Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 Episode 6 Review: Fun and Games
Kathleen Wiedel
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For everyone who had been waiting patiently (or not!) for some true action since Team Coulson landed in the future, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 Episode 6 almost certainly brought cheers.
"Fun & Games," beyond the amazing fight scenes, also saw some more dramatic plot developments and a veritable massacre of recurring characters, both friendly and villainous.
Let's dig in!
I was definitely surprised (though hardly upset) to see Kasius go, with Jemma making excellent use of her purloined cutlery. Actually, that whole scene was downright epic.
Fitz, Simmons, and Daisy working together to effect their escape was brilliantly done, and I have to give props to both the actors and episode director (and series star!) Clark Gregg.
This episode also managed to yank on the heartstrings a few times, too, such as Fitz's initial attempt to speak with Simmons. So cruel!
Fitz: Jemma, it’s me. Don’t turn around. Just play it cool. Oh, I’ve missed you so much. I spent six months locked up in an off-the-books military prison, not to mention 80 years frozen in space, all just hoping to find you. But here you are. You know, I realized something: the universe can’t stop us, because we have crossed galaxies, we have traveled through time, we survived the bottom of the Atlantic just so we could be together. And a love like that, that is stronger than *any* curse. You and I, we are *unstoppable* together. I don’t want to live another day without you. So, Jemma Simmons, will you marry me?
This long monologue actually made an interesting contrast with the other FitzSimmons proposal at the end of the episode, this one short and sweet and to the point:
Fitz: I’m never leaving you again!
Simmons: Then marry me, Fitz!
Fitz: Absolutely!
In any event, they both actually got to propose to each other, and it worked beautifully.
The romance between these two characters has been bubbling away since the first episode of the series, and it's made for some of the most genuinely sweet and touchingly human moments throughout Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
So I'm absolutely thrilled that Fitz and Simmons are finally engaged, and it's just so strangely fitting that (naturally!) they'd make it official in the middle of such utter chaos and mayhem.
Fitz wore the persona of "ruthless space marauder" perfectly, throwing shade and utterly owning the role in a way that put Grant Ward's impersonation of a vanilla S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to shame.
I can't say enough about the character development that Fitz and Simmons have enjoyed since they were introduced as an adorably awkward pair of scientists who normally wouldn't be considered for field work.
There is something tragic, though, that the two of them needed to become so skilled at killing people. Even if Kasius was a truly horrible person, the fact that Jemma cut his throat like that actually hurt.
I also would like to pay my respects to the hilariously deadpan delivery of Enoch, who has managed to form quite an entertaining almost bromance with Fitz in the space of two episodes.
This is a guy you want on your side, folks.
Fitz: So Kasius has assembled the worst of the worst.
Enoch: Do not fear. *You* are far more reprehensible than any other creature in this room.
Fitz: Thanks for that, Enoch.
Enoch: You’re quite welcome. It was a rather fun pursuit, constructing your alias. No longer are you Leopold Fitz, but instead Boshtok, a vile Space Marauder of unlimited wealth.
Fitz: Was the brooch really necessary?
Enoch: Indeed! That medal signifies the number of enemy lives you’ve taken.
As noted earlier, "Fun & Games" saw possibly the highest body count of the season so far: Kasius, Tess, Ben, and Grill are all dead. Alas, Sinara was only incapacitated, courtesy of the smuggled ICER.
Killing so many notable recurring characters was a bold move, certainly, but it worked to both establish stakes for the protagonists and provide a measure of dramatic satisfaction for the viewers.
Not to mention the fact that the character of Flint underwent Terrigenesis and acquired his comics-accurate Inhuman ability of geokinesis, the ability to manipulate earth/rocks, though he little resembles his comic book self otherwise.
I loved how Yo-Yo used her ability to rescue him from the Kree and that we only observed it from an outside perspective, so it appeared that Flint just vanished.
Then Yo-Yo mentoring and encouraging him about what it means to be an Inhuman and how to control his nascent abilities proved vital in saving the lives of the team when they were caught by Grill.
Throw it all together, and "Fun & Games" was a fantastic story all the way around, a fitting follow-up to Fitz's time-skipping Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 Episode 5 "Rewind," and left me hankering for what comes next.
Here are a few final thoughts before I turn the discussion over to you:
- The arrival of Kasius' brother demonstrated more clearly than ever just how much of a wannabe Kasius was, stuck in the back end of nowhere. Too bad, so sad.
- The dish presented by Patrick Fabian's Ponarian was Xandarian snail. Xandar appeared in The Guardians of the Galaxy and has an uneasy relationship with the Kree.
- Melinda May was actually able to score a hit against Ben the telepath because she was able to not think about her move, she just did it.
- Speaking of Melinda, take a look at her expression when Fitz called her an "ancient has-been"!
- During Kasius's introduction of Melinda, he referred to S.H.I.E.L.D. as "one of the galaxy's most despised organizations," which sounds odd for what we know so far. Not to mention pretentious. Then again: Kasius.
Remember that you can always watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. online! And be sure to tune in on Friday, January 12, 2018 at 9/8c for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 Episode 7, "Together Or Not At All."
What did you think of "Fun & Games"? Did your heart race during the epic fights, or was the outcome merely inevitable? Are you excited that Fitz and Simmons are reunited and now engaged?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
