TV Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 Episode 5

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 Episode 5 “The Other Thing”

Director: Lou Diamond Phillips

Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 42 minutes

Tense confrontations occur both in space and on Earth this week as Sarge attempts to prove to May that he’s a good guy (or at least a necessary evil) and the space team and Fitz both find themselves in the clutches of the aggressive hunter branch of Chronicoms.  As expected, alternating between Earth and space proves more entertaining than focusing on one storyline at a time has.  Secrets are revealed, connections between previously disparate storylines are established, and the stage is set for even more explosive developments to come in the season’s best episode so far.

A big part of what makes “The Other Thing” so good is that it touches on nearly everyone’s stories.  May and Sarge begin to understand one another and their situations a little more and despite the fact that she violently captures him it’s clear May’s ability to differentiate between Sarge and Coulson is slipping.  Yo-Yo grieves Keller (who really is dead, at least for now) and finds some common ground with Benson even as her relationship with Mack (who is also doubting his leadership capabilities) deteriorates.  Benson himself must prove his conviction after his alcohol problem puts him under scrutiny.  Jemma redeems herself by sending Daisy, Davis, and Piper home while she stays with Fitz to help the Chronicoms after Enoch turns on everyone (however reluctantly).  And Daisy arrives back at the Lighthouse just as the man who looks like her father figure is being brought in.

While it’s the attention paid to the personal storylines that make this such an impactful installment we also get a fair amount of new plot info.  The two major storylines are brought closer to converging not just by Daisy and company’s return to Earth, but also by the reveal that the Chronicoms (who were behind the attack on Fitz and Enoch’s ship in the premiere) were themselves victims of the Shrike, the bat-creatures Sarge is hunting, which ultimately destroyed their homeworld as they have done to many others.  The way Chronicom leader Altarah (Sherri Saum) describes the Shrike conquest also raises the possibility that Sarge and company don’t, in fact, travel to alternate realities, just planet-to-planet.  More is also revealed about Sarge himself, including that he’s more than a hundred years old and has memory issues.  The show is simultaneously hinting that the consciousness that calls itself Sarge really is inhabiting Coulson’s body while also introducing facts that contradict that theory (Sarge’s age and lack of mechanical hand, for example).  For now, this makes for a compelling mystery, though I am getting concerned that the answers about who and what Sarge is may become too convoluted.  Yo-Yo and Benson also make quite the breakthrough when they discover the Shrikes bodies share properties with the Monoliths.  S.H.I.E.L.D. has always been good at bringing seemingly dropped plot threads back to prominence no matter how far back they were introduced and the prospect of learning both how the Monoliths came to be and what the third type does is exciting.

It’s hard to pick highlights in an episode this strong.  Still, it can’t be overstated how good Clark Gregg’s work this season has been.  Featuring both Sarge and Coulson (through flashbacks) highlights just how drastically different his performances for both characters are and despite the quick transitions, one could easily forget they’re watching the same actor.  The flashbacks to Coulson and May’s time in Tahiti themselves, along with the scene in which Jemma turns herself over and sends the space team home are probably the most emotional moments, with the most noteworthy acting (Ming-Na Wen and Elizabeth Henstridge are also on fire this season) but there’s plenty of other great stuff as well.  Everything about Enoch’s turn is effectively devastating, particularly when Fitz figures out what’s going on and the space team’s return occurring simultaneously with Khan’s notification about Sarge’s capture is the perfect note to bring Daisy, who has had a surprisingly small role this season so far, back into the spotlight.  Sarge and May’s fight scene is also entertaining and creatively staged, given that it’s limited to the front seat of his truck.