Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 22 Theories

We know very little about the season finale except that Robbie is back. We know that he joins the team, probably in the early part of the episode. From the promotional photos we’ve seen, we know that we’ll go back to the Framework and see Mack, Hope and Radcliff.

Daisy, Robbie, Coulson and May are together. We don’t know where Simmons is though. At some point, again in the first act of the show, Fitz is attacked by Ophelia. I hope Simmons is not kidnapped again, quite tired of the ‘abduct Simmons’ ploy.

Daisy and Robbie are probably going to team-up with Daisy taking on the Superior and Robbie squaring off against Ophelia and/or the Darkhold. To defeat him, all they technically have to do is locate his head and destroy it but finding it will be hard especially since even AIDA didn’t know where it was and I doubt it’s the kind of thing that Superior would just leave lying around.

We know that the Daisy fleet is still in play
 and it’s obvious that they’ll be brought in to cause even more chaos and confusion. Its possible that while the team is scrambling to deal with Superior and Ophelia, the fleet will start targeting the Inhumans. I’m not very sure about this though because with the exception of Vijay, we haven’t really seen any new Inhumans and I don’t think it works if you kill nameless characters, characters that the audience are not invested in.

Now that Ophelia and Superior have read The Darkhold, it’s easy to see that they both want to remake the real-world, one that will deeply resemble the World of Hydra. Ophelia wants to cause Fitz pain and take down Shield and Superior wants to eradicate the Inhumans. These two have turned into such an epic pain in the ass! Damn you Radcliff!

Ophelia might kidnap Fitz again but it doesn’t look likely, from the shot, it looks like they’re still aboard the Zephyr. Fitz isn’t ready to be out on the field so maybe Simmons stays back with him because someone needs to monitor Mack and Elena as well, leaving Simmons, Fitz and Piper on the plane. Also, please leave Piper the fuck alone, she better not die!

Talbot isn’t going to be any help if the previous episode was any indication. Shield is on its own and they have no one to rely on.

Elena is meanwhile stuck in the Framework and has to rescue Mack. I didn’t think that we’d be going back into The Framework, so I guess I was wrong there. It is strange though that neither Ward nor Tripp appear in the episode. Tracking down Mack is going to be hard for Yo-Yo since she knows nothing about the Framework reality, she went in blind, literally. I’m guessing they come back in the nick of time but how will they get out? Daisy’s no longer with them to quake the back-door, unless Radcliff helps them get back. I’m curious to see Elena and Hope interact. It still won’t be easy to get Mack to leave his daughter.

For the final act of the episode, I feel like the entire team will be together, they will have defeated the Superior, leaving Ophelia and the Darkhold. I’m not sure one episode gives you enough time to take down 2 difficult adversaries which is why I think that Ophelia or the Darkhold might still be in play next season.

I initially thought that we might see Hope come back, thanks to the machine that Fitz built and while that still might happen, I am a little unsure about it now. I don’t see the writers bring back a child into play, for one, she doesn’t fit into the narrative and secondly, with Hope in the real world, Mack keeps holding on to his past and what could have been, keeping him from fully committing to Yo-Yo and the life he could have with her.

So who do I think will come back if anyone comes back at all? Well, I have a feeling it will be Ward. This goes all the way back to Season 3 finale, when Coulson tells Daisy that she was branwashed and she replies, “So was Ward, we make the perfect pair.” In season 4, we saw an alternate version of him in the Framework and his name keeps coming up with Fitz saying that “I’m just like Ward” Why keep referring to a character if you had no future plans for him? Why keep reminding the audience about him? It makes no sense unless they were planning something. But Jed did say that the while the machine still works, it won’t be used to bring back Ward or Tripp, so it’s bit of a toss-up. Also, we don’t know how accessible the machine is considering that oil rig was destroyed by torpedoes. But it would be the perfect epilogue, after the dust has settled, the team is at their base (if it’s still safe, that is) and in walks Ward leaving the team speechless. I do think that if he does come back, it should ideally be in the epilogue as a lead-in for the next season. Maybe, he’s carrying a message from Radcliff, something he discovered while he was in the Framework. Of course, Radcliff come back as well but I think he’s served his purpose. Besides someone needs to operate the machine. So my best bet is that Ward comes back. The Grant Ward we, the team and Daisy deserved.. so here’s hoping…

P.S. – ABC renew the show already!!! What the hell are you waiting for!

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 21 Impressions

So the season finale is literally around the corner and episode 21 did a great job is setting it up.

The team woke up and is currently split up; Daisy and Simmons are aboard the Zephyr along with Elena, Piper, Davis and Prince and trying not to get shot out of the sky, May and Coulson are on the oil rig along with Mack and multiple Robo-Superior and finally Fitz has been teleported to a beach with AIDA / Ophelia. It’s safe to say that none of them are particularly safe.

Coulson and May: There were so many amazing Philinda moments and clearly, things have changed for Coulson, you can see it in his face, in his hesitation when May asks him what happened with her Robo-self. For May, However, not much has changed, except for the whole ‘living two lives’ thing. Her ‘real’ life was on pause as soon as she was kidnapped and placed into the Framework. At some point (probably sooner rather than later) Coulson will have to tell her what really happened between him and Robo-May, they have to start being honest about their feelings and stop beating around the bush if they have any hope of being together.

Daisy: She didn’t have much to do this episode, it was more about May, Coulson, Fitz, Simmons and Elena. But now we know that AIDA and the Superior crushed Mace’s body to make it look like Daisy attacked and killed him. Looks like she’s back to being a terrorist, at least as far as the public is concerned.

Elena: Elena’s having a tough few days, finding out that Coulson, Mack and Fitz had also been switched and then finding out that they were being held in a virtual world and then the real straw was that Mack had not woken up. She’s having a tough time being objective (which is understandable) She has one goal, find and rescue Mack and that’s easier said than done. At the end of the episode, she’s plugged herself into the Framework and woken up strapped to a bed with the world going up in flames around her.

Jemma: Like Daisy, Jemma didn’t have much to do either in this episode, save for worrying about Fitz and then shooting both him and AIDA to incapacitate them. I need Simmons to put on her scientist hat again.

Fitz: He’s having a hell of a week. His father died in the Framework, then he woke up and realised that not only did kill a bunch of nameless and faceless potential inhumans in the Framework but he also killed Mace and then tortured Daisy (something everyone seems to have forgotten. “Beaten to within an inch of her life” remember that?)

AIDA/Ophelia: Well, for a while, there was a slim chance that, freed from her directives, she might exercise her free-will for more noble endeavours, but all that came crashing down. She is experiencing a whole spectrum of emotions. Humans have years to get used to them, she didn’t. She went from zero to 100 and she has no idea how to handle them. She also has no idea how to handle rejection. Faced with her very first, she flies off the handle and proceeds to kill people.

Plus she now has Inhuman powers! The ones we know for sure about are Gordon’s teleportation and Lincoln’s ability to control electricity. But she can also heal but it’s not like Jiaying, where she needs to absorb another person’s life force in order to heal. So we don’t know where this particular power comes from.

The biggest idiot on the show is without a doubt, Talbot. He’s seen Shield at work and knows what was happening behind the scenes. He’s not like the public who only know what they see and read in the news. And yet, time and again, he chooses to believe the worst of them. It’s why he often comes out looking like a fool. when Coulson is right ends up saving the world from a threat Talbot didn’t even know existed.

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episodes 21 and 22 Theories

Things we know from episode 20 and the promo for 21:

AIDA now has a human body, free will and emotions.

She took Fitz with her and can teleport.

May and Coulson will have to square off against The Superior and guns probably don’t work on him anymore.

Daisy and Simmons will find the submarine and attempt to save May and Coulson and probably Mack.

So then, where to begin… Let’s start with AIDA, now that she has everything she wanted, I think she’s going to start regretting it very soon. She went from no emotion to an emotion overload. With regard to her teleportation abilities, I think she briefly appears in the same space that Robbie was sucked into. That’s probably how he makes a come back in episode 22. AIDA has become a complete product of the Darkhold and the only one who can combat that damn book is the Ghost Rider.

AIDA also took Fitz with her, now it is unclear whether, given time, he would have gone with her willingly or not. But for now, we have to assume that AIDA either has real feelings for him or that she still needs him for something. I’m pretty sure it’s not the former, since we know that she’s manipulative as hell. I’m banking on the latter because she clearly tells Fitz that she wants to remake this world into something better. She’s now a certifiable psychopath and the sooner that Fitz gets away from the better.

I expect Fitz to be stuck with AIDA till episode 22 when Robbie makes a comeback. i don’t know how much a reunion Fitz and Simmons will have in the real world considering that he’s still reeling from everything he did in the Framework. It is clear that the guilt will be overpowering for him, however I don’t see him actively helping AIDA anymore. I think AIDA will play into his guilt to make him feel isolated, cutting him off from the Team and Simmons. So we’ll probably see AIDA trying to manipulate him some more in episode 21 and then finally some much needed FitzSimmons scenes in 22.

The Superior has a brand new body and no strings controlling him anymore. This one’s a bad seed, no other way to look at him. I think that Coulson and May will manage to escape with Daisy and Jemma, leaving the door open for a Daisy and Superior boss match. These two are more evenly matched now and it should be an epic showdown. Technically, Superior went after Coulson but what he really hates are Inhumans and in Daisy, he has a representation for everything he hates. My only concern is that she’s still injured from her fight against Robo-Mace, Mack and Coulson, her arm is still in a sling and it’s only been 10 days since then, not nearly enough time to recover from two bullet wounds. If there is a fight between them in episode 22, it won’t be as one sided as their previous encounter.

I don’t see Trip or Ward making a come back in the 2 remaining episodes. For one, they aren’t listed in the guest stars and two, I don’t think either of them is coming back to the real world. I think the character that might actually step into the Real World is Hope. For one, she’s listed as a guest star for episode 22 and since Radcliff is still alive in the Framework and knows about the tech, who’s to say that he doesn’t help bring Hope into the Real World? It would certainly work for Mack and give at least one of them the happy ending they deserve.

I also don’t think we’ll be going into the Framework anymore even though Mack is still in there. I’m not sure how Mack will leave the Framework now that Daisy is no longer there to activate the backdoor. Also, what could prompt Mack to leave Hope behind, unless she’s not there anymore and is instead aboard that submarine, having been given a real body. If that does happen to Hope, then she has my sympathies, that’s got to be some confusing shit.

Episode 22 will also see an appearance by General Talbot, I expect that Coulson and the team will approach him for assistance and also update him on everything that’s happened since we last saw him. I don’t think Talbot is going to be very happy but then he never is, not where Shield is involved. I’m not sure how much help he will be considering that they’re dealing with the Darkhold. Could it be that some old faces may be coming back like Hunter and Bobbi. I know that their names aren’t in the guest stars list but what if the writers are keeping it under wraps? Because how else is Talbot going to help against the Darkhold?

So close to the end, the show isn’t really giving us any time with the characters to really explore the impact of the Framework on their psyche. It’s one thing to know that you were in a virtual reality but another to process that and your actions in that virtual world. I’m hoping the writers don’t gloss that over. We need a season 5 to fully explore the fallout of the Framework and the way it’s going to affect all of them once the dust settles. As long as they’re fighting AIDA, the Darkhold and the Superior, they’re busy. It’s only once that the crises are averted that they’ll have quiet time and that’s when it’s going to hit them.

So far, the only person we’ve seen struggle is Fitz but not much from May who was just as willing a participant as Fitz in the Framework Hydra. I think it will be interesting to see how the erasure of her one big regret plays out now that she’s had a glimpse into a reality where she made a different call. With May, it could go either way, she could go back to the closed-off person she was or she could finally throw off all that baggage and really open up to Coulson, to Daisy.

As much as I love the FitzSimmons drama, I’ve always found the Philinda-Daisy dynamic more interesting. I want more Philinda-Daisy moments in the two remaining episodes. I also think we’ll see more Daisy and Simmons team-ups in the bid to get Fitz back.

P.S. – I loved the Framework Ward and would have loved more scenes with him and Daisy but that last scene with them in episode 19 was as close to closure as we’re going to get with regard to Grant Ward. In a way, I’m happy for him, for one, he’s still alive as long as the Framework is running and second, I hope he really did get back his version of Skye, the one who loved him just as much as he loved her. In hindsight, that seems unlikely since Daisy jumped into the backdoor, I think as soon as Daisy left the Framework, Skye ceased to exist.

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 20 – Brief Impressions

Well these Framework episodes turned out to be epic emotional roller-coasters and episode 20 was no different. Brief impressions:

Well, the minute this conversation was over, it was obvious that Jemma was going to go after Fitz. But bless Daisy’s naive heart that it never struck her. Also, I love the dynamic between these two badass ladies. More on that later.

This evil Fitz gets on my nerves. Sorry, I know the performance is great but I think the evil Fitz story-line may have overstayed its welcome. I was so done with this.

Daisy’s happiness at seeing Trip and then hugging them so enthusiastically was one of the best parts of the episode. I loved their friendship in season 2 and was glad to see them interact here.

Also this:

So many amazing Trip-Daisy moments. Trip’s increasing dismay that he didn’t hook-up with any of these lovely ladies and Daisy’s just like, ‘Nope, didn’t happen.” And honestly, I think Chloe Bennet has amazing chemistry with pretty much every cast member.

Another gem:

Coulson behaving like a little boy who’s in trouble, Daisy’s exasperation and May’s long suffering expression. I loved seeing this version of Coulson, reminded me of season 1 before AoS started to get darker.

This episode had so many painful good-byes and this was the first among them. Seeing Daisy leave Trip behind while also not wanting to tell him that he’s no longer alive in the Real World, so painful and so wonderfully acted by B.J. Britt and Chloe Bennet.

The Philinda was strong in this one. This relationship has had one hell of a build-up and it will be so disappointing if nothing comes of it. Also, Coulson is so gentle with her…

Radcliff’s redemption arc is complete. He brings Fitz to the backdoor and pushes him into it. I didn’t buy that whole ‘intrigued by immortality’ bait. He has nothing left to live for, I saw him still trying to save Fitz, someone he genuinely came to see as a son.

The most painful scene in the entire damn episode and maybe the Framework Pod. From the very beginning, it was obvious that the one person who would have the toughest time getting out was Mack because of Hope. I appreciate that Daisy was honest with him and didn’t try to force or coerce him into going with her. These two were partners in season 3 and became really close and you can see the heartbreak on her face. Bennet and Simmons were so good in this scene.

In other news, AIDA is a real girl now and can also teleport, Yaay! Just what the team needs. Mallory Jensen deserves a shout-out, she has been outstanding this entire season. Every character that she’s had to play, she’s played so well. Every character was so distinct, so kudos to her.

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 19 Theories

AOS 4×19 – All The Madame’s Men
Daisy finds herself teamed up with an unlikely partner. Meanwhile, Aida prepares to put her ultimate end game into effect. 


Guest starring are Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Mallory Jansen as Madame Hydra/Aida, Jordan Rivera as Hope Mackenzie, David Weiss as serious man, Patrick Cavanaugh as Burrows, Zach McGowan as The Superior, David O’Hara as Alistair, Ben Cain as Hydra agent, Andy Comeau as Hydra doctor and Kavita Patil as Mrs. Lee.

We had the synopsis and now we have the teaser, let the speculation begin!

First up Ward:

 How can anyone think that he doesn’t care about Daisy/Skye. Look at the anguish on his face! His helplessness and the pain! I know this Skyeward is going nowhere but let me have my scraps, please. I loved Skyeward in season 1 and this is a taste of what it could been. A shade of what it could have been rather because Daisy is not in love with him but he clearly is. He is not the real world Ward, who hid his feelings. He loves Daisy and makes no bones about it. UGH!! This is more pain than I bargained for!

 A Mama May and Daughter Daisy team-up! Finally! HYDRA has no idea what they’re about to be hit by. May and Daisy on their own are formidable but as a team, they can lay waste to pretty much anyone and anything dumb enough to stand in their way. I can’t wait to see to lay waste to HYDRA on their way out.

I’m concerned that while Daisy does turn into an Inhuman, she doesn’t gain her usual power. Which might explain why both May and Daisy are using guns when she could have just ‘qauked’ their way out of the compound. I think half the episode will deal with their breakout while the other half will see them reunite with the rest of Shield.

And can you imagine Daisy’s reaction to seeing Trip!? They were partners and he was there when she went through the change, in the chamber. He died trying to protect her. Also May and Coulson will finally be on the same team. I’m curious to see how much Coulson remembers when it comes to May. In episode 18, he told her snap out of it and called her May when clearly they hadn’t met before. But I don’t think it really registered with him. On the other hand, there was a sense of familiarity when he was addressing her even when he didn’t know her.

 The only thing better than a May-Daisy and a Coulson-May team-up is a May-Coulson-Daisy team up! So many things to look forward to with this episode…

I think Ophelia gets hurt somehow when Daisy and May escape which would explain why Fitz is out for blood. His father, Alistair is just an all-around turd and he just really needs his ass kicked. I wonder what new game Ophelia is playing and can she die in the Framework or does it work differently with her.. Not sure, these are all questions we need answered.

Episode 20 doesn’t list Brett Dalton or BJ Britt as guest stars which is disappointing. But we do know that Alistair Fitz is in the episode. So I’m a little confused. I think the first part of the episode takes place at wherever the backdoor is which is why only the core team is listed. I’m guessing that Trip and Ward get them there and then work to distract HYDRA from their tails.

The synopsis mentions that not one everyone may want to leave the Framework and the usual suspect is Mack for obvious reasons. But what if, it’s not him but Fitz? What if his programming is so deeply ingrained that he doesn’t want to leave? Or he is so wracked with guilt that he doesn’t think that he deserves to wake up? It’s just that it’s too obvious for it to be Mack and I don’t trust things when they are so obvious when it comes to AoS, the writers love tearing out the audiences’ hearts and this would be the perfect way to do it.

I just want the writers to give us one moment between Daisy and Ward that isn’t marred by the past and the real-world Ward. Just a moment that brings full circle what they could have had and what it could have been, I am hoping the writers don’t turn him into a triple agent, that would suck and just be a rehash of season 1 and honestly, I think it would hurt the show and that’s the last thing they want.

There is also a possibility that either Daisy or Jemma go back to the real world to get some back-up maybe and the other person stays behind. It would make sense for Daisy to stay behind since she has powers now.

There is literally no information about episode 21 and 22. We don’t know the guest stars nor the synopsis. For all we know, they only make it out of the Framework in episode 21. I wish ABC released all the episodes at once so I could binge and put myself out of my misery.

I cannot wait to watch the remaining episodes!!!! Please renew this show already.. It is so good and deserves better.

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 18

Wow, this final arc is full of one sucker punch after another. We had a death in the previous episode and a big one in episode 18.

This is probably one of the best batch of episodes that AoS has ever had. It would be a shame if ABC did not renew it for another season at least.

This episode had some great moments. The most notable among them was this:

When Fitz and Ophelia are looking at Daisy through the glass and Fitz says, “Beaten to within an inch of her life, nevertheless she persisted.”Great nod AOS writers.

We met Fitz’s father, Alistair Fitz and he was every bit the tool that we expected him to be and he is a tool that AIDA has put in place to make sure that Fitz’s programming remains undamaged. There are verbal and tactile cues that she uses and they are easy to spot. It’s like Fitz has been conditioned, subconsciously, to seek out physical touch. He reaches out to both Ophelia and Alistair every time he gets agitated and immediately after that he seems more calm.

I hate seeing Daisy so beat up. This was fun to watch at all. And that scene where Fitz hit her… That was just wrong on so many counts! But there were interesting bits when she and AIDA were speaking. For one, the avatar speaking to her is AIDA, she puts on no pretense for once. Through their conversation, AIDA loses her composure twice.

First, when Daisy calls her the puppet master and then then, a little later, when she asks her what she gets out of all this. It makes me think that AIDA is completely convinced that what she’s done and doing is right. She’s not really doing anything wrong. She says as much. I think her end goal remains becoming more human, gaining the ability to feel. She doesn’t hate the others the way she does Radcliff.

Also glad to know that a backdoor does indeed exist and now Daisy knows where it is. I don’t see Radcliff surviving very long in the Framework. He did something that could be seen as redeeming and that is usually a sign that the character is not going to stick around for much longer.

Mack and Hope’s bond is so touching and heart-breaking at the same time. And Ward said that pertinent. Jemma claims that none of this real but it is real for May, Mace and Mack. Unlike Coulson, they have no memories of their lives outside the Framework. For Mack, his daughter and his love for her is very real, for Mace, his fight for justice and equality is real and it means something to him. This is a strange world which isn’t real and yet isn’t completely fake either.

A lot of people saw Mace’s sacrifice coming but that did not make it hurt any less. In the real world, he felt inadequate and like a fraud, but in the Framework, he was everything he wanted to be. And his end was fittingly heroic. It was well-earned death and one that didn’t feel cheap.

it also served as a wake up call for May. She’s not completely awake and I doubt she remembers anything from the real world. But what she witnesses, makes her pause and re-evaluate her allegiance to HYDRA. For instance, she was genuinely horrified when she saw that there were children in the building. At her heart, May is a protector and what she saw was in contrast to her core trait, that I think the dissonance started there and then got progressively worse.

Which brings me to the end of the episode, when AIDA comes to check-in on her hostages and she notices that Mace is dead.

Her expression implies confusion, like she can’t imagine how he died when he was in the perfect world. This is a clear sign that Madam HYDRA are two separate entities that sometimes converge but not always. If she is indeed Madam HYDRA, then there is no reason for her to be confused at his death especially when she was in the room when Fitz ordered the hit. I think Madam HYDRA is more autonomous than AIDA intended her to be. Could it be that Madam HYDRA becomes AIDA’s downfall. What if Ophelia has AIDA’s dream of becoming real but that’s where the similarities end and she is actually looking for a way out just like the team?

The epilogue shows us May talking to Daisy and then breaking a terrigenisis crystal in the room. That little smirk that Daisy gives May in return for her small smile was everything! I’ve missed their interactions and I hope we see some great moments between them. I don’t know whether Daisy’s powers will the same as they were in the real world or if they will be different. After all, there AIDA’s changed so much in the Framework, why not this as well.

I am also very pleased to be right about the whole ‘ teaming up with an unlikely partner’ I had a feeling that it would be May and it will indeed be her. I can’t wait to see the team all together once again. It has been so long.

Also Trip was back finally!!!! So happy to see him!!

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 17

The Framework episodes are turning out to be a real roller-coaster ride. The character changes they’ve incorporated are nothing short of troubling. With each episode the stakes get higher.

Last week Daisy met Coulson and he finally recognized her. Although, that doesn’t mean he remembers his old life. He only remembers fragments and even those are disjointed. Then there was the bit about the Hydra soap which was just priceless.

Also, Daisy’s reaction was amazing. I loved the part where it took her a moment to realize what he had said.

In other news, Ward is still helping out Daisy and Jemma and clearly doesn’t have all the information about them. It is also abundantly clear that he cares about Daisy. I have a love-hate reaction to this bit. I love that Ward is back and he’s a nice guy but hate that it’s not actually happening. In the real world, he’s very much dead. Feel like I’m being cheated. Anyway, he warns Daisy that HYDRA is coming for Coulson and thanks to that intel, Daisy and Jemma are able to escape with him.

While Daisy and Jemma get all of Coulson’s stuff so they can leave, they realize that Holden Radcliff is also in the Framework and he is the one person who can get them out. They just need to find out where he is and with that objective, Daisy goes back into the belly of the beast.

Next, we meet Mack and Hope and you can tell that it’s going to be very hard on him when he has to leave the Framework and lose his daughter all over again. I like their dynamic, Mack is the definition of the cool dad and I love that he calls her ‘Spark Plug’.

The whole AIDA and Fitz relationship is just vomit-inducing. It is murky as hell plus raises issues of consent which make it even more troubling. I think it is clear that AIDA has made some drastic changes to Fitz’s personality. Unlike the others, for whom she fixed a regret. I think she did way more fix a regret for Fitz. While, his cold demeanor can be attributed to cruel father, add to that, the absence of Simmons, that’s not all. I’ve already mentioned that i think he’s been programmed and this week, I feel that even more strongly because she’s told him about the other side. Of course, it could be that she’s selling that reality as a virtual one, or that it takes place in another dimension or what have you. But he clearly knows about and considers it a threat to AIDA and therefore something to be eliminated.

AIDA shows him Jemma’s photograph waiting to see his reaction and there isn’t any hint of recognition on his face.

Daisy finally gets her hands on Radcliff’s location and just as she and Ward are about to leave HYDRA, they are stopped by May. She convinces Ward to go on without her and give the information to Jemma. For a moment, it looks like May is about to arrest Daisy but instead leads her to a conference where Fitz is giving a briefing about hunting down Jemma. I loved that Ward was immediately willing to fight May and the HYRDA goons. Not for one second did he consider leaving Daisy behind.

We finally meet the leader of the resistance, Mace, the leader of Shield. I love his new suit, it looks like it’s taken its fair share of hits. Also love the stars on his gauntlets, they remind me of Captain America’s shield for some reason. Also, I enjoyed the dynamic shift between him and Coulson, where Mace is the experienced agent and Coulson is sort of the new kid on the block.

Instead of sending Daisy and May after Jemma, they are sent to arrest Mack and Hope. You can tell that when May is questioning Mack and he says that he’ll do anything to save Hope, that things are about to get screwed.

Ward and Jemma share a tense moment on the quinjet, on their way to Radcliff. I can understand her anger at the real Ward, but this Ward is not the same guy and her constant belittling of him is starting to get on my nerves. This guy put his life on the line to protect them and is continuing to do so and Jemma is so passive aggressive, constantly implying that he’s the one who’s not trustworthy. She needs to understand that while these people might be just code, they think they’re real and her constant unwillingness to see that is just mean and cruel to them.

We get a moment between Daisy and Hope and you can immediately tell how important Hope is to Mack. See, Daisy knows that she’s just code as well, but her way of handling is way more humane and kind. Also, when Daisy promised her that she would protect her father, I knew things were about to go horribly wrong.

Daisy goes to speak to Mack and he calls her Daisy and says that he remembers but falters when she mentions Yo-Yo. This was one of the best moments in the entire episode and Chloe Bennet was awesome. Her relief that he recognizes her and then horror when she sees that he actually tricked her into revealing her identity was so well acted.

We finally meet Radcliff, on an island and he seems to be living a quiet life, away from Shield and HYDRA. He still insists that he had the best intentions and that he only wanted to help people but that his ideas were twisted into something ugly.  Jemma is finally starting to get through to him when they are interrupted by Madam HYDRA and Fitz, the only thing missing in their entry was Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars.

Mack and Hope’s happy reunion is marred by the HYDRA goons dragging a visibly beaten and nearly-unconscious Daisy. When May thanks Mack for his services, you can see that Hope is troubled and confused because Daisy was nice and kind to her.

The exchange between Radcliff and Fitz was fraught with tension and kudos to Iain De Caestecker for how brilliantly he played this cold and cruel Fitz (more on him later) He kills Agnes for no reason other than to prove Radcliff wrong. Jemma, Coulson and Ward were meanwhile watching all this happen and when Ward is about to take out Fitz, Jemma stops him by telling him that he’s been brainwashed and that she loves him and would lose him forever if Ward killed him now. And you can see that Ward really connects to the part where she talks about how much she loves Fitz, because he feels the same for Skye. Fitz sees Jemma once more here and while he does pause, there is still no glimmer of recognition on his face, he calmly leaves, leaving the Shield team to return empty handed.

Mack finds his way to the Shield base and informs those present that Skye has been taken by HYDRA is not in the best condition. And the horror and helplessness on Ward’s face says it all.

When Fitz comes to see Daisy, she looks even worse than before. She tries to reach out to Fitz but can’t. He calmly informs her that he had her blood tested again and knows that she’s an Inhuman. He plans on torturing her and when she tells him that ‘he doesn’t want to do this’ his smile is especially diabolical when he tells her that she doesn’t know him at all.

Special shout out to Mallory Jensen who was amazing AIDA. She was manipulative and yet so believable. She was great in this episode.

The promo for next week shows us only one shot of Daisy with Fitz and I think it’s from before the torture because she looks more of less the same. We also learn that HYDRA has their own super-soldier serum which May takes to fight Mace. We don’t yet know whether it’s permanent or temporary like the one Mace used to take in the real world.

I’m really not looking forward to watching Daisy go through more pain and unless Ward manages to rescue her or she can reach May, it doesn’t look like she’ll be rescuing herself.

As for how May called her Daisy Johnson, I think AIDA finally realized who could have helped Jemma within HYDRA. She knows that the only two people who hadn’t been scanned were Daisy and Jemma so logically, if Jemma logged into the Framework, then so did Daisy. Also, if you recall, AIDA specifically asks for her to join the op. It was a set-up since the beginning since AIDA knew that she would have soft-spot for Mack considering that they were partners.

Now, as to why Fitz killed Agnes, even when AIDA didn’t really want him to… I think that it’s going to be hardest for Fitz to recall his real life because of the level of changes that AIDA has made for him. The more people try to tell him that he’s not like this, that he’s better, the more strongly he’ll cling to the Framework version of himself. Pretty much everything about this Fitz is disturbing but nothing compares to his casual cruelty. He shoots Agnes and just moves on and then his encounter with Daisy, where again, he’s unaffected. He could be talking about the weather for all that it mattered to him. The only time, he has a strong reaction is when he’s with AIDA, she’s the only one who can get some kind of a reaction from him.

Also, is it possible that AIDA is stuck in the Framework like the rest of the people? Is that what she has Fitz working on? She mentions that when he completes him project, then she can go to other world and destroy it once and for all. It could be that she blocked her own exit so that no one else can escape either and this project, once complete, would allow access to her alone.

As for Skyeward, I don’t really see it go anywhere because while Ward loves her, Daisy doesn’t love him. She barely trusts him and her priority is getting her friends out of the Framework. I think Ward will assist in that endeavour but that’s about it. I would love to see more between them but it doesn’t seem too likely, especially now, that she’s in HYDRA’s clutches. It depends on how long before she either escapes or is rescued. I hope I’m wrong about this, I hope that Ward is finally given the narrative arc he should have had.

 

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 16

Phew! This episode was painful for a number of reasons not the least of them the fact that most of the characters had no idea that they were basically in a simulation. Also, it felt so short, it was over before I could fully get used to the Framework.

For starters, as we saw in the Sneak Peek, Daisy (or shall I call her Skye) is in a relationship with the one and only Ward and is also an agent of HYDRA. I’ve already been over Daisy’s reaction and so on in another post, so I won’t repeat myself here. What we don’t find out is her full name in the Framework. After watching the episode, I’m starting to rethink my Skye May theory judging by how cold May was (more on that later) But yeah, I don’t think they share the mother-daughter bond I expected them to.

Here’s another scene that’s a kicker, it’s a parallel to season 1, episode 21 when Ward tells Skye that there were things about him she wouldn’t like if she knew. What makes this scene even more priceless is Daisy’s reaction when she says, “Trust me, I know.”

In other news, Jemma hasn’t been having the best day in the Framework. Unlike Daisy, who hasn’t had the time to marvel at just how detailed the Framework is, Jemma is struck by precisely that. After crawling out of her grave, she is struck at the sheer level of detail she finds. The people who populate this world, have their own lives with dreams, ambitions and even the drudgery of regular, mundane life. On her first day, Jemma is almost arrested by two HYDRA goons, finds that Coulson doesn’t remember her and then rats her out to HYDRA…

The Framework May has definite similarities to the real-world May but FM is even harder and colder. The events of Bahrain have shaped her but in a different way. She succeeded in saving the life of that Inhuman girl, who later went on to kill a whole bunch of children in Boston. That’s the event that gave HYDRA the ammunition to destroy Shield once and for all.

May has always wanted to save lives and when she realises that her emotions led to that massacre, it is easy to understand why FM would be so closed off. She regrets her actions, she wishes that she had killed the girl when she had the chance. And this is where AIDA is supremely cruel. She fixed one regret only to create another one that’s just as sad but more importantly, it’s twisted. FM views emotions as a liability.

Coulson is a teacher in the Framework and perhaps the closest to being truly happy, if only he didn’t have to hand over students to HYDRA for testing every now and then. It was so sad to see Jemma trying to reach him and not being able to get through. But there are cracks in his ‘programming’ as we see later on in the episode, like the hula hoop girl on his classroom shelf, the paper clippings of the concert, the TAHITI postcard and sheets of paper with the words, “It’s a magical place” written over and over again.

All of these images prove that Coulson has had episodes where the Framework doesn’t feel real or there are gaps in his memory as Jemma suggests. I think it’s possible that that’s happening to him judging from his reaction. If Coulson is experiencing the gaps, is it possible that it’s happening to the others as well?

The most horrifying change, however, was in Fitz. He was cold and casually cruel. His treatment of the Inhumans and of the people around him, even those he works with was appalling. I don’t think that it’s fair to attribute all of the negative changes on Jemma’s absence from his life, though, I’m sure that it’s definitely a factor. I think that, unlike the others, he’s been programmed by AIDA. Oh, also let me present Madam HYDRA.

AIDA, as Madam HYDRA is the director, it’s not May and it’s not Fitz either. That’s how she knows what’s happening with the ‘inmates’, even the ones who don’t work with Shield.

I think Fitz has been programmed because of his exchange with her. He gets so worked up and talks about how he’s meant to protect HYDRA, that he’s meant to protect her. That’s his job in the Framework, to make sure that no one can threaten HYDRA and AIDA. Which is even more twisted considering that he was somewhat sympathetic to the LMDs.

When Jemma and Daisy try to get out, realising that they’re out of their depth and way in over their heads, they quickly find out that they can’t because their exit has been blocked. There’s new code around it. This is also AIDA’s doing. As soon as her image popped up within HYDRA, AIDA knew that they had entered the Framework. It is unclear so far whether she knows that Daisy entered with her. Personally, I don’t think she knows about Daisy because if she had, she would have sent May after her immediately.

And it warmed my heart to see this exchange between Daisy and Coulson. Seeing the hula hoop girl on his shelf and then seeing that he remembered Daisy was so damn heart-warming. Their bond has been one the best aspects of the show and I’m glad the writers remembered that. Coulson and Daisy are a father-daughter duo and that hasn’t changed. It is clear Daisy is his anchor, the link to his life outside the Framework and it goes to show just how much they mean to each other.

Judging from the promo for the next episode, our ragtag team goes looking for Radcliff and find him with relative ease and he, like Jemma and Daisy knows that the life he’s living isn’t real. I think the real battle will be trying to convince him to work with them.

Meanwhile, looks like Daisy will get arrested and I’m curious to see how soon she manages to get away or if she gets help from a certain Agent Grant Ward. I just don’t want her sent to the Doctor or tortured. That would suck. I think she’s been through enough. I think that if May is successful in capturing her, then maybe Daisy can try and get through to her. Maybe, if she mentions Coulson, she may have some luck. Because, I think there’s a reason why May mentions Coulson as a teacher, she doesn’t know who he is, hasn’t even seen him. I think seeing Coulson, might aide in waking her up or at least creating some conflict. It’s the same with Fitz and Simmons. They are so closely linked that AIDA didn’t even want him looking at her photograph fearing that it might trigger something within him. What would be extremely painful is if he clings even more strongly to the Framework memories, rejecting Jemma, only to come to his senses slightly later on in the POD.

From the sneak peek released, we now know for sure that Mack is not with Shield or HYDRA, which makes him a civilian. But he’s also unhappy with the way HYDRA runs things. He’s definitely a family man and devoted to his daughter.

Going forward, I think Fitz, Simmons and Radcliff will have to work together to get everyone out of the Framework, well, everyone except Radcliff, since his real-life body is dead. He doesn’t have a body to return to. Maybe Daisy will help as well, considering she is a hacker. I can’t wait for the entire POD to unfold.

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 15 – Self Control – Thoughts – Part 2 – The Framework and the Superior

The episode ended with Daisy and Jemma entering the Framework and we finally get a glimpse into the world that AIDA has created. The one key difference being that she’s studied the people and removed the one thing they regretted most in their lives thereby making them happier (from her perspective). But I’ll start with the other thing that we saw right before the end – a new and improved Anton Ivanov and AIDA.

Ivanov’s like the other LMDs with one huge difference, he’s controlled by his own brain (remotely) So he has all his hatred and human wiles with a body that’s much harder to kill. I think he and Daisy will have a final showdown since she’s the one who beat him the first time and this time they will be more evenly matched. He’ll be a formidable foe.

AIDA’s arc is quite fascinating. She started out as a machine who slowly started to “wake up”. She studied the people around her to create the Framework and in doing that she yearned for the one thing she couldn’t do, feel emotion. She’s like Pinocchio, she wants to be a real person and everything she’s doing now, is with that goal in mind. The Framework is just an excuse. I think it’s also why she killed Radcliff. He created her and could therefore always “unmake” her. She destroyed her creator and thus took control of her own “life”.

For the Framework world, I’m first going to quickly summarise each of the different avatars and their worlds and then go into speculation and details after that.

First off, I am so glad that Simmons and Daisy weren’t captured and then forcefully put into the Framework. It made me so happy when they escaped. I was dreading the end because I was reasonably sure that they would get captured and it makes me inordinately happy that that didn’t happen.

We first see Daisy’s world:

She still seems to be an agent and in a relationship with Ward

Coulson is a teacher, apparently he never became an agent:

We don’t see a whole lot about Mack, except that his daughter seems to be alive:

Fitz seems to be filthy rich with a woman on on his arm…

Who is not Simmons:

And finally there’s May, who seems to be same but for one key difference:

She works for Hydra.

Speculation time:

Daisy and Ward: A lot of people (including Daisy) thought that it would be Lincoln in the other room only to find Ward. I for one am not surprised by this. For starters I was a Skyeward shipper (season 1 Ward, when he was awkward and adorable) So why is it that Ward is here instead of Lincoln? Think back to season 1. The first person Skye opened up to (excluding Coulson) was Ward. In him she saw a kindred spirit, someone who understood what her childhood was like without having to spell it out. He understood her and for the first time, she didn’t feel alone. He was protective of her in a way no one was before him. Lincoln came much later but it was Ward who helped her become an agent, he was her SO. This Skye was idealistic, her world hadn’t been shattered a million times.

Plus, I’m just happy that Brett Dalton will be on the show, for however long it lasts.

Coulson: Coulson as a teacher would actually make sense. He was always more of a mentor to Daisy than a hard-ass agent like May. He was always compassionate and he wanted to make the world a better place. What better way to do that than to be a teacher and help shape the minds of the next generation? I’m fairly certain that he’s also in a relationship. Is it possible that we might also see Amy Acker in the episode?

Mack: I can’t tell whether he’s an agent or not. The only thing that is certain is that his daughter is still alive. This Mack is happier in a way that the real Mack never was.

Fitz: I can’t tell what the deal with him is. It is clear that he is rich and probably got that way by selling his inventions. I have a strong feeling that this version of Fitz never joined Shield and therefore never met Jemma. He also seems to be a class A douche.

Jemma: Not sure what’s happening here as well except that I think that this is a tactic that would help Jemma move around in the Framework undetected. The grave is probably the back-door she was telling Daisy about. She’s clearly not dead.

May: So May works for Hydra now and I’m assuming so do Daisy and Ward. First off, we don’t know how similar this is to the real Hydra. It could be a slightly different version than the one we know and hate. She seems similar to her real self but with the different outcome for Bahrain, she seems to have changed quite drastically.

Two things are happening here. The first is a domino effect. The lives of these people were interlinked, so if you remove even one person, the effects are evident in all their lives. Daisy’s moral compass is tied to her relationship with Coulson. He’s literally the father she never had. Without him, it’s easy to understand that she would fall in with Hydra.

May’s failure at Bahrain is a key part of her. It continues to influence her decisions. Her drive to save lives stems from that one incident, without it, she’s a different person. Coulson’s absence affects her too because even with her, he was the one who told her that it was okay to feel, to let people in. To care about others. Because like Ward, May too was a specialist, trained to not care about people.

Fitz probably never joined Shield and therefore never met Simmons. She grounded him in a way no one else did. Without her, he is like his father, arrogant and egotistical.

The other thing at play here is the idea that we are shaped by our experiences, good and bad, and that includes our regrets. Without their pain, their lives are hollow. They are shells of their real selves, their lives are a lie. In their “happy” lives all of them have have made poor choices. They are lesser people without their pain. That pain taught them compassion, empathy, the desire to protect and fight for the underdog, the ones who can’t protect themselves. Pain is a part of life, it is an integral part of growing up. Without it, they are vastly different people and their poorer for it.

I think the third arc will be about coming to terms with the hand life dealt them. We know for sure that it will be hard on all of them, it will take a toll. Even for Daisy who knows she’s in a simulation, this alternate version of her life will be a hard to let go off. To see what she could have had but didn’t. That will be its own kind of torture. Boy, is this season serving up one emotional sucker punch after another.

P.S. – I sincerely hope and pray that the show soon gets renewed for another season (or three) I am not ready to say goodbye to these characters. We need this show!!

Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 15 Self-Control – Theories

So, from the episode synopsis we already know that the base will be overrun with LMDs. We also know who some of them are, however there are some that we are unaware of and this is where it gets tricky.

For one, AoS writers love throwing curve-balls at the audience and keeping them on their toes, however, they also don’t normally repeat aspects that we’ve seen in previous arcs.

Now, we know that Mace, Coulson and May are LMDs, we see them hooked up to the Framework, but in the promo for episode 15, AIDA mentions 4 LMDs. So who could the fourth be? There are some possibilities. From the end of episode 14, we have this:

In the image, we know that Coulson and Mace are LMDs for sure. However, the tech only detects an LMD, it can’t however differentiate between normal human when the humans are with an LMD (or two)

Now onto the other possible LMDs. Let’s start with the least likely: Daisy. I seriously doubt that she’ll be one of the LMDs because we saw something similar to this in season 3 when she was under HIVE’s control (before she revealed herself at the end of the episode) She also got injured in her fight with the Russian (I’m not calling him Superior because I doubt he’s the big bad) but yeah, she clearly got injured, and it seemed like a deep wound:

If this is the case, then like May she should be able to see the inner metal work. Then there are her powers. Radcliff can give her memories to the LMD but not her powers. But my chief reason for her not being an LMD remains that we’ve seen evil Daisy in season 3 and there’s no reason to repeat that. Besides with Coulson and Mace gone, Daisy will have to step-up and take charge.

It won’t be Elena either, at this point I don’t know if she’s going to be in the episode. But if she is, I still don’t think it’ll be her. Because like Daisy, she’s an Inhuman and it’ll be easy to figure out if she’s an LMD.

Then there’s Fitz and Simmons. Either one of them could be LMDs but not both of them. The writers love driving the audience up the wall by always messing with Fitz and Simmons and this season has been pretty kind to them. But I can’t tell who’s more likely to be one. It could be Fitz, since he’s Shield’s best bet on figuring out the LMDs and deactivating them (apart from hacking their head off) Simmons, on the other hand, would be equally bad. As of right now, she is the one with the highest clearance at the base, which means she has a lot of power. Plus, the only time she was away from base, when she was taken to help Vijay break out from his outer-husk, she was always with the shield goons and at the time, Radcliff and Senator Nadeer weren’t working together.

But, I’m optimist that it’s neither of them simply because they’ve both been through enough pain with Fitz’s trauma and recovery and Simmon’s getting sucked onto another planet.

Now, onto Mack. He’s actually a pretty good candidate. For starters, he spent an entire episode MIA when he went to visit his ex-wife. He was on his own and it would have been so easy for Radcliff to swap him  for an LMD with no one the wiser.

That looks super aggressive. For what it’s worth, my money is on Mack.

In the LMD arc, we have maybe one or two episodes to go which means that the threads need to start unravelling. I have a feeling that the last few episodes will deal with the Darkhold and containing that. The Watchdogs will probably still be a part of it. Nadeer’s brother, Vijay will also make a come-back having gone through his second (and permanent) transition and will likely play a big part. It will also be a great way to get Ghost Rider back since he’s probably the best equipped to handle and get rid of the Darkhold.

So this is my two-bit worth of speculation.. Feel free to comment and let me what you guys think..