#leo fitz meta

[samanthaswishes]

I watched The Legend of Korra for the first time 6 months ago, and it quickly became one of my favorite shows along with Agents of SHIELD, and I've been meaning to make this post since then, but I keep forgetting.

I wish Agents of SHIELD treated Daisy's trauma the way The Legend of Korra treated Korra's trauma.

Daisy and Korra are very similar characters, but it is kinda funny (not funny for them, very sad for them but funny that it happened this way) that coincidentally both of them experience extreme physical and mental trauma at the end of their third seasons and had to deal with the aftermath during their fourth seasons.

In the case of Daisy, she was belittled and torn down by the people that were supposed to be her family because she took some time away and was told to get over it. I've made several posts about how much I hated that treatment of her trauma. Daisy was only away for six months, yet the SHIELD team, mostly Fitz, tore into her for "turning her back" on them. Which she didn't, but again, I've made posts about this, so I won't get into it. Then when she came back and was struggling with her powers, she was then again belittled, by you know who, for not being at the level she used to be. Her powers, though very much needed, were taken advantage of.

However, in the case of Korra, who was away to recover for three years, had very a supportive treatment from her family and friends. When she wanted to rush her healing, she was told that she was allowed to take as much time as she needed to heal. And even when she was stuck in her own depression and anger, everyone was understanding. They would actually talk to Korra, hoping that she would push herself to heal, but not forcing it upon her. And when Korra's power wasn't exactly up to scale, no one blamed her for it and was very understanding of that too (except President Raiko, but no one likes him, so he doesn't count).

Both Daisy and Korra received a "tough love" aspect in their shows, Daisy from May and Korra from Toph. Those talks weren't belittling (Okay, Toph was a little belittling, but that's just Toph, and she means it in the best way). They were actually what pushed both Daisy and Korra that they weren't alone in their healing, and being around others could actually help them.

All in all, say what you want about The Legend of Korra in regards to how it compares to its predecessor Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of the best pieces of media I've watched, it does an amazing job at portraying trauma and healing (ATLA did too, but I was just felt so connected to TLOK's storyline). I know I probably left out a lot of other details about her healing, but I also don't want to give too much spoilers in case someone who hasn't watched the show reads this and maybe wants to check it out one day.

Again, I just wish Agents of SHIELD, my favorite show ever, treated Daisy, my favorite character of all time, and her traumas with the same respect and care that TLOK did for Korra.

[jennastarkhasaheart]

4x15 is so good im still floored honestly. the acting by chloe and elizabeth was insane, the tension, the bait and switch by the fitz lmd, especially if you know whats going to happen its just heartbreaking to watch him, and then when daisy finds simmons and they have to prove to each other that theyre them... that hug honestly broke my heart. and then the ending is just on a whole different level. id even go so far as to say that it beats the finale for this season. lmd may choosing to believe in her humanity and making sure the rest of the shield agents can get away to then sacrifice herself and take the other lmds down with her is just poetic, and terrible and sad. and thats not even touching aidas betrayal, the superior chop shop, or just the terrifying idea of all your friends being replaced and turning everyone else against you, forcing you to potentially have to defend yourself against them. this show honestly has no business being this good.

[jennastarkhasaheart]

yeah and also lets not forget, flint was literally created out of thin fucking air only like half an hour ago in the temple that got blown up by the evil demon shield was actually currently trying to stop. yeah, day got weirder.

I can’t stop thinking about Season 7 from Piper and Flint’s perspective. They’re in the quinjet, flying away from a battle, and then Fitzsimmons just appear onboard with their robot buddy

And they’re like, nope, go back into the warzone, and while you’re at it: we’re gonna need a bit of space rock

And then they abandon them and run off to the Zephyr…

BUT two seconds later, here’s Fitz, bringing down the containment module

And they’re like ok, Fitz is gonna go inside here for a bit, GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIVES, ok? Bye.

AND THEN the temple just BLOWS UP from some fucking SKY LASERS they know nothing about

OH AND FITZSIMMONS ARE BACK

Wait, wtf, wasn’t Fitz in the box here??

NOT ANYMORE, PSYCH! But wait…. check around back!

There’s a kid in there!! She’s our daughter, she’s 5! Surprise!!!

And this all went down in like…. 10? 20? minutes

[samanthaswishes]

I'm in a 'being bitter in defense of Daisy' mood right now, so I don't know if it's my pro-Daisy, anti-F!tz mind being biased and clouding my judgment, but a thought came to me that I haven't really seen discussed:

Why didn't Daisy get any recognition in the rescue of Jemma from Maveth?

LITERALLY throughout the entire series after 3x02, all we hear about is how F!tz bravely dove through the portal to save Jemma, which, yes, was pretty brave, I'll give him that. But it was also a pretty stupid decision on his part.

Daisy was the one to hold the portal open with her powers, way longer than she should have been able to, mind you. F!tz wouldn't have been able to do it without her. Daisy put her own health and life on the line in order to bring Jemma back too. F!tz dove into the portal, knowing the risk of Daisy. She had passed out due to the vibrations previously and more than likely did again after the scene cut.

F!tz got all the recognition for Jemma's rescue, and all Daisy got was a "good job" from Mack (which this isn't to downplay that either cause it's one of my favorite Daisy and Mack moments).

F!tz made a, though successful, stupid decision that risked the life of someone he was supposed to see as a friend. The least he could have done was acknowledge that, at least to her, instead of basking in 'his own' victory. I'm not saying Daisy deserved more recognition than him, but some for her major contribution would have been nice.

This is also not to say that Jemma shouldn't have been saved because she more than deserved to get off that planet. This isn't anything against her because of the whole situation, she is the primary victim of what had happened. I'm just saying that if you dive into a portal that is being held open by somebody who is literally risking their own health and life to do so, the least you could do is thank them for it.

Again, my bias towards Daisy and feeling bitter in defense of her might be clouding my judgment, but it was just something that suddenly came to mind, and I had strong feelings about it.

[jennastarkhasaheart]

I noticed something: the suit daisy wears until the end of season 5 was likely made by fitz after season 2. The one she wears after that was made by someone else, because fitz is dead. In a meta sense its probably because the show and all the characters changed after coulson died, but in universe maybe she didnt want the reminder of fitz and what he did, aside from just figuring out who she is without coulson, and got the suit because of that, among other things.

[fitzsimmonsyyy]

I think it’s kinda wonderful that even with Fitz’s 4 minuets of screen time they managed to give him growth. In seasons 5&6 his biggest issue was solving problems with a time crunch and not taking the time and being crushed under that pressure, but now he’s learned he can take the time he needs, having Jemma lighten the load of him having the world on his shoulders, and just live in the process and I think that’s beautiful.

[imustgo-on-icantgo-on-illgo-on]

Leopold Fitz: Nothing. We do. Matters.

“If you saw the future, then that’s the future”

This assertion was uttered by Fitz in the season 3 episode “Spacetime”. He explains to the team how “time is an illusion” used to perceive the fourth dimension, but as we have seen in Fitz’s past, like here in Spacetime, and in Fitz’s (potential) future, as seen through the eyes of Robin, in The Last Day when he asserts that “Nothing we do matters”. He suggest that they have been stuck in the time loop trying to change things, and they never can. In fact, according to Fitz’s perspective on the theory of spacetime, everything that happens happens exactly as it happens and cannot happen another way. It’s why in the the future, when Yo-Yo speaks to herself, her future self says she can hear her “own words” bouncing through her head. She realizes it’s a literal loop and that every decision, every word, is exactly the same every time. This is Fitz’s whole worldview. All of the universe, from the big bang to the unpredictable end, is a solid stationary object in the 4th dimension, but as we exist in the 3rd dimension, we experience it all one moment at a time. So given the same situation, the same people will always make the same choices. This is where the Doctor comes in.

Fitz’s sense of self was already called into serious question when he awoke from the Framework. Through his father’s emotional abuse and spreading of toxic masculinity (Placing strength above love, ie when he corrects Jemma saying that Fitz isn’t a good man, Leopold is a great one), compounded by AIDA’s lies and manipulation, Leopold was a personality that practically couldn’t be more dissimilar from Fitz, united only by their genius. Until Fitz woke up. When he got out of the framework, he had lived a whole life that was and wasn’t his, and unlike the rest of the team, it was a whole life. Coulson reset from college, Mack reset to his daughter’s birth, May reset to Bahrain, Mace to whenever he went through terregenesis (or maybe since HYDRA took over) but Fitz’s new life started as a child, with a father who actually sobered up and stuck around. And after several real world affecting decisions (building AIDA a body, ordering the hit on Mace) he woke up. With another voice in his head.

When Fitz is taken by Hale’s team, his first suggestion for what happened to the team is that he may have “Prodromal [Phase] Schizophrenia”, which is the earliest phase of the disorder, and could have blocked out the memory of doing something to, or for, his team. This theory is dismissed as everyone in the diner suffered the time lapse from Enoch’s device. However, his theory is accurate about himself, I think, especially when he says that he’s racking his “brains”. Plural. Now, the first phase of schizophrenia can manifest like depression or anxiety, with the person often being closed off (Fitz in prison), prone to outbursts of anger (Fitz watching football in prison), and odd or out of character behavior (Fitz in all of season 5). When Hunter helps get Fitz out, he gives him the advice to tap into his dark side, as it can be useful, but Hunter doesn’t have a literal other personality in his head. Fitz clearly listens to him when confronting Enoch, or controlling the room as Boshtok the Marauder, but he doesn’t take over. But this other personality is not just a sign a schizophrenia, which Fitz displays symptoms of, it’s a DID.

Dissociative Identity Disorder is defined as a condition in which two, or more, distinct identities inhabit, and occasionally take control of, an individual. They often have their own personal history, separate from the dominant persona, and can even be a different age, gender, race, etc. But The Doctor is special. In a way, Fitz really lived the life of that persona, except it all happened in a week or so (The time he was actually plugged into the framework). So here is that sense of the illusion of time being impressed on him again, now through a whole other life that lives alongside his own, blurring the two together, and further showing how nothing he can do as an individual matters because a person will always make the same decisions given the same situation. But now, Fitz has someone who isn’t that same individual. Fitz has a self that isn’t the scared kid who couldn’t jump out of a plane to save the love of his life. He isn’t the mentally impaired genius stuck in a broken body, barely able to speak to others or hold his hands steady. He isn’t the man who was stuck strapped to a chair as a man he once considered something like a brother tortured his love. He’s the Doctor, and the doctor comes to do what Fitz is unwilling to do. He makes the decisions he wouldn’t, and Fitz let’s him because he’s done the math and believes the fear dimension could consume the earth, and the only way to save it is to restore Daisy’s powers. He needs to challenge his whole worldview, that the future can’t be changed, and the only way he can see that is to surrender control to the Doctor and let him do what he thinks is right, in order to save the world. 

The part that breaks my heart: I think he’s wrong.

Acute schizophrenia, the second stage of the condition, is when an individual begins having hallucinations and delusions, and is at risk of suffering a psychotic episode. The writers of Agents of SHIELD titled that psychotic episode “The Devil Complex”. During such an episode, an individual cannot determine what is real from what isn’t, and may hold onto false and paranoid beliefs. That’s the clue. Fitz says time and time again that he’s done the math, so he knows that Daisy can manipulate the gravitonium, and his math is proven right. But did he have any calculations to prove the fear dimension could destroy the earth? Specifically in the manner that results in the earth literally splitting apart, minutes after Daisy (as seen in the quinjet footage) is seen heading to the epicenter of the cause? I doubt it. See with DID, the dominant personality in a person can often become passive and dependent (Shown deferring judgement of the solution to The Doctor) guilty (Taking full responsibility for his/The Doctor’s actions), and depressed. This is seen at it’s peak when Fitz’s dominant personality rushes in to “find” Daisy strapped to the table. He rushes into Fitz’s head because he knows it’s wrong, but he has become more passive and weak than ever, stuttering and cowering at the site of The Doctor. Of himself. His DID mixed with a psychotic episode of acute schizophrenia is done in a way that is painfully real, because it is all real to the individual. We see The Doctor in a suit, and so does Fitz. He sees it. Feels it. Could delude himself into thinking he’s adjusting his tie, because those hallucinations are that real. So what is the truth? Did Fitz save the world or cause its demise? Because the Fitz that went through the loop a thousand times before him also came out of the framework, and also would have, given the same situation, defer to the doctor, right? Well, we don’t know. I personally think he’s wrong, which is sad, but in “The Last Day” he says (in a possible future) “Daisy saw the aftermath, and destroyed the world anyway (possibly paraphrasing)”. And at the point that it happens, Daisy had/will have (time travel makes for challenging tenses in these metas) her powers back anyway. So I think Fitz is wrong, and that’s heartbreaking, but not disingenuous to his experiences up til now. On a more positive note, however, I do think that the reason things are so dark is so we really feel the triumph of seeing SHIELD save the world and avoid Armageddon. This time will be different, but I don’t think it’s different yet. 

Now, whether or not you think Fitz is responsible for what he’s done, I cannot tell you. I can’t look at it like that inside a narrative that isn’t over. I can’t tell you, not even the narrative the writer’s are making can tell you. As is always the case with this show, people make choices. Those choices have consequences. What saves the world one day, may doom it the next (Tony hitting Thanos’s neural linked mother ship at the end of The Avengers comes to mind) but as always, that bridge is crossed when it comes. Regardless of IF he is responsible, the people in his world will have responses to it, and that will happen. As for our poor, ravaged Fitz, I don’t know how he will recover, but I believe he will. Not quickly, and not in the sense that he becomes cured, as their is no cure for DID or Schizophrenia, they either eventually go away or they don’t, but in the sense that his marriage with Simmons is a long and strong one. Sorry this came out days later than I expected, it is just hard to write about mental health like this for me as a lot of it is deeply personal. I love this show, and this fanbase (but stop saying “character assassination” because its a big fuck you to people with genuine trauma that get affected in this way) and these characters. Now renew it, Disney. 

[likea-black-widow-baby]

Melinda May sees her kids go through her own hell, and all she can do is watch

Skye, her ragtag goofy kid loses her hope the same way May did. She fails; not for the first time, but the only way that really matters. Her bright eyes dull, the mother she searched for her whole life dead in her arms, and May lets herself be pushed away with a bitter sense of irony. She wasn’t really Skye’s mother; she wouldn’t be so lucky. But her kid would make this particular mistake.

May watches Fitz learn what hate feels like through the wide lab doors. She watches him stumble aimlessly, half his mind and half his heart gone, and she remembers what those endless nights in administration felt like. She didn’t hold anything against Phil for giving her a wide berth, and she can’t hold it against Jemma either. But she watches Fitz’s hands shake and reminds herself that steel must be forged in fire.

She watches Jemma lose her other half and she kicks herself again for pushing Coulson away after Bahrain. Fitz can’t speak, and May thinks about the days she went in total silence; how it felt when something managed to claw its way up her throat, and even when she spoke it sounded like someone else was pulling the strings. She had a choice. Fitz lies there unconscious, and May watches Jemma lose her only constant, staring into a hyperbaric chamber with fading eyes.

[jennastarkhasaheart]

i sort of get it, to a point, because they literally spent months chasing her across the country, and in that moment they just found out their friend/girlfriend has been talking to her the entire time, with basically no time to reflect on it yet. like, id be frustrated too, especially if i care about the person.

then add to that the fact that fitz is not very sensible in general, and a little egotistical...

i definitely dont agree with it, but situations like that are really fucking volatile and i get why specifically these people would make these mistakes.

That scene in S4 where Fitz more or less yells at Daisy for “turning her back on SHIELD” still doesn’t sit right with me.

Is it valid for him to be upset and frustrated? Yes, very, and I totally get that. But he really didn’t need to yell at her and make her feel worse for it in the state she was already in. (Mack didn’t help either.)

A simple “I understand your need for space right now, but we’ve all just been very worried about you. Please, please be safe and know that we’re right here waiting for you when/if you want to come back. Keep in touch” would’ve sufficed.

That being said, in case anyone yells at me, I understand that Fitz was frustrated and it just came out- I am guilty of this at many, many points myself. But he could’ve apologised at the very least idk.

[ryder616]

Okay, this isn't a new idea but hear me out: As I Have Always Been (7x09) is the anti The Devil Complex (5x14)

Both episodes deal with a high stakes situation and the solution requires sacrificing the one for the many - risk of permanent paralysis in 5x14, certain death in 7x09 - but they take an opposite approach, in style and story:

5x14 is primarily a character drama with some horror elements and little space for levity.

7x09 swings from mystery to comedy to whodunnit to drama to farce to romance and back to drama, and is often hilarious.

In 5x14, Fitz doesn't believe anyone can or will help him and "finds" help inward, from his alter ego.

In 7x09, Daisy runs to Coulson for help and together they will seek the help of the entire team.

In 5x14, consent is irrelevant. Fitz has already decided that Daisy won't give it, and the episode never challenges that assumption, just proceeds from it. As a result, Daisy's character has a function but no agency.

In 7x09, consent is obtained over and over - often to delightfully comedic effect ("Phlebotinum!") - and the characters keep their agency, even if they don't keep their memories from one loop to the next. The exception is Enoch, who is forced by programming to oppose the team, but he will regain it in the end.

In 5x14, Daisy's sacrifice is passive and forced with violence. Fitz doesn't trust her to make the choice he needs and takes the choice away from her. His actions stop the impending threat - and Daisy isn't permanently hurt physically - but carry potential world-ending consequences down the line.

In 7x09, Enoch is given the opportunity to choose for himself, and does. His active sacrifice saves the team and keeps the chance to save the world intact.

In 5x14, the epilogue is focused on Fitz, the one who forced the sacrifice. His struggle, his feelings, his future with his wife. Daisy is absent once her function is fulfilled.

In 7x09, the epilogue is focused on Enoch. Daisy and Coulson are there with him and the audience gains insights into both characters, but the spotlight never leaves the one who made the sacrifice.

5x14 starts the breaking of the team that characterizes the second half of the season.

7x09 re-introduces explicitly the "team as a family" for the series' goodbye.

In conclusion: if you have the 5x14 blues, watch 7x09 😁

[bunnykaye]

Me: *watches 7x13 for the 9872362408978th time* 

*suddenly catches this UNDERRATED scene* 

Like I know one cannot wear and zip a hazmat alone but this made me 🥺🥺🥺

[jennastarkhasaheart]

i dont know, i think it makes sense. this is the period where the world is just waking up to the fact that these things even exist. they wouldn't immediatley dive headfirst into the crazy train. and fitzsimmons are shield agents, who have been dealing with a certain degree of extranormality for their entire careers, aka they already know that theres more going on than the average person knows, but because of that, theyre less open to the crackpot explanations the unitiated now come up with. sort of like "no look weve been there, its not like that, its like this" and theyre proven right for most of season 1 too, its not like they constantly fail with this approach.

Now i know people like to talk shit about Mack's "God and ghosts" talk throughout the show, but tbh FS's immediate and consistent dismissal of anything to do with magic and psychic powers immediately following the first Avengers movie is infinitely more annoying

I think Daisy sums it up pretty well "And a year ago i wouldn't have believed in alien invasions and magic portals, and yet, here we are"

Come to think of it, she's kinda a middle ground throughout the show of FS's science approach and Mack's paranormal/supernatural approach, which i love

[moonlayl]

One thing I’ve noticed is that whenever someone brings up the FitzDaisy friendship, they brush off season 5 by using how great of a friend he was to her in season 2 instead. Like, sure, he hurt her in s5, but when she was at her most scared and most vulnerable, he was one of the only ones to treat her properly and like a person and friend. And most of the fandom thinks that due to how he was a good friend in season 2, his actions in s5 could and should be forgiven.

And I don’t see it that way. In fact, I believe it makes it worse. The betrayal becomes worse. How he went from not seeing anything wrong with her being an inhuman and comforting her, to violating and hurting her, so that he could use her abilities. In that moment, Daisy wasn’t a friend. Daisy wasn’t even a person to him really. She was a tool. A weapon he could utilize to do what he thought needed to be done. And that’s why it’s worse.

Whereas everyone else went from cautious and afraid to learning to see her as a friend and not a threat; Fitz went from comforting her and treating her like a friend, to treating her like a tool, and worse, trying to justify it and shift the blame to her. After becoming an inhuman, he was one of the only ones she trusted. The only ones she would’ve felt safe around. And yet he was the one to hurt her the most when she thought that she was finally safe with her team. That her team would never hurt her or treat her different because she was an inhuman.

season 2 and season 3 really did show us how her being an inhuman changed some of her relationships, and how many of her teammates disregarded her opinions and feelings. By s5, her being an inhuman was no longer an issue. No longer something she need to worry about with her team or ‘family’. And then Fitz hurts her so deeply, despite her  history of being hurt and tortured and experimented on because of her inhuman abilities and genetics. Fitz being a good friend in s2 doesn’t erase what he did. It’s probably a reason why she felt so betrayed and hurt.

People in this fandom can’t and shouldn’t overlook, or brush off the fact that she’s an inhuman (and a woman of colour). We’ve been shown time and time again, inhumans being discriminated on. With the hate groups like the watchdogs, and senators calling them not people and trying to take away their rights, and them being locked up in cages with no trials and hunted down. Inhumans in agents of shield are the victims. Are the oppressed and the ones discriminated against. And the fact that one of daisy’s teammates, people she trusted and felt safe around, after seasons of facing discrimination, hate, fear, and being hunted down and treated like an animal or criminal more than once, was one of the people that hurt her makes it so much worse and terrifying. It’s so much more than Fitz making a “mistake” and hurting a friend. It’s so much more than that.

And I am angry that the show never delved into this. never showed us much of Daisy’s perspective or acknowledged and addressed any of this. And all of this is excluding the part where she was an orphan, and shield was one of her only homes, and how that betrayal would’ve affected her. As the protagonist of the show, it’s disgusting that this happened to her and we didn’t even get to see her side of things and have anyone other than fitzsimmons address it to themselves.

[angry-slytherin]

AOS 7x09 THOUGHTS(SPOILERS!)

spoil, spoil, spoil, spoilers ahead! :

time loop central station, all aboard!

fun!! now we just won’t ever exist. very cool. glad we came.

rip Mack’s eyesight 2020

AW SOUSA CARING ABOUT DAISY MY HEART(I am in WAY too deep with them)

why did Jemma pause at the draw? it’s perfume, gauze and a rubix cube

toys??? are the secret child theorists right??

wait so has Daisy(and Coulson) done this more times than we’ve seen. “How long did it take you to figure it out this time?” HOW MANY TIMES???

Jemma ‘no you cannot know where Fitz is I don’t even know so stop asking’ Simmons

LOL THAT FAKE WORD THING IM LAUGHING

bye bye Diana you Fitz stealing biotch!

WHY WOULD YOU KILL JEMMA AND DAISY MY BEST GIRLS WTF

DEKE’S FACE:(((

congratulations Mack, you are now officially the only member of the team to never have ‘died’ or actually died. soak it in!

it’s MURDER! dun dun dun!!!! whodunnit?

HOW DARE YOU KILL SOUSA WHAT THE HELL KIND OF TIME LOOP IS THIS

‘I’m a machine’ DO YOU FUCKING HATE ME??? DAISY AND COULSON ARE KILLING ME

Yup.

Enoch dunnit.

He’s gonna kill us all.

Great.

Fails, fails, fails, fails, fails, fails, fails....Enoch just kills them every time.

AWW SOUSA HOW LOVELY WAS HIS SPEECH TO DAISY

she likes him!!

SHE KISSED HIM WHAT DID I SAY WAHT DID I SAY!! DAISYSOUSA DAISYSOUS DOUSY SOUSY WHATEVER ITS REALLLL

I’m freaking out they’re so cute!!

We know Enoch is the key now! Yay! Now to get him to comply;)

If you don’t get the HYDRA reference go leave and educate yourself

Jemma whatcha remembering(ugh, their kid?? I’ll come around again I guess!)

Aw you can tell that Deke and Jemma really love each other as family

God, that whole speech from Enoch and Coulson and Daisy was like multiple punches to the gut.

‘Fitz,’ a paused ‘he was my best friend’ fucking hell

THEIR LAST MISSION?? I HATE IT HERE!!!!!!!!!!

‘this is my family’ :(

R.I.P. Enoch :(((

Oh the Daisy Coulson feels about him dying are Real:((

oH ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME FUCKING NATHANIEL MALICK ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ARE YOU JOKI-

Cool now she likes being dangerous VERY FREAKING COOL

wow, totally kudos to Elizabeth. she did excellently. this was a completely brilliant episode!!!!!!

still no Fitz. 7x14, guys.

joking

AGAIN KUDOS TO EH SHE’S BRILLIANT!!

anddd next week we get Nathaniel showdown woo.

almost forgot: I died when they did the title card again

[tiredgatt0]

Exactly, that whole plotline has never made sense for me.

People excuse Fitz's behaviour due to mental trauma but it doesn't really make sense: as far as I remember there weren't any signs before or after the episode. His death being used to brush that under the rug makes so much sense.

Jemma was way too lenient with Fitz who should have been getting Serious professional help. And she was not on Daisy side as much as I expected.

I truly belive that Daisy would have rather had her powers back and saved everyone (and maybe then tried coming up with another plan to restrict her powers) if only she had known what was going on.

It felt like they were just trying to speed up the plot and add illogical complications to make it 'interesting'.

OK, so here me out:

AOS season 5B storyline where The Devil Complex doesn't happen, at least how it does. There are so many first trying (and often not well) to address what happened to Daisy, but I haven't seen any that explores what if Fitz actually told her that her powers were the only solution he could come up with.

The scene could parallel Fitz telling Daisy that she's changed in season 2. He could promise her that he'll keep trying to work something else out but that she needs to know that her powers are the most feasible way with their limited resources. He could get more insistent as the story goes on.

Daisy also gets some much needed agency in regards to her powers and can explore her relationship with them and her identity as an Inhuman. This is a different Daisy from season 3 pre-Hive Daisy who refused to entertain the possibility of an Inhuman vaccine. But she's also not the season 4 Daisy who hated herself and thought herself worthless. It could be such a wonderful character study.

Bonus points if she discusses her dilemma with various members of the team. They can remind her of how she helped Inhumans gain confidence in their powers and find a place in Shield, how proud she became of her Inhuman heritage, or how many lives she has saved with her powers.

[jennastarkhasaheart]

i see a lot of talk going around about how the team were terrible to daisy after 5x14 and one person even said that it was basically a darvo situation, and i want to add my opinion to the pile, cause i disagree with that a lot. i also generally have a problem with how people tend to defend their favourite to the absolute while villainizing almost every other character in this discourse. they all deserve equal amounts of empathy.

lets get a few disclaimers out of the way first: from my perspective, what happened wasnt anyones fault, they were all victims in this situation. fitz cant be blamed for having a psychic split, daisy had every right and more to react the way that she did, thats not even a discussion. it was also just absolutely the right decision, fitz wasnt trustworthy anymore after that. he absolutely did care about what he did though, he mentioned how he was scared by how he still thought he did the right thing at least twice. thats not the same thing as being horrified at what he did exactly, but the reasons for his split didnt go away just because it happened, and this is about as close as you can get in this situation i think. i also think his whole " i didnt have a choice" shtick was more about him trying to make sense of what happened rather than trying to deflect blame, because he generally lacks empathy for other people a bit and getting defensive and not considering whether that is appropriate right now is perfectly in character for him (still terrible on his part despite all that though, and this is probably where the darvo thing comes from as far as it concerns him). now:

the way i see the aftermath of that episode is that with everything still happening, coulson gone and possibly (definitley, its hydra) being tortured for intel, the end of the world still fast approaching, and daisy still being convinced its somehow gonna be her fault (especially after having her powers restored), none of them could allow themselves to break right now. and crucially: noone blamed daisy for the way she reacted or attacked her for it. may thought she wasnt ready for coulsons job after literally just being tortured, and she was right about that, that was way too much pressure to put on her after that (despite that, i still think daisy did a good job, but she shouldnt have had to). mack agreed with daisy fully. simmons was definitley not okay anymore after what happened and acted increasingly irrationally. she just watched her husband torture her best friend while being held at gunpoint by a robot he programmed, after which daisy had no time to talk to her and fitz was locked in a cell and disillusioned about who he was. she was essentially alone to deal with the situation.

it doesnt excuse what she did, but i also dont think she wouldve acted the way she did if she was fully sane at that point. i mean, she risked swallowing literal acid because she thought she was invincible due to knowing she makes it past the worlds destruction. before this, she was very, starkly different. those are not the actions of someone whos secretly a sociopath like many regularly accuse her of being, theyre the actions of someone who has been pushed completely past their breaking point. as for yoyo, she lost her goddamn arms and was absolutely convinced that daisys path was going to lead to the entire worlds destruction. and that was what she was mad at daisy about.

this was the entire tragedy of that situation: its not a question of fault. they all acted terribly towards each other, and they all had good reasons for it, even if they were being unfair or vicious. it just happened.

so they all pushed what fitz did aside for the moment to focus on the mission, but its literally the main factor of what drove the team apart for the rest of the season, because daisy was focused on her interpretation of the prophecy and wasnt gonna trust fitz or anything he said anymore, simmons and yoyo were convinced he was right and felt daisy wasnt listening to them, and then they managed to scrape themselves back together as a team, just barely, and saved the world, losing both coulson and fitz in the process. in my headcanon the team patched up most of their differences after 5x22, based on how it ended, flashbacks and mentions from season 6 as well as the team being friendly with each other again, and the fact that this show isnt the kind to just ignore events like this, if things are radically different between seasons its safe to assume that stuff happened off screen, not that the writers were lazy. losing two members of their shared family probably also provided them with some perspective and reminded them of how much they all mean to one another.

and this hit all of them very hard, and they all dealt with it in their own way without involving the others. all of them, not just daisy. mack focused on his job 100%, may and elena helped him, simmons went to space to find fitz and daisy came with her because everything reminded her of coulson and theyre each others best friend. when they all came back together, they had managed to somewhat move on from what happened and probably werent to keen on bringing it up again. i mean we saw how sarge had them all bent out of shape because he had coulsons face. they were not over it. nevermind the fact that they had another alien invasion on their hands at the time.