Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Missing Pieces (6x01)

We're back! It's been a minute, huh?

Cons:

Okay, I want to reserve harsh judgment on a couple of things, because this show can often surprise me. I hate to be like... a downer about this, but I mostly wish that Clark Gregg wasn't in this season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson's send-off at the end of Season Five, his heroic sacrifice, was so beautifully done that bringing the actor back to play this new character feels slightly cheap. Obviously I know it'll make for great drama - you've got all the angst of our heroes seeing a man with the face of their lost friend, etc. etc... but this doesn't feel quite like the punch to the gut that I think we're supposed to feel. Like I said, I'll reserve harsh judgment until we see where this goes.

Another thing I'm reserving judgment on... Yo-Yo and Mack have broken up and Yo-Yo is starting a new romance with some random guy named Keller? Nah. I'm not about that. Maybe they can change my mind on it, but for now, I don't want Elena finding love elsewhere.

I guess we're just ignoring the MCU now, huh? I don't mind if this show is doing its own thing separate from the movies, but it is sort of awkward that all the way through the finale last season, there were clear and obvious tie-ins to the cinematic universe, and now we're apparently living in a world where the snap never happened. Kind of silly.

Pros:

I love the idea of splitting the team up in this way. I'd be on board for watching all of our heroes search desperately for Fitz in deep space, but I can acknowledge that this might get stale very quickly. Instead, we get to see Simmons, Daisy, Piper, and Davis all searching for Fitz, while May, Mack, Yo-Yo, and various other S.H.I.E.L.D. members pick up an exciting new story back on earth.

Starting with the gang on the Zephyr. Obviously I'm all about this angst. Simmons has a one-track mind: find Fitz. At all costs. They actually manage to find the cryo-chamber in this episode, but Fitz is predictably not inside. I love the inter-personal tensions here. Jemma wants to keep going at all costs, but Daisy tries to order them back home to regroup after another dead-end. Jemma disobeys, sending them deeper into space, despite the fact that Piper and Davis are at the ends of their ropes. Already just in this first episode, we're seeing the psychological ramifications of being away from home for so long, cramped into a small space with other people. I can't wait to explore this more, especially now that Jemma has betrayed them all in such an intense way.

And just... the angst of Jemma stopping at nothing to find Fitz, and of Fitz, out there adapting on some sort of alien rig, probably trying to find Jemma at the same time... I hope they don't drag this out for too long, because we already saw them separated for a lot of last season. But also, I'm so ready for the pain and drama!

Back on earth, we've got people who look like humans coming to earth and destroying things with weird magic, that might be connected to ley-line energy? Or something? It's unclear at this point. It's fun to introduce a new mystery, with cool visuals and a potentially cool gang of villains to go up against. We don't know much about this now, but I'm definitely hooked.

Mack is doing a great job as leader. It's really interesting to see Daisy with her authority off on the Fitz rescue mission, and then Mack's authority as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I loved the moment where we saw a hologram of Coulson giving advice, as we see that even after a year, Mack is in some ways still leaning on that crutch. But he's also coming in to his own as a leader, and that's important. I'm excited to see how he does with this.

I'm glad to see that May hasn't retreated into herself in her grief. Loving and losing Coulson is obviously incredibly painful for her, but she has come out of the experience with more compassion and understanding than ever. We see how she's there and emotionally supportive to both Mack and Yo-Yo during this episode, which I really enjoyed. Hopefully we'll see other people help her through her own emotional needs in the coming weeks.

So... yeah. A strong opening for Season Six of this show! I obviously can't wait for the Fitzsimmons reunion... that's basically the main reason I'm here!

8.5/10