“Past Life” is episode ten of season five of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the midseason finale.
In the previous episode, “Best Laid Plans”, Sinara was killed by Daisy and Deke, the latter having finally proved that he had switched to the right side and Kasius’ plans to kill all the humans in the Lighthouse were foiled when they all worked together. Zephyr One is off the ground and heading to the Lighthouse, but Kasius has something up his sleeve. He knew what was happening before it did, at least in that case as he said he had a seer of his own, and was prepared to welcome Coulson and the others. Flint is the key to building a new monolith.
Zephyr One is arriving in a docking bay of the Lighthouse and Kasius and a squad of Kree arrive as it does to find the rear hatch open and Sinara’s body. Kasius is not happy and Coulson and the other are not on board (except Enoch, who is hiding and isn’t detected by the Kree in their scan of the plane because he isn’t a lifeform), having already departed the plane.
Coulson is going to rescue the Inhumans but Tess asks what about the other dead Inhumans, as she heard at least one other undergoing the same revival process she did. Yo-yo says that she will find whoever Tess heard whilst Mack and Flint and meet the others. When Yo-yo finds the Inhuman, Kasius’ seer, she gets a surprise.
Kasius wants Sinara fixing but the Kree doctor says that Kree can’t be brought back from the dead as they aren’t as simple as humans. Kasius does not take it well. He also spends quite some time talking to the dead Sinara, which makes him look more than a little crazy. Kasius also decides that, if S.H.I.E.L.D. can be prevented from going back into the past, the Earth won’t be cracked and his father will be able to conquer an intact planet without S.H.I.E.L.D. there to stop him.
Even if the team do get back to the past, how do they stop the destruction of the planet and break the loop they are in? Currently, even though they headed back to the past with full knowledge of what is going to happen, they were unable to prevent it.