Things looked rather dire for our heroes at the end of last week’s episode, as alterations to the time drive failed to stop the Zephyr’s abrupt time jumps. The Zephyr jumped within a jump, sending the ship into a time storm. What does that mean? Well, when the agents reach the center of the storm, they will cease to have ever existed. Yeah, not good.
To make matters worse, every time the Zephyr jumps the crew experiences a time loop. Fortunately, Daisy (Chloe Bennet, Valley Girl) and Coulson (Clark Gregg, Thor) remember the previous occurrences. The only time that isn’t true is when they die. Then they don’t remember anything.
The situation requires a lot of Bennet and Gregg acting-wise, and I’m pleased to say that they deliver, particularly Gregg. The Coulson LMD is a character I didn’t expect to grow on me. But Clark Gregg’s performance, agonizing over what he really is and having to watch his friends die, reels you in. To have memories of people you care about only to realize they’re not your own would be devastating.
Despite the crisis, there is a certain level of comedy to the episode. Part of the humor comes from Daisy and Coulson trying to get on the same page. However, a lot of it revolves around Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge, Christmas at the Plaza) and Enoch (Joel Stoffer, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). As previously established, Jemma has an implant that prevents her from remembering vital information the Chronicoms could exploit. The problem is this information includes how to fix the time drive. Further complicating matters is Enoch, who Simmons programmed to protect her implant at all costs.
It’s honestly pretty amusing to see Enoch barge into the room and throw everyone around. It’s also funny how the episode cuts from our heroes formulating a plan to immediately showing them on the floor in failure. It does raise the question why Enoch can take everyone on at once when he lost a one-on-one fight earlier this season. He supposedly has weapons, but we only hear this in passing.
Turns out Enoch is the key to fixing the drive. He has an internal component that can interface with it. But he will die if he takes it out. Despite that, he removes it willingly. It’s here that the episode gives Enoch what’s supposed to be an emotional sendoff. But I’ve never been all that attached to Enoch. Even though he considers the team his friends, he’s always felt like more of an appliance than a character. But I guess it’s sort of different when someone dies right in front of you, even if they are a robot.
Even though I’m not all that attached to Enoch, I would say ‘As I Always Have Been’ is a good episode, particularly because of how creative it is. Elizabeth Henstridge directed it, believe it or not, and she should be proud of it.
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