WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7, which airs Wednesday on ABC.
The first season of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduced fans to Melinda May, one of the best agents in the covert organization. Over the years, the stoic fighter has opened up about her past and learned to be a little more open about her emotions. She's also become quite the fan-favorite which is why many were relieved that she didn't actually die at the end of Season 6. But as is par the course on S.H.I.E.L.D., things haven't exactly turned out as planned.
Agent May is awake and ready to get back to work, but she's not showing any emotion. After six seasons of growth, it's still a mystery as to what's happening to her. But before diving into where May is now, let's review just how far she has come.
THE CAVALRY
At the beginning of S.H.I.E.L.D., May is the team's silent warrior and Coulson's right hand. She doesn't show much emotion apart from anger, but she always takes care of her own and goes on to train most of the younger agents. In Season 2, fans learn about May's backstory and how she became known as "the Cavalry," a moniker she despises. While on a mission in Bahrain, May made the hard decision to kill a young Inhuman girl who couldn't control her powers. Before the incident, she was warm and friendly, but Bahrain leaves her traumatized and withdrawn. Later, May divorces her husband, Andrew, and retires from the field until Coulson brings her back.
TRAGEDY STRIKES AGAIN
Andrew comes back into May's life amidst the Inhuman conflict. After the dust settles, she leaves S.H.I.E.L.D. for a while to be with him but things end suddenly when, unbeknownst to May, Andrew undergoes Terrigenesis and becomes Lash. Sadly, she can't save him as he transforms permanently and dies in the fight against Hive. In her grief and anger, she rejoins the team and goes after Hydra. She settles back into her life at S.H.I.E.L.D., remaining loyal to Coulson even after he resigns from being the director.
BAHRAIN REVISITED
In Season 4, May's run-in with a ghost leaves her brain scrambled. She narrowly escapes death and during her recovery, Dr. Radcliffe and Aida put her in the Framework and replace her with an LMD at S.H.I.E.L.D. At first, May figures out that she's being held against her will and fights back. She stops fighting, however, after Aida "fixes" her biggest regret and allows May to save the girl from the Bahrain incident. This has lasting negative consequences in the Framework as Inhumans become feared and hunted and Hydra rises up. Thankfully, Simmons and Daisy help her escape along with the rest of the team.
LOVE AND FORGIVENESS
Soon after their return, May and the rest of the team get kidnapped and sent to an apocalyptic future. While there, she meets Robin Hinton, an Inhuman whose visions of other times leave her unable to distinguish between past, present, and future. As they figure out a way to get back, May is shocked to find out that she herself raised Robin after her mother died. The team returns to their present and changes the timeline, preventing the apocalypse as well as Robin's mother's death. Although she doesn't raise Robin in this new timeline, the knowledge that she did in another timeline helps May forgive herself for the Bahrain incident. Upon returning to the present, the team also finds out that Coulson is dying. After this, May is determined to save him because she loves him. In the end, she can't save him, and she leaves again, opting to stay with Coulson for the rest of his life.
UNEXPECTED RETURNS
After Coulson's death, May returns to S.H.I.E.L.D. and helps Mack look for someone to rebuild the academy. To her shock, a Coulson doppelganger who calls himself Sarge shows up and wreaks havoc on Earth. After a few run-ins and a kidnapping, May starts to see glimmers of Coulson in Sarge. The team learns about Sarge's true origin which gives May hope that maybe she can save him, but in the end, he betrays them and stabs May. May survives long enough to help the team defeat him and Izel. She accepts her death since it means she'll get to reunite with Coulson, but Simmons shows up at the last second and saves her. Simmons and Enoch use new tech to repair her body, but they're unsure of the side effects.
WHAT'S NEXT?
In Season 7, May wakes up physically recovered but emotionally distant. While it's not unusual for May to be closed off around new people, fans were surprised at her lack of emotion upon seeing LMD Coulson. After all, May's become much more expressive around her team and she certainly didn't hide her feelings when it came to Sarge. Some fans believe she's reverted back to how she was in Season 1. It's true that May was considerably more stone-faced in the beginning and May even pulled a disappearing act on Enoch, a trick she did back in the first season. Nevertheless, something feels different this time around.
During Season 1, May was closed off because of her past trauma. Since then she's forgiven herself and opened up considerably. She died briefly at the end of Season 6, but would that erase all her emotional growth from the past six years? This could be the case but since she was brought back by Enoch using new technology, perhaps this is a side effect. Fans were quick to notice that May's lack of emotion is pretty similar to the Chronicoms. At one point, she even says that she's not feeling anything and Enoch says that she's "malfunctioning." While they are sentient, Chronicoms don't experience emotions to the extent that humans do and don't express much emotion physically. Maybe when Enoch healed May, he inadvertently altered her to be more like a Chronicom. It would be a shame to undo all of May's growth throughout the show so hopefully, the change isn't permanent.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s final season airs Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on ABC. The series stars Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Iain De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Elizabeth Henstridge and Clark Gregg.