AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.: Extinction Looms In Promo For Season 6, Episode 9: "Collision Course (Part 2)"

Another week, another very strong entry from AoS. I think this is my third favorite episode of the season so far. Last week's episode and this week's were about the same strength, and while episode 7 i thought did a better job with emotion (Enoch's goodbye to FitzSimmons was terrific), last night's episode did a great job bringing (or colliding) storylines together and intertwining/connecting everything, something that has been kind of absent this season; therefore I'm giving episode 8 the upper hand. Before Collision Course Part 1, the space and earth storylines were only tangentially connected, but Part 1 fixed that and started to put the important pieces together. I loved how what Sarge was talking about would be then juxtaposed with something going on with FitzSimmons and Izel. For example, he would talk about her and then the next shot would show Izel. As I said, really great job meshing everything together, very seamless.

Before getting into story aspects, the VFX tonight was once again terrific. The shots of the Lazy Comet flying through space, buzzing past the moon and then entering the Earth's atmosphere were terrific. I saw this on a TV site, but its pretty amazing to think how far this show has come to have the episode open with the Lazy Comet flying through space. The Zephyr as always looks excellent, and Sarge getting on top of his truck began a standout sequence from the episode; him opening a portal and entering the Zephyr was brilliant, loved how it was filmed, with the cameras shifting as he 'fell' into the plane and then shot an agent like a boss.

This episode had some great tension and kept me on the edge of my seat guessing. It really threw a wrench into the season and made me less certain of who or what the true threat is. Before, I was believing Sarge but then Izel started to speak about her journey and how she described everything was such a sharp contrast to how Sarge described her that now I don't know who to believe. Sarge is a dick who cares little about collateral damage and has no desire to share important secrets, while Izel is clearly the creator and using the shrikes for seemingly nefarious reasons, but perhaps she isn't the demon she has been described to be... This dichotomy was another terrific aspect of the episode, very well done. Just when you think you've got everything figured out, the showrunners pull a fast one on ya, lol. Plus, Izel knows who or what Sarge really is, which made things much more interesting too.

Okay, FitzSimmons. Loved the discussion about Fitz and other Fitz's wedding and wedding night. The look on his face was priceless every time Jemma said something. Poor Fitz... Also love the inside joke to Jemma mind tripping on those puffs.

I dig Snowflake and Deke together, and of the rest of Sarge's crew, Snowflake has been my favorite (the actress has so much fun portraying her), though I do like Jaco too, would love to learn more about him. Snowflake potentially working with SHIELD was unexpected, as was Sarge betraying her.

Looking forward to next week's episode!!

And all this talk of demons and coming from a place of hate and fear, etc. gave me Ghost Rider vibes. Wonder if Robbie will return before the season is over, which would also help set his show up further.

I'm not sure if anyone else is delving into this but I think Izel and Sarge have a bit more of a personal connection than he is letting on. In fact, I don't think he has told the truth about anything to anyone. His story isn't adding up and I don't know if it's deception, my bad memory, or plot holes. Mainly, how did he know that Izel's next attack would be on Earth? After she left left the Chronicom(?) home world her next stop was Kitson. She was on that planet for an unknown amount of time but never sent out Shrike to enslave its population and drain life from the planet. I just don't trust Sarge.