Anarchy has begun as Nathaniel Malick’s plan to take over the world is further uncovered, and he brings in a young John Garrett, played by James Paxton – the son of the late Bill Paxton, who originally portrayed Garrett in season one. Meanwhile, Jiaying and Gordon find their way to the Lighthouse to try to help stop Nathaniel. Also, more about the future is revealed. The episode ends on a cliffhanger when two agents are on the Zephyr when it’s hijacked. Finds out what happens in the latest episode of the final season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Stolen.”
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Nathaniel Malick shows up at a bar and asks a young John Garrett, who is playing darts if he’s up for a challenge. “A good challenge makes life worth living.” Nathaniel tells him it sounds like he’s a philosopher, which is rare for a S.H.I.E.L.D. hangout. He mentions Garrett’s the hottest recruit, top test scores, and an ace pilot. He needs a pilot on his team. Garrett doesn’t think they’ve met, but Nathaniel knows a lot about him. Like how his relationship with S.H.I.E.LD. is headed for a “very, very sad breakup.” Nathaniel tells Garrett about how he ends up at Hydra and uses one of the powers he stole to shatter the glass cup in his hands. He tells Garrett that’s a superpower and asks if he would like one.
After returning to the Lighthouse, Coulson, May, and Mack meet with Roxy, who is getting ready to go to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. She got the controls up and running and told Coulson that they could meet up at the Triskelion after graduation. When Roxy leaves, Coulson realizes that it’s 1983, the Triskelion wasn’t in use yet. It’s ahead of schedule, just like Project Insight. “Timeline’s coming apart. We have to put it back.” Nathaniel is out there with quake powers and a new base, and May made a promise to Jiaying that she wouldn’t have to fight him alone. Coulson thinks it’s time to keep that promise. Later, Mack tells everyone they’re not waiting on a broken clock, they’re going to do something. Coulson says that even if they could leave this time, leaving this Malick unleashed on the world could have irreversible consequences. He’s taken control of the Afterlife. They have to take it back. Starting with the hostages and protecting Jiaying at all costs. Jemma leaves to send their coordinates to her watch, but Daisy doesn’t think it’s a good idea to bring her there. Coulson hears her, saying they can’t lose any more parents. “This is about protecting your existence.” Aside from May and Yo-Yo, Jiaying doesn’t know them, and Coulson tells Daisy they could minimize what they tell her. May begins to tell Daisy about Kora when Gordon and Jiaying appear. “He’s hunting us.”
Nathaniel shows Garrett around Afterlife, telling him that everyone he brings there has been saved from a tragic end and given a new beginning. Garrett wonders how Nathaniel saw his future, and Nathaniel shows him the Time Stream. He tells Garrett he’ll be meeting Sibyl, she’ll guide him. They’re both after something, the same thing Garrett was after in the story of his life he’s about to see. “Immortality,” Nathaniel tells Garrett to prepare himself, some people don’t like the ending. Garrett begins to use the Time Stream to see his future.
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At the Lighthouse, Jiaying says that her people need protection, but May tells her she should leave that to them. Jiaying doesn’t know who they are, yet somehow they knew how to find her, and then they led that man right to their front door. Daisy tells her they’re not her enemy. They save Inhumans, Nathaniel wants to take their gifts, that’s how he got his. Yo-Yo says if she can get in, she can get them out without being seen. “I got my power back – thanks to you.” May, however, tells Yo-Yo if she gets taken, she could lose it again, so Coulson says he’ll go and Gordon offers to take Coulson in. Mack says they’ll fly close in the Quinjet. Coulson and Gordon drop-in, do recon and find the prisoners. Then Mack and Yo-Yo will go in. Jiaying insists she go with them, but Coulson says they need her alive, her people need her to lead. Jiaying has to get her back. Kora won’t listen to them. She thinks she can talk some sense into her, but May says if Kora sees her, it can provoke her, then everyone’s at risk. Gordon says they’re right. They can’t risk it. Jiaying gives in, telling Coulson they have to get her daughter back, making Daisy realize she has a sister.
Daisy follows May out into the hallway, angry at her. “Did it just slip your mind that I have a sister?” They were trying not to be swallowed by a time storm, but Daisy wonders if May was purposely trying to keep her in the dark. May tells her that Kora is volatile, she already tried to kill Jiaying. She never said anything about a sister, another kid, and May suggests that Kora was alive. She admitted when they were at the Afterlife, she stole a gun from a guard, and May thinks she intended to use it on herself, but Nathaniel got to her. May believes in the original timeline; she went through with it. Mack interrupts, telling Daisy they can’t go down that hole right now. Daisy wants to go with them, but Mack says they need her and her mother to survive, she’s staying put. They promised her mom they’d save Kora. “If she can be saved.”
At Afterlife, Nathaniel is using a machine on Li that is draining fluids from him into another person, Durant. “The process used to be messy. But a guy I know once said discovery requires experimentation, so we experimented, found a better way. Still not painless.” Nathaniel introduces Garrett to Kora, the one Inhuman they trust. He says the two of them are champions of the people, like Robin Hood – stealing from the high and mighty and giving to those more deserving. S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, Inhumans, Nathaniel says they’re all committing horror in the name of world order. Control. He tells Kora that Li is in a lot of pain and puts him out of his misery. “Mercy comes in many forms.” Kora uses her powers on Li, burning his face. Garrett says he wants a power like that, and Nathaniel tells him he’ll get his as soon as they take it from S.H.I.E.L.D.
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The Quinjet lands just outside Afterlife, and Mack tells Coulson and Gordon to find the prisoners’ location then jump back. If they’re not back in 30 minutes, they’re coming in. And no hero business. Gordon and Coulson jump to Afterlife, and Gordon leads the way, knowing where they can find where they’re keeping them. However, soon, a blast hits Gordon, and Coulson turns around, ready to fire. Nathaniel, Kora, and two other guys are walking towards him. “Waiting is the hardest part.” Coulson surrenders, handing over his gun and realizes they knew they were coming because of the Time Stream. He tells Nathaniel he doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into. Sibyl wants the planet for her Chronicoms. His father was co-opted by Sibyl and look where that got him. Nathaniel says he has no use for his father’s way of thinking. His pitch is to say goodbye to all of that; history, rules, hierarchy. “Say hello to anarchy.” Nathaniel leads Coulson into the room with the Time Stream, Garrett, and Gordon sitting down. Coulson tells Nathaniel he doesn’t have to do this, Gordon is just a kid. Kora says they gave him a chance to join them. Garrett tells Coulson he’s seen it all, everything he did to him. Coulson wonders if they met, and Garrett tells him not yet, but he got a sneak peek at his future, which Coulson plays a big part in it. “Here’s a hint – you vaporize me with a space laser.” Coulson figures out it’s Garrett and tells Nathaniel he’s clever, digging up their greatest hits. A machine is turned on, and it drains fluids from Gordon and into Garrett.
Coulson tells Kora this isn’t anarchy, this is evil. “Justice isn’t always pretty.” A man who has died and killed as much as he has should understand that by now. Coulson pleads with Kora, but Nathaniel tells him that Gordon helped Jiaying keep Kora prisoner. Garrett says he changes his mind. He’s not feeling good, and then uses Gordon’s powers by accident, jumping to the hallway. He comes back in, and Coulson tells him he doesn’t know what he’s doing, giving that man that power. “It was written in the stars,” Garrett says he loved teleporting. Nathaniel tells him they have their target out there and to find her. Garrett and Nathaniel teleport out of Afterlife.
Daisy and Sousa meet with Jiaying, who is wanting news about what’s going on at Afterlife. Daisy tells her that Afterlife is important to them too, but Jiaying tells her she doesn’t know the first thing about it. Sousa says that Daisy has been there, and Jiaying tells him that before their friends showed up, they’d never had an outsider find them. Daisy’s not an outsider, and Sousa has her show Jiaying. Daisy shows off her powers by vibrating water in a glass cup. Jiaying wonders where she learned that. “From you. At Afterlife. In 30 years.” They’re from the future. Daisy knows how it sounds, but it’s the truth. Jiaying had a feeling she knew Daisy, something so familiar. She realizes that Nathaniel took the gift from her. Daisy tells her it almost killed her.
Garrett and Nathaniel jump to the Lighthouse and split up. Meanwhile, at Afterlife, Coulson manages to break free of his handcuffs and tells Gordon they’re leaving. And even though he’s too weak, Gordon manages to jump them out of the room then dies. May runs into Garrett, who tells her it’s her old buddy – John Garrett and his pal Nate told him out to find the place, he’s around there somewhere. May fights Garrett, but he soon jumps away.
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Nathaniel finds Daisy and Jiaying, putting his hands up. Jiaying wonders what he did to Kora, and Nathaniel apologizes that Kora couldn’t be there, he did his best. She still has Daisy, isn’t one daughter enough? Daisy’s sorry, she wanted to tell her. Jiaying realizes what Daisy was telling her about her mother. She was talking about her. Nathaniel tells Jiaying what happened. They’re on opposite sides when Jiaying and Daisy finally meet. Daisy tries to get Nathaniel to stop talking and quakes him while Nathaniel does the same back to her, more powerful. Jiaying uses her power on Nathaniel, but Nathaniel quakes her, killing her. “Well, I guess she won’t live forever. And you won’t live at all.” Daisy’s about to go full quake when May takes him out. Jemma and Sousa are walking through the hallway, and Sousa looks behind him, Garrett capturing Jemma. Sousa shoots at Garrett, but he gets away with her.
Coulson finds Kora, aiming his gun at her. “I’ve been waiting,” Coulson tells her the rest of the gang abandoned her, but Kora says she wanted to come with him, meet her sister. Coulson fires at her, tasing her. May tells the others what happened. She’s still trying to find out where Nathaniel and Garrett went. Coulson brings Kora to the Quinjet, where the other hostages and Mack and Yo-Yo are. Sousa finds May and tells her they took Jemma, and May tries to contact Deke, but he has headphones on while working on the Time Drive. Garrett starts up the Zephyr, which gets Deke’s attention, he asks May where they’re going. “We’re not going anywhere. You are.” The Zephyr leaves the Lighthouse, and Jemma asks Nathaniel why she’s there, what does he want. Nathaniel tells her that every outcome where they don’t come out on top has one thing in common. Jemma knows it’s Fitz, and Nathaniel says that he’s gotten in their way long enough. And she’s going to take them to him.
There is just one episode left before the epic series finale event! Catch the final season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on ABC, streaming the next day on Hulu and On Demand.
