Agents of SHIELD season 6, episode 10 review: Leap

The Agents of SHIELD made a big “Leap” into a new fresh crisis in this week’s episode.

Agents of SHIELD dominated the early news cycle of 2019 San Diego Comic-Con with the announcement that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first TV series will end next year. But this week the characters are “Leap”ing into the new fresh crisis following the two–part “Collision Course.”

During this two-parter,  Sarge (Clark Gregg) led a team comprised of Snowflake (Brooke Williams), Daisy “Quake” Johnson (Chloe Bennet), Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) and Deke Shaw (Jeff Ward) on a mission to destroy the shrike tower rapidly forming. This plan also involved an atomic bomb and a magical sword if that didn’t work.

Meanwhile in space, Enoch (Joel Stoffer) tried to relocate the remaining Chronicons, while the bounty hunter Malachi tracked viewers’ favorite sciencey couple, who are magnets for emotional torture.

FitzSimmons (Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker) finally arrived back on Earth, but travelled on the ship of a frightening woman named Izel (Karolina Wydra), an ancient enemy of Sarge’s.

More from Marvel TV

• Loki season 2 finale does set the stage for Kang Dynasty
• Marvel rumors hint Pedro Pascal has been cast in key Fantastic Four role
• Loki season 2: All 6 episodes ranked from worst to best
• Dear Marvel: Here’s how to fix the Kang problem
• Loki season 2 episode 5 release time (by time zone)

Izel might be a demon, according to various Terran folklore, and her dragon-like shrike creatures turn people into zombies. She was also looking for the Monoliths, which have caused all kinds of trouble over the seasons.

After a takeover attempt of Zephyr One, Sarge’s crew member Jaco switched sides and ultimately sacrificed himself to eliminate the army of zombies Izel had created, while Sarge and Snowflake were arrested.

Finally, May shot Sarge point-blank in the head for unknown reasons.

Whodunnit

Or a better question, since we know that May did it – why did she shoot him?  Repeatedly in the head?  And with a gun? That’s not her style, and like Daisy told her, even though he was an awful space pirate who probably deserved it, they aren’t vigilantes, and so that’s very much not okay.

With everything that’s going on, and victims experiencing blackouts according to interrogations, Mack decides to lock down the Lighthouse for now.

Body snatching

Izel’s been possessing people, it turns out, hopping from body to body causing chaos and sowing suspicion among the residents of the Lighthouse. And she’s very, very effective at it, causing Daisy and Yoyo Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) to be locked up for the safety of their teammates, lest their Inhuman powers prove too much if they were possessed.

That’s not quite good enough, as the longtime background agent Davis (Maximilian Osinski) is killed following a tense standoff.

Strangers like me

Somehow, Sarge didn’t die of massive blood loss, instead slipping into a kind of coma, which he gradually recovered from.

When he woke up, he tracked out Izel, who was seeking out Fitz’s gravitonium-powered soccer ball device, finding that it contained the essence of the three Monoliths (which controlled space and time, while FitzSimmons and Deke theorize the mysterious third controlled creation).

During their confrontation, Izel claims that she and Sarge come from a realm a long way in the past, where the beings don’t have material shapes, and that they need to be working together. He vows again to kill her instead, though he doesn’t really know what’s happening, either.

Where things currently stand

With the soccer ball of gravitonium, Izel takes over Yoyo’s body and forces her way into commandeering a plane away from the Lighthouse, which Mack agrees to on the condition that he comes along.

Daisy thinks this was a stupid tactical decision, while May says that he’s looking out for what’s best for his team.

Sarge is again locked up in a holding chamber, and when Deke asks Fitz if they’ve ever come across non-corporeal beings before, he nods – the frightening and mysterious Ghost Rider, which inhabits the body of Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna), who we haven’t seen since season four, episode 22, “World’s End.”

SHIELD shrapnel

• Agent Davis first showed up in “Repairs” (1.09), according to Osinski’s IMDb page, and became a regular background presence in “The Ghost” (4.01), appearing in 26 episodes in total.
• “Repairs” dealt with the team tracking down a ghost, and where we first learned details about what happened to turn May into the Cavalry (which would be elaborated on in 2.17,  “Melinda,” the next season).
• Daisy has been sending money to the sister of her ex-boyfriend Lincoln Campbell, who died saving the world from Hive in “Ascension” (3.22). That’s very much something she would do.
• Izel’s presence in a human host seemed to have a truth serum effect, based on May’s comments, especially to Yoyo.
• She claims Sarge’s real name is Patchakutiq (probably have that spelling wrong).
• The Fear Dimension, which was mentioned tonight (though I didn’t quite catch how it connected due to reasons explained below), was a part of 5.12, “The Real Deal,” which saw Coulson take on a variety of old friends and foes in the series’ 100th episode.
• Gabriel Luna will reprise his role as Robbie/Ghost Rider in his upcoming solo series on Hulu, which will be released sometime in 2020.

Due to tracking the Houston World Series of Dog Shows in my role as site co-expert at fellow FanSided Network site Dog O’Day, which covers canine sports, entertainment and lifestyle news, I wasn’t able to pay as close attention to this episode as I would have liked, but it was one of the stronger episodes of the season for sure.

Agents of SHIELD will return with season 6 episode 11 next week, titled, “From the Ashes,” on Friday, July 26 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.