#lmd phil

[fanofsonofcoul]

lmd Phil: Let’s try something more direct. 

[fandomaccessmemory]

Phil Coulson and The Good Place (or, why I feel our Robot!Potato’s ending works.)

In this essay I will-   

Okay, there’s been a lot of discussion over Coulson’s final scene(s) in the finale-he just doesn’t seem happy! why is he alone! yay coulson lives! lola!- and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. 

Obviously unintentional, but Coulson’s ending hits a lot of the same notes as The Good Place hit in it’s final episodes earlier this year. Follow me on a journey.. 

(and note- this is truly just talking about Coulson as a singular character. Philinda is a lot more complicated, and more importantly, has already been discussed by people much more eloquent than I could ever be. )

So in the penultimate episode of The Good Place, our heroes finally make it there. And it’s everything they dreamed of. Milkshakes that taste like stardust! Go-Karting with monkeys! The great dreamers and philosophers of the past! The ability to visit anywhere in the universe at any time! FOR ALL ETERNITY! 

.. until it’s not. 

The residents of The Good Place are shells of themselves- apathetic zombies going through the motions. 

(from @clarkgriffon​)

But why? Shouldn’t they all be thrilled? They have as much time as they want to do whatever they want! Nothing is impossible! 

Well, it turns out that things with endings.. have more meaning. 

(from @livelovecaliforniadreams​)

So they create a door at the edge of the universe. And when anyone chooses- once they’ve seen everything and done everything and loved everything- they can leave. Painlessly and peacefully, they return to the universe, on their terms. Problem solved, the party and the joy returns. (we won’t get into the finale and how that was perfect television that absolutely wrecked me.) 

(from @rocktheholygrail​)

And it’s certainly not a perfect parallel, but let’s go back to our boy, Phil Coulson. Through much of Season 7, he’s in the same boat as those Good Place residents, whether he realizes it or not. It all sounds phenomenal- he has super strength and can talk to machines and can’t die, and once they save the world, he literally can do anything he wants. But the dread is there. It’s discussed by the chronicom on the bus in the 50′s, and it’s implied many times by Enoch. This goes on forever. At some point, time will win, and his friends will be gone. Eternity, even if mostly good... is a long f’ing time. 

So where’s the difference? How does he get to a good enough place by the “One Year Later” to want to travel? Visit May? See Daisy when she gets back?

There’s a reason we see more than just the key to Lola. We also see the button that’ll deactivate him. Eternity has an end now, and he’s finally in control of it. 

So now? He see the world. He can watch Alya grow up. He can figure out what this version of his future with May is. And whenever it’s done-- whenever he’s done-- he can return to the universe. 

Maybe he pushes that button in a week. Maybe it’s a year. Maybe he never pushes it. 

But after 7 years of Things Happen to Phil Coulson Without His Consent-- he finally has his agency back. 

And that’s the happiest ending of all. 

(thank you for coming to my TED talk.)

[funsizedcrow]

Ok so agents of shield s7 is supposed to connect to to the mcu so imagine

Phil: sup

The avengers: you're alive???

Phil: well...

[everygivenmoment]

- You were right. Our programming is different. Are you afraid to die? 'Cause I am. I know I'm not real. I'm all phantom limbs. But that doesn't make the pain less real.

- You don't have to feel pain.

- You say you don't anymore.

But that pain, that regret... that's what made you a person ... a person I love.

My programming was to get the Darkhold. That came from Radcliffe.

But my impulse, to keep Coulson safe and close, that desire... that came from me.

- That's good.

- And I'm sorry to say... you're not him.

[fanofsonofcoul]

BETTER

[fanofsonofcoul]

[fanofsonofcoul]

yeah...this guy XD

[fanofsonofcoul]

S1EP22//S7EP10//Avengers