It’s all come down to this showdown between good and evil on Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In “The Sign”, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. team up with Sarge (Clark Gregg) to stop Izel (Karolina Wydra).
In “New Life”, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. discover whether or not Sarge is a good guy or the bad guy.
So much is going on…let’s go!
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The Sign
Izel was able to conjure Flint (Coy Stewart) to the temple using the Creation stone. Director “Mack” Mackenzie (Henry Simmons) and Agent “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) are very afraid of him being there because of his ability to control the terrain. Flint tries to be brave and stands up to Izel, despite Mack and Yo-Yo’s warning to run. Izel discovers is ability and possesses Flint. She uses his ability to rebuild the monoliths. To keep anyone from interfering, Izel sends out her Shrike to build an army to defend her.
When Flint wakes up, he unties Mack and Yo-Yo. They try to explain to him what’s going on, but the fact that they made him with their minds gets confusing. Flint has a lot of questions, but they don’t have time to chat. Izel returns saying they are predictable. To remind them of what she’s capable of, she enters Yo-Yo and breaks Flint’s leg
Game Time
Agents Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet), Piper (Briana Venskus), and Sarge are heading to the Yucatan to rescue Mack and Yo-Yo and stop Izel. Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) equip Daisy with a frequency disrupting cuff so Izel can’t leap into her body. Their grandson, Deke Shaw (Jeff Ward) equips her with about a dozen more. Fitz is impressed, to say the least. They also melted down Sarge’s Shrike daggers and created bullets. Pretty clever if you ask me.
Along the way, May expresses her hope that once the demon is out of Sarge, a part of Coulson will still be there. She has taken a high interest in him, offering to be by his side when he strikes down Izel.
When they land, they find the Zephyr-1. Piper finds it’s disabled and will take some time to figure out why. Piper radios in their position and Simmons suggests they use S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites to locate Izel, but Sarge says Izel can hear their communications. They all agree to go dark. May, Sarge, and Daisy head for the temple. They leave Piper to fix the Zephyr.
Shaw Drive
Team FitzSimmons work on finding a way to get cuffs to Mack and Yo-Yo. Deke has something in mind but asks his grandparents not go get mad first. He set up his start-up company lab in an empty room at the Lighthouse. He had his team create The Shaw Drive, a transportation device. It’s been tested, but not on humans.
As Fitz and Simmons look around the room, they see the technology he uses has been stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D., including the Framework. Most of Deke’s inventions are Fitz’s ideas. He doesn’t like that Deke is profiting from stolen tech. Simmons is more interested in how the “Shaw Drive” works. Deke says with all three of them working on it, they can make it work.
3 Shrikes and Out
Daisy asks where Sarge got his sword, but he doesn’t remember. They run into Shrike and get a chance to use the new bullets. Daisy thought she killed most of the Shrike birds at the truck, but then a lot more shrike show up. They kill them with ease and Sarge makes a joke about it being overkill. Daisy and May look at each other funny because it sounded like something Coulson would say. And Sarge is not one for jokes. May radios in to let Command know that their cover is blown.
May is sure Coulson is in Sarge made a joke about killing the Shrike. Daisy still has some doubts though. Sarge finds the temple is surrounded by Shrike, so Daisy volunteers to cause a distraction. It’s the only way Sarge and May can get to Izel.
Family Matters
The FitzSimmons family works on the jump drive and Fitz can’t help but reprimand Deke for stealing the technology. Deke calls him jealous, almost inciting a blow-out argument. Simmons tries to stop them, but Fitz just can’t help himself.
Fitz says Deke built his company to get rich. Deke explodes, saying he built the company because no one likes him. He gets really upset ranting about how he doesn’t belong anywhere, all of his friends are gone, the girl of his dreams hates him, and the only family he has left doesn’t want anything to do with him.
As he is talking, he is putting the jump drive together. Simmons interjects saying they care about him, but he knows she’s just being nice because she didn’t tell him that Fitz died. She wanted to spare him the pain, but he says he could have shared in the pain with her. He could have helped her. Deke grabs a couple of frequency disrupting cuffs and then puts on the Shaw Drive. He wonders what it will take for everyone to accept him and jumps away.
Agent Shaw
Deke shows up at the temple, gives the cuffs to Yo-Yo and Mack and is shocked to see Flint. Izel tries to run into Yo-Yo and bumps into her. Yo-Yo smiles and pushes Izel back as hard as she can. They grab Flint and run. As they are walking through the temple, Deke lets them know there is a S.H.I.E.L.D. team in route. They run into a couple of Shrike. Deke offers to hold them off while they get Flint out of the temple. Mack thanks him, calling him “Agent Shaw” and leaves.
Deke runs through the temple and attempts to use the jump drive, but it doesn’t work. He radios in to Bobo and gets yelled at for not knowing that the drive needs to recharge. Deke is able to get away from the Shrike and comes up with an idea for a zombie killing game. He radios Command to tell Simmons about it and she humors him by listening.
They also hear singing. Izel has started singing and it is carrying throughout the temple. Deke goes back to see what she’s doing. Izel has changed into a robe and her voice is making the monoliths shake. Deke sets up a camera to show Command. Simmons asks what’s going one and Deke says it looks like they’re too late.
Zombies! Why not?
Mack and Yo-Yo make it to the Zephyr where Piper is working. She grabs a medical kit and starts helping Flint, wondering where he came from. At this point, nothing surprises Piper…not even zombies. Flint is in awe of the Zephyr, and the jungle. He’s never seen the world intact.
Mack pulls Piper aside and tells her about Flint. His leg is broken so he asks Piper to fly him back to the Lighthouse. Piper informs him that May and Daisy are with Sarge heading back to the temple. Mack is surprised to learn that Sarge is with them, but Piper justifies it saying Daisy believes Sarge is the only one who can kill Izel. They say goodbye to Flint and promise to get tacos when they return.
Sarge and May are in a position to get into the temple. Daisy hasn’t caused her distraction yet. They hear Izel’s song and Sarge gets uncomfortable. He gives May one last chance to run, but she won’t. She’s not scared of Izel. She knows Sarge will do the right thing when they get inside. Sarge tells her to let go of any hope that he will become Coulson when it’s all over. May says she knows Coulson is dead, but there’s still good in Sarge. They hear a rumble and the Shrike move. Time to go in.
What Now?
Deke runs into more Shrike and uses the jump drive. He lands in the jungle and encounters more Shrike. He takes off the jump drive, grabs the radio and runs. Deke asks for help finding the quinjet. When he gets there, FitzSimmons tell him to stay put until the extraction team can get there.
Daisy makes it to the Zephyr as Mack and Yo-Yo are leaving. She says she’s being followed by the Shrike. She pushes the button to close the cargo door. As they go back into the Zephyr, a Shrike disables the cargo door, leaving it open.
Mack figures out what’s wrong with the Zephyr but suggests rerouting power to the thrusters to get off the ground. They don’t have a lot of time so Daisy suggests they take the quinjet, but Mack sent Piper and Flint away in the jet. Daisy is shocked to hear that Flint is there and that he got to Earth through Monolith energy. She is a little bothered by the fact that Piper took the only working quinjet to transport someone who isn’t real. This causes a heated argument about Sarge.
Mack isn’t happy that Daisy let Sarge come with them. He just tried to kill them all. They don’t know what he’s capable of. Daisy defends her decision by telling Mack that Sarge started to remember who he is. He called her Skye and there’s no way Sarge would know that unless Coulson was in there. She says Mack needs to see it for himself.
Mack believes Sarge is evil. He tells Daisy when the Devil shows up, he’ll be wearing the face of someone you trust. He’ll make you question everything you see and everything you know. Sarge may not be the Devil, but they don’t know what He is. The Shrike have invaded the Zephyr causing them to lock themselves into a room.
Love
Izel is still singing and turns to a door. The monoliths liquify and swirl around behind her. Sarge and May enter the temple and Sarge is about to lose it. He tells May to take him to her, briefing turning into something else. Izel opens a door to another realm and the monoliths return to form.
FitzSimmons are watching Izel from the Deke’s camera. They see Sarge and May approach her. Izel is happy to see Sarge, saying he looks more like himself now. May is ready to fight, but Sarge wants Izel all to himself. He grabs her by the throat and throws her to the ground, falling with her. Sarge pulls out the sword and Izel is scared. She says the sword doesn’t belong in this world. Sarge says neither does she. He’s done with the pain he feels and starts to kill her, but he can’t. He stands up, allowing her to stand before him.
Izel and May try to convince Sarge that he is who they say he is. Izel finally asks how he feels. He feels anger and fear. He says there’s a fear that is like a knife in his heart. May says it’s love. She knows because she was afraid of it too. May starts talking to him as if he were Coulson. She says he gave her the gift of love, a purpose, and a crew. She asks him to remember the team because he loves them. He says she’s right, it is love and he knows how to end it.
Sarge stabs May in the stomach, saying he has to cut the love out of him. He pushes her through Izel’s portal and turns to Izel. He asks, ‘how’s that for a sign?’
Elsewhere
Enoch (Joel Stoffer) meets with a Chronicom anthropologist named Isaiah (Jan Uddin). He asked Isaiah to track down other anthropologists so they can rebuild their home. Isaiah reports that the anthropologists on his list are no more. They have been reassigned to hunters…including Isaiah.
New Life
The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have been in some pretty situations, but nothing like this. Sarge stabbed May. S.H.I.E.L.D. Command saw the whole thing happen, but they have a job to do. Daisy radios in, saying they are pinned down by Shrike. Fitz immediately reports that May is down. Simmons confirms that Sarge killed her. Daisy is in disbelief, but then the communications are cut.
The whole system is offline because the Chronicoms have infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. They waste no time taking the command center, killing anyone who gets in the way. Malachi (Christopher James Baker) orders his Hunters to go after those who ran and leave no prisoners. Isaiah stays by his side during the whole ordeal. Malachi tells him to find the key.
FitzSimmons get some people to safety. It gives them a minute to collect their thoughts and remember the S.H.I.E.L.D. emergency protocols. The S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team should be waiting for them at the staging floor. Fitz thinks this is a good time to call Enoch for help, but he gets the voice mail. They consider that maybe the Chronicoms got Enoch first. Simmons points out that Malachi said to leave no prisoners. This isn’t an ambush, it’s extermination.
Under Siege
Daisy admits that Mack was right about Sarge and takes the blame for May’s death. Yo-Yo tells her to make it mean something. They hear Deke on the radio, trying to reach S.H.I.E.L.D. Command and Mack answers him. He’s under siege as well and needs assistance.
Deke is in the quinjet that Mack flew to get Izel to the temple. Since Mack can’t leave, Deke will have to fly to them, but he has no flying skills. Mack says he will talk him through it. Deke does everything he’s told, but the jet won’t take off. A Shrike jumps onto the window of the cockpit with a jet part in his hands.
Yo-Yo discovers how the Shrike got in. They have to reinforce the door to the bridge so the Shrike don’t get in. She and Daisy start pulling things off the wall to push against the door.
Armed and Dangerous
Deke reports that he’s missing something and Mack instructs him on how to revert power from one source to the engines. The control panel is in the floor, but when Deke goes in to switch gears, a Shrike grabs him from underneath the jet. He struggles with the Shrike, ultimately biting him to make the Shrike let go of him. Deke closes the panel and runs to the cockpit to take off.
Daisy and Yo-Yo are moving things around and realize the Shrike aren’t at the door. The only other rooms that are accessible are the engine room and the armory. The Shrike break through a door to start shooting at Yo-Yo and Daisy. Yo-Yo uses her super fast speed to shoot them down first. Easy-peasy. As Yo-Yo puts the barricade back, a Shrike flies into her mouth.
Fate of the World, as Always
Deke gets in the air and heads for the Zephyr. Daisy rushes Yo-Yo to Mack. They are all scared about what will happen next. Deke has some trouble landing on the Zephyr, but he does so without too much damage. Mack, Daisy, and Yo-Yo board the quinjet and they head for the temple.
Mack is determined to save Yo-Yo, but she’s seen what the Shrike can do to a person. Daisy agrees with Mack. Not today Yo-Yo. She thinks when they kill Izel, her Shrike will die off. Yo-Yo isn’t so sure and asks Daisy to kill her if it comes to it because Mack won’t be able to do it. Daisy says okay, but it won’t come to that.
Yo-Yo changes the subject and asks Daisy if she’s ready to unleash the beast. Daisy says today she has something else in mind. Revenge.
Pachakutiq
Soooo…here’s what happened. Coulson 2.0 showed up in their world. Pachakutiq took his form and Izel shot him in the head, killing Coulson, but leaving Pachakutiq to inhabit the body. That enabled him to leave their world. She found a body to inhabit so Pachakutiq sent Izel to find the monoliths so he could be whole again, but it took a long time to find.
Pachakutiq felt abandoned by Izel, thinking she had found the monoliths and used the power for her own gain. Now they are together and are ready to bring their family to Earth to inhabit the planet. He tells her to call back her Shrike so they can complete their mission. She says they will come once all of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been put down.
Between Life and Death
Meanwhile, May is in between realms. She wakes up and pulls the sword out of her abdomen. There are three hooded figures in this place with her, each representing a monolith. They pass her and walk to a table where there are three empty spaces. A piece of each monolith goes in each space. The hooded ones start putting stones into the table and light shines from another door. May peeks through and sees several aliens headed for the door. She walks up to the table with the sword, ready to swing.
Izel says everything is ready for their people to enter the portal and be free. They will take form and know what it is to feel. The three stones fly through the portal door. Izel picks them up, confused how they got there.
Broken Protocol
FitzSimmons and the survivors arrive at the staging floor, but the strike team is dead. Simmons says the floor was only used for emergencies and it was only a verbal protocol. There’s no way the Chronicoms could have figured it out, but they did. Fitz says they discovered it when they probed their minds, taking every bit of information that FitzSimmons knew about S.H.I.E.L.D. Fitz and Simmons have become a liability.
Other Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show up and suggest they go to the hanger. But that’s what FitzSimmons would do. They have to go somewhere that didn’t exist before Simmons went to space. They suggest the other survivors go to the Deke’s lab on the 25th level. FitzSimmons stay behind to secure S.H.I.E.L.D.’s information.
Operation Protect S.H.I.E.L.D.
FitzSimmons make their way to the server room. The server room has everything about the organization and everyone who works for them. And it has the framework. The framework contains brain scans from everyone who went in, including Coulson. If they get Coulson’s brain scan, they will get all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets. The only option is to blow up the server.
They hear someone coming down the hall and see Chronicoms headed for the server room. FitzSimmons set explosives throughout the room and plan to detonate when the Chronicoms reach the room. There’s just one problem. They don’t have a timer. They have a grenade though. In order for it to work, FitzSimmons have to be in the room too. Simmons pulls the pin, holds the grenade tightly and they hide together.
Change Course
The Chronicoms reach the room and easily finding FitzSimmons. They prepare to shoot them, but someone shoots the Chronicoms from behind first. It’s Isaiah. He apologizes for the confusion, but it’s Enoch’s voice. Enoch explains that he had to kill Isaiah and take his skin to bluff.
More hunters are coming, but Enoch has a plan. They have to act quickly. There’s one more thing and Enoch says it will be the hardest thing they’ve ever done. They have to change the natural course of their lives forever. This again?
Death is Meaningless
Izel blames Sarge for the minor setback, saying either he underestimated May’s strength or there’s still a part of Coulson in him. She takes off her robe and grabs a couple of daggers. She walks through the portal to face May herself.
Izel taunts her with talk about completing her mission. May snaps back with talk about the resilience of humans. Izel says her Shrike will prevent that. They don’t fight the change as Sarge did. May has decided she doesn’t like Sarge anymore, but the real struggle is his. He’s struggling with his devotion to May and to Izel.
May asks if death is really meaningless because the hooded ones evaporated into dust. Izel knows their energy will take form into something else. May has heard that before. She tells Izel to get ready to be reborn and they start to fight.
The Sanctuary
Daisy, Mack, Yo-Yo, and Deke make their way through the temple. Yo-Yo is getting worse though. Deke stays behind in the hallways to fight off any Shrike that comes through. The other three go into the sanctuary. Sarge turns to face them and Daisy quakes him, removing the Coulson skin from his body. He stands before them in his true form as Pachakutiq.
Pachakutiq is able to walk through Daisy’s quake. He says they underestimate him. He’s more powerful than she could ever be. Pachakutiq headbutts Daisy, knocking her down. Mack starts shooting and when that doesn’t work, they start fighting. Time is up for Yo-Yo, the Shrike is taking over. Daisy takes a Shrike blade and prepares to kill Yo-Yo, as she requested.
Meanwhile, May and Izel continue their fight in the other realm. Izel is able to overpower May, pushing her aside and resetting the stone to open the door. May comes at her again and knocks her backward. Izel says she doesn’t need to beat May. She did what she came to do. May is already dead on the other side and her people will erase her from existence. Izel runs back through the portal as her family enters the in-between realm.
Out of Time
The Shrike arrive and Deke starts shooting. Mack and Pachakutiq continue fighting until he sees Yo-Yo is about to die. He goes to Yo-Yo, begging her to stay with him. Daisy can’t kill her, so she hands the dagger to Mack. Yo-Yo dies but quickly awakens as a Shrike and attacks Mack.
Daisy faces Pachakutiq. He tells her to join them and Daisy assumes that means no suffering for those who do. Pachakutiq says he will make sure she suffers no matter want. Izel emerges from the portal and sneaks up on Daisy, ready to kill her. A sword thrusts through her chest from behind. It’s May! She followed Izel through the portal and stab her, making her fade to dust.
Yo-Yo lets go of Mack and throws up the Shrike. May throws the sword to Mack and Daisy quakes Pachakutiq toward Mack. Mack swings the sword, cutting Pachakutiq in half. Pachakutiq fades into dust. The portal closes.
Mack runs to Yo-Yo and she’s okay. Daisy runs to May. May asks if there was anything left of Coulson and there wasn’t. She was hoping to see him again, but she knows she’s on her way to be with him now. May dies in Daisy’s arms.
Audible
Simmons arrives with a team as Deke joins the group in the Sanctuary. She says May will be fine and sets up her up in a cryo-chamber as her team extracts pieces of the monoliths. Everyone is confused about what’s going on. Mack says they need to get rid of the monoliths, but Simmons says they will be gone soon enough.
Once at the Zephyr, the team sets up Yo-Yo with a breathing apparatus and Deke stays with her. He asks where Fitz is, but Simmons doesn’t know. She mumbles that she can’t know where he is. Mack and Daisy go with Simmons to the bridge where they see a jump drive onboard. Simmons contacts Fitz, confirming they have the crew and they are ready to launch. Fitz confirms the request and sets their coordinates. He says to tell everyone he’s sorry.
Simmons explains that the Chronicoms want to establish Earth as Chronica III. Only the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. can stop them, so they sent hunters to eliminate the organization and everyone associated with them. They lost the lighthouse, but that’s not the only place the Chronicoms targeted. As they jump away, the Chronicoms destroy the temple.
New New York
When they arrive at their destination, no one knows where they are. The Zephyr isn’t cloaked because they changed the controls when they upgraded the cloaking. Daisy goes to the cockpit and opens the window. She sees New York City, but it’s very different than before. The Empire State Building is the only building above the clouds and Simmons says it’s probably the tallest building in the world.
Mack realizes the cloaking isn’t the only thing they upgraded. They upgraded the jump drive as well. Her only answer is that they had time. Daisy is in shock, saying she needs a drink, but those are illegal now. Mack asks if there are any more bombshells that Simmons needs to tell them about. There is one.
They had one problem that FitzSimmons couldn’t find a solution for. Enoch had an alternative for them to consider. The Chronicoms have Fury’s black box and centuries of anthropological research. The team needed an expert on SHIELD history to have a chance at stopping the Chronicoms, or to anticipate what Hunters could target next.
Hey Guys!
Simmons says the team could have voted, but the decision is up to ‘him.’ They know he’s opposed to anything like this. He has all of his memories and has been upgraded with complete knowledge of everything he’s missed. He has Chronicom hardware and that makes him the most advanced LMD. And there’s no one better to be Mack’s right hand.
Simmons was against it at first, but after time and consideration, she thinks it’s the right thing to do. And she misses him. She takes them to the lab where Enoch is waiting. He puts down a control pad between Mack and Daisy. Simmons asks what they think. Mack starts to say they should consider the ramifications and Daisy hits the button on the control pad. The chamber begins lighting up. Daisy, Mack, and Simmons watch as the new Coulson LMD comes to life. When he awakens, he looks up at the team and says, “Hey Guys!”
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Thoughts
Mind. Blown. Wow! That was an amazing ending to this crazy season and a terrific set up for season seven. I’m more excited than ever to see what happens next. I am glaring at the writers though for making us think that May and Yo-Yo were goners. That really hurt my heart!
I guess my only question is: Is Flint real?
And the LMD Coulson! What a twist! I can’t think of a better reason to make an LMD other than to hold all of the secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D. Terrific storyline, amazing action, and stellar acting. Bravo Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!! I’m really going to miss this show.
Images courtesy of Walt Disney Television Press
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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