[Warning: Spoilers for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7, Episode 9, “As I have Always Been”]
In Remembrance
He started out a silhouette and a voice in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Phillip J. Coulson?” was the first thing he said. This was at the end of Season 4. But in the next three Seasons, Joel Stoffer as the Anthropological Enoch would win fans and hearts. In the end however, he sacrificed HIS heart to save his friends. He was a good and loyal companion right up until that time, “As he had always been.” Even if he had to kill someone to do it.😏 (But more on that later). So, to honor S.H.I.E.L.D.’s favorite original Chronicom, we will look at some of the best moments of Enoch. From his first appearance to his seeming last.
The Beginning
While he was partially introduced at the end of Season 4, it was in Season 5 that we got to know the stoic Chronicom known as Enoch. He was an anthropologist, studying the earth and it’s inhabitants for 30,000 years.
I was sent here 30,000 years ago to observe and record the evolution of your species. What you would call an anthropologist. My Earth name is Enoch. I am a sentient Chronicom from a planet which revolves around a star in the constellation you know as Cygnus.
Strictly forbidden to interefere, he was only allowed to study and record the events that he observed. Unless, there was an extinction level event that threatened all of humanity.
An Extinction Level Event
It was this kind of event that made him come off the bench and intervene. This took the form of abducting the S.H.I.E.L.D. team and, by way of the time monolith, transporting them to the future. All but Leopold Fitz. The human that would become his best friend. But not at first.
Once Fitz learns that Enoch was the one who had taken his friends, he meant to get him to show him where they went…or when. He does this by drawing a gun and forcibly pressing Enoch’s face into a table. Enoch explained that he was just following the Seers prophecy. But once the Seer (Young Robin from the Episode “The Seer”) also saw Fitz, Enoch agreed to help. But it would require Fitz and Hunter (who broke Fitz out of Jail) to obtain his Cyrogenic Chamber. Once they did, Enoch offered to place Fitz in stasis and stay with him the 70 years it would take to reunite him with the team.
During that time, Enoch came up with a cover story for Fitz. He would be a Marauder. An assassin of sorts with unlimited wealth. It is the first time that Enoch admits to “enjoying” the pursuit of creating Fitz’s persona and the start of their relationship.
It was a rather fun pursuit, constructing your alias. No longer are you Leopold Fitz, but instead Boshtok, a vile Space Marauder of unlimited wealth.
Sacrifice One
Ultimately, this relationship would lead Enoch to make the first of his sacrifices for the team. This time giving his life (along with Deke) to power the monolith so the team could go back home.
Enoch: I think this vessel is too damaged to power the Monolith.”
Deke: “Then what can?”
Enoch: “Me. My battery has sustained me for more than 32,000 Earth years. Modifying the cell stack could create thermal feedback capable of delivering more than enough power.”Deke: “Thermal feedback? What happens to you in that scenario?
Enoch: “I will expire, knowing I returned my friends home. And then my battery chemistry will consume my body in an exothermal reaction violent enough to decimate several levels of the Lighthouse.
Of course, this is a comic book based show. No one stays dead forever. Just ask Coulson…or Fitz or Deke.
Resurrection
So in Season 6, he returned…as did Fitz. But in this timeline, the ship Fitz and Enoch were in to await the 70 years in stasis came under attack. Enoch was forced to awaken Fitz earlier than planned. They eventually became part of the crew on a cargo ship that carried Space Snails. With Enoch’s help, they were able to escape the controller of the ship and take control. This would lead them to Planet Kitson, where gambling and Brothels are king…for a price.
Leave it to a pleasure planet to bring out the party animal in a Chronicom. Ok, not really. But he certainly started to loosen up…a little. It was here that Joel Stoffer brought Enoch into a new level of humor, in his classic deadpan style. He learned that bluffing is alive and well in the future. While we learned that Chronicoms are well versed in the sexual arts for possible work in the Kitson Brothels. At least that is what HE said.
Decommissioned
But his time his time with Fitz and his friends earned him a decommission from his brother Chronicoms. This where we learned that Enoch could show the very human emotions of self-pity. Some of his lines in this segment are Enoch at his best.
Enoch: Shut down. Which can only mean I am decommissioned. I am useless now. I have soiled the integrity of Chronicoms. The name Enoch will be an unspeakable sound.
This continues as Fitz tried to get Enoch to re-engage:
Enoch: Why do I exist? I am nothing. I’m a speck of dust in the infinite…
Fitz: Okay, Enoch…
Enoch: An afterthought in the worm-ridden mind of the black void.
Fitz: Okay. I’m gonna need you to spark up. So you take a break from being infinite nothing and do that for me?
Enoch: Why would I do anything when there is no purpose? We will all soon be dust and rust.
Fitz: ‘Cause you’re my best friend. Remember? That’s your purpose.
Enoch: You’re bluffing.
Fitz: No. I’m not. I can’t believe I’m saying this, because you are…
Enoch: …Chronicom. Decommissioned.
Fitz: Gonna say a massive pain in the ass, but you’ve grown on me. So, yeah. You are my best friend.
Enoch: For you, my best friend, I would do anything.
And while Enoch did his best for his friend, he couldn’t quite shake his existential angst. Even when talking later to Jemma and the Zephyr crew. Speaking while his head rested on the table in utter defeat.
Enoch: There is no hope, only loss. Decommissioned. Hunted. I have become a cautionary tale used to steer children away from a life of crime and excess.
Davis: Would it be rude to turn him off? His constant complaining is giving me a headache.
Piper: Yeah, well, you are the Puff-Head who got high and shot up our super-threatening fuse box, so…
Davis: Never mind. Sorry I was wrong. The source of the headache is Piper. Definitely Piper.
Enoch: Poor Fitz. Though now I walk alone, I will never forget my one and only friend.
Simmons: Your only friend? But you have us.
Enoch: When last we met, I forcibly abducted your team and sent you all into a dystopian future.
Daisy: Yeah, maybe not the best start, but in the end, you really came through.
Enoch: I did?
Simmons: In the future, you sacrificed yourself for us. Without you, we never would have been able to get home and save Earth from destruction.
The Hunters
Enoch eventually pulled himself together and helped the team reunite. By then he had another task, to try to help the Chronicoms and perhaps save their home of Chronyca-2. To accomplish this, he initially put Jemma in danger in the hopes to get Fitz to help them go back in time. But his friendship with Fitz won out and he saved them from the Chronicom hunters. The hunters who decided that taking over Earth was a better plan that saving their home world. He had assumed the skin of another Chronicom to make the save, initially confusing the couple.
Enoch: Sorry. This must be confusing, best friend. But I had to take bold action.
Fitz: Enoch?
Enoch: I found that bluffing was much easier if you kill someone and take their skin. There is a second wave of Hunters coming. I have a strategy that will save your lives and the lives of your fellow Agents, but, unfortunately, time is of the essence. We must act now.
Fitz: Yeah, of course. What?
Enoch: This will be the hardest thing you have ever done.
Simmons: I doubt that.
Fitz: Nothing’s ever easy with you, is it?
Simmons: What do we have to do?Enoch: [Dramatically] Change the natural course of your lives forever.
[They have heard this before.]
Simmons: Oh, that again.
Fitz: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sacrifice Two
This lead to this Season. With Enoch’s help, they made the preparation to allow the team to thwart the Chronicoms plans to change history. It has not gone perfectly. He was even left in time at one point. But they have did their best to stop the Chronicoms. Jemma and Fitz even went as far as having a biological implant inserted into Jemma. It’s purpose is to keep her from revealing Fitz’s location.
This was so important that they felt it necessary for Enoch to be programmed to defend the implant. Even if it meant killing the team or even Jemma herself. This was revealed in this episode. The team is stuck in a time loop and must puzzle out a way to escape. They decide that the answer lies with Jemma and her suppressed memories. The problem is the programming of Enoch. Without even realizing that he was doing it, he protected her implant with extreme prejudice.
Through the various time loops, he killed most of them, including Jemma. But through all the loops, they finally found out that their killing machine Chronicom also had the solution to their problem. But to retrieve the device. It would mean the demise of Enoch.
As time was running out, they decide to bring Enoch before them to explain the situation. He listens and doesn’t hesitate to reach inside and to pull out his own “heart.” Jemma wanted to find another way but there was no time. She left with Deke to install the device with tears running down her cheeks. As for Enoch, he is feeling the effects of the removal of the device. He realizes his end is near.
I am acutely aware that in my thousands of years observing humans, I never used to feel lonely. I have been alone many times. To be candid, I preferred it. But it wasn’t until I met this particular team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that being alone meant… feeling lonely. And I don’t care for it.
But he was not alone. Coulson and Daisy stayed with him until the end. And while he discussed the realities of his demise, he couldn’t help but think of those he leaves behind. Especially his best friend Fitz. Daisy reminds hem that he has been a good friend to Fitz…to all of them. “As I have always been…” the last word not quite escaping before he ceased to function. But he had accomplished his mission. The team was safe. Again.
Thoughts
Somehow, I would not be shocked if we see Enoch again by the final episode. But if not, here’s to Joel Stoffer for bring the lovable Chronicom to life and to Elizabeth Henstridge for directing the best episode of the Season and arguably, one of the best of the series. Also Kudos to writer Drew Z. Greenberg for a great story. It contained drama, humor, and enough tragedy to satisfy just about anyone. With Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., that’s saying something.
So the team moves on without their 30, 000 year old Chronicom. And while they will miss him, there is still Sybil and Nathaniel to defeat. Time goes on.
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Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
