Agents of SHIELD 6:7, "Toldja"

[Alexa]

Seriously ? Sarge in charge of the Shield ? And how come so many Shrikes invade Earth ?

I'm still puzzled by the idea that Sarge and Coulson have the same DNA. Who is the original ? The producers should come with a good explanation if they want to move forward with another season.

 

[L.L.Lotte]

The plot is so contrived because of deliberate lack of communication and unjustified lack of cooperation.

Well my time traveling Coulson theory is out since Fitzsimmons ditched the Chronicoms and the whole idea of going back into the past, and when Deke got the scanner going, it didn't flag Sarge and their team as time travelers like it did Deke. So Sarge isn't in the wrong place/time, he is considered to be where he should be -- unless of course he has figured out a way to mask himself from showing up on the scanner.

Unfortunately, the current popular theory is starting to look more likely... and it seems I missed something, because they are going around saying that Sarge is over one hundred years old, which means he cant be entirely human.

 

[Alexa]

Coulson was not enterily human after Tahiti either. Maybe Coulson really died and somehow an alter version of Sarge replaced him. If we have a younger version of Fitz why not one of Coulson aka Sarge with memory erased just for convinience.

 

[nixie]

Ice kills the shrikes things, sarge not Coulson now in charge, FitzSimmons being rescued by someone looking for a crew to help get to earth to recover stolen artifacts.

Maybe Mac would have been better getting May to deal with sarge, a compromise could have been made to work together, not for someone with no regret for life to take over.

 

[thaddeus6th]

It did seem peculiar that May didn't try reasoning with him after the shrike stuff was revealed.

I do like Enoch's comic timing. "We appear to be stranded." He's like a mix between Data and Baldrick.

 

[Ursa major]

Sarge didn't have to do a deal he didn't want to do (i.e. one that involved him compromising). Time was on his side: 1) his expectation that the fire-breather would free his team; 2) his knowledge that, one way or another, the situation outside the SHIELD base would seriously deteriorate, and quickly.

Even though SHIELD nullified (1), they could do nothing about (2), whether or not they'd broken the encryption on Sarge's detector and brought the two Shrike-infected together.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Ursa, I agree with all that. What I don't get is why May, when presented with strong evidence of world-destroying woe, thought that face-punching was the way to go rather than attempting to negotiate an alliance.

 

[Ursa major]

She might be thinking that given that Sarge looks like Coulson (for reasons none of us yet know), he was part of some sort of subterfuge and so nothing he says can be taken at face value.

By contrast, what he and his team (at least one of whom is a murderous psychopath) have done is kill innocent bystanders, something for which he and they have (at best) shown not the slightest hint of remorse.

 

[thaddeus6th]

That's fair. Although raises the question of why they're so murderous when their apparent raison d'etre is saving worlds.

 

[nixie]

That's fair. Although raises the question of why they're so murderous when their apparent raison d'etre is saving worlds.

For the greater good, their ultimate goal is too save the planet and destroy the shrike. Maybe is me but I think human life doesn't mean anything to them, it's the planet that counts, humans are collateral damage unless seen as recruits to help destroy shrike.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Well, it's certainly true to life for some people to bang on about the greater good, then see actual people as collateral damage.

 

[Bagpuss]

Sarge didn't have to do a deal he didn't want to do

No, but arguably it is a deal that he wants to do. Sarge is not escaping Shield's custody anytime soon. Sarge's main hope of escape was Jaco, but Daisy shut that attempt down quite effectively. So, if you're Sarge then making a trade for your freedom and the freedom of your team for the information that the cold will shut down the Shrike is a win-win scenario for Sarge. He might get his freedom, but more importantly he definitely shuts down a Shrike problem.

Even if Sarge loses on the personal freedom question, it's still a win on the "containing the Shrike" problem from his perspective. Having said that if Mac doesn't uphold his end of the deal then Sarge is less likely to co-operate in the future. Although, generally, you have to factor in that Sarge doesn't give a crap about Earth and he could move on to the next planet just fine - even though, in the game of chicken, he won't.

And how come so many Shrikes invade Earth ?

In episode 1 of the season, in the section where Jaco arrives on Earth through the portal, then a flock of Shrikes fly up and out of the portal before Jaco arrives. The dialogue in episode one suggests that the spatial distortions have existed for several months beforehand. So, in terms of how many Shrikes might be on Earth - I think we could be looking at anywhere between a few hundred and up to a thousand. There's probably some critical number required to detonate the planet. That'll probably be explained in a future episode.

FitzSimmons being rescued by someone looking for a crew to help get to earth to recover stolen artifacts.

At this point that feels more like a writing excuse to get FitzSimmons back to Earth. However, you could ask: what are the artefacts and who were they stolen from? The trite answers are the Shrike and their employer. The more complicated answer is some other artefact and the Shrike's employer.

Although raises the question of why they're so murderous when their apparent raison d'etre is saving worlds.

If they're there to save worlds then they do seem to be rather bad at their job. However, I don't think they're there to save worlds. Rather, they're there to introduce the next villain to the MCU in a dramatic style after the next film is released. Much like the show was in season 1, where they couldn't reveal Hydra as a villain until the film was released that showed it. You may say that I'm a cynic ... you would be right.

 

[Ursa major]

No, but arguably it is a deal that he wants to do.

I thought it was crystal clear that, if Sarge won't do a deal he doesn't want to do, any deal he does do is one he wants to do.