Agents of SHIELD season 6, episode 11 review: From the Ashes

Agents of SHIELD season 6 headed down the homestretch with episode 11, “From the Ashes.”

Agents of SHIELD nears the end of season 6 with episode 11, titled “From the Ashes.”

Last week in “Leap,” everyone was trying to figure out why May (Ming-Na Wen) shot Sarge (Clark Gregg) point blank at the end of “Collision Course – Part II” – the short answer is that she was possessed by Izel (Karolina Wydra), who came from a realm where beings lived without physical bodies.

Izel also claimed that Sarge, who resurrected instead of dying, also came from that realm.

She then disappeared in the body of Yoyo Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) with Fitz’s (Iain De Caestecker) soccer ball of gravitonium – which contained the remnants of the Monoliths – which Mack (Henry Simmons) only agreed to if he could tag along.

That left May and Daisy “Quake” Johnson (Chloe Bennet) in charge of things back at the Lighthouse.

Zephyr One, Two, Three… They’re in trouble again

In the air, Dr Benson (Barry Shabaka Henley) meets up with Zephyr One and, suspecting something is up, deletes the files containing the whereabouts of his suspected landing-places Izel might be headed for.

That doesn’t do much good, as she captures the soccer ball and locks Mack and Yoyo in the containment pod. She then recreates Benson’s boyfriend Thomas, only to murder him again, which causes Benson to crumble and give her the coordinates.

Mack and Yoyo are stuck on the plane, but they manage to eject Benson to safety – a reversal of Ward’s move on FitzSimmons late in the first season.

Who is that man, anyway?

Back at the Lighthouse, May and Daisy try to interrogate Sarge, but they are unsuccessful as he keeps replying that his memories or visions have just always been there – though they’ve gotten clearer since he died.

Daisy also has a lot of anger issues to work through – and not the greatest track record in handling them, as her good friend Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) gently reminds her.

Because she’s Daisy, she takes the most drastic step possible in the other direction than the advice she was just given, and Quakes Sarge back into a death-coma.

There’s a plan, finally

In the lab, FitzSimmons and Deke (Jeff Ward) are horrified by her actions, and not totally onboard with her reasoning, but they figure out that the mysterious ethereal beings are affected by rhythmic frequencies, providing a way that Izel could be defeated (if someone could get within stabbing distance).

A very emotional Daisy is all set to behead Sarge with his own magical sword, but stops when she realizes that there’s a part of Coulson still inside, somehow, and that his last-ditch plan was to sacrifice himself.

Where things currently stand

They “very, very dangerous” Ghost Rider-stuff inside Sarge is getting stronger, but it might hold the key to defeating Izel. He needs a place to belong, and Coulson always tried to keep the team together when possible, to take care of each other.

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Meanwhile, she’s landed in the ancient ruins of Peru and seems intent on using Mack and Yoyo as sacrifices in an evil ritual, though they get to make brave speeches about not being afraid of death.

Izel rolls her eyes and Flint, the Inhuman teenager from the Lighthouse 75ish years into the alternate future, appears.

The tag was a flashback just before Chronica-2 was destroyed, with Malachi the bounty hunter disagreeing with a decision made by Atarrah, whom he zaps with a stun gun and tells his lackeys their targets have changed.

SHIELD shrapnel

• I don’t think that this Peruvian temple is the same one the team visited on their first mission, (“0-8-4,” 1.02), but it would be a nice callback if it were.
• Apparently Benson was driving drunk the night Thomas died (his alcoholic past was mentioned when he was introduced), and he wrecked the car.
•  “KILL ME, SKYE!” Whoa.
• When Fitz’s best suggestion to solving the unsolvable is taking meth, everyone’s officially out of ideas. Maybe it’s for the best that this wonderful, emotional, bonkers series is almost over.

“From the Ashes” was a very deliberately paced episode that was solid, setting up the table for the mayhem to come next week.

Agents of SHIELD season 6 will wrap up with a two-hour season finale (the final two episodes, “The Sign” and “New Life,” airing back-to-back) on ABC next week on Friday, August 2 at 8 p.m. ET. It seems likely that several main characters will perish, and during SDCC the cast teased an emotional ending to season 6 that will “blow audiences away,” since everyone knows season 7 will be the final chapter.