Daisy finds herself in the hands of Kasius' father, Talbot returns home to try and recruit his wife and son to his cause, and the clock begins to run out on Coulson.
Tropes:
- Alone with the Psycho: Talbot's wife is well aware that something is terrifyingly off about him. The whole time he's talking to their son, her eyes dart between them, full of fright.
- Apologetic Attacker: Talbot is clearly not comfortable with killing Carl, but he deems it a necessity.
- Astral Projection: Taryan has the Remorath attach a device to Daisy's forehead which leaves her body unconscious while projecting her mind to the Confederacy's meeting room, partly to protect himself from being quaked to pieces, and partly because in this state she will still get hungry and tired but be unable to eat or sleep, and will eventually break and agree to serve him in order to make the torture end. Daisy uses her powers to break the device and return to the real world.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Qovas is able to give May one hell of a fight. If not for the missiles destroying the ship, it is completely left in the open how the fight would've ended.
- Badass Boast:
- May states she doesn't need a gun to kill Qovas. She lives up to that.
- Daisy gets one, too.
Daisy: When I get out of this. I'm stronger than you know.
Taryan: Everyone says that.
Daisy: But in my case, it's true. I'm the Destroyer of Worlds. [She then effortlessly escapes the astral projection] - Batman Can Breathe in Space: Averted. Talbot's powers don't protect him from vacuum conditions, so he commandeers a Quinjet specifically to be able to breathe, not needing it to fly.
- Big Damn Heroes: Daisy saves Deke, Coulson and May from a bunch of Remoraths.
- Big Damn Kiss: Coulson kisses May, as they take cover from Remorath bullets behind the energy shield from his artificial hand. He figured that would shut her up.
- Blood from the Mouth: Blood gurgles from Coulson's lips when his condition worsens on the Zephyr.
- Book Ends:
- Jemma lampshades their going full-circle on the Centipede Serum, which had been from their very first mission.
- Talbot's constant delusion that he's become a superhero is reminiscent of Mike Peterson's attitude in the first episode, who believed that his destructive actions were actually part of his Super Hero Origin.
- Bullet Dodges You: Talbot uses his powers to cause bullets to orbit around him before sending them back to the agents that fired them.
- Call-Back: May and Coulson remember how they got to know Talbot and how unlikely it seemed back then that he would become their close ally.
- Character Death:
- Talbot drags off and crushes Agent Kim.
- Creel is absorbed by Talbot, who abused the former's powers in order to gain more Gravitonium.
- Qovas dies after his missiles hit his own ship.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The Odium that the Remorath prisoner had ingested is presented as an option to stop Talbot.
- Deke mentions that he knows the Kree character for the number zero. He later uses it to direct Qovas's missiles into the ship itself (presumably setting the coordinates to (0,0,0)), killing him.
- Cliffhanger Copout: The previous episode implied Daisy had already been sent off to Taryan. This episode reveals that it was just an Astral Projection of her mind and the Remorath are still dragging her body to the teleporter, allowing her to break free.
- Closest Thing We Got: May drags Deke along to the bridge because he's the only person on the ship that can read the Remorath language, even though by his own admission all he knows of the language is numbers zero through five. It turns out zero is a pretty helpful thing to know when you want to re-target a couple of missiles so that they come right back at the ship that fired them.
- Continuity Nod: News footage once again shows the aftermath of the Black Order's attack on New York, confirming that the events of the end of this season coincide with Infinity War. Earth had an even worse day than the rest of the universe in the dark timeline.
- Cutting the Knot: Talbot wants more Gravitonium, but he doesn't know where to find a readily available source. So he goes to Creel and has him absorb some of Talbot's Gravitonium so Creel can turn into Gravitonium. Which Talbot promptly absorbs.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Guns are deemed a coward's weapon in the Remorath culture. Kill-counts must be earned in melee or they are dishonorable.
- Exact Words: May tells Qovas she doesn't need a gun to kill him. Instead, she has his own ship's missiles do the job for her.
- Foreshadowing: Batman Can Breathe in Space is averted here. This will return in the next episode.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Remorath ship is destroyed by its own missiles. Even better, Qovas launches them, not realizing that the coordinates have been altered.
- Hope Spot: Talbot's son is initially amazed and delighted at his dad's new powers. Too bad it all goes to hell shortly after.
- Hypocrite: Qovas goes on a rant about how ballistic weapons are for cowards — before threatening Coulson and May with the ship's missiles, pointed at the Lighthouse. When he orders his troops to use guns on them later, he seems to think using dishonorable weapons against them is poetic justice, "since you like weapons so much."
- Ironic Echo: Coulson tells May, "I thought that would shut you up," after kissing her, just as she said to him after confessing her feelings for him a few episodes earlier.
- It's All My Fault: Coulson beats himself up over not rescuing Talbot sooner.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Coulson notes this after Deke breaks him and May out of their cell on the Remorath. The silence is creepy.
- I Want Them Alive!: Qovas orders Daisy captured alive because Taryan wants her, but Coulson, May, and Deke are fair game.
- Jaw Drop: Daisy stares in slack-jawed shock at Coulson and May's Big Damn Kiss before remembering that there is a Remorath shooting at them.
- Jerkass Ball: May mocks Deke for not being able to count past 5, asking him how he even survived so far. This is after he rescued her and Coulson, no less. Thus far, she had been the only person not to mock Deke, so the writers must have thought she was due.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After Daisy catches the Big Damn Kiss between May and Coulson, we have this exchange:
- Loophole Abuse: Fitz points out that Future Yo-Yo said that trying to save Coulson is what dooms the world — so what happens if they actually succeed? This is quickly subverted when it turns out they literally have to choose between saving Coulson or destroying Graviton, because they only have one dose of the necessary Centipede Serum.
- Noodle Incident: More teasing is offered about how Agent Davis survived Aida's attack, with the dialogue suggesting it was an Offscreen Moment of Awesome.
- Oh, Crap!: Qovas can only utter an astounded, "How?" once he sees the missiles approaching his own ship.Deke: I know "zero".
- One-Man Army: As it turns out, they weren't wrong about how much they needed Daisy previously; the Remorath were shown beforehand to be difficult for any single person to fight one-on-one, and a horde of them nearly wiped out S.H.I.E.L.D. entirely. Daisy, however, being a Person of Mass Destruction who can Fight Like a Normal and implement her powers into close-quarters combat, pretty easily tears through them.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Jemma notes how Fitz now acknowledges that the future might be changeable, despite earlier insisting that time is fixed.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Daisy tells Taryan "I am the Destroyer of Worlds" right before breaking free of his projection device.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Remorath view guns as a coward's weapon, since they don't require you to get up close to your opponent. Qovas specifically orders his men to use guns after Coulson and May escape, saying they don't deserve an honorable death.
- Recycled Set: Noted In-Universe when May gripes that all the corridors on the ship look alike.
- Running Gag: Once again, Agent Davis explains offscreen how he survived Aida's attack, with no details for the audience. Deke declares it to be the most incredible story he's ever heard, and he's the same age as his grandparents.
- Sadistic Choice: There's only a single dose of the Centipede Serum left. It can either be infused with Jiaying's DNA and used to save Coulson, or infused with Odium and used to stop Talbot, but not both, which is the decision that decides the fate of the world.
- Shipper on Deck: Daisy is ecstatic to see Coulson and May finally kiss; she's beaming for the rest of the mission (until Coulson collapses), and is evidently very eager to see the two have a happy ending.
- Shout-Out:
- Daisy calls Coulson "Hot Lips" and later sing-songs, "They're here," before the Remorath attack.
- Talbolt lifting and dropping the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles is similar to Magneto in the first X-Men movie. That it takes place outside a house on a cul-de-sac makes it similar to X-Men: The Last Stand.
- Elena compares Talbot to Macbeth, because he thinks he's the hero of the story, when he's actually the villain.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Taryan is gloating about how Daisy's mind will be trapped in its projected state until he breaks her. She responds by telling him how his sons are going to die, then quakes the device trapping her mind, breaking herself free.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Coulson gives May a kiss in the middle of a battle because he figured it would shut her up.
- Smug Super: Talbot is utterly confident in the invulnerability provided by his powers, and toys with the agents that confront him outside his house.
- The Stinger: Talbot has kidnapped Robin and her mother, and is using Robin to find more Gravitonium.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Carla Talbot thought reciting the "comply" words for the Faustus Method would help her husband. It appears she had no idea that Hale and her lackey were HYDRA, and so had no idea she was triggering his brainwashing.
- We Can Rule Together: Taryan wants Daisy to become his "disciple" so she can unleash her powers as his weapon on other parts of the galaxy.
- Wham Line: Just as Fitz and Simmons point out how they can use one dose of the Centipede Serum to stop Talbot and another to save Coulson, Daisy drops this bombshell:Daisy: There isn't any more Centipede Serum. The dose I brought back is the last of it.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Talbot's son George calls him out for claiming to be a hero when all he's doing is hurting people. Talbot is still convinced he is one, but it gets him to back down from killing Yo-Yo and Mack.
- With Us or Against Us: Once he hears that she spoke with S.H.I.E.L.D., Talbot doesn't even refrain from attacking his own wife.
- Would Hit a Girl: Talbot uses his powers on Carla after she questions him and mentions S.H.I.E.L.D. told her he's not fine.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Taryan says the astral projection device will affect how Daisy perceives time. This is demonstrated when it's revealed that their entire rather lengthy conversation took place as Daisy was being carried away from where she was knocked out and down a hallway. She breaks free before it can impact her further.
