“New Life” is episode thirteen of season six of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the season finale.
In the previous episode, “The Sign”, May had explained love to Sarge. This did not have the desired effect; Sarge replied that he now knew how to end the pain that had been a knife in his heart for so long. And shoved his sword through May’s gut before shoving her through the portal.
Fitz and Simmons are at the Lighthouse watching this through the camera Deke had planted. Daisy contacts them and says that the Shrike zombies have breached Zephyr One and wants to know if there’s anything from the temple. She’s told what happened. Then the Lighthouse’s comms go offline and both Fitz and Simmons are locked out of the system. The Chronocom Hunter Malachi arrives using one of the transport discs, followed by more of Hunters. The control room is breached and Malachi orders his Chronocoms to leave no prisoners.
On the Zephyr, Daisy is feeling guilty for trusting Sarge now. Mack is feeling bad because he just had a go at her for doing so. Yo-Yo tells Daisy to make May’s death mean something. Deke contacts them from the Quinjet, saying he is under siege by a zombie army. Join the club. He’d really like a rescue. That’s not going to happen. Mack tells Deke to fly over to them in the Quinjet – something he has no experience in piloting. Daisy, Mack and Yo-Yo discuss this and Yo-Yo tells Deke she’s confident he won’t die. Mack tells Deke what to do but, when he tries the throttle, nothing happens.
The Chronocoms have taken control of the Lighthouse’s operating system and the exits have been locked down. Malachi asks if this is the S.H.I.E.L.D. that Enoch spoke of with such reverence. A weakness, one that proved Enoch’s undoing, according to Isiah. In the previous episode, Isiah had come to Enoch. He told him that all their fellow anthropologists have been reassigned. As Hunters. Which included Isiah. Who then lunged for Enoch.
Fitz attempts calling Enoch for backup, but only gets his voicemail. They follow the emergency protocols and arrive at the rendezvous, to find that those who arrived before them have all been killed by the Chronocoms.
Izel asks Sarge how it feels to be his true self once more. Long overdue; he’s been hostage in that vessel for centuries. They are now here, and they can claim what Sarge always wanted, a new home. It’s now only a matter of time before the others come through, now that a sign has been sent. On the other side of the portal, May is lying on the ground in a large pool of blood. Three hooded and cloaked figures start moving. That’s not at all ominous looking.
Deke is asking himself what he is missing. Then he sees a Shrike zombie out of the window. He asks Mack if there’s a chance a particular part that could be the problem. Mack tells him yes; what makes Deke think that? Deke replies that it’s just a gut feeling. Plus, the zombie he saw is holding that part. Is there any chance Deke can fix it? That would be no. They need another method.
Fitz and Simmons are asking how the Chronocoms knew, because it was a verbal protocol that wasn’t in the system. Then Fitz realises that the Chronocoms knew because Simmons knew. In “From the Ashes” Malachi had said they had Fitz and Simmons’ minds, from when the two were in the virtual environment in “Inescapable”. They need something knew, and come up with Deke’s new lab. However, Fitz and Simmons aren’t going to go with the others, because they are a liability.
Sarge has a bit of a discussion with Izel – which involves throwing her across the temple. He seems to feel she took a little too long to do what he sent her to do. Izel tells him that is a residue of the human side. He tells her to call the Shrike zombies back to the temple. She will – but only after the last of the humans have been put down. Not a reprieve then.
There are still problems on the Zephyr; the Shrike zombies are still intelligent. Yo-Yo ends up swallowing a Shrike bird. Which is bad. Deke attempting to fly, and not doing great. He makes a rather hard landing on the Zephyr but one that is decent enough. In the Lighthouse, Fitz and Simmons are going to destroy what’s left of the Framework, so that the Chronocoms cannot get it, because it contains brain scans of everyone who went in.
On the other side of the portal, the three hooded figures are preparing to open another portal with three oval stones that look like they match the monoliths. May, however, is not where she was. She’s moving – despite the fact it looks like she should be dead – and has a Shrike-killing sword. Was that a mistake on Sarge’s part or a deliberate action by a fragment of Coulson? Whichever, it was definitely a mistake, as the three stones are thrown through the portal to land in front of Sarge and Izel.
Fitz and Simmons have been trapped by Hunters and are going to have to blow themselves up with the Framework. Two of the three Hunters are about to shoot them when they are gunned down by the third, Isiah. Who apologises in Enoch’s voice; he has discovered that bluffing is easier if you kill someone and take their skin. Enoch has a strategy but it will be the hardest think Fitz and Simmons have ever done. It will change the course of their lives for ever. That again, is Simmons’ response. Once you’ve done it a few times, that sort of thing is less impressive. This does open up new threads for season seven, though. Still plenty of problems to deal with first; a soon-to-be dead Yo-Yo, a May who looks critically injured and Izel and Sarge.