Agents of SHIELD, Season 6, Episode 3: Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson
Okay, that's... that's different for sure. Apparently I was underestimating the meaning of a "shorter season", because it appears that there's enough in Agents of SHIELD's sixth season episode count to have what's essentially kind of a filler episode.
The episode ditches the Earth-bound cast in favour for its space-bound ones, but I do very much appreciate them taking everyone into the hilarious planet Kiston, which is essentially a space casino. These sort of things are a dime a dozen in any sci-fi setting, but the fact that half the cast spend themselves tripping balls and the other half try their best to gamble when neither of them have any idea how this works ends up with an episode that's going to be far more memorable than if they had played it straight or just-a-bit-funny. The plot even gets progressed a fair bit for the space crew, which is definitely a huge bonus that I didn't expect.
Fitz and Enoch go through a relatively mundane attempt of trying to earn enough funds on Kitson with a single coin in order to get enough funds to buy a ship and return to our corner of the galaxy, all the while good old robot Enoch is trying to affirm that he is Fitz's "best friend". Again, it's nothing particularly new or refreshing in sci-fi stuff, but it's still executed remarkably well, and between Enoch being flabbergasted at being ripped off by a gambler that's faking things, to the casual lines like suggesting they work at the brothels or the casual revelation of using Fitz himself as collateral in one of their games, it's a pretty fun moment. Enoch's progression from basically just a confident robot analytical buddy that's eager to impress, to the shocked innocence when he was fooled, to finally utter depression when he mutters about how he has lost all value as a Chromicron... some hilarious stuff here.
But then they get Daisy and Simmons completely tripping balls when they ingest a bunch of alien fruits that Enoch had earlier, in a separate scene, warned is not suitable for human consumption, and the two of them basically being high and drunk as they wander around the casino is just hilarious. Both actresses do their job remarkably well, and between hallucinations, declarations of mice parents, apologies, a drunken bar brawl and general buddy-buddy moments, it's just a riot, even if we did admittedly sacrifice the everyone-vs-Simmons drama that was established earlier in the episode and quickly jettisoned by the two ladies basically apologizing to each other under the influence of drugs.
There's also a sub-plot going on about a bunch of bounty hunters who come into contact with the B-team of Piper and high-as-fuck Davis, who we find out later on are a different breed of Chromicrons (I'm never going to get the spelling of this word right). Where Enoch is of a more passive type of Chromicron, these are actual hunters. We don't really learn a whole ton about them before they abduct Fitz right as he meets Simmons in the chaos of the casino fight (thus continuing the pretty eye-rolling running gag of fate and the writers really wanting to separate them), but it seems we have an antagonist for the space arc instead of generic space NPC's. Enoch finds himself with a new best friend and at least is with Team Daisy now, so there's that.
Still, ultimately, while a perfectly enjoyable, cray-cray episode, it's one that feels a bit odd to come so early on in the season, and one that's honestly sort of throwaway other than Enoch's character development and yet another "whoops, just-missed-you" FitzSimmons thing. Not the strongest that
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