Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD season 6 finale review: An epic ending

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD has wrapped up its sixth season. The team is outnumbered, Izel has her monoliths, and what will become of Sarge?

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached the end of Agents of SHIELD’s sixth season. We all know how this show’s season finales go, so where does this one lead us?

Well, to start, Flint immediately uses his powers and shows Izel what he’s capable of — which bodes poorly for the world. She overtakes him and that basically spells game over: The monoliths are back.

The good news is that SHIELD seems to be pulling the punches and getting ready. They melted down Sarge’s extra swords into bullets that should help against Izel, and Deke built enough of the anti-Izel machines for the team.

May, Daisy, Sarge, and Piper are on the ground at the temple while everyone else stays at the base. Deke brings in his team from his startup… and FitzSimmons discovers that he’s stolen everything from aliens and SHIELD, including the transport machine/jump drive that can help them get past Izel and to Mack and Elena.

We also get a heart-wrenching scene where Deke finally snaps. He gets to the truth of the matter, and it’s one that Agents of SHIELD has danced around for a while: Deke doesn’t fit in. He never has. Not in his other world. Not in this world. His own family doesn’t even like him. And that’s when he takes the jump drive for a spin without having tested it first. He rescues Elena, Mack, and Flint, and draws all of the Shrike-infested humans away from that trio while they escape.

So much happens. Deke makes it out of the temple. Izel opens the gate. Sarge and May make it to Izel. Zombies are after Daisy, Mack, and Elena. Sarge is inches away from stabbing Izel with the magic blade, but can’t bring himself to do it.

And so he stabs May with the giant sword and shoves her through the portal. Meanwhile, the Chronicoms have infiltrated the SHIELD base. As if enough wasn’t happening already!

FitzSimmons figure out what’s going on pretty darn quickly and try to recover accordingly. To destroy the Framework and save the world from the Chronicoms, they decide to blow themselves up. Thankfully, Enoch took a Chronicom’s skin and saves them.

Well, they have to change the course of their natural lives. Forever. They just kind of shrug it off.

And then as Daisy and Elena try to get their way through the zombies, only for a shrike to fly down Elena’s throat. Agents of SHIELD really isn’t messing around with this finale.

Apparently May isn’t dead? Death is meaningless in this other realm. She manages to kill all three of the guardians and throw their sacred stones to open the gate on their side back to Izel. That was a very large middle finger to her and Sarge.

Here’s something I didn’t expect to see in this season finale: a sword fight between Izel and May. The choreography up the stone steps is very inspired, but it’s not enough. Izel still opens the gates and leaves May.

Elena’s not faring so well with the Shrike in her chest. And just as Izel reappears to stab Daisy in the back, May comes through with the sword and disintegrates Izel and all of the Shrike. She tosses the sword to Mack, who slices Sarge in half.

May’s death is tough to watch, mostly because she asks if any of Coulson was left in Sarge and ends by saying she’ll see him soon enough. And then SHIELD shows up and says she’ll be fine and they’ll regenerate her when they get her back to a good core temperature.

A lot has changed in a short amount of time. Simmons doesn’t know where Fitz is and can’t know. She explains to Daisy and everyone about the Chronicoms and their desire to create their new home planet. They warp to another Chronicoms point of interest: New York City.

Except it’s not our current New York City.

Post-Credits Stinger

“I would say I need a drink, but those are illegal now, aren’t they?” Daisy says.

Simmons has one more bomb to throw at them. The Chronicoms have Fury’s black box that we haven’t seen in seasons. They need someone with SHIELD history to overcome them.

Oh my god, they made Coulson an LMD. Heck yes.

Badass Moment of the Week

Elena shooting the gun at her super speed. Glad to know she can do that. Also, Sarge in his natural form casually turning Daisy’s hand away from him and head-butting her.

Best One-Liner

“You said our grandson was a delight!” Fitz hisses.
”He’s a work-in-progress,” Simmons replies.

It was a nice touch to have Flint ask if Izel was the Destroyer of Worlds and to see his sheer joy at discovering that they broke the time loop and saved the world from that horrendous future.

So… the team traveled back in time to stop the Chronicoms? That’s cool. We’re somewhere between 1930 and 1933, which means we’re too early for Hayley Atwell’s Agent Carter to make an appearance, but I can always hope. Can’t you imagine how stoked LMD Coulson would be seeing Peggy in the flesh?

Also, so much for Robbie Reyes showing up to save the day. That would have been too excellent.

We have to wait until next summer for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD‘s return, and then we’re really in the Endgame. Will everything come full circle? Will Coulson have been an LMD the entire time in the MCU? Find out next summer!