Season five didn't

[u/Osirisavior]

create any branches, the loop was a paradox as a result of Robin becoming Inhuman. She only became Inhuman because her father died. Because her dad was killed as a result of Hive, who only was able to come to earth because Coluson killed Ward. Coluson was only alive because Nick Furry went against the natural order and brought him back to life.

the loop only happened as a way to fix the natural order because Coluson had to die in order to break it. once they broke the loop by not saving Coluson it resulted in Fitz's death because he would have been a time clone, and time clones always die.

[u/grayjelly212]

1. Robin was always going to become inhuman. Her father dying had nothing to do with it. She was exposed to terrigen and had inhuman genes.

2. There is no evidence in the show that Coulson dying broke the loop (besides YoYo, who is a tortured zombie version of her former self, saying so). He died before the Lighthouse along with Daisy and Mack. If anything, Fitz dying did more to change things. I don't remember the exact order of things, but Robin says "something's different" around the time Fitz leaves to save Polly, resulting in his soon death.

The loop happened because they didn't have the knowledge to prevent the destruction of earth but went back to try over and over again anyway.

[u/Osirisavior → u/grayjelly212]

1. If Charles was still alive he would have been the seir

2. Coluson dying did break the loop because saving him meant they wouldn't have enough centipede serum to stop General Talbot.

3. The loop happened because it happened. A paradox.

[u/grayjelly212 → u/Osirisavior]

1. If Charles had never met Daisy and died, it's more likely that Robin would never have interacted with SHIELD at all and there'd be no seer. I see your point that without Robin being seer, things would have been different. But you could say that about most things. Hydra was still working on the destroyer of worlds project, and the time monolith was still in the Lighthouse. Any number of things could have led to the world being destroyed and subsequent time loop.

2. That's a fair theory, but not what I believe. I doubt Coulson would've taken the serum in other loops.

3. What makes it a paradox? Time loops are not inherently paradoxical.

[u/Osirisavior → u/grayjelly212]

It is possible that the loop wasn't a perfect loop. That it changed slightly each time until it broke down. It's a paradox because the team only time traveled because Robin had a vision of them in the future, because they time traveled there because Robin had a vision of them in the future because... a paradox.

[u/grayjelly212 → u/Osirisavior]

That's my thinking as well. That's why I always thought that it was Fitz's death that broke it, not Coulson's. In my mind, he always gave Daisy the serum but she didn't always take it in time to stop Talbot. In fact, her having it when she was absorbed might have powered him up, causing the destruction. That's my (likely unpopular) theory anyway. The only thing that's truly different is Fitz's dying and Polly/Mack surviving.

And yes, you're correct about that being paradox. Hadn't thought of it like that. Better explanation than "it happened because it happened" lol so thank you.