Agents of SHIELD (6×12 and 6×13) The Sign & New Life Review

For our review of the last episode of Agents of SHIELD, click here.

Synopsis: With time running short, the team has to go to hell to stop the end of everything. (IMDb)

In this two part finale of Agents of SHIELD, the two major storylines of the season with Izel and the Chromicons finally found some resolution but it would not be as seamless as it could have been. For the last six seasons, it had always seems like the agents face the end of the world at one point or another and this was no different. However, there was just something different this time around as this season almost gave up with its plot in order to hastily set up the next and final season. Now this did not make this finale necessarily less entertaining since it did have its moments, the rushed nature would lessen its impact as a whole, especially the final reveal even though it wasn’t that much of a surprise.

The first part of the finale, The Sign, started with the temple with Flint coming to terms with his new environment. This Flint was not quite the Flint we saw in the future but rather a creation from Mack and Yo-Yo’s memories thanks to the monoliths (but they still considered him a real person who had the memories of the real Flint). Though Izel needed his powers to build the monolith, he did not want to help her (but of course that didn’t matter). She took over his body to do the work. Meanwhile, SHIELD were gearing up to storm the temple. Deke got Izel protection cuffs done surprisingly quickly while May was still convinced that there was some Coulson in Sarge.

Izel got the monoliths back and then called upon her shrike to get her an army. Once SHIELD arrived at the temple, they had to split up and go dark (because Izel was listening). Unfortunately, they needed to find a way to get cuffs to Mack and Yo-Yo but Deke also had a solution for that, sort of. The reason why he got cuffs made so fast was because he secretly moved in his team into the lighthouse. He had also been working on a jump drive which was made using SHIELD technology that was stolen from the future. Deke and Fitz got into an argument about what he was doing until Simmons would diffuse the situation by encouraging Fitz to be more supportive (while Deke took the jump drive and disappeared).

Mack, Yo-Yo, and Flint tried to escape but Izel put an end to that. Deke would appear just in time to temporarily subdue Izel and help them escape (Flint got flew out by Piper). He stayed behind in the temple, thinking he could use the jump drive to escape, however, it needed to recharge so he couldn’t just jump back (he later had enough of a charge to get back into the forest). Sarge (who Mack was not happy when he heard about his involvement), Daisy, and May split up while Izel started her ritual back in the temple. Daisy tried to lead the shrike zombies away though she would get overrun and retreat back to the zephyr (which conveniently got sabotaged by some shrike zombies that followed her).

As Mack, Yo-Yo, and Daisy got overrun in the zephyr, May and Sarge caught up to Izel. Izel tried to talk him out of it but he didn’t waste any time with Izel, however, he couldn’t quite finish the job. More Izel talking to try to connect with Sarge led him to stab May with his sword and push her through a portal.

The last scene of the first episode was of Enoch talking to who he thought was his friend but his friend was reassigned as a hunter before cutting away.

New Life started with everyone reeling from what just happened, however, they would not have to refocus on the task at hand. Deke was alone on a quinjet where he would have to be instructed on how to fly it to the zephyr which would be easier said than done as the quinjet was also sabotaged. It also appeared that Sarge’s action were a ruse but this was becoming less and less clear as the episode went on and Izel kept talking (was she working for him because the character development stumbled down the stretch). On the other side of the portal, May was faced with what appeared to be a group of alien elders.

Those left at the Lighthouse would have a more pressing issue to deal with as they became overrun by Malachi and an army of Chromicon hunters. Thanks to Fitz and Simmons’ time in the mind prison, the Chromicons knew everything about SHIELD and their protocols (including their backup protocol). Deke’s new lab was something that the Chromicons wouldn’t know about so Fitz and Simmons headed there. They needed to destroy the framework technology so the Chromicons wouldn’t have Coulson’s knowledge, however, they found themselves trapped in a room until a Chromicon that looked like Enoch’s friend appeared and saved them. Enoch had taken control of his body and would present them with a life-changing solution that would save all their lives.

On the zephyr, the shrike zombies got closer. Once they were disposed of, a shrike flew into Yo-Yo’s mouth. On the other side of the portal, the alien elders were about to open the temple so the others could come in but while Izel and Sarge were talking, it was implied that May stopped them so Izel decided to jump through the portal and take care of May herself. As that was happening, the others returned to the temple to take on Sarge who, after being quaked, shifted back and forth from Coulson to his true alien form. While he and Mack fought, the shrike was affecting Yo-Yo but Daisy couldn’t quite end her. Daisy and Mack switched places to no avail.

Just in time, Izel came back through the portal followed by May, with a satisfying moment, plunging her sword into her before fainting (Yo-Yo was saved). Mack then took the sword and killed Sarge. When it looked like May had succumb to her injuries, Simmons showed up to save everyone (including May who could apparently still be saved). As everyone returned to the zephyr where Simmons began to explain what had happened, it appeared that they had traveled into a different time where the Chromicons seemingly took over Earth and tried to erradicate SHIELD. They jumped using another jump drive (Deke lost his earlier in the forest) to get away as the temple was destroyed by the Chromicons.

The others were transported to a foggy 1930s New York City where it was presumably safe. The Chromicons took possession of Fury’s black box and countless years of anthropological research. They needed someone with knowledge of SHIELD history to combat them so they created…

AN LMD COULSON (with Chromicon technology)!!!!!

That last part should have been developed a little more. It was clear that Coulson was coming back in some form but that reveal was unexpected.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.