‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Recap: ‘From the Ashes’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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While season six of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D has accomplished some serious wonders storytelling wise, there’s been one remaining plot point that the series has yet to properly address; how the team really feels about Coulson’s strange resurrection as Sarge. I mean sure, it’s toyed with this issue, but more pressing matters, such as Izel’s arrival on earth and Sarge’s overall ability to be a jerk haven’t quite allowed for the team to process or speak with the man about his origins and now I understand why. Because there is truly a time and a place for everything in a story and it just so happens that the right time to handle this matter, was during the most recent episode of the series, ‘From the Ashes’.
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Because with Mack and Yo-Yo high above the skies dealing with Izel and her demands, those who knew Coulson best, finally had the opportunity to properly speak with him regarding the revelations that came forth in the prior episode. Unfortunately, Agent May wasn’t having a whole lot of luck in figuring out as to whether or not Sarge truly understood what his memories of the team meant, and whether or not it was possible to salvage the good within him and that’s really no surprise. After all, the poor man is a hybrid being, one that doesn’t quite understand his power or the memories of another man but that didn’t stop Daisy from taking this interrogation to the Nth degree by letting the darker side of this whole mess get the better of her.

After all, Daisy isn’t exactly a person who deals with her feels, and as Jemma pointed out quite succinctly in this tale, every time she’s faced unbearable trauma she’s run and she’s hid and well, now we have a better understanding as to why she does that. Because Daisy uses anger and rage to deal with her pain, and that’s something she demonstrated when dealing with Sarge, since she went so far as to call this tortured soul ‘nothing’ all because of the fact that he wears the face of someone she considered to be a father. If anything all of this spoke to how much pain she’s going through, and one got the sense during this segment, that Daisy believed the universe was unfair and cruel for allowing this happen, which is an element of grief and it was quite frankly, surprising to see that kind of stuff on display in a show where aliens run rampant.

But it was important to see here, simply because at some point, one has to deal with their grief and their pain, and the time had come for Daisy to do so. Yet what made her journey so fascinating in this episode, is how she dealt with her pain. For rather than let the ache continue to get to her, she used the sting in her heart to put Sarge to the test, to see if there was any good residing behind that familiar face. Which prompted her to push Sarge like never before and encourage the awakening of his strange power and well, what she came to learn from testing him was supremely satisfying. Because the best parts of Coulson were put on display, and he seemingly remembered Daisy since he called her ‘Skye’ and it’s quite possible now, that this awakening means that S.H.I.E.L.D. has quite the ally in their fight against Izel.

Which could not come at a better time, since she has finally arrived at the hidden temple that Benson was looking into, and she’s keeping Mack and Yo-Yo around to help with rebuilding the Monoliths, setting the stage for one powerhouse finale and before that kicks off later tonight, let’s take a moment and recognize the quality performances present in this tale. Because Clark Gregg and Chloe Bennet absolutely put on an acting clinic in this episode, forcing us to feel their feels along the way and that’s just incredible to say the least since acting is the last thing we think about when tuning into a Marvel series, because we’re here for the action and adventure. But these two, sold this incredible story, and I love that it gave us a little breather, which likely means, tonight’s season fix finale is going to be quite the stunner and I cannot wait to see how this all ends and geek out about it with all of you. Until next time.  

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