REVIEW: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S6E5 – The Other Thing

So, for all of us who were wondering how in the heck this show could start to pull all these plotlines together and give us some answers? Here are some answers.

These guys were so beautiful, I barely even noticed Tahiti around them.

Let’s start with May and Fauxlson. A lot to unpack here. First of all, those little flashbacks of May with Real Coulson in Tahiti just killed me. I miss him, and it’s clear how much May misses him. No wonder she’s so enraged by Sarge, who is so clearly not Coulson at all, and has the audacity to believe Coulson was the fake. But the fact that Sarge apparently does have a lifetime’s (or several) worth of memories is interesting. The mystery only deepens there. On the other hand, I’m glad May understands Sarge & co.’s mission now. She definitely doesn’t agree with their literal scorched-earth policy about how to stop the Shrike, though. Also, place your bets now: the creator(s) of the Shrike – FitzSimmons somehow (obviously accidentally), y/y? I suppose someone else is possible, but that’s who I’m going with. They’re the only ones who have the know-how, and who are very mixed-up in the whole time distortion thing.

Speaking of which, Fitz and Simmons didn’t end up being quite as separated as we all feared they were. Of course, they and Enoch, Daisy, Piper, and Davis are captured by the Chronicoms, so that’s not great. I must admit, I didn’t expect to learn that they were all being hunted because the Chronicoms’ homeworld was destroyed. Now I’m curious: did Sarge’s team not get to it in time to stop the Shrike? Or it could be something else entirely… Anyway, Altarah, the leader of the remaining Chronicoms, is convinced our SHIELD team can help the Chronicoms go back in time to stop their planet from being destroyed. At first, she plans to kill the whole team except Fitz – the only one who could try to reconstruct the monolith device the team used last season to get back to their present. (Is it really “reconstruction” when it hasn’t actually happened yet in the present? Oy, time travel.) But Enoch convinces her that Fitz needs the motivation of Simmons to do this task. Which seems like a deep betrayal of his “best friend”. What long game are you playing, Enoch? I’m really hoping you are playing one. Otherwise, you clearly didn’t learn as much about humans as we all thought you had. Anyway. At least the two lovebirds are both in captivity on the same ship with the same unpleasantness ahead for them. Great?

Altarah and Enoch’s snide conversation about “data ports” and “charging pods” was … interesting.

Lastly, I was pleased to see some fallout for Dr. Benson, from his less-than-stellar performance last week with the alien bat parasite. The way that was handled this week felt believable for all the characters. Also, that scene between Yo-Yo and Mack? Heartbreaking – but again, very true to who we know them to be. I’m intrigued to see what will happen, assuming Benson goes down and checks out the places where the monoliths were discovered. Which is a very interesting connection.

Also: I love that May got the best of both Sarge and Snowflake. Neither of them know her enough to not keep underestimating her. Having all of our team, except FitzSimmons, back at the Lighthouse should be a good thing. Whether Sarge knows it or not, his team needs SHIELD to stop the Shrike from destroying Earth/continuing to move through the universe.

Were there any surprises in this episode for you? Let us know in the comments!