TV Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 Episode 7

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 Episode 7 “Toldja”

Director: Keith Potter

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

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 42 minutes

I mentioned in my review of this season’s second episode how S.H.I.E.L.D. has to have a few slower episodes a season to make sure new story developments are properly set up before everything explodes again in one of the flashier, more climactic installments.  This was definitely an episode of the former type.  “Toldja” exists to set up an uneasy alliance between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Sarge and to set Fitz and Simmons on a path that will finally bring them back to Earth.  Not much else of note happens but that’s not a bad thing.  It’s important for the show to slow down once in a while.  It allows the viewer to take a breath before the next big shock and, more importantly, allows the characters to express what kind of emotional states they’re in.

As soon as he’s brought into the Lighthouse as a prisoner Sarge starts boasting about how he’ll be running the place before the end of the day and the episode’s main dramatic arc is building up to the moment when he’s proven right.  After a false attempt at a jailbreak (which revealed that Jaco CAN BREATH FIRE) Sarge ultimately is granted his wish after S.H.I.E.L.D. captures two Shrike-infected humans, who upon being put in close proximity erupt in an even more destructive transformation than usual, which threatens to bring down the Zephyr with May, Yo-Yo, and others onboard.  Mack agrees to allow Sarge his (limited?) freedom in exchange for the information needed to save the away team.  Once Sarge provides the surprisingly simple tip that the Shrike can be frozen mid-transformation and May and Yo-Yo are safe Daisy asks what’s next and Mack and all the supporting agents at control turn to Sarge.  The scene is a little overdramatic but it’s sold by Clark Gregg’s immaculately smug delivery of the titular line.

While everyone gets a good moment or two in, if “Toldja” belongs to anyone other than Gregg it’s Henry Simmons.  The long-time castmates make the most out of the fundamental shift needed in their dynamic due to Gregg’s switch in characters.  Watching Mack and Sarge battle for control is much more than an exercise in macho posturing.  It’s a tense, complicated clash of intelligence and will that’s innately watchable.  Furthermore, while Mack will surely beat himself up for needing Sarge’s help going forward his leadership style as well as his reluctance to be in the authority position (he all but begs Daisy to take the job at one point) highlight how perfect a choice for the director he is.

After their dramatic ordeal last episode Fitz and Simmons get a relatively lighthearted storyline, although for them that still means almost being beheaded by the owner of the Kitson casino from a few weeks ago.  Still, the couple’s material is mostly comedic and encouraging this week, with Jemma bemusedly noting that the casino is much less fun when she’s sober and the two of them being rescued and recruited by space-warrior Izel (Karolina Wydra), who will bring them home in exchange for help manning a ship, as she also needs to get to Earth.  This is S.H.I.E.L.D., so Izel will almost certainly pose some kind of threat down the line but for now, her presence brings a much-needed sense of optimism to the Fitzsimmons storyline.  The space story does end on a bittersweet note this week, however, as Enoch, having fulfilled his missions of preventing last year’s possible apocalypse and getting Fitz and Simmons back home, decides to remain in space to help his people find a new home.  The emergency communicator Fitz gives Enoch virtually ensures we’ll be seeing Joel Stoffer again at some point but he and Iain De Caestecker still make the goodbye quite touching.

Again, “Toldja” is for the most part still quite entertaining for a transitional episode but it has some issues, with the biggest being how it highlights that this season has a Daisy problem.  Sure, the super-agent excuses herself from the first meeting with Sarge in the command center but beyond that, her reaction to the false Coulson is almost nonexistent.  To some extent this is surely just Daisy putting on a brave face (one of the people offering to console her is Deke, after all) but in her scene with Mack, whom she’s much closer to, Daisy reiterates that after all she’s been through new tragedy and trauma doesn’t shake her to the same extent it used.  That is, of course, satisfying recognition of character growth but this season either can’t or isn’t bothering to continue to move the character further forward in any significant ways and that’s frustrating given both that Daisy should be the show’s de facto lead with Coulson gone and how valuable Chloe Bennet is to the show.