TELEVISION EPISODE REVIEW: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S5 Ep 20 "The One Who Will Save Us All"

Thanos.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Airdate May 4, 2018 ABC Fridays 9pm
Created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen
Production Company ABC Studios & Marvel Television

What You Should Know:

Previously on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson chose the wrong option and got the team (minus Daisy) trapped in the Lighthouse just as a Confederacy spaceship arrived above. Tony The Candy Man gave Daisy the last Centipede device in hopes of saving the dying Coulson. Aliens invaded the Lighthouse and Glen Talbot entered the Gravitonium Infusion Chamber and emerged with the full power of Gravitonium.

What You’ll Find Out:

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Coulson is lying on a piece of the floor from the Lighthouse. Standing next to him is Glen Talbot who, with his new Gravitonium powers, is making the slab of floor rise up to the alien ship.

As the Agents take in what just happened, Jemma fears that Talbot will almost certainly suffer a psychotic break from absorbing all the Gravitonium. Mack searches the rest of the Lighthouse for any more of the Remorath. One of the aliens gets up and drinks the Odium and attacks Mack who manages to defeat the alien but before he can kill him May stops him and tells Mack they need the alien alive to find Coulson.

The spaceship leaves the Earth’s atmosphere with Coulson and Talbot aboard. Phil is worried about the Gravitonium infused Talbot. But Glen is full of arrogance and braggadocio and has no fear of the invaders. Qovas confronts the two men. Talbot barks at Qovas “This is MY ship!” before commanding Qovas to kneel before him. Yup, that’s pretty arrogant.

Mack pulls away from Elena when she tries to touch his face. He joins May and the others who have the Remorath chained up. They figure out the alien is hopped up on Odium which the alien says “gives him the power of the gods” which offends Mack who says “There’s only one God!” The Odium finishes burning its way through the alien and he dies. May orders Jemma to do an autopsy.

Coulson figures out how the Confederacy found them: Hale (even though last week Talbot said he sent out a signal with the Lighthouse coordinates). Phil asks to be taken to Hale. In her holding cell, Phil tells Hale her Gravitonium Project was a success. It just turns out it was on a different person.

Talbot wants to know about the rest of the Confederacy. Qovas says he’d rather die than tell him. Hale and Coulson enter and Hale says the Confederacy is made up of six seats: Kallusians, Rajaks, Astrans, the Remorath and two other warrior clans (excuse me, what about the Kree? They’re in it. And would it really hurt to use some Marvel alien race names instead of making up these silly ones?). Talbot is angry. Upon seeing Hale for what she did to him. She tells Glen he is the only one that can save them all. Talbot decides it’s time for him to meet the rest of the Confederacy.

Fitz is worried about how long it will take to fix the “antiquated” system of computers at the Lighthouse. Then everything comes on and Deke steps out to take credit. In another area of the Lighthouse, Daisy arrives with a bag slung over her shoulder. She immediately runs into a very confrontational Yo-Yo. She tells Daisy Coulson is missing because of her. Elena wants to know what’s in the bag and Daisy says it’s none of her business so Yo-Yo grabs it from her anyway. She opens it and finds a skeleton…and gets punched in the face by Daisy.

The two Agents start fighting, using their powers on each other till May shows up and stops them. May tells Yo-Yo to find a way to help find Coulson or don’t be there when they get back.

On the ship, Talbot is presented with some new duds to wear to meet the Confederacy. He finds it all to be just “pomp and circumstance” but Hale tells him diplomacy is key. Talbot says: “These snowflakes seem awfully precious about decorum”. So Talbot is a Republican. Makes sense. Coulson tries to give him advice but Talbot just raises his voice and says “I already told you I can fix this!” Then he asks “How do I look?” Well, actually he looks a lot like Marvel Comics’ Graviton but since they have not yet said that word on the show we’ll just call him “Talboton”. He and Qovas then teleport to the Confederacy.

Qovas tells the Confederacy that Talboton has come to renegotiate the terms of Earth’s protection. A green Confederacy alien, Crixon, says the terms have already been set. Talboton says to them “It’s time you met Earth’s Mightiest Hero”. Hey, uh, that description has already been taken, dude.

Deke visits Daisy. He asks what’s in the bag and she tells him it’s her mom. Deke has come to make sure Daisy is doing OK after the scuffle with Yo-Yo. She says she feels like the universe keeps telling her she should never have come back from the future. And “Some creep put a bunch of lemons on my bed”. Daisy tells Deke about Lincoln Campbell and that he died for her. Deke tells Daisy that Fitz-Simmons are his grandparents. The whole scene plays out rather soft and touching. Deke is really in love with Daisy.

Back with the Confederacy, the woman, Estella, says Talbot is a charlatan. No one can wield the power of Gravitonium. Talboton says maybe it’s time they made him a member of the Confederacy. Crixon, the green alien, says that would be impossible. For centuries the Confederacy has had six members. Talboton laughs and says “This is like a room full of Democrats…you got your rules and your regulations”. Crixon says there’s no place for a human amongst them. So Talboton does he gravity crushing act on Crixon and more…the Gravitonium stretches out of his body and wraps around Crixon and absorbs him into Talboton! “Looks like there’s a spot for me after all” Talboton laughs.

Mack is finishing up getting the Zephyr spaceworthy. Fitz brings him a canister of Gravitonium…just ignore what they said at the beginning of the episode about Talbot absorbing all the Gravitonium. Fitz tries to apologize to Mack for locking him up before but Mack doesn’t seem to be accepting. He brings up them having Yo-Yo execute a kid. “When does killing become the only way? We’re S.H.I.E.L.D. Aren’t we supposed to be better than that?” He says none of this would have happened if they had said this “invincible” nonsense wasn’t real. Fitz tells him he’s sorry but it’s not that simple. “Simple is how you live a good life. Not with your theories or prophecies. It’s following the Good Word.” All of a sudden Mack seems to have gotten very religious — even preachy. Fitz responds that sometimes you have to sacrifice the few to save the many. To which Kirk says “The good of the many…” oops! Wrong movie. Mack just tells Fitz he’s the one who needs fixing.

Jemma examines the Remorath brain. Daisy enters and shows her the Centipede device. She says they may be able to save Coulson by combining it with her mom’s DNA. Daisy tells Jemma to get to work, it’s top priority.

May, Davis, Deke, and Daisy lift off in Zephyr One to test if it’s spaceworthy.

At the Confederacy, Estella and the other members leave and a blue-skinned alien identifying himself as “the firstborn Taryan master of the House of Kasius” enters. He kisses up to Talboton saying what an honor it is to meet him. “I fear your Earth faces a far more pressing threat than anything posed by our Confederacy”. “Is this the attack Qovas warned might be coming?” Talboton asks. Qovas answers “It shall be the end of your planet”. Talboton tells him “That’s why Hale had a deal with the Confederacy to fight beside us”.

“The Confederacy never intended to honor this agreement…nor could it even if it so desired. It was merely a deception to extract the resources from your planet before time ran out. Which it now has.” Talboton: “What are you saying?”

Kasius: “Thanos and his forces have begun an assault on your planet even as we speak”. Talboton: “Then I’ve got to get down there with the Avengers and take on this Thanos!”

“Thanos’ strength is unrivaled. You will lose. Even with your powerful friends fighting alongside you”.

Hale and Phil look across space. Qovas and Talboton return and Talboton tells them Earth is under attack by an alien named Thanos. The only solution is to make him invincible (Thanos would be so scared!)

Talboton tells them he was told of deposits of Gravitonium beneath the Earth. He wants to absorb more Gravitonium and become more powerful. He says he can be the shield. Coulson expresses his concerns which really sets off Talboton. He accuses Phil of wanting it all for himself. Talboton says the name of the alien that told him about the Gravitonium is Kasius. And that he has two sons of his own. Phil tells him about the Kasius of the future but Qovas steps in and says Coulson is lying. Talboton tells Phil we are at war. “A war we shall surely lose if I am not the most powerful person in the universe!” By now it’s safe to say Talbot has gone completely whackadoodle. Talboton forces Coulson to kneel before him.

Zephyr One engages artificial gravity and heads to space. The ship cloaks and sets course for the Confederacy spaceship. Fitz and Simmons continue the experiment with the Centipede serum and Jiayang. The Zephyr docks on the Confederacy ship.

Talboton learns of a breach in the alien ship and goes off on Coulson. He accuses him of going behind his back and contacting S.H.I.E.L.D. Talboton turns to Hale to see if she had anything to do with this and she tries to throw Coulson under the bus. Talboton tells Phil he’s betrayed him for the last time.

Quake and May move through the ship’s corridors. Luckily, as enormous as the ship is, they are able to make their way right to Coulson who gets lifted in the air by Talboton. If Daisy quakes, Coulson dies.

Hale attempts to calm Talboton down but he lifts her in the air and gravity crushes her. Quake turns her full power on Talboton and is able to move him a few inches back before he flips her in the air and knocks her out.

May surrenders to protect Coulson. Talboton tells Qovas “They’re prisoners of war. Treat them that way.

Epilogue: Kasius laments the Earth belongs to another now. “Yet it still has gifts to give so I look forward to taking mine home,” he says, kneeling over Quake’s unconscious body.

What This Means For The Future:

If Talboton gets himself some more of that Gravitonium stuff, will they let him in the Avengers? Does he even know the Avengers aren’t a team anymore? Either way, they probably wouldn’t let him in because Glen Talbot is a bonafide, mad as a hatter, 100% looney toon super villain! What we know for sure is that Thanos is not going to be on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But as they have done in the past for major Marvel movie events such as Ultron and Civil War they are working Infinity War into the show through dialogue. Which is great. Because otherwise, the casual viewer would have no idea AOS is even set in the Marvel Universe. Since the season finale is entitled “The End” we could possibly see some Agents crumble to dust.

Final Thought Let me say that you know that the writers know that you know that they know that they are writing Graviton but they just seem to be showing the fans their middle finger by not calling Talbot Graviton.
WHY? Why, why, why???? Marvel movies are busting box office records with their superhero movies. Super. Hero. Captain America. Iron Man. Black Widow. Hulk. Star Lord. Hawkeye. Rocket Raccoon. Spider-Man. Black Panther. Dr. Strange. Ant-Man. Why isn’t AOS embracing this on their show? Quake, Deathlok and Ghost Rider are the only heroes they’ve called by name. Slingshot gets called “Yo-Yo” on the show and super villains like Graviton, Mr. Hyde, and Absorbing Man only get called by their civilian names. The series actually wants to be just a super spy show but for ratings sake they make that small connection to the Marvel Universe films. When you make up a superhero or a supervillain (and what fan hasn’t?), the first two things you do is come up with their powers and their name. And then a costume. Glen Talbot has the superpowers. They even gave him a cool costume. Why can’t they just go ahead and call him GRAVITON???
In spite of itself, it was still a pretty good episode. I might have even leaned toward giving this one a ten but I’m knocking it down a point for not calling him Graviton.

Rating: 9/10

NO. These “news” sources are quick to jump the gun and announce Graviton is on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But he is not. Why am I arguing against all these sources? It’s very simple. Until the show comes out and actually calls him by name there is no Graviton on the show. People familiar with the comic book may think so. But the show’s demographics reach far beyond comic book fans. And until they hear his name on the show they don’t know who the hell Graviton is. Will he get his name next week? I think absolutely not. We’ll just have to tune in and see.