'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D' Recap: 'Farewell, Cruel World!'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end and that fully applies to the Framework storyline on ​Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because despite the incredible storylines that this excellent arc has brought forth for the show, at some point the series has to return to the 'real world' so to speak and last night's episode, 'Farewell, Cruel World!' signaled the beginning of the end when it comes to this nightmarish, digital playground.

But rather than simply allow the team to escape this awful and disgusting place in quick and clean fashion, the show said its initial goodbye to the Framework in stunning and epic fashion, by providing us with another tour de force story where escape seemed impossible and the clock was working against our intrepid agents since Aida did her best to hide the way out, buying her time to finish creating her new human body and to make matters worse, in order to conserve power aboard Zephyr One and keep Daisy and Jemma alive, the cloak was removed, leaving them open to attack.

But truly, the centerpiece in this episode was not the action, but the experiences some of the characters had to go through, specifically Mack and Fitz because their stories this week were downright heartbreaking. For Fitz, he had to struggle with a loss in the family and what's he done in the Framework, because in an effort to get him to the exit point, Jemma went and visited dear old dad and well...the attempt to get him to help out went poorly, resulting in a scuffle and the eventual death of the elder Fitz, something that sent Leopold into a frenzy to the point where he disobeyed orders from Aida and went on a revenge mission to find Simmons and put her down. Thankfully, their paths crossed at the exit point and Radcliffe did Jemma a solid by throwing Fitz through the back door, but while he is now free of this world the lasting effects of what he did in the Framework have left him confused and afraid and it would seem the brand new flesh and blood Aida was hoping for this kind of chaos all along so she can keep Fitz around for more of her nefarious plans. 

However, while it was heartbreaking to see Fitz filled with regret and fear and pain over what happened in the digital world, it paled in comparison to what happened to Mack. Because despite seeing that the Framework is a complete and utter digital lie, he chose to stay behind and live within it. Not out of weakness or fear, but flat out because of his love for Hope; and when he learned his beloved daughter did not exist in the real world, he simply could not bring himself to be away from her and wow...this was quite the twist. We learned earlier this year that Mack carries around plenty of pain when it comes to the loss of his daughter, and that he seemingly is able to use that pain to survive and push forward in life, but clearly the mere motion of being able to hold her again and be near her...is too powerful to surrender and if by chance Mack does survive the Framework, will he be broken and shattered like Fitz appears to be?

Either way, what an episode. Once again the hour simply flew by because of how strong the story was and once again it left my jaw dropped with all those incredible twists and turns and I appreciate the fact that we didn't 100% leave the Framework behind. Because it gives us a few more episodes to see if Dr. Radcliffe can finally redeem himself completely by perhaps talking Mack out of staying and it gives our favorite agents a little more incentive to find a way back in to save their friend and considering how spread thin they are, that will be easier said than done. But what sticks with me most when it comes to this episode, is the ominous teleportation that Aida pulled off, and I say ominous because there's a fair chance her disappearing act comes straight out of the Darkhold and considering the fact that Aida has read that book to cover to cover, there's no way she used it to only become human...she has to have bigger plans in play, plans that will no doubt make life even more difficult for Coulson and his friends. Until next time.

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