Mack and Yo-Yo are captive, and soon joined by Benson, who Izel has figured out knows the location she seeks. She's torturing them all to extract this information -- but the torture is psychological instead of physical. Meanwhile, back at the Lighthouse, FitzSimmons and Deke try to develop a tech solution to Izel's body possession advantage, as May and Daisy clash over whether any part of Coulson is still alive in Sarge.
I was just complaining last episode about how the series made Benson disappear, and suddenly here he was back, and put through the emotional wringer more than anyone else this week. Of course, May would have had some sense of his pain -- of seeing the one you loved brought back to life only to behave wickedly. But the nightmare version of Benson's husband was both closer to the real thing and particularly calibrated to cause pain in a way Sarge hasn't been. Plus, Izel murdering him -- and threatening to do it repeatedly -- was really the capper on the horror for Benson. Guest star Barry Shabaka Henley played the scene very well.
After several weeks where Sarge has simply been the new character Clark Gregg plays on the series, it was nice to get the "he might be Coulson"-ness of it back into the story in a big way. Daisy's take on the matter was articulated well by Simmons: she has a history of running from the big emotional blows. More specifically, and not as directly stated: she has a history of being let down by father figures. So when Coulson died, she was emotionally determined, right away, to put the whole thing behind her. That made the moment when Sarge's Coulson memories poked through, and he called her "Skye," extra poignant. (Another poignant moment came when she read the letter from Coulson -- which the writers let us understand in context without giving us a ham-fisted voice-over of the letter's contents. It was better left to the imagination.)
May was on the opposite end the debate because the emotional place she was coming from was opposite. She hasn't really had a wide array of romantic relationships in her life (that we know of anyway)... but even after divorcing one husband, he remained on the periphery of her life. May forges very deep relationships (with friends too) that don't fade easily -- so she was open to the idea that a part of Coulson might remain in Sarge. (Also... she was right.)
I've mentioned once or twice this season how the heroes haven't always used the full sweep of their powers or intelligence, sometimes in an artificial way to keep the plot going. This burden kinda-sorta shifted to the villain this week, with Izel not just setting up residence in Yo-Yo to have access to her abilities. Some of her hopping around was motivated, at least -- when Izel thinks her host has information she needs, she has to hop somewhere else to get it. But ultimately, her evil plan is that she and others like her are going to each possess a human on a permanent basis. So it seems like her behavior ought to be to stick with Yo-Yo unless she has a specific reason to step away. Of course, this is bad for the narrative, which rightfully gave us real character interaction between Yo-Yo and Mack instead... but it felt like another moment this season where characters weren't quite being true to themselves.
FitzSimmons and Deke were more on the periphery this week, cooking up a tech solution to their situation -- but I did really like the moment where "grandpa was proud." Deke hasn't had the biggest character arc this season, but what's been there has been about not fitting in, and being particularly worried that Fitz doesn't like him. So the quick little exchange between them, when they really had worked out a solution together, was nice.
I'd say this episode was a solid B. Next week, we get a two-hour season finale... and then begins one last one-year wait before the final season.
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