As a doctor once said, we’re at the endgame now, or at least the first quarter.
Nathaniel Malick wants Simmons to tell them where Fitz is (and the fans want to know, too).
Meanwhile, Daisy is suspicious of Kora, the sister she just met. She seems to switch sides, but her heart belongs to Malick. She just doesn’t know he killed her mom.
It will be a new world, just in time for the end.
In fact, this whole season has been a different universe, and now it has just lost something big.

SPOILERS BELOW

That’s right, we’ve been in Earth-616b all this time.
As it was pointed out in Avengers: Endgame, if you change the past, you get a different future, and it took some fancy footwork to avoid that.
Here, as Kora points out, the original timeline (Earth-616) is still out there, which is why Daisy still exists despite Jiaying dying before she was born.

Kora (Deanna Doan) suggests she can join SHIELD if they get together to create a better universe.
Sadly, it means trying Insight again, where certain people are killed to make a better world, including a young Grant Ward. SHIELD won’t do that, but Kora will, causing chaos where it’s necessary.

The attempt to save her is disappointing. It would have been interesting if she changed her mind about Nathaniel since he was responsible for Jiaying’s death last week. It was speculated Kora would give up her life force for her mom, but that didn’t work because mom was already dead. It doesn’t matter that Jiaying to protect Daisy from Nathaniel, as May says. Kora is fixated on the fact that he wanted to “save” her while Afterlife and Jiaying didnt. That’s why Kora also points out May has killed dangerous kids before, like in Bahrain. She’d rather trust the devil that helped her than the sister who won’t. It’s also why she helps Garrett (James Paxton) get away after he gets trapped for a while. Hate to say this, but Kora makes me miss Ruby Hale.

Sibyl has been predicting SHIELD’s moves, even the fact that Daisy won’t fight without her sister. Too bad Sibyl didn’t realize Daisy meant Jemma, who’s trapped by Nate at the Zephyr. He’s determined to find Fitz and eliminate him as a threat. He doesn’t know Deke is also there trying to be John McCain. That lasts for five seconds when Garrett finds him. More on that later.

The crew decides if they start being less predictable, they might get the upper hand. LMD Coulson even discovers he can read computer code, and determine what she has planned.
Meanwhile, Daisy encourages Sousa to actually not be so square and use the Quinjet to get to the Zephyr. He agrees, and so does Mack.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel (Thomas E. Sullivan) has been a fairly interesting villain, but his evil style is getting old and more cruel. He even hits Jemma and slugs a guy who calls him “sir”. The trope of “being a normal guy with an evil streak” has run out of gas
This needed a lot more Sibyl, who could at least hint that she’ll double-cross him after he succeeds. This IS about the Chronicoms taking over the Earth, remember?

At least Nate literally gets into Jemma’s head to get around the implant that makes her forget where Fitz is. He’s able to at least look at previous memories they share, including the process of making the Zephyr a time machine. They talk about getting back to the temple, and “bad blood work”. Some are thinking Fitz is doomed (which is fairly sudden), but could they also be trying to make Coulson flesh and blood?
They also hint they can take their time, which means maybe they work long enough to have a life together, even have the daughter who will be Deke’s mom.
It’s really great to see FitzSimmons again. This has been what’s been missing here. It would have been interesting if Iain had an episode of Fitz hiding from the Chronicoms in the middle of the season. That would have satisfied fans for a while.

Nathaniel, though, isn’t so happy. He wants to see their last memory, and he sees them talking about how she doesn’t want to forget that they had to be apart AGAIN and why. It’s more than keeping her from saying where he is, and it’ll make sure she does what she has to do. Seeing her tell Deke, “Who’s Fitz” caused a sharp pain to many fans’ hearts.
It might also remind people of “I Will Remember You” from Angel, where Buffy had to forget when they were both human because Angel as a human can’t help her. Seeing her say “I won’t forget”, then she does, causes the same pain. At least they did see each other a few times after that. It’s still not certain Simmons will see Fitz again (even if it’s obvious they will next week).

There were some cute moments, like Mack warning Sousa not to break Daisy’s heart (never mind her powers) and Daisy saying she doesn’t want to leave her family. She can’t see a life without SHIELD even if Enoch could, but they have to get back to their real timeline first.

Then the episode ends with the mission being accomplished…for the bad guys!. Nathaniel says the Chronicoms have arrived on Earth thanks to Sibyl, and are ready to eliminate SHIELD. They do, one base at a time, even the Triskelion.
No SHIELD, and now no Fitz.
Game over, as Nate and Kora share a kiss in the final seconds?

It seems the show is saving the big moments for next week. After all, it doesn’t have the budget it used to have at the beginning. That’s why some people on the net have thought the show isn’t as flashy as it should be.
Thanks, ABC.

Still, people are stoked for the final two hours of SHIELD next week. They are hoping for a better ending than Game of Thrones.