‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Recap: ‘Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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I think it is safe to say, that we can all agree upon the fact that season six of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has started off in some pretty dark and bleak territory. After all, we’ve seen the team do their best to move on from the death of Coulson with mixed results, and we’ve seen Jemma basically crack at the potential loss of the love of her life and worst of all, we’ve all had the opportunity to meet a twisted version of our beloved Phil Coulson, one that loves to destroy life instead of save it and well, I have to admit that I’m quite surprised that the series has embraced the darkness this early on in the season. Because, that’s a very DCEU thing to do, and a little off kilter since the MCU is all about the fun. But as it turns out, the show was fully aware of this little conundrum since last night’s episode, ‘Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson’, did what this series does best, and found a way to bring some smiles to our faces to break up the clouds hanging over this story.
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It accomplished such a feat, by basically taking us to the galaxy’s version of Las Vegas, because we quickly learn in this tale that the Planet Kitson is a pretty wild world, one that just so happened to be devoid of any rules or regulations, and well, it seems everyone here is trying to make it big in the easiest way imaginable and that was a good thing for both Fitz and Enoch. Because with nothing more than a single dollar to their name, they needed to find a way to buy a ride to their true destination and the only way that they could pull such a feat quickly, was to swing by the nearest casino, and well, that’s where the fun started. For it was just wild to see Enoch and Fitz in the middle of an interstellar casino, doing their best to try and game the house, and well, their exploits went so poorly that they eventually joined in on a game of literal life and death to try and cobble together a temporary fortune.

Yet, while that was awkward and quirky to watch in its own right, the real laughs came about by way of Daisy and Jemma. Because the team quickly came to discover that Fitz made his way to Kitson and made their way there to rescue him, and while it was obvious that Daisy and her fellow agents were superior combatants when compared to the everyday citizens of Kitson, an unfortunate snack break leveled the playing field. For when Daisy and Jemma went to the casino to bring their boy home, the little nibble they ingested, turned out to be a psychotropic drug to humans, and it was time for it to do its thing, meaning that Daisy and Jemma were as high as kites when they stepped onto the casino floor and this, was rip-roaringly hilarious. I mean come on, you have two of the toughest women in the galaxy, struggling to navigate a pair of stairs and turning into giggle monsters over every little thing, and to top it off we got a wonderful Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas homage with Daisy’s monologue about her experiences in the casino and how everyone smells like cheese.

But, all hilarity aside, there was a threat to be found in this particular tale, for a Hunter, whom I thought was nothing more than a bounty hunter at first, was hot on Fitz’s trail, and unfortunately for Enoch and Fitz, this dude was a Chronicom just like Enoch and the fact that our favorite observer was helping Fitz get out of a jam, did not settle well with his kind. In fact, they straight up shut the man down, meaning he is now an outcast when it comes to his own people, a realization that left him destitute. But, he seemingly has found a new purpose in life, since Fitz admitted to Enoch that he is his best friend in the whole wide universe and also because, the mysterious Hunter was successful in his mission to grab hold of Fitz meaning that the hunt for our favorite scientist is going to continue and Enoch will undoubtedly join the fray and well, the real mystery here, is why the Chronicoms are so incredibly concerned with the changes in the timeline, because letting that play out the way it was supposed to would have cost billions of people their lives, and it just seems weird for them to be okay with so many people dying.

Plus, to make matters worse, Sarge’s little weapon seems to have discovered whatever it was he was looking for last week and well, it’s obvious that trouble is brewing back on Earth, once again. But in the here and the now, this was just a magnificent episode. Because I really cannot remember the last time I laughed this hard at an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I really do love the fact that the writer’s room and everyone involved with the series knew they needed to take a little break from the darkness and have a little fun for a change and really, the big kudos here need to go to Chloe Bennet and Elizabeth Henstridge for their performances in this tale, because they flat out stole the show with their comedic timing. But while this was a blast, I think we all know the outright fun cannot last and I’m fairly certain that come next week, it’s going to be back to business for this series. Until then.    

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