happened that way except for the Rule of Cool, and forget sense of how Enoch would actually have carried on with his existence.
whew
I feel like one of them there Internet Warriors, having typed ALL of that out in a feverish rush because something out there was WRONG, I was RIGHT, and EVERYONE MUST KNOW RIGHT NAO!!1!
Spoil the current season for me, please: is SHIELD once again unquestionably the good guys and gals, or is there still the implication that HYDRA is actually calling the shots behind the scenes?