Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26838855-20190803131136/@comment-1894786-20190811015412

BEJT wrote: With the divergence point, we have, in order: So basically, the two options really are it either splits when Coulson puts the serum in the gauntlet (depending on whether he always did or if that's a new thing), or around Fitz returning and saying that Mack and Polly are both supposed to die (just before or just after) and then Daisy spots the serum this time because the timeline has just split a few minutes ago so things are allowed to be different this time and that just happens to involve her spotting it.
 * Coulson giving Daisy her suit, in which he has slipped the serum. Unclear if this is the first event of the new branch or if the timeline hasn't split yet and he always slipped her the serum.
 * Mack entering the tunnel to get Polly. If it's already split, this should nonetheless happen in both timelines, considering it's strongly implied that this is the event that gets Mack and Polly killed in the original timeline. But it might not have split yet.
 * Daisy gets off the Quinjet and is filmed shouting at Coulson to take the serum. If it's already split, this should nonetheless happen in both timelines, considering we see this footage in the future.
 * Fitz reentering the room and reminding May that Mack and Polly both are supposed to die. It's possible that the timeline hasn't split yet and they were just then unsuccessful in rescuing them in the original timeline, but it's starting to feel like the split should have happened by now.
 * Mack and Polly are rescued. By this point, the timeline should be split, unless for some reason Mack and Polly still went on to die while May and Fitz got out.
 * Polly reunites with Robin, pretty much definitely a new timeline by this point. You could argue that maybe that just wasn't the event where Mack and Polly were supposed to die, but it very much is implied to be.
 * The rubble falls on Fitz, fatally wounding him. It's definitely a new timeline by this point, as Fitz doesn't die in the original timeline. It would also further support the idea that by their rescue, the timeline has split, since it would mean Fitz isn't in that same position at that time in the original timeline.
 * Robin senses the timeline has recently split, and that something is different, edited to imply that she's referring to Daisy having/seeing the serum.
 * Daisy spots the serum in her gauntlet.

I've always seen it as the former, mainly because of the whole "Coulson will put the pieces together", that ultimately it comes down to Coulson managing to save the world. Some other reasons are:
 * That feels more right to me as an actual decision rather than just Fitz happening to get to that room at the right time.
 * While the idea of the "timeline has split, meaning that events just are able to play out differently" with Daisy spotting the serum works fine, it's not a great explanation, as there's no actual reason from the new timeline that that should play out any differently. If something was done differently in the building with Fitz where the timeline split that would affect the street where Daisy is fighting Talbot in at least a tiny way, it would make more sense for why her arm would be in a different position, but there isn't anything, so it would purely be coincidence of the new timeline for some reason being different immediately. As well as that, again, Coulson making an active decision feels better than a coincidence.

There is one problem, for me, with it being Coulson. It's not exactly like "Coulson made a self-sacrifice that saved the world this time". Because the problem is that that would mean there's a timeline where Coulson doesn't make the sacrifice he clearly would always choose to make, but also, we know that Daisy shouts at Coulson exactly the same way both times, so presumably for exactly the same reason: he hasn't taken the serum. Which means that the difference is just that in the original timeline, Coulson still chose to make the sacrifice and not take it (good), but it just didn't occur to him, or something to that effect, to put it in the gauntlet. And that, for the same reason as the other coincidental incidents mentioned above, doesn't quite feel right.

Still though, it seems to me that that's the split. For me, the reason I thought the major split was Daisy finding the Serum before being absorbed is actually a few reasons: - The original plan before the team realized there would only be enough serum for one dose was to have someone willingly be absorbed by Talbot while holding an Odium-infused version of the Serum, in order to poison him. That already foreshadows that Talbot would be able to absorb the properties of the Serum, no matter which version was used. Including the power-up effect of the version Daisy ended up taking. - Daisy states early on (and we as viewers know) she's not powerful enough to quake the world apart. And even though Talbot can control a ship the size of a small town, that's not really world-breaker material. - As you said, the way the episode is edited with Robin's statement, it's edited in a way that implies that Daisy finding the Serum is the one big change. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely think that Fitz dying and Yo-Yo giving Coulson CPR are also major divergences as well, just because of how the episode frames all three occurences. I'm still so incredibly confused by Season 5's time loop, especially since they never gave us a dedicated episode of the key points in the original loop.