I'm at the point in AOS season 5 where...
***********MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU HAVENT' SEEN IT*****************
...Yo-Yo slashed Ruby's throat and Talbot apparently became the "Destroyer of Worlds." I think this season is easily simultaneously the darkest and funniest. The show is so dark and heavy, so having the humor be so spot-on and so self-aware strikes a really nice balance. A few observations:
1. The moral dilemmas presented this season are really interesting and thought-provoking. And there have been plenty. For a moment, I want to focus on the one of Fitz disassociating into "the Doctor" and removing Daisy's inhibitor against her will. This was so interesting on so many levels! And I'm glad they are showing the fallout from it in the relationship between Fitz and Daisy deteriorating and being filled with tension, and that spilling over into other relationships as well. Daisy obviously feels violated, and that is real. And it is interesting because what happened is in many says akin to rape in that you have a man using power and asserting dominance over a woman to physically violate her against her will. And at the same time, while it may be similar to rape, it isn't rape. And that takes a subject that is already incredibly emotionally charged and difficult to process and makes it even more difficult to process. Fitz on the other hand, cannot bring himself to apologize. Does he regret what he did? Yes. Would he have done it if he had it to do all over again? Yes, because he believed it was necessary (and it probably was). And the interesting internal debate for these characters (and external debate for us, should we choose to engage in it) is: To what extent does the second "yes" negate or diminish the first "yes?" And does it matter? How far are we willing to go for the "greater good" when billions of lives are at stake? Interesting question. And the fact that the characters cannot immediately (or likely, ever) deal with it and find closure really highlights this truly being a moral dilemma.
2. The other big moral dilemma at this stage of the story was Yo-Yo's killing of Ruby. And I get the angst over it. But, to me, this a lesser dilemma. I mean, the taking of any life ever for any reason should be a really big deal. But Ruby was clearly a sociopath who was incapable of any kind of empathy, had been infused with who knows how much power, and was losing control. Everything the team had seen in the future seemed to be pointing to that one moment. And Yo-Yo made a VERY hard judgment call that probably needed to be made at that moment. Maybe it was the wrong call. Maybe it actually made things worse and pushed them farther down the path to cataclysm. But every indication prior to that was that it was probably the right call.
3. Related to the above, I am once again getting really tired of Mack. He certainly has moments where he shines, especially this season. But he is far too rigid and stubborn--irrationally so on MANY occasions. And this is one of them. He needs to listen to Yo-Yo and be there for her, but he can't because everything is so black-and-white to him, and he cannot deal with anything that is outside his own box. That doesn't mean he needs to blindly accept. But he is too rigid to even sympathize, and that severely detracts from his likeability.
4. Going back a few episodes, I loved the moment between Jemma and Deke where he revealed that she was his grandmother. That was SO touching and SO well-done. And her losing control and throwing up was such well-timed humor. Not sure if it also signals that she is pregnant. But even if it does not signal that she actually is, it was still surely meant to convey the double meaning that she will be. But that scene was just amazing. Reveals like that tend to be so on-the-nose. This was too, but in a way that had genuine emotional impact.