Many people gave up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pretty quickly, and this was always one of those situations where I’ve tried to convince people to stick with it, usually to no avail. However, while the first half of season 1 was not very good, the show has only gotten better and better since then, to the point where I’ve actually preferred it to some of Marvel’s Netflix shows. It started to become pretty clear how passionate the showrunners were about the show over time, and so after season 5 a decision was made. The show took a small hiatus, with there being about a whole year between when season 5 ended and when season 6 premiered. In addition to this, the length of the season shortened immensely. While all of the first 5 seasons have been 22 episodes long, season 6 is only 13 episodes long. The reason for all of this is that the showrunners wanted time to really craft a tight, engaging experience, with a focus on quality over quantity. So, the big question that needs to be tackled is “did this change actually help the quality of the series?”

Let’s talk about the story. With the exception of season 5 (possibly, depending on how you look at it), the previous seasons all had “mini-seasons” within them. That is to say, the seasons really had two or three sections within them that each had their own main storyline. This was an interesting approach, but shortening season 6 allowed the show to tell one continuous story throughout.

The basics here initially involve picking up the pieces from season 5. If you want to avoid spoilers from season 5, skip ahead to the next paragraph. So, the season 5 finale found both Coulson and Fitz dying, which was a shocking turn of events. However, it was quickly realized that due to the whole time travel storyline that season 5 had, there was actually another Fitz out in space somewhere, cryogenically frozen to bring himself into the future. So, an initial storyline in season 6 involves Simmons, Daisy, and a small group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents traveling around space looking for Fitz. Then, there’s Coulson, who wasn’t lucky enough to have the same benefits of having another version of him exist, and so he just died permanently.

But wait, is there another Coulson out there? The team soon confronts this question when they encounter someone who looks identical to Coulson. However, this “Coulson,” who calls himself Sarge, leads a team of mercenaries, and their agenda appears to be an evil one. The team must confront their feelings of wondering if there’s some part of Coulson within Sarge, all while stopping him from potentially destroying the world. There’s definitely way more to the story than this, but these revelations aren’t uncovered until a few episodes in, so I don’t want to spoil anything past the initial premise.

So, I come back to the initial question I proposed. Did the long break and shortened season ultimately benefit the show? I think the answer is actually a mix between yes and no. I think it did benefit the show from a storytelling perspective. While season 5 somehow managed to tell a story that stayed pretty consistent and straightforward throughout its 22 episodes, the 4 earlier seasons all faltered at certain points. I think this tends to happen pretty often with 22 episode seasons, as some of the content always winds up feeling like filler. Tightening that episode count really allowed the showrunners to tell a story that felt concise and important, with no time feeling like it was ever wasted.

However, I also say no because to be honest Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was already doing pretty good before this. I felt like the stories only got more and more interesting as the series went on, and so it’s not like season 6 is any more or less creative than the most recent seasons. Also, once the show found its groove and developed its characters, it became such a fun and entertaining show. Season 6 is definitely still as fun as the previous seasons, but it’s not like that heightened storytelling made it more fun, if that makes sense. What I’m ultimately trying to say here is that I already thought that the show was on a pretty good trajectory, so I didn’t think there was a ton of benefit to be had from changing it up. However, I also don’t feel like it harmed anything, so I am thankful for the tighter story.

In the end, I think that season 6 just continues the strong momentum that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has built for itself over the years. This is still an incredibly fun show, and season 6 is one of its strongest seasons yet. At the time of this writing, it’s already been announced that season 7 will be its final season. I think this is a good move, since it will allow the show to go out on a high note and not get dragged out. The finale of season 6 gives a pretty good indication on where things are headed for season 7, so I think we’re in for another pretty interesting season. So, season 6 is a pretty amazing penultimate season, and I think it’s worth continuing to watch.

4.5/5