Agents of SHIELD: Season 6

[Christopher]

*Technically, a female child could be Deke's mother.

No, because Deke was the grandchild of a version of Fitz and Simmons from a different future. This Fitz and Simmons are in an alternate timeline from the one he came from, so any child they might have now would not be his direct progenitor.

(Edited to correct generational error)

 

[Henoch]

No, because Deke was the child of a version of Fitz and Simmons from a different future.

Am I missing something? I thought Deke was Fitz and Simmons grandson. DNA confirmed. His father was a man named Owen Shaw, son of Agent Shaw. Please help me out.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Am I missing something? I thought Deke was Fitz and Simmons grandson. DNA confirmed. His father was a man named Owen Shaw, son of Agent Shaw. Please help me out.

You're correct. Deke is their grandson.

 

[Henoch]

Wait. I get it. Never mind. You mean our Deke cannot be a (grand)child of this version of Jemma and Fitz, especially since she is pregnant by a future Fitz which will not occur now that they changed the timeline (or have they?). I'm time confused.

 

[Christopher]

I'm time confused.

Just remember Endgame time rules: You can't erase something that already happened, merely create a parallel version alongside it. And it was already confirmed that AoS is following the same rules, because Deke didn't blink out of existence when the timeline he came from was averted. Every version of history coexists. Deke's birth happened, just not in the timeline he currently resides in.

That's the way it should work, the only way that makes physical and logical sense, but we've been conditioned to expect the nonsensical fantasy version where time travel makes people "blink out" when their past is changed, because so many stories default to that. (As with the very similar situation in The Flash last season.) When a hundred stories have taught you expect the absurdly self-contradictory and impossible version, it makes the much more straightforward and self-consistent version seem confusing. Like how being used to Imperial units makes metric confusing even though it's objectively far simpler and easier to learn.

 

[The Old Mixer]

he did mention being a hundred years old, but that seems to be more about time dilation than actual age, but that would still mean that he was born decades before our guy.

Maybe not. He kind of deflected May's question by making the answer about how old he was from an outside perspective. Didn't say a thing about how far back his own memory goes, subjectively.

 

[RJDiogenes]

You mean aunt*. Deke Shaw is their grandson.

Ah, that's right. I forgot about that.

Maybe not. He kind of deflected May's question by making the answer about how old he was from an outside perspective. Didn't say a thing about how far back his own memory goes, subjectively.

That could be. But why would he be evasive about that, if he's never been to Earth before? Or was he lying about never being to Earth before?

 

[Reverend]

Clearly there's something going on that directly links Sarge to Coulson. Aside from having identical face, DNA etc. he keeps saying things Coulson has said and the name itself appears to mean *something* to him. If they're tying these things he's chasing into the origin of the monoliths, then perhaps that's the key.

Remember last season when three of those things blew up and tor a hole into a nightmare dimension? Coulson had by far the longest and closest exposure to the tear, so perhaps this guy really is the "nightmare" to Coulson's "dream". Whatever malevolent force that was on the other side of it didn't just throw old baddies at him like it did for everyone else, it got right inside his head and tried to construct a very personalised scenario to stop him from sealing the breach.
Maybe Sarge is a duplicate like the manifestations we saw last season, only somehow this one was permanent and thrown back in time and across the galaxy? There's gaps in this theory I know, but I think I'm on the right track.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Come to think of it, they made a point to note that they don't know what the third monolith does. Maybe it's the Monolith of Evil Twins.

 

[Reverend]

What confused me was they seemed to imply one of them was the space monolith, when we know that was destroyed (and the remains presumably in SHIELD custody if it happens to reform.) I suppose there could have been more than one, but that makes them seem rather less special.

 

[Henoch]

Sounds like monoliths were built by very powerful aliens a long time ago. Were they trying to emulate lesser infinity stones? Who were these aliens?

 

[UssGlenn]

My favorite theory about Sarge so far is that he's the result of whatever deal Coulson made with Ghost Rider. He's some sort of Spirit of Vengeance now with no memory of his previous life. There's even precedent for flaming Semi-Truck in the comics, Devil-Rig. Plus he fought vampires, and what do the aliens look like? Bats. They even made a joke about Sarge's head bursting into flames.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

My favorite theory about Sarge so far is that he's the result of whatever deal Coulson made with Ghost Rider. He's some sort of Spirit of Vengeance now with no memory of his previous life. There's even precedent for flaming Semi-Truck in the comics, Devil-Rig. Plus he fought vampires, and what do the aliens look like? Bats. They even made a joke about Sarge's head bursting into flames.

Ooooh, I like that theory, too. And maybe that'll lead to Robbie returning this season before his own show starts?

I also like Reverend's monolith theory, so I'm kind of torn about which one I want to happen. It's probably something to do with the monoliths considering they were highlighted last episode.

Maybe there's some twisted way for both theories to work? Yeah, probably not.

 

[JD]

Those are both interesting theories.
The only thing I've come up with is that he's Coulson's ancestor who has forgotten about he life on Earth for some reason. Which would explain why Coulson sounds familiar, because was a Coulson, but just not the Coulson. The reason he keeps using phrases Phil Coulson did was because members of the family have continued to use them after he left.

 

[Christopher]

The Ghost Rider theory is intriguing. I'm not a fan of "exact lookalike ancestor" stories, though. (While people have often told me I bear a striking resemblance to my father, it's only approximate, not exact.)

 

[kitik]

Great attempts at theories. I'm loving where we are right now in the season. Just the right mixture of mystery and action.

Imagine if this was one of those "all episodes at once" shows. There would be no theory-posting online. No discussion about Coulson or monoliths. We'd all already know what happens with FitzSimmons and we'd know the full story behind Coulson. And even if some folks resisted the urge and only watched the episodes once a week, they still couldn't have any online discussions because other fans would have seen the whole thing.

I'm so glad weekly television shows still exist.

As much as I enjoyed the Tahiti flashbacks, it was painfully clear they weren't on any beach but in some studio with sky blue-green backdrops.

I actually loved the way they shot that scene. Because that's the way Tahiti looks on AOS. They're staying consistent with their own history. Honestly, I really appreciated that.

 

[DEWLine]

If "Sarge" is Nightmare...?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Great attempts at theories. I'm loving where we are right now in the season. Just the right mixture of mystery and action.

Imagine if this was one of those "all episodes at once" shows. There would be no theory-posting online. No discussion about Coulson or monoliths. We'd all already know what happens with FitzSimmons and we'd know the full story behind Coulson. And even if some folks resisted the urge and only watched the episodes once a week, they still couldn't have any online discussions because other fans would have seen the whole thing.

I'm so glad weekly television shows still exist.

Yeah, there are definitely some positives to still doing a weekly show and I say that as someone who loves the binge model. I get it's not for everyone.

I actually loved the way they shot that scene. Because that's the way Tahiti looks on AOS. They're staying consistent with their own history. Honestly, I really appreciated that.

Yeah, that makes sense when you look at it that way. It just stood out like a sore thumb from a production standpoint for me.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was thinking about that Ghost Rider deal as a way to bring back the real Coulson, but not as an explanation for Sarge. Of course, now that I think of it, Sarge could be a resurrected Coulson who was displaced in time....

 

[OCD Geek]

Enoch's a fucking badass.