Coming after the very final Season 5, this season had a bit of a tough task as it had to justify the show continuing even with the main character dead. Did Season 6 do that? Probably not, but it did give the writers the chance to go balls to the walls.
Season 6 is a bit of a mess, plot-wise. It starts with May learning that an alien named Sarge has arrived to Earth, looking exactly like Coulson. Sarge is trying to stop an ancient entity named Izel (who commands these creepy crystalline creatures called the Shrike), partly out of revenge and partly out of wanting to prevent her from destroying any more planets. This whole storyline is a bit all over the place. Sarge's motivations and morals are fairly inconsistent, and Izel was an underwhelming villain. As a matter of fact, I think both villains started off promising but got worse. I liked Sarge when he was a morally ambiguous inter-dimensional thief, and I liked Izel when she claimed to be a mercenary. The fantastical elements that came into play in the last few episodes just made them both lamer to me. It wasn't all bad though. I loved the Shrike, they not only looked awesome but were truly terrifying antagonists, and Izel's possessing ability led to some great sequences. In addition, the storyline about Simmons trying to find present Fitz in space is genuinely a ton of fun, as it lets Fitz and Simmons to sort out all of their issues, gives Enoch a lot of screentime and development, and allows for a lot of creative interstellar locations and storylines.
The Fitz and Simmons stuff is emblematic of all the things Season 6 did well, even with the weak Izel arc. The character work is still fantastic, and I love the direction many of the characters took. Deke was surprisingly the highlight this time. Not only was him being a tech mogul hilarious, but I loved seeing him unite with present Fitz in the hope of actually getting off on the right foot with him. And while I'm not a fan of Sarge as a character, I do love that it allowed the characters to reckon with Coulson's death, which was pretty much what I wanted from the season. I also think this season is easily the lightest and most inventive in the series, from the mushroom samba episode, to the episode focused entirely on Deke, to the episode where Fitz and Simmons literally face their demons, Season 6 is packed with some really experimental outings that ended up becoming my favorites of the season. The lighter tone of the season also did wonders for the space stuff, which didn't really gel with me back in Season 5 but absolutely did here, almost giving me Farscape vibes at points. With how dark the last few seasons were, it was really nice to see SHIELD be a bit more silly.
Even with how uneven it is, Season 6 did have its highlights:
Fear And Loathing On The Planet Of Kitson: I think the Farscape comparisons apply the most to this episode, which shares a lot of similarities to Scratch N Sniff, that show's own drug-induced episode. It's nowhere near as stylish as that one, but Fear And Loathing is still a ton of fun, from seeing Fitz and Enoch gamble, to Daisy and Simmons getting incredibly high, to Daisy actually getting a badass fight scene despite being high, to the ending where Fitz and Simmons briefly reunite.
Inescapable: This is one of the best episodes in the series, like probably Top 3 so far. Obviously the mind prison setting is incredibly inventive and allows for a lot of unique visuals and settings, but what really made this episode for me is the conflict between Fitz and Simmons. Inescapable looks back on everything these two went through and all of the issues they still deal with. Obviously Fitz has his whole Doctor thing, but it was interesting to learn more about Simmons's flaws and how she tries to suppress all of her pain. The acting is fantastic, that final scene in the containment chamber is electric, and the ending where Enoch helps Fitz and Simmons escape their mind prison was a heartwarming way to end things off.
Leap: While the big Sarge loredump at the end was definitely on the clunky side, Leap made up for it with its fantastic main premise. Izel jumping around the Lighthouse possessing everyone's bodies could have just been a pretty standard "Among Us" plot, but instead she starts to cause as much mayhem as she possibly can, from having Piper shoot her own hand, to dropping Davis off a ledge, to forcing Mack to bang his head into a wall. We even got this amazing long take of Izel hopping from body to body, Leap was an absolute spectacle.
New Life: This is definitely the weakest finale of the show, but still a great episode in many ways. The Izel plot is a bit shaky (though that sword fight is great), but it's the Chronicom stuff that really shines. From the Agents ending the season having lost the lighthouse, to that awesome cliffhanger with the Coulson LMD, the finale did a good job of making me excited for the show's final season.
Overall, Season 6 was a very mixed bag. While it suffered from a messy plot and weak set of antagonists, the light-hearted tone, experimental nature, and strong character work still made for a fun season of the show.
3/5 Stars
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