Brand New Day is the eleventh episode of the seventh season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Synopsis[]
With the help of Kora on the inside, Sibyl and Nathaniel continue their fight to shape a dark new future for S.H.I.E.L.D., managing to stay one step ahead of the agents along the way. If the team is going to turn this one around, they'll have to get creative, and maybe even a little out of this world.
Plot[]
Daisy Johnson sees Zephyr One disappear
A shocked Daisy Johnson watches the radar as the team tracks Zephyr One from the Lighthouse before it completely disappears from their view. Daniel Sousa questions how that is possible if the satellites that surround the planet are what they were using to track them and Melinda May explains that they moved above them and are now in space.
Yo-Yo Rodriguez calls in over the radio as '616' requesting permission to land. Eager to get answers from Kora, Johnson and the team head to meet her. May warns her that the death of Jiaying might set Kora off, as she is essentially a walking bomb, which Johnson seems to understand.
Still, as she comes face to face with her sister, Johnson wastes no time before quaking her up against a wall and getting her hand around her throat. She demands to know where Jemma Simmons is. With Kora clearly being choked by Johnson, does not respond and Alphonso Mackenzie orders Johnson to release her and stand down. When she does, Kora explains that she is there to help and she wants to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
On the Zephyr, Nathaniel Malick orders one of his men, Shepard, to stop calling him “sir” and orders a woman, Kimball, to send the signal. Elsewhere on the ship, Deke Shaw emerges from the room in which he was hiding and ends up quickly getting caught.
Back in the Lighthouse, Rodriguez and Mackenzie lock up two of Malick’s soldiers, including Durant, in a cell, with Rodriguez staying to keep an eye on them. Mackenzie questions why they were able to capture Kora so easily and determines that Sibyl is predicting their moves.
Coulson, Johnson and May question Kora on why she wants to join them. She explains that Malick’s goal is to reduce suffering. Unimpressed, Johnson again demands to know where Simmons is but Kora continues to refuse to answer. She instead promises to use Sibyl’s abilities to make the world a better place and explains that they have already used it to save lives. Mackenzie enters and explains that some lives were taken, referencing what happened to his parents some time back. Kora apologizes, but explains that this is just one piece of proof that they are now in a different timeline and that they can take the opportunity to make this one better. She refers to the timeline as a brand new day and explains that their plan for making it better involves killing some bad people before they can do some bad things. The team is quite obviously not on board, but thanks to Sibyl’s prediction, Kora knows that Johnson will want to speak to her alone.
Johnson and Kora meet in a cell, alone as previously predicted. Johnson tries to get the truth out of Kora and explains that she and the team do not believe her. Kora explains that, while S.H.I.E.L.D. is Malick’s enemy, she believes there is a chance they can work together because they are siblings. The two share a bit of a heartfelt moment discussing their pasts before Kora explains that Sibyl told her there is no future in which Johnson lets her sister fight alone. Johnson tells her she was right and tosses her a key before leaving.
Back on the Zephyr, Malick digs inside Simmons’ mind, searching for Leo Fitz. Instead, all he finds are other, much earlier, memories Simmons has of Fitz. Malick gets frustrated that he can not see whatever memories he wants and demands to know how Simmons is blocking him. She proceeds to tell him she is not doing anything and he has John Garrett bring in Shaw as added motivation.
Johnson tries to sneak out of the Lighthouse before Sousa catches her. She explains that she needs to go on her own and he refuses. He tags along and the two hop aboard a Quinjet. Johnson explains that they have been a step behind because Sibyl is predicting all of their moves. So, now she’s trying to be unpredictable and explains that she already has a sister to save and that is Simmons.
Sousa and Johnson prepare to take off but Johnson seems a bit puzzled. Her confused look prompts Sousa to question whether or not she has ever flown a Quinjet before, which she has not. As they prepare to take off, Mackenzie comes on board and asks how they plan to leave without director authorization. Johnson explains that if they are going to beat Sibyl, they have to be unpredictable. Mackenzie agrees and grants them authorization before tagging along himself.
May and Phil Coulson watch the Quinjet make its way to space on radar. May says she does not like the idea but Coulson disagrees and jumps on board with this unpredictable plan. The two talk about Kora and Coulson suggests May ask her some questions.
On the Zephyr, Garrett beats up Shaw in an attempt to get Simmons to talk. When it does not work, he threatens to hurt Simmons instead. He still does not give up any information but Malick sees the red lights on Simmons’ neck and realizes he has to remove an implant from her head. He quakes Shaw and tells the unconscious man that was for his old man.
Johnson, Mackenzie and Sousa make it to outer space and lock on to the Zephyr. Meanwhile, at the Lighthouse May tries to speak with Kora. Kora brings up May’s dark past, with which May has since made peace. The two trade barbs before Kora becomes visibly angry. May tries to calm her down but Kora uses her power to knock out the Lighthouse’s power and firewalls. That allows Sibyl to hack into their computers and begin communicating with them.
Sibyl threatens the team via messages on their computer. May asks Coulson if he can decipher the code Sibyl is using, but he says he does not think he can.
On the Quinjet, Mackenzie and Johnson share a heart-to-heart about how Enoch told her this would be the team’s last mission. Mackenzie seems ready to move on but Johnson explains that this is her family. When he assures her they would keep in touch, she glances at Sousa and the conversation changes. Johnson explains the kiss they shared during the time loop and Mackenzie tells her she won him $20 from a bet he had with Rodriguez.
On the Zephyr, Malick tries to remove the implant from Simmons but she tells him she is the only one who can use the device to do so. Clearly frustrated, Malick decides to jump into Simmons’ mind with her to find Fitz himself. He jumps into a memory in which Enoch seemingly explains the time travel to Fitz and Simmons.
Back in the Lighthouse, Coulson is making things work. May tries to get Coulson to talk with Kora but he explains to her that that is her job now. As they talk, Sibyl unlocks the cell doors in the base. The two soldiers escape and try to sneak up on Rodriguez. She catches them though and uses her power to bring them both to command central.
Kora gets out of her cell and confronts Coulson, May and Rodriguez, who are now holding the two prisoners. Coulson tries to explain that these soldiers are the kind of lives Malick is trying to save, the kind that tried to kill Rodriguez seconds ago. Trying to get the team on her side, Kora uses her power to blow a hole in the chest of Durant.
Kora explains that she can keep moving the stream back to their timeline if they want and that the next person she would have to kill would be Sousa. She also presents the alternative of scratching names off of Malick’s kill list and reveals that the first name on it would be Grant Ward. But Coulson refuses by saying that he would be just a child right now. Kora counter that by saying that his death could result in them having Rosalind Price and Lincoln Campbell back on their team, but most importantly alive. Coulson remains firm on their decision, and brings up how they have seen a world where Ward was good because he was led down the right path by the right person. Coulson tries to explain that people can be changed instead of being killed. Kora disagrees and explains that she wants to show her mom that this is what she is meant to be. May tells her she can take her where Jiaying is now and can show the volatile Inhuman now.
On the Quinjet, Mackenzie gives Sousa an awkward big brother talk on behalf of Johnson telling him how Johnson has been hurt a lot, but he is happy that she seems to be ready to dive back in. He goes further by saying that he is even happy that it is him that Johnson has seemingly chosen. But warns Sousa to not break her heart, or he will answer to him.
Meanwhile in Simmons’ mind, Malick continues to jump around various memories. In one, Fitz and Simmons share a private talk about putting their time machine project on hold in order to live out their lives together for a while. Afterall, they are building a time machine, so it really doesn’t matter how long it takes them. Simmons questions if this idea is about the bloodwork. Fitz says it is both yes and no. Simmons tries to explain that they do not know something about this blood work before Fitz cuts her off by saying they should take the time they have. Malick appears and says he is going to need to see this home they have built together.
Back in the Lighthouse, May takes Kora to see Jiaying. Kora tries to revive her mother, explaining that her mother’s powers allow her to heal, but it does not work. May tells a tear-eyed Kora that her mother died protecting Johnson from Malick.
In Simmons’ mind, Fitz and Simmons are sharing another mysterious emotional moment and Malick is becoming increasingly frustrated. Simmons argues that the implant is only supposed to keep her from remembering his location and Fitz tells her she needs to forget more in order to be strong. They embrace as Simmons cries and repeats that she does not want to forget. Later, Fitz is no longer with her and she continues to whisper the phrase.
Malick jumps out of her mind and is clearly angry as he announces a change in his plan. Simmons jumps off the table and rushes to Shaw. He asks her what happened and guesses that Malick did not find Fitz. Confused, Simmons asks who Fitz is.
May and Kora continue their argument over Malick’s true intentions and Kora attacks May. The two trade a few punches until May gets the upper hand. Kora however is quick to fire a blast of energy, narrowly missing May and blowing a hole in the wall behind her. Garrett suddenly teleports in, grabs Kora and teleports back out.
Coulson continues to work to find what Sibyl is doing. He sees the last thing she accessed, which is a map of all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. bases. As he begins to list them, he realizes what her intentions are and looks worried. On the Quinjet, the team gets a visual of the Zephyr and begins to prepare to board. Suddenly, several Chronicom Destroyer Ships appear and the team puts together that they were not hiding in space. Instead, they were calling reinforcements.
On the Zephyr, a ticked off Malick kills Shepard who had previously referred to him as sir without hesitation. After he snaps at his team, he explains that Sibyl had her people make modifications to their ships and the signal they sent earlier called them here. He contacts the ships and tells them to fire when they want. The ships begin to fire lasers toward Earth.
The Triskelion is destroyed
Coulson tries to contact the hub from the Lighthouse. He gets a response but it is cut short when the base is destroyed by the Chronicom ships. Coulson, May and Rodriguez watch on as the S.H.I.E.L.D. bases disappear from their screen one by one. Coulson explains that they’re doing exactly what they said they would; they are destroying S.H.I.E.L.D, including the Triskelion once again getting destroyed.
Elsewhere, Malick and Kora reunite once again. She has a bit of a concerned look on her face but she asks if they gave people new life. Malick assures her that they did and the two share a passionate kiss.
Cast[]
Main Cast:
- Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
- Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
- Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson/Quake
- Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
- Henry Simmons as Alphonso Mackenzie
- Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Yo-Yo Rodriguez
- Jeff Ward as Deke Shaw
Special Guest Star:
Guest Stars:
- Joel Stoffer as Enoch
- Thomas E. Sullivan as Nathaniel Malick
- Dianne Doan as Kora
- James Paxton as John Garrett
- Enver Gjokaj as Agent Daniel Sousa
- Gabriel Sousa as Durant
- Katy M. O'Brian as Kimball
- Christopher Charles as Shepard
- Jan Uddin as Enoch (archive footage; uncredited)
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- Earth
- Lake Ontario, New York
- Washington, D.C.
- Playground (flashback)
- Afterlife, Nepal (mentioned)
- Bahrain (mentioned)
- Temple of the Forgotten (mentioned)
- Hub (mentioned)
- Sandbox (mentioned)
- Nakatomi Plaza (mentioned)
- Chronyca-2 (mentioned)
Events[]
- Chronicom Colonization of Earth
- Kidnapping of Jemma Simmons
- Destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D. Facilities
- Rescue in Afterlife (mentioned)
- Attack on Afterlife (mentioned)
- Assassination of Wilfred Malick (mentioned)
- Destruction of the Chronicom Time Ship (mentioned)
- Ambush at the Lighthouse (flashbacks)
- Hijacking and Retaking of the Iliad (mentioned)
- Rescue in Bahrain (mentioned)
- Revival of HYDRA (indirectly mentioned)
- Battle of Maveth (indirectly mentioned)
- Kidnapping of Thomas Ward (indirectly mentioned)
- Assassination of Rosalind Price (indirectly mentioned)
- Attack on Hive (indirectly mentioned)
Items[]
- Yo-Yo Rodriguez's Prosthetic Arms
- Daniel Sousa's Prosthetic Leg
- Cerebral Fusion Machine
- Time Stream
- Quake Gauntlets
- Shotgun-Axe
- D.I.A.N.A.
- Chronicom Rifle
- Bulletproof Vest
- Quantum Field Disruptors (mentioned)
- Framework (indirectly mentioned)
Concepts[]
Vehicles[]
Sentient Species[]
Creatures[]
To be added
Organizations[]
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Nathaniel Malick's Crew
- Chronicom Hunters
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Project Insight (mentioned)
- United States Army (mentioned)
- Brooklyn Scout Group 87 (mentioned)
Mentioned[]
- Jiaying (corpse)
- Sibyl
- Gordon
- Li
- John Mackenzie
- John Mackenzie
- Lilla Mackenzie
- Lilla Mackenzie
- Kora
- Wilfred Malick
- Katya Belyakov
- Grant Ward
- Grant Ward
- Andrew Garner
- Rosalind Price
- Lincoln Campbell
- Phil Coulson
- Grant Ward (Framework)
- Victoria Hand (Framework; indirectly)
Trivia[]
- The title shares its name with the Spider-Man comic arc of the same name.
- The sweatshirt of Leo Fitz in the flashback is identical to the one in the flashback of 2022 in The Last Day episode.
Video[]
References[]
External Links[]
Brand New Day on Wikipedia- Brand New Day on IMDb
- Brand New Day on Disney+
- Brand New Day on Marvel Database
