Line #40 Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS5E21TheForceOfGravity


1	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.
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3	----
4	!!Tropes:
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6	* AloneWithThePsycho: 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.
7	* ApologeticAttacker: Talbot is clearly not comfortable with killing Carl, but he deems it a necessity.
8	* AstralProjection: 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.
9	* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: 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.
10	* BadassBoast:
11	** May states she doesn't need a gun to kill Qovas. She lives up to that.
12	** Daisy gets one, too.
13	-->'''Daisy:''' When I get out of this. I'm stronger than you know.\
14	'''Taryan:''' Everyone says that.\
15	'''Daisy:''' But in my case, it's true. I'm the Destroyer of Worlds. [She then effortlessly escapes the astral projection]
16	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: 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.
17	* BigDamnHeroes: Daisy saves Deke, Coulson and May from a bunch of Remoraths.
18	* BigDamnKiss: Coulson kisses May, as they take cover from Remorath bullets behind the energy shield from his artificial hand. [[IronicEcho He figured that would shut her up.]]
19	* BloodFromTheMouth: Blood gurgles from Coulson's lips when his condition worsens on the ''Zephyr''.
20	* BookEnds:
21	** Jemma [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] their going full-circle on the Centipede Serum, which had been from their very first mission.
22	** 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 SuperHeroOrigin.
23	* BulletDodgesYou: Talbot uses his powers to cause bullets to orbit around him before [[CatchAndReturn sending them back]] to the agents that fired them.
24	* CallBack: May and Coulson remember how they got to know Talbot and how unlikely it seemed back then that he would become their close ally.
25	* CharacterDeath:
26	** Talbot drags off and crushes [[MauveShirt Agent Kim]].
27	** Creel is absorbed by Talbot, who abused the former's powers in order to gain more Gravitonium.
28	** Qovas dies after his missiles hit his own ship.
29	* ChekhovsGun:
30	** The Odium that the Remorath prisoner had ingested is presented as an option to stop Talbot.
31	** 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.
32	* CliffhangerCopout: The previous episode implied Daisy had already been sent off to Taryan. This episode reveals that it was just an AstralProjection of her mind and the Remorath are still dragging her body to the teleporter, allowing her to break free.
33	* ClosestThingWeGot: 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.
34	* ContinuityNod: News footage once again shows the aftermath of [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar 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.
35	* CuttingTheKnot: 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.
36	* DoesntLikeGuns: Guns are deemed a coward's weapon in the Remorath culture. Kill-counts must be earned in melee or they are dishonorable.
37	* ExactWords: 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.
38	* {{Foreshadowing}}: BatmanCanBreatheInSpace is averted here. This will return in the next episode.
39	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Remorath ship is destroyed by its own missiles. Even better, Qovas launches them, not realizing that the coordinates have been altered.
40	* HopeSpot: Talbot's son is initially amazed and delighted at his dad's new powers. Too bad it all goes to hell shortly after.
41	* {{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."
42	* IronicEcho: 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.
43	* ItsAllMyFault: Coulson beats himself up over not rescuing Talbot sooner.
44	* ItsQuietTooQuiet: Coulson notes this after Deke breaks him and May out of their cell on the Remorath. The silence is creepy.
45	* IWantThemAlive: Qovas orders Daisy captured alive because Taryan wants her, but Coulson, May, and Deke are fair game.
46	* JawDrop: Daisy stares in slack-jawed shock at Coulson and May's BigDamnKiss before remembering that there is a Remorath shooting at them.
47	* JerkassBall: 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.
48	* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: After Daisy catches the BigDamnKiss between May and Coulson, we have this exchange:
49	-->'''Daisy:''' Uhh...\
50	'''Coulson:''' Not a word, Agent Johnson. [[ThatsAnOrder That's an order.]]\
51	'''Daisy:''' Copy that, Hotlips.
52	* LoopholeAbuse: Fitz points out that Future Yo-Yo said that ''[[ExactWords 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.
53	* NoodleIncident: More teasing is offered about how Agent Davis survived Aida's attack, with the dialogue suggesting it was an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.
54	* OhCrap: Qovas can only utter an astounded, "How?" once he sees the missiles approaching his own ship.
55	-->'''Deke:''' [[BrickJoke I know "zero".]]
56	* OneManArmy: 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 PersonOfMassDestruction who can FightLikeANormal and implement her powers into close-quarters combat, pretty easily tears through them.
57	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Jemma notes how Fitz now acknowledges that the future might be changeable, despite earlier insisting that time is fixed.
58	* PreAssKickingOneLiner: Daisy tells Taryan "I am the Destroyer of Worlds" right before breaking free of his projection device.
59	* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Remorath view guns as a coward's weapon, since they don't require you to get [[CloseRangeCombatant 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.
60	* RecycledSet: [[LampshadeHanging Noted]] InUniverse when May gripes that all the corridors on the ship look alike.
61	* RunningGag: 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, [[KidFromTheFuture and he's the same age as his grandparents]].
62	* SadisticChoice: 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.
63	* ShipperOnDeck: 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.
64	* ShoutOut:
65	** Daisy calls Coulson [[{{Series/MASH}} "Hot Lips"]] and later sing-songs, [[Film/{{Poltergeist\|1982}} "They're here,"]] before the Remorath attack.
66	** Talbolt lifting and dropping the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles is similar to Magneto in the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men movie]]. That it takes place outside a house on a cul-de-sac makes it similar to ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''.
67	** Elena compares Talbot to Theatre/{{Macbeth}}, because he thinks he's the hero of the story, when he's actually the villain.
68	* ShutUpHannibal: 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.
69	* ShutUpKiss: Coulson gives May a kiss in the middle of a battle because he figured it would shut her up.
70	* SmugSuper: Talbot is utterly confident in the invulnerability provided by his powers, and toys with the agents that confront him outside his house.
71	* TheStinger: Talbot has kidnapped Robin and her mother, and is using Robin to find more Gravitonium.
72	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: 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.
73	* WeCanRuleTogether: Taryan wants Daisy to become his "disciple" so she can unleash her powers as his weapon on other parts of the galaxy.
74	* WhamLine: 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:
75	-->'''Daisy:''' There isn't any more Centipede Serum. The dose I brought back is the last of it.
76	* WhatTheHellHero: 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.
77	* WithUsOrAgainstUs: Once he hears that she spoke with S.H.I.E.L.D., Talbot doesn't even refrain from attacking his own wife.
78	* WouldHitAGirl: Talbot uses his powers on Carla after she questions him and mentions S.H.I.E.L.D. told her he's not fine.
79	* YearInsideHourOutside: 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.

Context Recap / AgentsOfSHIELDS5E21TheForceOfGravity