Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 14: The Man Behind The Shield

This week on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., the LMD storyline races to its conclusion, asone of my hunches comes true.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON!

When the series returned in January with the LMD storyline, I half-jokingly said predicted it wouldn't be long until the entire cast was replace by robots, ala the rebooted BattleStar Galactica. Wow! How frighteningly prophetic! As of this episode, every major character is an LMD except for Fitz and Simmons, and I'm still not too sure about Fitz!

I'm anxiously waiting for Coulson, Daisy, Mack and Mace to start singing All Along The Watchtower (ten points to anyone who gets that reference!).

Mack's confrontation with Fitz, in which he accuses him of causing all their ills, seemed to come out of nowhere, and felt completely out of character. Yes, we know Mack is anti-technology, but blaming Fitz for the existence of the Framework and LMDS felt contrived and unfair. Even worse, Fitz agreed with him! Don't take that crap from Mack, Fitz! Stand up for yourself!

The Superior continues to be so in name only, as he's turned out to be a particularly lame villain. Even his master plan, which he finally reveals this week, is petty and childish. He's definitely not the Big Bad I was expecting when Senator Nadeer first hinted at his coming.

I'll bet Ming-Na Wen is having a blast lately, as she's now played three different versions of Agent May this season. Where else would an actor have the chance to do that? Maybe over on The Flash?

This week we get a flashback to one of Coulson and May's early missions, and we see them acting flirty and even propositioning one another. This is most definitely a retcon, no doubt meant to explain why LMD May has been making googly eyes at Coulson all season.

Supposedly this LMD storyline is set to wrap up next week. That's surprising, as I assumed it would play out for the rest of the season. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're ending the arc instead of dragging it out for too long, as most shows would. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to have figured out the secret of writing good serial drama. Fill the season with several short, well-paced story arcs each season, instead of giving us one dull, overlong padded plotline. Well done, guys!

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Coulson and Daisy fight one another inside S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Daisy kicks him and he freezes in midair. We see they've been inside Fitz's prototype of the Framework, a virtual world he invented years ago. Apparently Dr. Radcliffe appropriated Fitz's prototype and he and AIDA perfected it. For some reason, Fitz suspects Radcliffe is keeping May in a simulation like this. Just then an agent informs Coulson they've tracked a sensor in Director Mace's battle suit to Alaska.

Coulson, Daisy and Mack arrive a remote outpost in Alaska. They find Mace's suit, but no sign of him. Coulson realizes The Superior brought them here for a reason. Coulson sees a cliched "connection wall," filled with photos of himself linked by red string. Daisy studies the board and finds a link to a mining facility The Superior purchased.

Coulson remembers the mine, and flashes back to "some time ago." He and Agent May infiltrate the mine, looking for an unknown object. They flirt and rib one another as they search the post. They find a safe and assume the object they're looking for is inside. Suddenly a truckload of Russian soldiers arrive. Coulson tries to bluff them into leaving. Inside, May cracks the safe, apparently gets the unknown object and speeds away in Coulson's car. The Russians tell Coulson his partner's deserted him, and throw him in the back of their truck. As they drive away, May returns and slams into their truck. She rescues Coulson, saying it was all part of her plan. He flirts again with her, but she says she's dating a shrink (which I assume turns out to be her husband Andrew Garner).

Meanwhile, Radcliffe is in his version of the Framework, presumably with his ex Agnes. The Superior arrives and insists AIDA bring him out of the Framework. He tells Radcliffe he's spending too much time inside the virtual world.

Cut to Mace, who's chained to a wall in a cell. He uses the last of his super strength to break free. He opens the door of his cell and runs down a corridor, only to be caught by The Superior. He easily knocks out Mace, who's not a trained fighter, and takes him back to his cell.

Onboard Zephyr One, Mack tries out the Framework, but decides he doesn't like it. Hmm... so Coulson, Daisy and Mack have all worn a Framework headset in this episode. Could that mean something? Mack accuses Fitz of being an irresponsible mad scientist, as he helped build both AIDA and the Framwork, and they've all been used for evil by Radcliffe. The ship lands as the Russian mine. Coulson and the others investigate, and find the safe May cracked "some time ago."

Inside the safe they find several skeletons. A cell phone rings inside the skull of one of them (!). Coulson answers the phone, and The Superior asks if he recognizes the men. When he says no, The Superior says that Coulson killed them all and hangs up. Daisy finds a possible location for The Superior's HQ-- an old Russian submarine base. The team heads for Russia to get their people back.

Fitz figures out a way to detect the Framework's source code, but discovers its so massive it's using computers from all over the world, making it impossible to track. Simmons tells Fitz that Mack's wrong, and that he's not responsible for Radcliffe perverting his inventions.

Mace wakes up tied to a chair in a cell, as The Superior and AIDA look on. The Superior monologues to him, denouncing him as fake because his powers came from a serum. He asks Mace if he has any regrets. Mace says he's sorry he can't kick The Superior's ass. The Superior leaves, as several of his thugs come in and beat the living hell out of the helpless Mace. AIDA watches from the door, and it's unclear what-- if anything-- she's thinking.

S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives at The Superior's base and blows a hole in the side. Coulson, Daisy, Mack, FItzSimmons and several S.H.I.E.L.D. grunts enter. For some reason, they all split up. Coulson runs into The Superior, who quickly disarms him. He then starts monologuing again (is that his true superpower?), and says his comrades were killed because they lost the mysterious object that Coulson and May retrieved. That's why The Superior's doing all this-- to avenge his fallen comrades.

Coulson realizes The Superior was one of the men who captured him that night, "some time ago." In an awesome speech, Coulson tells The Superior that he's slept since then, it was just another mission to him. He doesn't even remember what the mysterious object was, and The Superior was just another "redshirt" to him. Burrrrrrrn!

Coulson leaves as Daisy enters. She's happy to get a chance to face the leader of the Watchdogs, and quakes him into a pillar. Amazingly he gets up and the two fight. The Superior stabs Daisy in the shoulder with his knife, and she quakes the whole ceiling down on him. For some reason, she causally strolls out, assuming he's dead rather than taking him into custody.

Mack and Coulson see The Superior's thugs still beating Mace. They take out the thugs and see Mace is barely breathing. They carry him back to the rendezvous point.

FitzSimmons finds The Superior's I.T. department. Fitz says the computers are too low tech to contain the Framework, but he might be able to get some useful info out of them. Simmons hears radio chatter that AIDA's been sighted, and she and a S.H.I.E.L.D. grunt go after her. She gets to the dock seconds too late, as AIDA and the sub sail away.

Everyone returns to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. As Fitz fiddles with The Superior's computer, Simmons says something about the mission bothers her. She claims there was a stretch of unaccounted time, in which none of the agents could contact one another. She checks the base's security logs and sees the LMD detection system was triggered. She uses her clearance to access the report, which says four LMDs have entered the base-- Coulson, Daisy, Mack and Mace. This means she and Fitz are on their own, as they're the only top level agents left who are still human. LMD Coulson then restarts LMD May.

Back at The Superior's HQ, AIDA has apparently returned. She digs The Superior out of the rubble, saying he still has a purpose...

Thoughts: 
• So apparently Fitz invented a prototype of the Framework, which Radcliffe and AIDA co-opted and enhanced. Got it.

• OK, so Fitz may have invented SHIELD's Framework, but why does Mack accuse him of inventing LMDs? Radcliffe's the one who's to blame here. According to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki, S.H.I.E.L.D. dabbled with LMD technology some time ago, but ended up abandoning it. When Radcliffe became an honorary member of S.H.I.E.L.D., he discovered the rejected project and revived it.

Fitz may have helped Radcliffe a bit, but he didn't invent the technology. Mack's way off the mark here.

• According to the on-screen captions, Coulson's flashbacks happened "Some time ago..." Convenient! By not saying, "Ten years ago," his flashback incident is unlikely to contradict anything later on, because there's no way to tell exactly when it happens.

• Flashback May looks quite attractive and, dare I say it, cute, in her little wig that's meant to make her look younger. Oddly enough, they didn't attempt to alter Coulson's appearanceat all. They could have at least given him a bit more hair than he has now.

Both actors do a great job of playing earlier versions of themselves in this episode. Clark Gregg seems to be channeling the Phil Coulson from the Iron Man era here, and it's interesting to see how different the character was back in 2008. Ming-Na Wen gives us a fun, flirty and seemingly carefree version of May, before her life was weighed down by personal tragedy. 

It's still so odd to see May actually smiling.

• Coulson finds The Superior's little shrine to him in Russia, complete with dozens of photos, newspaper clippings and maps, all connected by red string. Has anyone in the real world ever done this as a way to try and visualize connections between random events? 

• Last week Mace said he'd never been trained in hand-to-hand combat, as his super strength serum made it unnecessary. Who needs to know how to fight when you can grab your opponent and throw 'em a mile?

Nowhere is his lack of training more evident than in this episode, in which he takes on The Superior and is whupped in five seconds flat.

I'll give Mace credit though— he's tough! Despite the fact that his super strength is gone and he doesn't know how to fight, he absolutely refuses to give up. 

• My favorite part of the episode was the confrontation between The Superior and Coulson. The Superior claims that his entire scheme was meant to get revenge against Coulson for killing his men. Coulson tells The Superior that it all happened years ago, it was just another mission to him and he barely even remembers it!

That's a pretty cool twist on the standard supervillain revenge plotline, and one I don't think I've ever seen before. Well done, writers!

• S.H.I.E.L.D.'s raid on The Superior's HQ was very odd, very disjointed and very contrived. The second they arrive, Coulson and the others all split up for some reason, which seems like a reeeeally bad idea when you're invading an enemy's home base.

Of course there's a reason for these shenanigans. The writers needed to separate all the characters so they could be captured offscreen and replaced by LMDs. I get that it was necessary story-wise, but I just wish they'd come up with a better, less contrived way to do it.

• Daisy spars with The Superior for a bit, then grows impatient and quakes the ceiling down on top of him. She then radios to the others that The Superior's down, and casually saunters out of the room.

Really? She's just going to assume that this incredibly dangerous psycho is dead? Jesus Christ! Check him for a pulse and tie him up if he's still alive.

Again, I get that this scene needed to happen this way so Daisy could be captured and replaced with an LMD, but surely there was a less ridiculous way to do so.

• For weeks now I've been saying that Fitz is secretly an LMD who's unknowingly working for Radcliffe. The end of this episode would seem to torpedo that theory. Or does it? Follow me here...

Radcliffe and AIDA most likely used their Darkhold knowledge to quickly whip up LMDs of Coulson, Daisy, Mack and Mace. But in order to be a perfect copy, it's necessary for the subject's brain to be scanned and uploaded into the LMD.

How's that accomplished? With the Framework headset, of course. It can scan a person's brain in seconds, and upload it either into the Framework or an LMD.

So who was wearing a Framework headset in this episode? Coulson, Daisy and Mack! Three of the four people who were replaced by LMDs at the end of the episode!* That can't be a coincidence.

This is why I think Fitz is also secretly an LMD, and most likely doesn't know it.

*The only person who didn't put on a headset in this episode was Mace, but Radcliffe could have scanned him while we weren't looking.

• Great confusion surrounds the replacement of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with LMDs. It's not clear exactly when Coulson and the others were replaced, and I don't understand their motivations once they get back to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Hopefully some or all of these questions will be cleared up next week.

For example, Daisy gets stabbed in the shoulder during her fight with The Superior. Was it Daisy who actually got stabbed, or was it her LMD doppelganger? If it was Daisy, did AIDA quickly stab the LMD version in the shoulder so it would match?

If LMD Daisy was the one who was stabbed, will she look down and see wires under her skin like LMD May did a few weeks ago, and realize she's a copy? 

And what about powers? Was AIDA somehow able to give LMD Daisy quake powers like the real thing? If so, how? With the magic of the Darkhold? And if LMD Daisy doesn't have powers, won't she notice and realize she's a copy?

Same goes for Mace. When exactly was he replaced? Were The Superior's men beating up a human or an LMD? If AIDA replaced the real Mace after he was worked over, did she have to beat up his LMD to match?

Another thing I don't understand— at the very end of the episode, LMD Coulson brings LMD May back online. So what's his endgame here? Does he think he's the real Coulson? If so, why would he reactivate LMD May? Everyone knows she's not real, so that would reveal Coulson's a copy as well.

So many questions!

• This week's best lines:

Coulson: (referring to being inside the prototype Framework) "But I-I felt strangely cold, though."
Fitz: "Well, I tried to make the simulation as real as possible, and since you always leave the air-con on in the base, I exaggerated it. Kind of like a silent protest."

Fitz: "What are you trying to say? That all this is my fault?"

Mack: "What I'm saying is, if you didn't build a killer robot or a virtual world, this year would've been much easier for us."

Mack: (to Fitz) "Okay, you know, the line between scientist and mad scientist is paper thin."

Coulson: "Don't worry. I'm good with my hands."

May: "Not how I remember it."

Coulson: "Okay, here it comes. It's never long before you bring that up."

May: "Well, I remember you fumbling quite a bit."

Coulson: "I didn't know you that well back then. I didn't want to be presumptuous."

May: "You were undercover as my husband."

Coulson: "Right, and I knew we were on camera, so I had to sell that we were, you know ..."

May: "Oh, yeah, you sold it. Took over two minutes to unhook my bra."

Coulson: "That was an act for the camera. You know, I was ... I was being a gentleman. What, they don't cover foreplay at the Operations Academy?"

May: "They teach us to commit to the mission ... all the way."

AIDA: "Preparations here are nearly completed."

The Superior: "That is nearly a satisfying report."

AIDA: "If you're done playing with your food, there is still work to be done."

The Superior: "Metaphor. Well done."

Flashback Coulson: (to Russian soldier) "We all good here, fellas? What else do you need? Birth certificate? I think I got a membership card to Gold's Gym."

Flashback Russian Soldier: "Do you have partner?"

Flashback Coulson: "Oh! Eh. She's not really a partner. More of a friend ... a co-worker, really. Though, to be honest, I'm starting to feel some tension, sexual and otherwise, so I was actually thinking about taking a shot, but I'm afraid it could go south."

Flashback Russian Soldier: "You Americans, you talk too much."

Flashback Coulson: "It's our greatest flaw."

Mace: (to The Superior) "And to answer your question, I do have one regret. That I don't have any superpowers of my own that I could use to kick your ass."

Coulson: (reacting to The Superior's revenge plot) "All of these things you've done, all of the energy spent, the hatred. And you know what the funny thing about it is? I have no idea who the hell you are. I've been on hundreds of missions in my time. This one you're so upset about, I was sent to retrieve an object. If I'm being honest, I don't even remember what it was. As far as I'm concerned, you're just another red shirt like so many others who tried unsuccessfully to stop me from saving the world. 'Cause that's what I do. So... cool origin story, bro, but this means nothing to me."

Daisy: "I chased the Watchdogs, the funding, the weapons, the EMP, the Senator ... it all leads back to you."

The Superior: "Always nice to meet an admirer."

Daisy: "This isn't about admiration or forgiveness."

The Superior: "The butcher does not seek forgiveness from the animals he slaughters."

Daisy: "Have you ever read Animal Farm?"

AIDA: (echoing The Superior's earlier statement) "Even filth has a purpose."

Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 13: BOOM

This week on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mallory Janson joins Ming-Na Wen and John Hannah as the third actor this season to pull double duty and play two different versions of the same character. Janson plays Agnes Kitsworth, the inspiration and template for AIDA 2.0.

The idea that AIDA was modeled on a real person made perfect sense, as did Radcliffe's explanation for doing so (to avoid the uncanny valley).

I still don't think we've seen the last of the LMD impostors on the show. In fact, this episode contains a pretty big clue that there's still one rattling around inside S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. More on that below.

SPOILERS! I was sorry to see Nadeer go so soon, as she was a good villain you love to hate (plus I've always liked Parminder Nagra). But I guess the show doesn't really need her now that the ironically named The Superior is here.

Lastly, I've just about had enough of my local TV stations. A couple weeks ago The CW station preempted The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow to air a goddamned basketball game, and tonight the local ABC affiliate decided to run about thirty two commercials in a row, so I missed three of four minutes of the final act of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

In both cases I had to stream the shows a day or so later in order to see them (or the parts I missed). Hey, networks! Do you want to drive viewers away from live TV and move completely to streaming? Because this is how you drive viewers away from live TV and move them completely to streaming. Idiots.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Coulson and Mack are in Spain, looking for a woman named Agnes Kitsworth, who they believe can help them find Agent May. They spot Agnes, and we see she looks exactly like AIDA, Dr. Radcliffe's Life Model Decoy prototype.

On The Superior's submarine, Radcliffe and AIDA have just finished building The Framework, a virtual reality simulation of the entire planet. May's consciousness is stored in The Framework, were Radcliffe says she'll be happy. Radcliffe and AIDA report to The Superior and his Watchdog leader Shockley. They're uneasy around AIDA, and demand she leaves. Radcliffe is rattled to see that The Superior is holding the Darkhold, and warns him it's dangerous. The Superior says he's already read it (!), which angers Radcliffe, and maybe even makes him a bit jealous. The Superior says the book has shown him how to deal with "The Inhuman Problem." He says he needs an Inhuman to serve as bait for S.H.I.E.L.D. Radcliffe reveals he has some pure Terrigen crystals he stole from Hive Ward last season, and gives them to The Superior.

At S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, Simmons runs tests on Director Mace. She discovers the Patriot serum that gives him super strength has slowly become toxic to him, and his next dose could give him cardiac arrest. Mace is disappointed to hear that, as he's learning to fight without the serum, and his training hasn't gone well. He's eager to get back into action, and feels he's now useless to the Team.

Coulson approaches Agnes in an LA food court, er, I mean a public square in Spain. He says he knows about the work she did with Radcliffe, and thinks she knows where to find him. She says she knows nothing about Radcliffe and doesn't want anything to do with him. Mack appears and shows her a photo of AIDA. Agnes is shocked by this revelation, but not really surprised. She says she was with Radcliffe for a time (ewww...), but he left her because she's dying of an inoperable brain tumor, and he couldn't cure her and felt like a failure. She refuses to help find Radcliffe, saying she wants to enjoy what little time she has left.

Shockley visits Senator Nadeer in her office. He says her brother was an Inhuman, and accuses her of having the same blood. She denies it, but he says even if she's not an Inhuman, she carries the dormant gene and must be put down. He pulls out a Terrigen crystal and smashes it on her desk. The Terrigen gas floods the room, but Nadeer is completely unaffected. Suddenly a cocoon forms around Shockley, revealing that HE'S unknowingly an Inhuman! Gasp! Once Shockley is completely encased in the cocoon, it explodes, killing Nadeer (!) and destroying her office.

Coulson and Mack argue over whether they should continue pestering Agnes when she clearly wants to be left in peace. Mack says they don't even know if May's still alive, which angers Coulson. He insists he'll find may with or without his help or Agnes.'

Mace, Daisy and FitzSimmons investigate the ruins of Nadeer's office. Daisy reviews the security tape and sees Shockley enter Nadeer's office before the explosion.

Shockley reports to The Superior. He lies, saying Nadeer went through Terrigenesis and exploded. The Superior is skeptical, but takes his word for it and makes plans to leave the country. Shockley returns to Watchdog HQ, planning to take out S.H.I.E.L.D. when they inevitably come for him. Sure enough, Daisy and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrive at the headquarters and capture Shockley, along with a few other Watchdogs. They're taken into custody on Zephyr One, where Daisy interrogates them.

Coulson goes to Agnes' home and tells her Radcliffe abducted May and replaced her with an LMD. She refuses to believe it, saying Radcliffe's not capable of that. Coulson says Radcliffe's not himself, as he's under the influence of the Darkhold. Agnes reluctantly agrees to help.

Meanwhile, Radcliffe's studying the Darkhold. He gets an urgent text message from a "post-humanist subgroup," which can only be Agnes. For some reason he shows AIDA a photo of him and Agnes. He tells her that Agnes needs his help and leaves. AIDA stares at the photo, as her programming begins feeling twinges of jealousy.

On Zephyr One, FitzSimmons examine remains from the bomb site and find traces of a Terrigeneisis cocoon. They realize Shockley must have been the one inside. In the hold, Shockley tells Daisy he'll only talk to Mace. Mace arrives, and Shockley starts powering up for an explosion. Just then FitzSimmons arrive and tell Mace that Shockley's become an Inhuman. He and Fitz tackle Shockley and shove him into a Wonkavator. Daisy jettisons it seconds before Shockley explodes, destroying it.

In Spain, Agnes waits for Radcliffe to arrive. He calls her up, and says she's angry with him for walking out on him. When he tells her he can now save her, she becomes intrigued. He tells her how to find him and she starts walking. She sees his car and gets in. He tells her he's stopped trying to cure sickness, as the Darkhold has shown him how to cure death itself. He says he'll upload her consciousness into The Framework, where she can live forever (or until someone switches the power off). She drives off with Radcliffe. Coulson and Mack, who must have stationed themselves a mile away, run after her, but a car full of gunmen pull up (?) and fire on them to keep them from following.

Somewhere in the desert, Shockley reconstitutes himself. He staggers into a diner and calls The Superior. He says that HE'S the one who became an Inhuman, but he's still a soldier and still believes in the cause. He then explodes again, destroying the diner.

S.H.I.E.L.D. detects Shockley's explosion and comes for him. Daisy confronts Shockley on a deserted road and blasts him with her quake powers, causing him to explode and reform over and over. She blows him up one last time, and FitzSimmons activate a containment unit they whipped up in record time, that sucks Shockley's exploded molecules into it. They lock him inside the trap. A group of Watchdogs arrive, and Mace decides to take them out. He injects himself with the Patriot serum and attacks their convoy. Despite his super strength, he's quickly surrounded, subdued with cattle prods and captured.

Radcliffe uploads Agnes' mind into The Framework. As soon as it's done, her body dies. Radcliffe kisses her lifeless body and leaves. AIDA stares at Agnes' body. She takes the necklace from her and put it around her own neck.

Thoughts: 
• Did The Superior really read the Darkhold? If so, why isn't he being driven mad? Because he's already crazy? Does he have some secret superpower that protects him from the effects of the book?

• Coulson and Mack travel to Spain (sure the do), to track down Agnes Kitsworth. Unknown to her, Radcliffe used her as a model for AIDA.

Um... why is everything in Spain so yellow? Every scene allegedly set there look like it was shot through a heavy yellow filter over the lens. I'm assuming this was done in a flailing effort to make the Spanish scenes look... foreign, or somehow different. And likely also to disguise the fact that they were all filmed in an outdoor Los Angeles food court.

• Mallory Jansen plays Agnes Kitsworth in this episode, as well as AIDA of course. Agnes is an Australian citizen with a slight accent. Oddly enough, Mallory Janson is also from Australia! Funny how that worked out.

• By the way, Agnes looks pretty good for someone dying of an inoperable brain tumor.

• This week Fitz has LMD detectors installed inside S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. That's actually a pretty good idea, and something they should have done weeks ago. Nothin' like closing the barn door after the horses get out! 

Fitz tells a technician to make sure and calibrate the detectors carefully, because he doesn't want Coulson's bionic arm setting them off. The writers just eliminated a potential plot hole with that one little line of dialogue. Well done, guys! They know I'm watching...

• A few weeks ago I suspected that in addition to May, Fitz had been replaced with an LMD as well. Then we found out that Radcliffe sent an LMD of himself to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., which seemingly flushed my "Fitz Is A Robot" theory down the drain.

Eh, not so fast there! After this week I'm not so sure I was wrong.

In this episode, Fitz walks past an LMD detector while carrying Mace's modified superhero suit on a hanger. Oddly enough, the detector goes off! Fitz casually dismisses this by saying, "Dial in that scanner. I can't have it detecting every metal clothes hanger as an LMD!" Hmm...

When's the last time anyone saw a metal clothes hanger? Years? What if it wasn't the hanger, but Fitz himself that set off the detector?

This little scene could just be a red herring to troll the audience, but I don't think so. I'm betting we haven't seen the last of the secret LMDs at S.H.I.E.L.D.

• So what's the most unbelievable part of this episode? The idea of robots that are indistinguishable from real people? A serum that gives a person super strength? A man who can explode and put himself back together over and over?

Nope. It's the idea that a weaselly-looking guy like Radcliffe could ever actually hook up with a stunning beauty like Agnes.

• Retcon Alert! Great confusion surrounds the way Terrigen Crystals work in this episode.

In the past, exposure to a Terrigen Crystal would cause a potential Inhuman to undergo Terrigenesis, awakening their full potential and activating their powers. If a normal human came in contact with a Terrigen Crystal, they'd immediately turn to stone (or something similar).

This is how Coulson lost his left hand back in S.O.S. He caught a crystal to keep it from shattering, and it began petrifying his body. Mack then chopped of Coulson's hand with an axe before the effect could spread to his entire body.

Suddenly this week people are grabbing Terrigen Crystals left and right, with no ill effects. What changed?

According to this episode, only impure, unrefined Terrigen Crystals are deadly to humans. Apparently back in Season 3, Radcliffe stole a box of impure Crystals from Evil Ward. For some reason, he then worked to refine them. These pure Terrigen Crystals still have the same effect on potential Inhumans, but they're now completely harmless to humans.

Why would Radcliffe do this? Because the script needed him to, that's why.

• The length of time it takes for Terrigenesis to occur apparently varies wildly form person to person. Senator Nadeer's brother was in a Terregenisis cocoon for months, maybe even years. In this episode, Shockley's cocooned for literally seconds before he transforms and bursts out.

Maybe it also has something to do with pure and impure Crystals?

• Is Shockley supposed to be Nitro?

In the comics, Robert Hunter was an electrical engineer who's not an Inhuman, but he was the subject of an alien Kree experiment. As a result of this genetic tampering, he could cause his body to violently explode and reform it at will. He then became a supervillain, causing trouble all over the Marvel Universe, including killing Captain Marvel (the male one).

This matches up pretty close to Tucker Shockley, who was exposed to Terregin Mist (which is a product of the Kree), and can now cause his body to violently explode and reform it at will.

So why go to all the trouble of creating a new character that so closely resembles an exiting one? Why not just use Nitro himself? Maybe the writers knew that if they used Robert Hunter, eagle-eyed fans would figure it out and blab it all over the internet, so they changed his name.

• After Shockley explodes and almost destroys Zephyr One, he reintegrates his body in the desert. We see his body slowly rebuild itself from the inside out, as his arteries and nervous system form first, then his musculature and finally his skin.

This scene reminded me a LOT of Dr. Manhattan rebuilding his body in the Watchmen comic and movie. I guess there are probably only so many ways you can film a person reforming their molecules.

By the way, I'm impressed that when Shockley reconstitutes his body, his clothes aren't restored as well. It makes perfect sense that they'd be blown apart, and because they're not part of his body, they stay that way. Well done, writers! Once again, they know I'm watching!

• When Radcliffe secretly contacts Agnes, he has a waiter bring her a flip phone. At first I was thinking, "Seriously, a flip phone? What year is this?" But then I realized Radcliffe's a smart guy, and this is likely a hard to trace, disposable "burner phone." Such phones are generally cheap flip models. 

• Radcliffe tells Agnes he can't cure her, but he can upload her consciousness into the Framework. It's a perfect virtual copy of the entire Earth, created by Radcliffe and AIDA (mostly AIDA), which is absolutely nothing like the Matrix. Nope, absolutely, completely, legally distinct and different.

• A few weeks ago I praised Mallory Janson for her ability to convincingly play a robot, as she's somehow able to give AIDA a strange, artificial quality. Kudos to her this week as well, as she plays the human inspiration for AIDA. I really did believe I was looking at two different, er, people here. Well done!

And as always, the "twin effects" were top notch, as AIDA even removed a pendant from around Agnes' neck.

By the way, it was very creepy when AIDA stared down at her human inspiration and realized she's not unique. If I was Dr. Radcliffe, I'd be watching my back. There's nothing worse than a jealous android who likes snapping necks!

• Daisy practices using her powers to counteract Shockley's explosions or something. She fails to find the right frequency several times, and in frustration utters, "Frak!"

Looks like Daisy's a fan of the BattleStar Galactica remake!

• This week's best lines:

Mace: (to Simmons, who's just given him bad medical news) "Don't sugarcoat it, Doc. And by that, I mean, please, go ahead and sugarcoat it."

Fitz: (to Simmons, after she tells him Mace's serum could kill him) "You could could've told me that before I did my whole big presentation."

Coulson: (to Mace) "You'll make the right decision at the right time. Or you'll get an Asgardian staff through the chest. I'd try to avoid that part."

Coulson: (to Agnes, after she doesn't react to finding out about AIDA) "So I'll mark you down as shocked but not surprised, which is surprising."

Simmons: (examining rubble from an explosion) "So, we take a bit of everything and test a bit of everything, old-school. Like in the chem lab, at our old school."

Daisy: (after they throw Shockley off the ship, seconds before he explodes) "I mean, it wasn't pretty, but no one died. Except for maybe Shockley, but I'm fine with that."

Daisy: "Looks like Shockley's back to his old self."
Simmons: "Really? Incredible. He's gone from an explosive gas to a fully functional..."
Daisy: "Jackass?"

Simmons: (to Daisy) "Did you just explode Mr. Shockley?"
Daisy: "Well, I thought if I can't keep him together, I might as well blow him apart."

Shockley: (after Daisy blows him up and his clothes disintegrate) "Whoo! Can't kill me that way. If you wanted to get me naked, all you had to do was (she blows him up again)."

Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 3: Uprising

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is back after taking last week off for the incredibly important and riveting vice presidential debate. Yawn.

Sorry about the lame image above. For some reason whenever I search for S.H.I.E.L.D. screencaps, all I can find are incredibly dull ones like this.

So far the storylines are racing along at an amazingly fast clip. That's definitely a good thing, and something I'm not used to. I sat through several interminable seasons of LOST, which took twenty four episodes to tell a story that could have been handled in three or four, and last year I endured eight episodes of The Walking Dead that all took place in the same day. It's refreshing to see some fast-paced plotting now and then.

Sorry, Ghost Rider fans, but your favorite flame-headed vengeance demon doesn't appear in this episode at all. I'm betting his absence is due to that ol' devil the Television Budget.

Parminder Nagra (of Bend It Like Beckham and E.R. fame) joins the cast this week as Senator Nadeer, a rabid Inhuman hater. Is her name supposed to be a play on words? Nadeer? That sounds a lot like "nadir." As in, she's the nadir of humanity. Coincidence, or in-joke?

Lastly, the first five episodes of this season are titled:
1. The Ghost
2. Meet The New Boss
3. Uprising
4. Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire
5. Lockup

I wonder... is every even numbered episode going to be a classic song title or lyric? That would actually be pretty cool. I guess we'll find out in Episode 6.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

Yo-yo's at a bachelorette party in Miami, when something knocks out the power all over the city. Cell phones, cars and aircraft are affected as well, as a helicopter drops from the sky and crashes into a nearby building. Obviously this is no normal power outage.

At S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Director Jeffrey Mace watches a televised message from the Inhuman Resistance, who've taken responsibility for the blackout. The Resistance is protesting the government's Inhuman Registration Program, and threatens to black out a major city every hour until it's repealed. Fitz says the power outage was most likely caused by an EMP device. Mace sends Coulson, Mack and Fitz to Miami to check it out.

Just then, Chen (the Chinese mob boss who was infected by Lucy the ghost in the season premiere) dies in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medlab. Simmons worries that the same thing will happen to Agent May, who's also suffering from the ghost infection. She tells Mace she knows someone who may be able to help May, and he gives her authorization to do whatever's necessary to save her.

In LA, Robbie tells Daisy he's going to visit his Elias Morrow, his uncle. Morrow is in prison for attempted manslaughter, and used to work at Momentum Labs— the same place where Lucy and her coworkers were changed into "ghosts." Just then a blackout hits LA. Fortunately Robbie's Dodge Charger was built before 1980, so it's not affected by the EMP. He races back home to make sure his younger brother Gabriel, who's in a wheelchair, is OK.

Dr. Radcliffe is working in his lab with AIDA, his Life Model Decoy. Radcliffe deactivates AIDA and hides her shortly before Simmons arrives with May, as he's not ready to debut her yet. Radcliffe examines May, but can't figure out what's wrong with her. He's not even phased when Simmons tells him May was infected by a ghost.

London, LA, Moscow and Miami are now blacked out. Coulson realizes that S.H.I.E.L.D. relocated Inhumans to all those cities, and believes there's surely a connection.

Meanwhile, Robbie and Daisy see a group of looters threatening Gabriel. Robbie punches out several of them without becoming Ghost Rider (hey, those flaming head effects are expensive), while Daisy quakes another one. Once again, without her protective gauntlets, her powers damage the bones in her arms.

In Miami, a group of armed men infiltrate Yo-yo's party, claim they know there's an Inhuman present and demand they hand "it" over. Coulson, Mack and Fitz arrive in the city, and are surprised when their equipment fails. Even Coulson's bionic hand stops working. Fitz deduces that the EMP is continuous, not a single pulse. Back at the party, Yo-yo uses her superspeed to steal the gunmens' weapons. One of her friends sees what she did and squeals. The men begin menacing Yo-yo just as Coulson and the others arrive. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents make quick work of the thugs.

In LA, Robbie, Daisy and Gabriel wait out the blackout and lootings in the Reyes home. Robbie notices Daisy's arm looks pretty gross and alarming, so he runs out to get some medicine for her. Daisy and Gabriel talk. He says he looks out for Robbie instead of the other way around, and doesn't want to see him get hurt. He tells Daisy he knows she's really Quake (since he saw her use her powers to knock a looter for a loop). He says her secret's safe with him as long as she never goes near Robbie again. Gabe then tells her to get lost.

Dr. Radcliffe runs a brain scan on May, and determines that the ghost virus has put her adrenal system into overdrive (technobabble!), causing her to have vivid waking nightmares. He suggests killing her, in order to "reboot" her brain to normal factory settings. Because the human brain is exactly like a computer, dontcha know. Simmons says, "That's so crazy it just might work," and gives May a lethal injection. May dies, and amazingly her brain resets itself. Simmons then grabs the ol' defibrillator paddles to shock her back to life (sigh...). Right on cue, the power goes out as the Inhuman Resistance blacks out another D.C, which I guess is where Radcliffe's lab is located. Drama!

Simmons then starts performing CPR on May to try and bring her back, without much luck. Radcliffe gets an idea— he excuses himself, sneaks into AIDA's closet, removes her power supply and hooks it up to May. She's jolted back to life, with no memory of the past few days.

In Miami, Coulson interrogates the Resistance thugs. He discovers they're really members of the Watchdogs, who were posing as Inhumans to stir up hatred and distrust toward them. 

Fitz uses science to pinpoint the location of the Watchdog's EMP device. He, Coulson, Mack and Yo-yo head out. They find the EMP device in a guarded warehouse. Yo-yo disarms the guards at superspeed, and the others start with the punching again. Fitz shuts down the EMP and the city's power is miraculously restored, which isn't how it works, but whatever.

Couson gives his report to Mace. They realize the Watchdogs couldn't have pulled off their global plan without the help of someone rich and powerful. Coulson suggests they ignore the schedule and reintroduce S.H.I.E.L.D. to the public immediately. Mace agrees, and calls a press conference, announcing that S.H.I.E.L.D. is back. 

Immediately after the announcement, Senator Rota Nadeer appears on TV denouncing S.H.I.E.L.D., saying they're a puppet of the Inhumans, whom she despises and opposes.

In the tag scene, we see Nadeer at home. She gets a call from a Watchdog agent, and says she'll be right there. She tells her brother she's leaving, and we see he's inside a Terrigenesis coccoon in the middle of her living room.

Thoughts:
• It's nighttime when the blackout hits Miami. An hour or so later another blackout hits LA, but it's broad daylight there.

Yes, the two cities are on opposite sides of the country, but  there wouldn't be that big a difference in the sunlight—  they're only three hours apart. Yo-yo was at a party in Miami, so it was probably pretty late— at least 10pm. That means it was 7pm in LA. Plus the Watchdogs were blacking out a city every hour, so LA's power probably went out at 8pm. It definitely should have been dark there.

Who directed this episode, Ed Wood?

• I was really expecting Aida to be "outed" and come out of the closet (heh) in this episode, but Dr. Radcliffe managed to keep her existence a secret from Simmons for another week.

• It was a nice touch when Coulson's bionic hand went kaput when he and the others entered the Miami blackout zone. Looks like Fitz is gonna have a new project when they get back to headquarters— EMP-proofing Coulson's hand!

One thing about his shorted out hand though— the way I understand it, an EMP pulse (yes, I know the "pulse" is redundant) will fry any piece of electronic equipment that's turned on. If something was shut off when the pulse hit, it should still work if switched on later. 

Coulson's hand was most certainly up and running when they entered the constantly-refreshing EMP zone. So it should have been irreparably fried and shouldn't have started working again when the EMP was switched off.

• During the LA blackout, one of the gangbangers touches Robbie's car. When Robbie tells him to get his filthy paws off it, the gangbanger says, "Just admiring her, Holmes." Do people still say "Holmes" in 2016? Or more likely is that how the S.H.I.E.L.D. writers think LA gang members really talk?

• Kudos to the writers for having Dr. Radcliffe say, "You know, it's a myth that we only use 10% of our brains." I don't know how that incredibly erroneous trope ever got started, but it's like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees— it just will not die.

Immediately after his 10% comment, Radcliffe says, "However, it is true that it's only a few neurons that make all the noise. The rest keep quiet." Hmm. I don't know whether that statement's true or not. 

• Dr. Radcliffe tells Simmons it's necessary to kill May in order to "reboot" her brain.

OK, I have a legal question about this. In order to save May, Simmons deliberately gives her a lethal injection of something, and most definitely kills her. She resuscitates her a few minutes later of course, but... would Simmons be considered guilty of murder? Or attempted murder, at the least? I honestly don't know.

• Naturally, the second Simmons kills May, the power goes out so she can't resuscitate her. I KNEW that was going to happen. In fact I called it the minute Radcliffe brought up the idea. You could see it coming down the street from a mile away, like a Thanksgiving Day parade balloon.

• After Simmons kills May, she tries to revive her with defibrillator paddles. Sigh. Do I need to say it again? Defib units DO NOT work that way. You CANNOT use them to jump start a person's heart like you would a car battery. In fact they work just the opposite way— they actually stop (or at least slow down) your heart!

• When they're fighting the looters in LA, Daisy tells Robbie, "Calm down before you go all Carrot Top again!" Actually I think seeing Robbie transform into everyone's least favorite prop comic would be scarier than seeing Ghost Rider.