Agents of SHIELD: [SPOILER]’s Death & Warning Explained

Warning: SPOILERS for Agents of SHIELD season 7, episode 9.

Agents of SHIELD season 7, episode 9 sees the team lose Joel Stoffer’s Enoch, a series regular since season 5. The final season of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD has seen the SHIELD team engaged in a Time War against an alien race called the Chronicoms. Unfortunately, they’ve been unable to prevent the Chronicoms changing history, and as a result they’re now focused on damage limitation. Making matters worse, the Zephyr – now equipped with a time drive – sustained considerable damage over the course of the season, and in the latest episode SHIELD were almost destroyed in a time storm. It seems time travel is a hazardous business.

Fortunately, for the last few years SHIELD has been helped by a rogue Chronicom named Enoch, a fan-favorite character played by Joel Stoffer. Although Chronicoms are only supposed to be observers, he chose to intervene to prevent an extinction-level event in Agents of SHIELD season 5, and he subsequently became a particularly close friend to Fitz and Simmons. SHIELD hasn’t always treated Enoch particularly well; they abandoned him for several decades during season 7’s time travel adventures, before finally picking him up again. Still Enoch has always been impressively loyal in spite of his sense of isolation.

Enoch’s story comes to a heartbreaking close in Agents of SHIELD season 7, episode 9, “As I Have Always Been.” The episode saw Simmons attempt to deactivate the chip inhibiting her memories, in order to fix the time drive and allow the Zephyr to escape the time vortex. Unfortunately, Fitz and Simmons had secretly programmed Enoch – as much a machine as a living being – to kill anyone who attempted to turn off Simmons’ chip, because doing so threatened their entire strategy against the Chronicoms. SHIELD eventually figured out how to get around Enoch, but when Simmons regained her memories she realized she would need a core component from Enoch’s body to fix the time drive – a part comparable to the human heart. Rather than simply debate the issue, Enoch took the initiative, and tore out his own heart to save SHIELD. Enoch’s death was a touching moment for the crew, as Daisy and Coulson stayed by his side while Simmons and Deke fixed the time drive before the Zephyr was destroyed.

Oddly enough, Enoch’s death marks a key moment in the battle against the Chronicoms; the moment SHIELD begin to pay the price for beating the aliens. At the same time, though, Enoch’s sacrifice feels like the perfect conclusion of his character arc. Although Enoch considered the SHIELD team his family, they hadn’t always appeared to return that sentiment, as evidenced by their not prioritizing picking him up while they jumped through the timeline earlier in the season. Enoch had become increasingly aware he was alone in the universe, having betrayed his own race, and he struggled to connect to the SHIELD team. Thus, in the end, he chooses to give his life; to embrace death for the sake of SHIELD and humanity. The tragedy is that he will not get to see his dear friend Fitz again, the man he had bonded with more closely than any other.

As Enoch dies, he utters ominous words that suggest he has experienced a vision of the future. “While your friends will indeed survive,” he tells Daisy and Coulson, “the team will not. I have seen the future. Carry on this mission and cherish it, for it will be your last mission together.” This prophecy is accompanied with reference to the circle of life, which he says involves celebrating when people are born and grieving when they leave. Clearly the cost of defeating the Chronicoms is only set to increase, but notice the precision of Enoch’s words; he doesn’t say anyone in SHIELD will die, merely that they will “leave.” Through Enoch’s death, the Agents of SHIELD now know this is their last mission together, and this knowledge will undoubtedly transform the rest of the final season.

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