‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Recap: ‘Missing Pieces’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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Make no mistake about it, last spring was a brutal one for some of our favorite televisions shows. Everywhere you looked on social media there was a ‘#Save(insert show)’ campaign rolling about and sadly, several shows that fans hoped to save, didn’t quite make the cut when all is said and done. But there were a few that managed to survive the great network purge of 2018, and one of them was Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. For this magnificent series finally found its footing as a series over the past couple of years and provided its fan base with some compelling stories in seasons four and five, so its renewal was a true blessing last year, but it also just so happened to pose quite the challenge for the writer’s room going forward.
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After all, last year’s epic showdown with Graviton was in essence written to be a series finale in the event ABC chose to not renew the show and well, the decision to give May and Phil Coulson time at last to fall in love in Tahiti before Phil passed into the great beyond is what posed the challenge in question. Because what would a series about S.H.I.E.L.D. look like without Clark Gregg as Coulson? And for that matter, what kind of team would our intrepid agents become without Phil’s wisdom and leadership? Well, as it turns out, last night’s season six premiere of the series, ‘Missing Pieces’, was happy to answer all of those questions, starting with the latter one, and that meant we were immediately reintroduced to a team that was in essence broken, in just about every sense of the word.

There was the literal sense, since some of the team was out and about in deep space since Daisy and Simmons and a small team were searching for Fitz in the depths of the void and well, their search was not going well. For everywhere they turned, there were only minor clues and breadcrumbs to find and when we join them here, they have finally stumbled upon Fitz’s cryo pod, only to learn that it is empty and well, that’s was our first taste of the philosophical sense of being broken, because Simmons is clearly at her breaking point and understandably so. After all, she’s spent a year in deep space, and she has nothing to show for her efforts and at this point, it’s either find Fitz or shatter completely and honestly, it makes her decision at the end of this episode, to jump the team to where she believes her love is currently residing, heartbreaking and frustrating all at once and it will be interesting to see how her teammates handle her betrayal when they were all set to return home.

However, back on Earth, we were introduced to a very formal S.H.I.E.L.D. with Mack at the helm as director, and it was quite cool to see this organization start to rebuild its ranks and see just how seriously Mack takes the job since he was willing to isolate himself from just about everyone to keep this outfit going, meaning that his love affair with Yo-Yo has come to an end. And while the Earth-bound unit is a little more stable than our intrepid voyagers in space, they still have some serious problems to deal with. For a strange energy surge, the kind that produces random people with big ol’ guns was popping up at random intervals in Indiana and the folks that came through these portals, were hellbent on clearing a path for a man known as the Sarge and well, they got their way and stunned the audience in the process. Because Sarge, is a dead ringer for Phil Coulson, but the former director’s appearance is apparently the only thing these two men share since Sarge, doesn’t value life in the slightest and has some kind of violent agenda on his mind…

So, yeah, they packed a ton into this one and with good reason, because season six is only going to feature thirteen episodes instead of the usual twenty-ish we get and that means, the story has to cook, and I truly was impressed with this premiere. For not only did we establish where everyone is at in quick and dynamic fashion, this episode set up so much for the weeks to come with the whole hunt for Fitz and the introduction of Sarge and really, this new pacing and this new direction really allows for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to feel like a brand new show and well, it definitely did its job and sucked me right back in. Because I have to know what Sarge is all about, and why exactly he looks like Phil, and I have to know if the team is going to find Fitz and reunite, which means, once again, I’ll be on my couch and ready to go on Friday night, to see where this already fascinating season is going to take us. Until next time. 

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