'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 Episode 9: Fans declare Enoch has always been 'the greatest' after his tragic end
Spoilers for 'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 Episode 9 'As I Have Always Been'.
'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 has delivered its most powerful episode yet with Episode 9 'As I Have Always Been'. Despite basically being a filler episode, the story has left fans reeling and they're all still quite shocked by how painful it all was. 'As I Have Always Been' is Elizabeth Henstridge's first time in the director's chair for the show and she certainly did an amazing job. And the best part of the episode, without a doubt, was Enoch (Joel Stoffer) and the moment he gives his life to save the team.
It's a truly tragic scene and it's followed by a conversation between Enoch, Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet), and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) about mortality and loneliness. Over on the episode's Reddit discussion page, fans are busy celebrating Enoch and mourning his passing.
"Enoch, you are the greatest, as you always have been. Oh god, being alone vs being lonely. That just hits hard. Who would have thought that one of the greatest human fears would come from a sentient Chronicom from the constellation Cygnus? Even though Joel's performance was obviously monotone, he still imbued so much humanity to it. Felt like Roy Batty's 'Tears in Rain' monologue from the end of Blade Runner," one fan wrote.
This isn't the first time Enoch has died on the show but despite that, this death feels a lot more real. And the fact that the episode managed to hit us all so hard despite not being part of the main plot has got fans applauding Henstridge's direction and the work done by the episode's writer Drew Z Greenberg.
"'Will I feel lonely?' It's hurt both times when Enoch died, this is the most poignant discussion on the show on death and grief," a fan wrote. "This might be one of my favorite episodes of the series and it's just a bottle episode, shows what great writing and directing can do. Elizabeth Henstridge did a phenomenal job with this episode, especially for a first-time director."
"The moment Enoch tore his heart out... tore mine out too. Love you forever best friend," another fan declared. Enoch's death happens when the team realizes that they need to remove a device from his body to fix the time drive, a procedure that would kill him. And before Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) and Daisy can come to a decision on whether to do that or not, he rips it out without a thought and hands it over.
"There's something more gut-punching about it here because of how simply he did it. He didn't even stop to think. He just pulled it out because he knew it would save everyone. It's the Chonicom equivalent of immediately jumping on the grenade," one fan noted. After this, the show will inevitably return to its usual storyline but this episode will not be forgotten easily and neither will Enoch, the best friend anyone ever had.
As one heartbroken fan wrote, "I cried so hard during Enoch's final conversation with Daisy and Coulson, their talk about mortality was beautiful and bittersweet. I'm really going to miss him, I'm so glad we got Enoch for as long as we did." 'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 streams on Wednesdays at 10 pm ET on ABC.