Project T.A.H.I.T.I‪.‬ Project T.A.H.I.T.I.

S5:E12 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “The Real Deal.”
We're back after another long delay, and this was recorded several months ago, so we're a bit out of date with our "current events" references. We got into some wild digressions, starting with some‪ Star Wars talk circa the Mandalorian's second season where we complain a bit about Filoni, because he's kind of awful, and gush a bit over Taika Waititi, because he's freaking great. Jess talks about how even Billy (boyfriend of the pod) gets sick of Filoni's nonsense sometimes, and we compare and contrast Filoni and Waititi's relative weakness and strength at subverting problematic tropes.
We then get into the episode of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. we're covering, the 100th episode! The episode title gets some guff. We left off with Noah, the mediocre Chronicom, saving the day by sacrificing himself for the team, and catch up with found footage of Andrew/Lash, apparently back from the dead. This sets up the "best of villains" episode in a unique way, without relying on a clip show formula. Fitz shows Coulson and May the drone footage showing them what appears to be the outdoors inside the base, and hypothesizes that the monoliths' destruction opened a portal to another dimension. Mack tells Yo-yo he'd leave S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. if she wanted to, but she insists they have to stay.  Daisy and Deke search the store rooms and Deke attempts to bond with Daisy, which she rebuffs. This is one of many examples of Deke's personality solidifying into the character he will become, the annoying kid brother of the team's "family." Jess calls out some of Daisy and Coulson's similarities as empaths, and we enjoy that Deke and Daisy's eventual relationship is just a friendly/familial one, and that they backed off any attempt at a contrived and predictable attempt at romance. A Kree warrior shows up and attacks them in the middle of their storeroom run. They dispatch him and regroup with the team, where after taking the Kree warrior into consideration, looking at the footage of Lash, and identifying Deke's fear of the open wilderness (hence the forest/outdoor level) Fitz dubs the dimension they've accessed "the fear dimension," naturally. Fitz mentions a potential sacrifice and looks to Deke, who gets very defensive, but he meant he needed his anti-gravity belt. Coulson volunteers, Fitz suggests Piper go to redeem herself, and everyone argues with them. Daisy says she'll go, but Coulson insists she needs to stay to lead, and she argues that they're so broken, there isn't even a S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. left to lead.
Deke is sent out by Coulson for supplies and is uncharacteristically grumpy when he tells him to go, reminding him not to get arrested this time. Coulson joins the rest of the team and Jemma explains that the necrotic tissue has grown to Coulson's lungs and heart, and that his condition is terminal. He's known since they last saw Ghost Rider, having given up whatever Project T.A.H.‪‪I.T.‪‪I. had done to him to bring him back in return for hosting the Rider. Coulson is frustrated, having never had any agency when it came to his own life, but the team, and Daisy in particular, are exceptionally hurt. Yo-yo wakes up to a sadistic Jemma channeling Nurse Ratched who tells Yo-yo to give up and let Mack leave her, gaslighting all Twilight Zone style her before trying to smother her. She's stopped by Mack who reveals she's an LMD, and the real Jemma comes in and sees what's going on. We think it was Mack's fear, and we realize we never see Yo-yo's own fear manifestation. Deke is outside and sees General Hale's troops have invaded the town looking for them, and gets anxious. He ends up in a funny disguise where he looks like a time traveller from 30 years in the past instead of the future, in a baseball cap, carrying a red, white, and blue bomb-pop and a Zima. May and Coulson have a heart to heart, and talk about him hiding his dying from her, and his pushing the team away, denying wha

Ep 103 - Assembling for Avengers: WandaVision Bonus Episode - Jess and Jared look at the first Marvel show on Disney+, WandaVision!
We look at how it connects this new era of the MCU to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Marvel television, and some thoughts on the dangers of fan expectations, the future of Marvel TV on Disney+. And we talk about grief. And Agatha. And Monica. We get into the meat of the story, comics connections and differences, Agents of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. connections, Hayward, and Wanda's status as a complex character who's not purely heroic, but not a villain.
We also discuss the appearance of the Darkhold and the obvious lack of followthrough from some S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. viewers who are just now questioning its canonicity in the greater MCU. We discuss the twins, and their inevitable future as MCU Young Avengers. We discuss of the grief process in WandaVision vs. the MCU films, and the benefit that the show's format gives their examination of loss, and what it means to move on. WandaVision was able to go more into depth about what enduring the grief process feels like, and came at a time where the entire world is plagued with an epidemic putting us all in a grief-filled existence.
Plus: We want a Jimmy Woo show with Darcy! Give us Jimmy Woo: Agent of S.W.O.R.D.! And Jimmy and Coulson are our Marvel TV dads, and we love them! And Jared is convinced that we're getting Young Avengers soon!
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S5:E11 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “All the Comforts of Home."
In our first episode of the season back in the present we meet our "favorite character," Ruby, and we begin by reexamining some of our initial reactions and feelings about the character and what she represents. With the benefit of time and consideration Jess repositions Ruby's writing, and sees how it was more thoughtfully, and well written character than we had originally understood her to be, and that there is a meta commentary there, about how adolescent women are demonized and demeaned across all areas of our culture.
We open on Ruby, a "stereotypical" teenage girl in a stereotypical teenager's room, covered in posters, listening to pop music with headphones on her bed laying the wrong way on her bed with her feet in the air. We soon meet her mom, who Ruby quickly confronts, demanding to know if she's a good guy, or a bad guy, and saying that since they're going after S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. that she wonders if they're not the bad guys. Her mom, General Hale, tells her that she just follows her orders, and that everything she does is for Ruby, though Ruby incorrectly predicted she'd say everything she did was for the greater good. Here is where we learn about their weird mother-daughter relationship, and that Ruby is obsessed with Daisy Johnson AKA Quake. But more importantly, the team! Our favorite S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. Agents have returned from the future to the present day Lighthouse. They show up disoriented in different waves and gather together and Fitz confirms that despite their familiar location, they had made it back to their home time period. ‪‪A hologram of an old school S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. Director, Rick Stoner, played perfectly by Patrick Warburton, appears to give the rundown to the team via an outdated pre-recorded message. The base was top-secret base designed for a post-apocalyptic situation to help repopulate the Earth, so, exactly what it ended up being used for in the future. Coulson mentioned how injured Mack had gotten, and Yo-Yo turns it back on him and he brushes his injuries off, but she knows what Coulson isn't telling the rest of the team about his own dark, crazy future sci-fi poison-filled wound. Yo-Yo, Mack and Jemma leave to get Mack medical attention and Coulson sends May to take the tour with hologram Rick Stoner, and she drags Fitz along. Daisy comes to furious with Coulson for using an Icer and taking her back to the past against her consent, and though she doesn't forgive him exactly, she understands his decision. Fitz and May are going through a storeroom and find all three monoliths, and a douche-bro Chronicom who was in the AWFUL Paris Hilton vehicle "The Hottie & the Nottie," Noah. Noah is the anti-Enoch, and is a dismissive, self-important robo-twit. He tells them that everyone with knowledge of the bunker is inside the bunker, and assures them that they're safe. May has a very cheesy "small but active fan base" line that is super meta, and made us chuckle.
Jess noted that a lot of aspects of this season make us sure that they'd intended, or rather believed, it would be the final season of the show.‪ In the Lighthouse's monitor room they note "potential alien contact," that will lead to the end of the world, and there's a pretty by the numbers UFO-looking flying saucer in space on its way. They need to go check it out in St. Louis, and are still wanted for the crimes that AIDA and Ivanov framed them for. They show that they're outside this small town of River's End in the Lighthouse. When the team leaves the Lighthouse and has to steal a van Mack ‪‪is mortified, and May, and even Yo-Yo, are a bit annoyed with how strait-laced he is, though Jemma finds it wonderful. Daisy gets more comfortable with the computer room in the Lighthouse than Noah seems to appreciate, getting under the Chronicom's skin. Noah ‪‪is a dick, and he's ineffective, but he's not actually against the team, he's just really bad at he

S5:E10 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Past Life."
We begin with a discussion of some when-it-was-recorded Agents of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. news, referring to post-series finale interviews with Mo and Jed, and Brett Dalton, and Elizabeth Henstridge's episode by episode watch-along with fans! We found out why Ivanov sucked so bad...well, another reason, with a connection to the upcoming Hulu Marvel animated show, MODOK starring AoS's own Agent Koenig, Patton Oswalt. We get into a little about how rewatch nostalgia for older shows is rough, because stuff does not always age well, and oftentimes we can see how much stuff tended to be very problematic with the benefit of our current perspectives.
The Zephyr arrives at the Lighthouse for Kasius to discover Sinara's lifeless, impaled body. Sinara's character was fridged, and the vast potential that her character was given was never given a chance to be fulfilled. The S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. team was prepared, and fled the Zephyr to the containment pod, leaving only Enoch on the ship to protect half of the Monolith, and the portal (don't call it a time machine) device, ready to rendezvous with the team when they return with Flint. Mack, Yo-Yo, Flint and Tess are waiting for the rest of the team to return on the Lighthouse, but Yo-Yo remembers when she was revived, and the cries of pain she heard from other Inhumans being tortured nearby. They all have their role to play, planning to save the other Inhumans from being exploited by Kasius, with the others helping get Flint the rocks he needs and to where he needs to go, and back to Enoch and portal with the team. Yo-Yo tells Flint to take care of the big guy, asking him to watch out for Mack on her behalf. Kasius has gone totally delusional about Sinara's death, disconnecting from reality, and reacting to the Kree doctor's explanation that he couldn't use the same process he uses on humans and Inhumans to resurrect her by executing the doctor immediately. Jared poses the question..."can an eternal be murderable?" and "is 'murderable' a word?" With the last of Robin's drawings recovered by his men Kasius figures out that S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. team was going to use the Monolith to return back to the past, and the Inhumans' trainer take Odium and go be a berzerker and die for Kasius. While this is going on Mack and Flint are bonding, with Mack talking about looking forward to getting to ride his bike, referring to his motorcycle, and Flint asks him if that isn't what little kids ride. Mack vehemently defends motorcycles as rockets with two wheels, and not at all childish, and it's a very cute scene. He tells Flint he'd be welcome to come back to the past with them, but Flint doesn't want to leave his time. Fitz and Simmons show up with the rest of the Monolith rock The rest of the team are rescuing Inhumans, and taking out the Kree to help the surviving humans, and May and Deke have an exchange about guns being something that need to be regulated, in a very true, if not obvious, reference to real life gun control, and the lack thereof in the U.S.. The Inhuman trainer comes for Daisy on Odium, and despite being shot at by Coulson continues to come for her for a moment, he turns his attention to Coulson, slamming him against the wall and distracting him long enough for Daisy to get something to stab him with. With the Odium-enhanced trainer taken out Daisy notices Coulson clutching his chest, his shirt ripped open, but denying that he was wounded, and insisting it was merely a wardrobe malfunction.
Tess and Deke are reunited, and they discuss how they appreciate each other's friendship more since she died and was resurrected. Coulson sees her struggling with the adjustment to life after death, and mentors her a bit, telling her its all worth it to be able to help those in need. We still don't like that she was killed for the development of Flint and Deke, and even bringing her back doesn't make it less gross and problematic. Kasius is talking

S5:E09 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Best Laid Plans."
This is our 100th episode, so we start with...being sad about Ruth Bader Ginsberg's passing (you can tell how long ago we recorded this). So, get ready for a 10 minute rant about the state of politics from about two and a half months ago! Also, we were both just getting some relief from being inundated with wildfires at the time of this recording, so if our vibe is "abject terror," you know why. Also, there were some technical difficulties, with some distortion, and some plane sounds, and sirens so, please bear with us!
The episode starts with Kree going after the team in the Lighthouse, and Mack and Yo-Yo are taking them on. Mack begins to take the leadership role he's destined for. The humans took back an entire floor from the Kree, infuriating Kasius. Kasius is confounded by the attack/rebellion, and perplexed by their having a supply of guns (thanks to Fitz's preparation in the past). Kasius is starting to lose his shit, proclaiming himself the humans' savior, and God. On the Zephyr the team and Enoch discuss how Flint is going to save them all and fix everything, as Robin's prophecy has told them. While May struggles with the emotions that come with her newly developed maternal relationship with Robin, and Daisy and Coulson tell her that they can see her as a mom, in a very sweet moment. As Deke prepares to deal with Voss, his father's killer, Coulson leaves it up to Deke to deal with it as he wants, either because he's also gone through a revenge arc, or because he's just not invested in Deke's future. Voss explains that Deke's dad and himself ended up fighting, and he only killed him in self defense. While Yo-Yo tries to teach Flint how to use their guns, Mack gets protective of him, wanting to spare him from further violence. Kasius sends a resurrected Tess to negotiate with the humans on his behalf. She tells them about Kasius's newfound (or just heightened?) God complex, and they realize that he only wants Mack, Yo-Yo and Flint so he can draw out Daisy. Despite Coulson wanting Daisy at full power, Daisy wants to keep the power inhibitor the Kree have given her, and it hurts her to feel like she's not "enough" for her father figure without her powers.
It seems like Coulson may be trying to rush his mentoring of the team members, since he knows his time is limited and he's dying. Jemma and Fitz figure out how the Zephyr's space-ready modifications were made, using Fitz's designs and with Gravitonium, and they begin to figure out how the Earth was destroyed. While Fitz is coming to stark conclusions and fearful predictions, Jemma centers him with optimism to counter his fear. While they're pummeled with the remains of buildings from the Earth's surface May tells Enoch she's had a building dropped on her before, which we *think* was a reference to her knocking down the building with the Berzerker Staff, but it might be something else? May gets the avionics going and they flee the barrage of buildings and ruins being chucked at them. The team starts to figure out how Kasius is planning to destroy the entire Lighthouse with the hit of a button. On the Zephyr the non-S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. members onboard get ready to flee to hide in the caves on the surface of Earth's remains. Daisy compliments Deke for not killing Voss for revenge, and they have a discussion about whether or not killing someone makes them a bad guy, if it's for the right reasons. We finally get a little more of the story of Earth's destruction, finding out that an alien invasion precipitated the cracking open of the planet. ‪‪In retrospect, the way they wanted us to believe Deke was considering killing Daisy to save the planet, and how Deke ends up, ‪‪is kind of crazy. They realize that Kasius has them over a barrel, and that they can't stop him from blowing up the Lighthouse, so Yo-Yo and Mack decide to give themselves up. Flint tells Tess she's the only person he has, and she looks to

S5:E08 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “The Last Day."
In an odd episode for us, recorded in the late afternoon, we begin by diving in to a discussion of the prophetic child, Robin, who the entire episode centers around. The episode, as Jess points out, is disjointed to illustrate Robin's existence perceiving reality disconnected in time, and accentuates the emotional weight of this episode's story. We recorded this WAY back in August, so we talk a little about the online discussion of the series finale, and Jess takes notice of Davis being actually really hot in real life, and Jared concurs, and notes that he's married to Dichen Lachman, so that's not really surprising. And Chloe posted a photo of Jeff Ward with a porn 'stache, which ‪‪is so amazing it has to be seen to be believed. We take a brief detour to talk about covid restrictions and delays impacting television production and end up talking a little bit about PEN15 (check out on Hulu!) and it's absurd hilarity. Also, Jess started watching the next episode by mistake 😂
When we actually get into the show we're on the Zephyr with May piloting and Robin coming in to predict their immediately forthcoming crash in a gravity storm. We start to get an idea of this episode's theme/main subject, as Samuel Voss explains that Robin sees time all at once and out of order, and is impossible to interpret or understand. Voss also mentioned that Robin is how he knew where to find them all. May reunites with everyone, and Deke is super impressed with the Zephyr, and a little in awe of Fitz's intelligence, having retrofitted the Zephyr for space flight. We aren't sure if Deke knows Fitz is his grandfather yet, but we land on probably not. They return to the Lighthouse where Kasius and Sinara discuss her hunting down "the Destroyer of Worlds," and he says he'll take care of the human traitors there on the station, which includes Flint, and Mack and Yo-Yo. And the other humans are being super gross apocalyptic space future Karens to Flint, turning on him and being super bigoted against him for being Inhuman, and a young Black man. Mack puts a stop to it with his Mack-ness, and then we revel in Henry Simmons's amazingness and physical massiveness with some cast size comparison via Instagram photos discussion. We go back to the team on the Zephyr discussing Robin's inability to distinguish timelines and eras, and Fitz and Jemma ask everyone to not overwhelm her. Robin says "‪‪I already told my mother everything," and that "Philip J. Coulson can bring all the pieces together," and "this is the day it all ends." Coulson mentions it being a shame that Daisy can't use her powers, and Deke is shaken by how much he believed has been turned on its head, with the survivors on Earth's surface, and his father not having died when he had thought. Daisy and Deke bond a little over their father issues. Yo-Yo reaches out to Flint, connecting over the isolation and alienation that came with becoming an Inhuman. Jemma and Fitz are amazed their design worked and the Zephyr can fly, and they notice something they aren't familiar with, a portal Deke's dad had made from their design. Jemma and Fitz are *finally* alone, and make out a bit. Back to Robin, they ask Enoch for help, who says the only way to get through to her is to spend days at her side. May wants to flirt with Coulson who won't have it, and she admits she's having a bit of an identity crisis, something that comes to a head as the episode continues. They end up having a time travel disagreement, with Fitz sure that the timeline can't be changed. Robin explains to them, maybe not? Yo-Yo can't say the alien species's real name, and sticks with "roaches," which we can relate to. Samuel discourages Coulson, but finding remnants of a monolith have him hopeful they can find more to get a way back home to the past. They can't remove Daisy's inhibitor, Jemma says she can't do it without risking permanent damage to Daisy's brain. When