Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 5, Episode 14 Review

Well, that got dark pretty quickly.

An interesting addition to the previously segment in "The Devil Complex" was the reference to Fitz's alternate persona in the Framework, that being of 'The Doctor' (no, not that one) - a menacing Hydra scientist, and the idea of such a personality being very much inside Fitz. Yet the episode brilliantly misdirects us in that respect, setting up 'The Doctor' as Fitz's greatest fear having emerged from the fear dimension ruptured a few episodes ago. In fact, the episode even opens with Simmons seeing the mysterious astronaut creature from a couple of seasons ago. "The Devil Complex" is clearly setting up The Doctor as the physical manifestation of Fitz's Framework alter ego, right up until he tries to remove Daisy's power inhibitor. Because why would he? Sure, Dr. Fitz gives his justification, but it seems like more of a normal Fitz explanation...

...And that's because it is. Because there is no 'The Doctor'. Fitz has been battling his own inner demon throughout the episode in such a way that's telegraphed from minute one. How could Deke find 'The Doctor' if he presumably knew where Fitz was? Why is there no real interaction between 'The Doctor' and Fitz? Fitz even comments that "you're just in my head" towards the start of the episode.

Now sure, the episode clearly tries to misdirect us throughout, and while it sort-of cheats us, it never does so in a way that we can't figure out that its a cheat. The episode, for the most part, plays fair with its audience, and because of that can savour in the ultimate twist reveal, making what could've easily been an easy-to-skip, villain-of-the-week installment all the more important in the season's narrative. Fitz is in a worse state than ever before, and even he managed to close the fear dimension and remove Daisy's inhibitor, he's completely broken the trust of his teammates. Not even Simmons can quite cope with this revelation, but she has a promise from Deke: Fitz has to get better. Why? Because how else can Deke be born in the future...

Oh yeah, and the SHIELD team also tried to capture General Hale in a B-plot labelled "next week we'll actually do something with this". It's a bit annoying when episodes that reach dramatic peaks as high as "The Devil Complex" have to maintain season arcs in this way; I do wonder if the episode would've been much better without the Hale sub-plot, regardless of the fact that it's actually a pretty good B-plot in itself. Perhaps it's just a matter of waiting for this season to play out and reach its end goal, as I'm sure once it's placement in the broader story-line is clarified, "The Devil Complex" will seem even better than on a first viewing.

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