***This review may contain minor spoilers***
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Following back-to-back fantastic seasons, the penultimate season of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” takes a big dip in quality. However, the shortened season is still an overall fun ride.
After wrapping up things nicely last season, “SHIELD” was granted a last minute reprieve and given a sixth season. However, they seemed to have used up all their good ideas and it shows. The overall concept is good, but the execution is lacking. On top of that, they painted themselves into a corner at the end of season five, and had to find a way to bring back Fitz from space and bring back at least a version of Coulson after his death. While the Shield in space story had a lot of potential, in the end it just never really was that interesting. The constant near-misses made the search for Fitz stuff more annoying than it should’ve been, and the addition of Izel was done too suddenly to have the desired impact. Meanwhile, the Sarge storyline got off to a strong start, but it takes a twist or two that causes it to lose steam before it regains its momentum for the finale. Both plotlines feel like their own distinct stories, but then if feels like they veer off course suddenly in order to make them come together. To make matters worse, the Chronicom plot seemed important, before it became clear that this would be a story for next season.
One thing this show has continued to do well is a great blend of action, humor and emotional character moments. This season once again delivers some badass action, with some solid fight sequences and some cool uses of superpowers. As always, the characters interactions are the heart of the show. The six seasons we’ve spent with these fictional people have gotten us invested in them, and allows for some impactful moments. Daisy especially delivers some tear-jerking scenes, as she often does. Surprisingly, this season struggled with the comedy. While there normally is just the right amount of humor, they overdid it a few times. The over-the-top humor worked once, with the hilarious “Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson” episode, but the social media-heavy “Code Yellow” was entirely too silly. It was like something out of an episode of “The Flash.” While that would work fine in the context of that show, it felt out of place here.
With its sixth season, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” once again delivers solid action, humor, and the characters we’ve grown to love. But, the plot struggles to find its footing and delvers the most subpar season of the show in years.
**1/2 out of *****