History Recap / AgentsOfSHIELDS5E12TheRealDeal

* AbsurdPhobia: While the team discusses the implications of WhatDoTheyFearEpisode, it turns out that Deke is afraid of forests -- which for him are just open spaces with "branchy things" and creepy crawlers. He seems comfortable inside one by the end of the episode, however.

* TheyDo: Fitz and Simmons ''finally'' get married at the end of the episode.

* YourWorstNightmare: The fear dimension causes [[YourMindMakesItReal realistic]] illusions of the team's worst fears, which is mostly past enemies. In Coulson's case, however, it also manifests a fear of his impending death, in the form of suggesting that everything that's happened since Loki stabbed him has been a near-death hallucination.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Deke says he picked Simmons' ring because it looked like his grandmother's wedding ring, right before Hale's associate points out Deke is genetically related to Fitz and Simmons.

** Deke is genetically-linked to two members of Team Coulson -- Fitz and Simmons. Turns out they're his grandparents.

--> '''Mack:''' So, what he gets to burn longer?

* BittersweetEnding: Coulson's loss of GH-325 means he's dying, and cannot be cured by any means that Jemma knows of, while the rift is still present and has only been temporarily sealed. However, the immediate danger of the rift is contained for the moment, Hale leaves River's End after writing it off as a dead end, [=FitzSimmons=] finally get married, and the agents Deke gathered allows S.H.I.E.L.D. to reform.

* BrickJoke: A double: apparently, one of the things Coulson had Deke buy is [[SeriousBusiness a bottle of Haig]] (to replace the one that was consumed with the May LMD), but Deke couldn't find that anywhere... so he bought Zima instead.

* ChekhovsBoomerang: This episode establishes the origins of the Monolith stone that was formerly in Deke's father's possession: the original monolith was blown to bits in this episode, with [=FitzSimmons=] presumably keeping a piece of it. With the reveal that Deke is actually one of their grandchildren, it would appear that the stone was passed down for future generations as it would be used in the machine that would eventually return the team to the present.

* DangerousPhlebotinumInteraction: Mixing three monoliths of different purpose and an explosion creates a rift to another dimension, as well as an idyllic outdoor forest several hundred feet underground.

* MoreHeroThanThou: After Fitz's plan requires someone possibly going on a SuicideMission, the team argue who should go. Deke refuses by virtue of already having done that once, Fitz-Simmons are needed for engineering and medical, Yo-Yo is mutilated and needs Mack. It comes down to Coulson, May, and Daisy arguing which of them should go. In desperation, Fitz briefly brings up that they could send Piper, as a form of atonement/payback for her betraying them the previous episode, but this idea is quickly dismissed by Coulson.

** Davis was able to survive a run in with Aida with nothing more than a scar along his right cheek. Given that Aida was emotionally unstable, possessing superpowers, and Davis had just emptied a clip into her, Davis is either more skilled than he appears or is just lucky Aida didn't tear him to pieces.

* ProductPlacement: More for Zima since Deke buys it for the wedding.

* StarCrossedLovers: [=FitzSimmons=] status as this is {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Coulson, saying that risking any further delay in them getting married would be "playing with fire", and is only partly joking.

* TheUnreveal: When the fake Mike tries to convince Coulson that everything he'd experienced in recent years was a dream/hallucination, Coulson gets flashes of memory of being on the operating table. A voice is heard referencing Tony Stark supporting the effort to save Coulson. The unreveal part is it's unconfirmed whether this is a false memory, or if it is actually a real memory meaning the episode just revealed that Tony Stark was fully aware that Coulson survived being stabbed by Loki, contradicting what we saw in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''.

* StarCrossedLovers: [=FitzSimmons=] status as this is {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Coulson, saying that risking any further delay in them getting married would be "playing with fire".

* LoweredMonsterDifficulty: The roaches and the [=LMDs=] each took considerable punishment to defeat in their original appearances, while Hive and Lash were virtually indestructable. The manifestations of them here dissolve into smoke as soon as they're injured, such as being shot by a handgun.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: The fake Mike Peterson tries to convince Coulson that none of his adventures were real and he's just having a DyingDream, arguing that in real life it's simply impossible to do such ridiculous things as become host to a demon that turns your head into a flaming skull, become trapped in a virtual reality world with an alternate history, or travel through time. Yet his whole argument hinges on the fact that Coulson was stabbed by Loki, a ''Norse god'', which Fake Mike doesn't treat as being ridiculous in the slightest.

* WhamShot: Deke is genetically-linked to two members of Team Coulson -- Fitz and Simmons. Turns out they're his grandparents.

** At one point the lead characters take turns citing the different major story arcs the series has seen since it started; appropriate for the show's 100th episode and aimed at the fans.