Agents of SHIELD season 6, episode 2 review: Window of Opportunity

“Window of Opportunity,” the second episode of Agents of SHIELD’s sixth season, was another impactful journey.

Agents of SHIELD opened its sixth season last week with “Missing Pieces,” and continued it with “Window of Opportunity.”

Set a year after the end of season five, Mack (Henry Simmons) is the new Director of SHIELD, which has been re-legitimized yet again and is currently operating with the Lighthouse as its headquarters. Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) is second in command, trying to bring up the scientific part of the operation while Yo-yo Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) serves as muscle when investigating strange happenings.

One of those strange happenings is an invasion of Earth from a gang of scoundrels led by someone who looks an awful lot like Coulson.

Meanwhile, Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet) and Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) are in deep space with Davis and Piper, searching for Simmons’ husband Leo Fitz (Iain De Caesticker), who is no longer in his cryo-chamber following the changing of the timeline.

More slavery. On another ship. Yay.

Fitz and Enoch (Joel Stoffer) are posing as drifters when they’re exposed as Terrans (Earthlings) and imprisoned by their highly xenophobic coworkers. In order not to be killed, however, they demonstrate their mechanical abilities and get a reprieve to be slaves of Viro the Controller.

When Viro threatens to murder the rest of the crew, Fitz and Enoch work on a plan to reverse the recently repaired airlocks, and Viro is soon launched into the vacuum of space.

 Treasure hunting

The Not-Coulson is named Sarge (Clark Gregg), and he and his crew of talkative Pax (Matt O’Leary), mountainous Jocko (Winston James Francis) and bloodthirsty Snowflake (Brooke Williams) are on a mission….once they finish figuring out the local customs on this “not too bad” planet work.

After they rob a gas station in Ohio, they take shelter in their semi, headquartered in the nearby trainyard. Then it’s time to raid a jewelry store looking for “PEGs,” killing the guards in the process.

SHIELD on the case

May and Yo-yo are soon on the case, after new recruit Dr. Marcus Benson (Barry Shabaka Henley) gathers information on who Phil Coulson really was. May also tries to give Yo-yo romantic advice from past experience (“Work relationships can get messy”), which is ignored.

Sarge’s gang finds what they’re looking for in the vault – not diamonds, but instead quartz crystals, which their technology seems to be powered by. May interrupts their thievery by discovering the portal tech on the cloaked semi, and a massive brutal fight involving a wormhole ensues.

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Where things currently stand

The short answer is that May lost and the others escaped. The slightly longer answer is that Sarge froze for a second when he heard the name “Coulson,” though neither he nor anyone else knows why that was.

Yo-yo’s new boyfriend Keller is feeling guilty about causing the death of his protege Fox, and Mack still isn’t thrilled about their dating.

The Quinjet just misses Fitz after he redirects their ship to the casino planet Kitson in an attempt to keep his crewmates from being tried for mutiny.

SHIELD shrapnel

• This episode was directed by showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen’s brother Kevin, who has directed many episodes throughout the series, including many of the most action-oriented.
• Jocko has to use a concoction of motor oil in able to breathe right, as he hasn’t breathed his own atmosphere for nine years.
• “Hypothesis – a fancy word that means scientists don’t know squat,” Dr. Benson proclaims. “LMDs shouldn’t be a thing, by the way.”
• Sarge and Pax terrifying the security guard was funny. “Ah…we’re with the…Conglomerated Ministry of…Shipping?” “It was worth a shot.”
• Just like Raina’s Inner Circle raiding the bank on The Gifted, Sarge’s scoundrels sure can make crime look cool.

Episode three, with the very long title of “Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson,” will air Friday, May 24 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.