Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3, Episode 15: Spacetime

Another decent episode of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. this week, as Daisy experiences a series of ominous visions that, despite everyone's best efforts to change them, end up becoming true.

We also got another "Daisy as John Wick" scene, as she once again cleared out a room full of HYDRA agents singlehandedly.

I wasn't expecting to see Andrew Garner or Lash return just yet. I'm not quite sure where they're going with his storyline— maybe he's going to end up facing off against Hive Ward in the season finale?

Through the magic of Daisy's visions, we also get another glimpse of the "Space Shuttle Disaster" or whatever it is, first seen in Bouncing Back. I have no idea what's going on in this scene, who's bleeding or whose arm we glimpse, but we'll find out soon enough. I still think it's some sort of tie-in to Captain America: Civil War. I'm probably wrong though.

Spacetime reminds me a bit of The X-Files episode Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, in which a man with the ability to see the deaths of others is contracted by Mulder and Scully to solve a case. He ends up seeing his own death, which involves him and Agent Scully in bed together, but not in the way you think. Check it out, it's one of their more famous episodes.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

A homeless man named Charles is carving a robin out of wood behind a store. The owner comes out and tells him he has to shove off, and attempts to give him some money for food. When he touches Charles' hand, his body stiffens and he seemingly goes into a trance, spouting "Daisy Johnson," "HYDRA" and "This is where I die!" Charles runs off, terrified.

The store owner calls 911, which is monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D. The Team heads out to meet the store owner, whose name is Edwin Abbott. Daisy's never seen him before, and asks how he knows her name. He says he knows her because he saw her introduce herself in this exact moment, implying some sort of clairvoyance. He says he knows about HYDRA because he heard May yell it in the future.

Coulson sees Charles hiding behind a dumpster and talks to him. Just then a large HYDRA drone falls out of the sky. Right on cue, May yells, "HYDRA!" Edwin turns to Daisy and says, "This is where I die" right as he's shot by the drone. The HYDRA craft lowers a net and captures Charles. Daisy runs to save him, and her hand briefly brushes his before he's whisked away.

Daisy then has a bizarre and confusing vision of the future, including a woman crying, FitzSimmons standing in the snow, an injured and bloody Lincoln, a fight with a group of security guards, Coulson shooting at her and finally Charles lying on a rooftop, saying he was hoping she could save him.

Hive Ward joins Gideon Malick for dinner. He thanks Malick for bringing him back to Earth and asks why he did it. Malick says for generations his family has believed if they helped bring Hive back to Earth, they'd be rewarded and rule the world together. Hive Ward says Malick is a billionaire many times over, and can have anything he wants, which is a good point. He says what Malick truly wants is power. He displays Coulson's older model bionic hand, that he used to kill Ward on Maveth. Apparently Hive Ward held onto it as a momento. 

Back at S.H.I.E.L.D., Daisy tells the others about her bizarre premonition, and says now that she's seen the future she can change it. Fitz, who's apparently an expert in temporal mechanics now, argues that the future is set and can't be changed. Coulson says it's worth a try anyway, sensing they'll be no episode if they don't do something quick. Fitz identifies the location in Daisy's vision as the Transia Building, and they figure that's where HYDRA is holding Charles. In an effort to change the future, they decide May will rescue Charles, since she didn't appear in any of the visions. Coulson also says he won't pick up any guns, and warns FitzSimmons to stay out of the snow.

Malick and Hive Ward meet with the board of the Transia Corporation. Hive Ward shows Coulson's hand to the CEO, saying he knows it used Transia tech, and they're working on something more advanced. Malick says he wants to buy the company. The CEO says it's not for sale. Hive Ward kills all the executives except for the CEO, who then happily signs over the company to Malick. 

Hive Ward then unboxes a mechanical exoskeleton that Transia was working on, and has Malick put it on. He does so, and says he's never felt such power. He then crushes the CEO's head with his augmented hands, Game Of Thrones style.

Meanwhile Daisy trains May to eliminate all the HYDRA guards she saw in her vision. They practice the scenario over and over until May can do it blindfolded. Just then May's ex-husband Andrew Garner, aka Lash, turns himself in. He says he's about to transform into Lash permanently, and wants to say goodbye to May before that happens. 

May wants to go on the mission anyway, but Coulson tells her if she does she'll regret it forever. Looks like the future is happening on schedule after all. May sits with Andrew, who says he feels S.H.I.E.L.D. may need him for something they don't yet understand. He begins changing into Lash as May watches. 

Daisy goes to the Transia Building to rescue Charles. Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson and the others watch her on the hacked Transia CCTV system. They see Hive Ward on one of the monitors, and realize he's back— or at least something that looks like him is back. Coulson and the others head for Transia to help Daisy and stop Hive Ward.

Daisy bursts into the security room and takes out all the guards, fulfilling her destiny. Coulson then appears and starts firing at a one way mirror behind her, which explains why she saw him shooting at her in her vision. Giyera uses his power to hurl a fire extinguisher at Lincoln, bloodying his face and knocking him out, per Daisy's vision. 

Lincoln leads a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers up through the building, while FitzSimmons stand outside, looking up at the building. Daisy runs to the roof, as in her vision. On the roof she runs into Malick, who has Charles. Malick attacks her with his exoskeleton. He begins beating her, and as he's about to deliver the killing blow, Charles touches him, causing him to have a vision. He grabs Charles by the throat, damaging his neck. Daisy knocks Malick away with her quake powers. Malick gets away in a waiting helicopter. As he takes off, the billboard on top of the building explodes and burns. The ashes fall to the street below, onto FitzSimmons, and look remarkably like snow.

Daisy rushes to Charles, who's dying from his Malick-induced injuries. He worries about his daughter Robin, and Daisy promises to take care of her for him. She touches his hand and has another vision, this time of the same space shuttle-like ship we saw in Bouncing Back. Charles dies happy, knowing his daughter will be OK.

Malick calls Giyera, reminding him that as his personal bodyguard, he should be by his side at all times. Giyera looks at Hive Ward and says he's exactly where he's supposed to be. He tells Hive Ward that Malick sounded afraid. 

Thoughts:

• Way back in the first season, Coulson declared there was no such thing as clairvoyance. Apparently he was wrong about that, since once Raina was transformed into an Inhuman she started having glimpses of the future, and now Charles Hinton can see people's deaths, and cause others to have accurate visions as well.

• Apparently when Charles is being abducted by the HYDRA drone, Daisy and Lincoln forget they both have powers that could have easily blasted it out of the sky. They both politely look on as it nabs Charles and whisks him away.

• When Hive Ward was recuperating after coming to Earth, he sat in a room in Malick's compound, watching dozens of video monitors to help him acclimate to Earth culture or something. Apparently he must have watched The Matrix, liked what he saw and decided to copy Neo's look.

• As near as I can tell, Charles Hinton, the Inhuman who can see others' deaths, isn't from the comics and was created for the show.

• Hive Ward takes an exoskeleton from the Transia Corporation and forces Malick to try it on. The powered-up Malick reminded me a little bit of Silvermane, a character from the Spider-Man comics.

Silvermane was some sort of elderly mob boss whose head was perched atop a cyborg body. Not the same thing, but kind of similar. I don't think that's where they're going with Malick here, but I just thought I'd mention it.

• In this episode we find out that Fitz used technology from Transia to build Coulson's first bionic hand. And here I thought he created the whole thing all by himself. You're slipping, Fitz!