“Code Yellow” is episode four of season six of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The episode opens with Deke – who hasn’t been seen since “The End” – running through corridors with another man, firing at something chasing them. The second person says he’s out and Deke throws him what looks like Mack’s shotgun-axe, but the second is killed before he has a chance to use it. Deke is throwing out action movie one-liners all over the place and something looks a little off. Even before he opens a door and Daisy greets him. Deke hears another woman calling his name and says end framework. Yes, it was virtual reality.
The woman – possibly Deke’s actual girlfriend, not fantasy Daisy – is really wanting boba. Whatever the heck that is. Deke is in a really big place of business and, by the looks of it, it’s his. He is saying that gaming systems like the framework are the cash cow, to create revenue for other initiatives. Deke Shaw is not just about VR. One of these other initiatives is mushroom pellets for food. There’s also the gravity tech that’s being worked on and a prosthetic hand with a personal energy shield. The girl says that Deke is a genius and wonders where he gets all of this stuff. Simple. He’s nicked the ideas.
At the Lighthouse, Keller wants a word with Mack in his office. To discuss interpersonal relationships. Namely, his relationship with Yo-Yo – which Mack already knows about. Mack interrupts and starts discussing it from a theoretical point of view. If he knew about such things, he would have to separate teams so that judgements weren’t compromised. Basically, Mack knows, but doesn’t want to know officially.
Yo-Yo enters at this point. At the end of the previous episode, “Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson”, Sarge fired something into the sky. Yo-Yo says that trace amounts of electromagnetic particles have been discovered suspended in orbit, and eyewitnesses claim they saw a grid in the sky. Yo-Yo thinks it might be a map, because the targets are after something. The question is what.
Jaco and Pax are currently using a tablet device to find something. They spot a man waiting to get on a bus; that’s apparently what they are looking for. They draw guns and the man bolts. Sure, guns are scary, but the man seemed to realise that they were looking for him specifically. He runs into Sarge and Snow, and Sarge stabs the man with a knife. He dies, which isn’t a great surprise. Odd crystalline structures grow out of him as that happens. This is a bit more unusual.
At his business, Deke is offered a taste test on a new batch of mushroom pellets. It seems that they taste vile. Then an assistant says that there is a weird guy waiting for Deke, who said he couldn’t wait. He’s in the conference room. Deke thinks that this is a meeting he has set up, but two hours early. His girlfriend, Sequoia, really needs boba. Deke tells her to go by herself and bring it, as he needs to meet the guy. In the conference room, which appears to be littered with S.H.I.E.L.D. tech, is Sarge. He tells Deke that he’s been looking all over for him. The last person Sarge said this to just got a knife stuck in him.
Deke greets Sarge as Coulson, just as May did in “Window of Opportunity”. Sarge doesn’t know what that means, but it did ring a bell. Deke is talking, asking why Colson didn’t call ahead like a normal person. Who wants to be normal? Deke thinks Coulson is looking good, if rocking a dark vibe, and asks how his life was saved. Sarge doesn’t know. Deke thinks Sarge has had a S.H.I.E.L.D. memory wipe. Sarge asks Deke to fill him in on what he knows.
May is telling Mack about the man that Sarge stabbed. Eyewitness accounts matched the suspects’ description, plus they have CCTV footage. May doesn’t want Sarge called Coulson. Mack replies that they have to call him something. Not that. Yo-Yo and Keller are heading to see the body. Yo-Yo thinks if the cause of death was old age, they wouldn’t have been called. Regarding Mack, Keller tells Yo-Yo that Mack didn’t let him finish. Keller is willing to fight for Yo-Yo if he has to. Emotionally, not physically – Mack terrifies him.
Sarge is not remembering everything that Deke did. Unsurprising; he isn’t Coulson. Deke mentions his grandparents – and Sarge says they are slowing down but still hanging in there. At this point, Deke gets suspicious. Because his grandparents are Fitz and Simmons. Who are pretty close to him in age. Deke asks about May, then ‘Agent Doug.’ When Sarge talks about ‘Doug,’ Deke makes his excuses and tries to leave. Sarge grabs him; Deke is a talker but he’s not from here and shouldn’t be here. Sarge gets his knife out again and Deke stabs Sarge in the other hand. Which would be artificial, if he was Coulson. Deke bolts, and Jaco is outside. He gets away and Jaco tells Sarge that the tracker says that Deke is not from this world, but the signature is different.
Yo-Yo and Keller arrive at Dr Benson’s lab. He tells them that this is the strangest autopsy he’s done since, well, the last one. Which had a body in a wall. Or a wall in a body. The dead man is a Harold Simcoe, reported missing a week ago. Totally average. Benson asks for Keller’s help opening the chest. He says that it’s probably just an average day for the other two. On seeing what’s inside the chest, Keller says he cannot agree there. Yo-Yo comes over to look. Impaled on the knife Sarge stuck inside is a winged creature.
Sarge still thinks Deke is whatever one of those things is – Dr Benson compares them to a zombie ant fungus – and that he’s been hunting them his entire life. Which is an interesting statement. Sarge and the others have seemed to be destroying worlds. Are they actually trying to prevent their destruction? Which would make them bloodthirsty, but not as nasty as they seem. S.H.I.E.L.D. come and help Deke – and his girlfriend. Deke asks said girlfriend – who appears to be a social media obsessed stereotype – if she’s actually posting this stuff online as they are being chased. She answers with a rather unconvincing no.
The post-logo scene is probably the weirdest one to date. In any episode. Nothing from the Zephyr this time.