NOTE: Full spoilers for this episode of, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” are present in this review
Despite things looking pretty intense on Earth at this point, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. made the surprising decision to move entirely away from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s home planet, for a light-hearted and surprisingly rewarding episode that wholly focused on the show’s current spacefaring storylines. “Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson” is a clever, funny and satisfying episode that once again brings Daisy’s and Simmons’ party back into the show’s storyline, though much of the core story focus nonetheless revolves around Fitz and Enoch, as they must try to figure out their next move after ending up stuck on the planet of Kitson. No good deed goes unpunished it seems, even in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Fortunately, even if Fitz and Enoch are quickly swindled out of their recently-commandeered cargo ship, and given only a single chip to use in the seedy Kitson Casino in order to try and pay for a new ride, the resulting misadventure between the two of them is immensely entertaining to watch unfold. Seeing these two characters have to put their heads together on an alien planet is already a cool premise on its own, but the setting of Kitson is as much a star of this episode as any of the characters! The grungy appearance of the casino, and the imposing patrons within it, both leap to life with surprising aplomb, even by the standards of television, and the subtle nods to the MCU’s outer space settings, as established in movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, are also pretty awesome to see replicated here.
Enoch’s skills as a mentally powerful Chronicom also quickly come in handy, as he starts playing the odds to win more money for himself and Fitz… Before losing it all after being hustled at Poker. Fitz and Enoch always getting so close to escape, only to keep having their fortunes disturbed in the eleventh hour, helped keep this episode very unpredictable and exciting, especially when Fitz learns that being out of options means having to work in an alien brothel, something that Enoch is hilariously at peace with doing right from the jump! Their troubles do prove to be a blessing in disguise in a strange way however, since Fitz and Enoch being unable to quickly flee Kitson means that Daisy and Simmons have more time to reach them, and that’s where this episode’s equally entertaining subplot comes in.
Upon arriving at Naro-Atzia, and just barely missing Fitz, Daisy, Simmons, Piper and Davis are all subjected to an ‘inspection’ by a designated customs officer, providing an amusingly over-the-top dry and mundane complement to the larger-than-life Kitson escapade that Fitz and Enoch quickly end up stuck on. The inspection ends up being interrupted by a mysterious ‘hunter’ however, whom Davis manages to subdue, resulting in the hunter making mention to Simmons that she and her friends are, “Out of time.” This ends up setting up the major obstacle for later, since Simmons asking about Fitz tips a group of Chronicoms off to the fact that Fitz and Enoch are on Kitson. Apparently, the Chronicoms are none too pleased about Fitz dying during the Season Five finale, after being displaced in time, resulting in them now wanting to hunt Fitz, and decommission Enoch, for breaking the laws of the universe.
This is a potentially interesting idea, and fortunately, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t end up revealing its entire hand with it right away either, much like the Sarge mystery that’s almost entirely left out of this episode. Daisy’s and Simmons’ crew do manage to make it to Kitson in the end as well (I guess they re-supplied off-screen at Naro-Atzia), where Daisy and Simmons both partake in some alien food after becoming hungry as a result of their low supplies. This creates a hilarious, Hunter S. Thompson-satirizing series of events wherein an incredibly high Daisy and Simmons stumble into the Kitson Casino, having all sorts of wacky conversations, and displaying all sorts of strange behaviour. It seems a little bit odd that these two never end up being thrown out of the casino, given their clearly drugged-out behaviour here, but I guess that it’s not exactly a reputable establishment by the standards of Earth’s business practices. The real stretch though was when Daisy effortlessly takes out three more Chronicom hunters while high, which, while initially funny, also feels like a pretty huge stretch. Why exactly are the Chronicoms a threat if even a stoned-out Daisy can efficiently take them out, while barely even needing to use her powers?
In the end, Fitz ends up being locked into a deadly game of chance as a desperate final bid to earn escape funds, relying on covert signals from Enoch, wherein if Fitz loses, he is either killed, or sold into slavery. Another dead alien eventually allows Fitz to escape with the aid of sulfuric blood though, something that a moping Enoch eventually sparks and allows to blow the door out, leading to Fitz briefly reuniting with Simmons, after a guard tells her to, “Lay off the puffs!” Naturally, the reunion is very short-lived however, since the Chronicom hunter that was originally captured on the Quinjet quickly appears and makes off with Fitz, leaving a dumbstruck Simmons to instead meet Enoch, who comments that she shouldn’t be on Kitson. Well, no kidding! It obviously would have been too easy to get Fitz back when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is only three episodes into the season, though one also has to wonder exactly how Daisy, Simmons and Enoch are going to be able to organize a search against hyper-advanced, universe-guarding synthetics!
The only glimpse of Earth that we get in this episode is within the epilogue sequence, wherein Sarge fires off the mysterious tool that he was trying to use before into the sky. This covers the area with a mysterious array of particles, the effects of which will presumably be explored in the following episode. Fortunately, even with affairs on Earth almost entirely sitting out, “Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson”, it nonetheless made for an especially entertaining and exemplary Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode! Both of the episode’s storylines finely balanced some truly inspired shenanigans with impeccably sharp character writing and dramatic obstacles, all nicely culminating in Simmons successfully finding Fitz and Enoch, even if Fitz has once again been snatched by another force. I imagine that the show will be returning its focus to Earth after this, but this episode’s fun and rewarding side trip in space is bound to go down as a highlight in what’s already shaping up to be a strong sixth season for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., proving once again that the MCU’s lovable sense of humour can still thrive even in its more drama-oriented television offerings!