FitzSimmons and Enoch are stuck back on Kitson and try to get to Earth. Meanwhile Team Coulson finally has Sarge in their custody, but he proves to be a wily prisoner.
Tropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: Sarge is able to successfully negotiate his and his crew's freedom in exchange for information on how to stop the Shrike from killing the agents on the plane. Right after that, he's able to take control of S.H.I.E.L.D., since without him, they can't stop the rest of the Shrike coming.
- Belief Makes You Stupid: Sarge's opinion when Mack says there's only one God.Sarge: Oh, it's that kind of planet.
- Blackmail: Sarge only gives Mack the information on how to stop the Shrike infestation after he guarantees him freedom for his team.
- Breath Weapon: Jaco can breathe fire if he goes long enough without his breathing device.
- But Now I Must Go: With FitzSimmons safely on their way back to Earth, Enoch leaves them to find a new planet for the Chronicoms.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Daisy quickly puts Jaco to sleep.
- Defiant Captive: Sarge doesn't take his captivity seriously, preferring to screw with S.H.I.E.L.D. by playing Hannibal Lecter/Loki-esque mind games with them since they'll all be unnerved by his uncanny resemblance to Coulson, no matter how much they try to hide it.
- Didn't See That Coming: Sarge is genuinely surprised that S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to stop Jaco, though he has a backup plan.
- Egopolis: It turns out that the planet Kitson, and by extension its capital city Kitson City, are named for the family that owns the planet, having been gifted to the third Kitson generation. Mentioned in passing before, but this time he shows up in person.
- Enemy Mine: Since the Shrike pose such a huge threat and Sarge knows how to combat them, Mack reluctantly agrees to release him from custody in exchange for his knowledge.
- Exotic Extended Marriage: Kitson says that he has several wives.
- Faux Affably Evil: Kitson, to a T. He speaks in a jovial and friendly manner, only to order people killed for entertainment moments later.
- Fixing the Game: All of the games on Kitson are rigged in the house's favor and the proprietor can determine the outcome with the push of a button.
- Forgot About Her Powers: Yo-Yo again forgets she has super-speed when she declares there isn't enough time to escape the failing containment cube. Becomes plot-relevant when she needs to be inside the hold in order to open the hatch.
- HA HA HA—No: As FitzSimmons try to make Mister Kitson realize they are of more use to him alive, they all have a good laugh when it seems they got through to him. However, they didn't; he still wants them dead.
- Hidden Depths: Turns out that before the Shrike ravaged his planet and Sarge recruited him to his team, Jaco was a baker.
- Hopeless Suitor: It's clear that Deke still has a thing for Daisy, who tries her best to avoid him.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Mack and Sarge. Sarge scoffs at the notion of proactively "saving lives", believing that it'll only cause more casualties. Subverted in that Sarge is actively withholding information that could save lives as leverage over Mack to pressure him into freeing his team.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Sarge is unapologetic about having killed Fox.
- Idiot Ball: As a plot contrivance to create a crisis S.H.I.E.L.D. needs Sarge's help to resolve, Yo-Yo and May forget they're not amateurs and put the two captured Shrike together on the Quinjet, even though the fact that the Shrike were headed for each other in the first place (as they specifically noted) should have made them think that might not be a good idea without anyone having to tell them. The fact that the captured Shrike are, as May put it, "calm and contained", also doesn't set off any alarm bells for the normally cautious agents.
- Internal Reveal:
- May learns that Fitz is still alive.
- Daisy learns that Deke has started his own tech company. Deke learns from Daisy that Fitz died, but his time doppelgänger is still alive.
- Kill It with Ice: Once his demands are met, Sarge reveals that the Shrike are vulnerable to the cold. Thankfully for the Zephyr One's crew, they're at a high-enough altitude to freeze out the Shrike on-board before they can wreak any more havoc.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Killing the Shrike even if the victims had to die as well.
- Never My Fault: When Sarge is told of Keller's death, he immediately blames Yo-Yo for removing the knife and allowing the Shrike to recover, even though she couldn't have known about that and he left the body to be found.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- At first, Sarge tells Elena that they removed the knife from their victim too quickly, causing the Shrike to survive and kill Keller.
- Later, he scolds Mack for bringing the two survivors on board instead of just killing them, as that puts the entire plane in danger. While the plane gets saved, one agent dies as a result.
- Both are, however, also a subversion, being directly caused by Sarge witholding key information, and at least the latter was deliberately engineered by him.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Izel apparently is fond of these, offering people huge amounts of money...or a dagger, if they refuse.
- Off with His Head!: Fitz, Simmons, and the unnamed bearded gambler are put into a game where the loser is decapitated. Fitz and Simmons survive, the bearded guy is not so lucky.
- Skewed Priorities: The bearded guy flirts with Simmons while they are about to get decapitated. Fitz is not amused.
- Smug Smiler: Sarge spends the entire episode with one on his face, confident that either his team will escape or Mack will be forced to turn leadership over to him. He gets his way at the end.
- Sole Survivor: Jaco, of his family.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Presumably where the end of the episode leads— with access to S.H.I.E.L.D and its resources, Sarge will lead the counteroffensive against the Shrike, with Mack and co as backup.
- The Stinger: FitzSimmons and their new boss, Izel, taking the ship that brought them there while Enoch leaves to find a new planet for his people.
- Title Drop: Sarge, when he's smugly celebrating the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. has to let him go, as he predicted.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The action goes back and forth between FitzSimmons and Team Coulson on Earth.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: When Sarge and Snowflake are being transported by May.
- Undying Loyalty: Jaco, due to Sarge saving him.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: On Kitson, when Fitz, Simmons, and Enoch teleport into the bar, all the guests just give them one quick look before going back to their routine, and the music likewise pauses for just that long.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sarge and his team. He knows what the Shrike are and what they can do, having witnessed it on multiple occasions. He is determined to end their rampage somehow, but everywhere he goes he is too late. It turns out that he learned long ago that saving lives proactively won't help against the Shrike, so he is ruthless in his actions. It also gives him an advantage against Mack, who he knows is in way over his head.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Deke explodes at Mack when he finds out that Fitz died and nobody told him. He angrily tells Mack that if he had known that, he would've volunteered to go into space to find his grandpa.
- The Worf Effect: We finally encounter something capable of easily defeating the containment technology in the pod. It takes them a minute or two, but the shrike are able to break out and almost destroy Zephyr 1.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Sarge knows that Jaco should soon be able to break his team out of custody, but is also aware that S.H.I.E.L.D. is in over their heads, and will sooner or later need what he knows when they inevitably botch the handling of the Shrike. When Jaco is taken out by Daisy, he just waits for a crisis, then leverages his knowledge for his freedom and to put himself in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Daisy gives Mack a pep talk when he talks about The Chains of Commanding.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: FitzSimmons when Enoch accidentally takes them back to Kitson and their transportation device ends up being stolen. They really just want to get back to Earth.
