Quite Patriotic
(This review contains
spoilers!)
While the “Agents of HYDRA” storyline
has brought back a lot of old characters and referenced past storylines, in
order for it to have weight we also needed to lose something. This week did a
great job at not only rewarding long-time viewers with not only references but
returning characters, but also potentially losing one of the main cast at the
same time.
Daisy’s still being held prisoner by
HYDRA, but the mission this week involves freeing agents held captive somewhere
else, plus Daisy if they can find her. Geeky Coulson has been a huge highlight
this arc, so I liked seeing him being nervous while on the mission and trying
to get through HYDRA security. It was even better later on when he took the mission
into his own hands, but we’ll get to that later.
Meanwhile, Daisy was able to speak
with Radcliffe through the vent in her cell wall, and he revealed to her that
he made a top secret second exit out of the Framework. They cut away before we
could hear what it was, and while it was obvious they’d be getting out one way
or another I’m expecting a mad dash to the exit towards the end of the season.
Fitz also played a major role this
week, as we learned what his one regret was. In this universe he had a good
relationship with his father, who turns out to be just as much as a crappy
person here as Fitz explained he was back in the real world. Looking at him and
how he talks to Fitz it makes perfect sense why he turned out a psychopath in
this universe. What’s really interesting to me is now that Season 5 has been
all-but confirmed, Fitz will have to grapple with the horrible things he’s done
to not only his friends but other innocent people. His character’s been put
through the wringer so many times on this show that at this point I think the
poor guy really deserves a vacation.
As for the big reveal, we got our
first major returning character: Trip is back! Remember him? The guy who died
in the Season 2 midseason finale?
The long time since we last saw him
aside, it’s a lot of fun having him back. I’ve never been the biggest Trip fan
(he always seemed like a replacement for Ward to me), but having him here is
awesome not just because it’s cool to see him again, but because of how
everyone will react to it once they leave the Framework. I’ve heard a lot of
people speculating they’ll bring back dead characters like Ward and Trip by
uploading their Framework personalities into LMDs, but I personally feel that’d
take away from the impact it’ll have once these characters leave. I really want
to see the characters try and grapple with what happened in there, and that
includes meeting up with old friends they’ve lost in the real world.
Speaking of old friends they lost
(what a great transition) let’s talk about the big moment at the end. Coulson
left the mission early because he spotted one of his students being led into a
HYDRA facility. Inside he found a bunch of kids being put under the
brainwashing treatment from Season 2, and brought Mace and Trip inside to help
get them out. May tells HYDRA where they are, and they send down a Quinjet to
blow the building up with them all inside. But upon seeing there were kids
inside, she follows to try and help get them all out.
But the student Coulson follows in is
trapped beneath some rubble, so Mace jumps down to get him. The kid escapes,
but shockingly, Mace doesn’t, and the building goes down around him after he
finally accomplishes the act of heroism he always wanted to perform. At this
point I joked that “no one is dead on TV until they show you the body”. S.H.I.E.L.D replied by showing us the
body, complete with a flatline sound effect for an extra punch. Back in the
real world, Aida pressed a button marked “release” or something like that on
his control panel, but unless Radcliffe was wrong about “if you die in the
Framework you die in real life” and Jason O’Mara’s tweets aren’t to be
believed, we’ve seen the end of Jeffrey Mace.
Honestly, if he really is dead I will
legitimately miss his character. S.H.I.E.L.D
has killed off major members of the team before (Trip and Lincoln being the
biggest examples), but this is really the first time where they did a great job
of creating a legitimately likeable character before making him kick the
bucket. From his first episode I really loved Mace as a character, and as his
story deepened and we learned more about his true personality I just liked him
even more. The writers and Jason O’Mara did a phenomenal job of creating a
character in just one season that you could never really trust but you enjoyed
spending time with nonetheless.
The episode ended with May paying
Daisy a visit and giving her a Terrigen crystal. It looks like Daisy will have
her powers again starting next week, plus May is finally turning back to the
good side. With only four episodes left in the season (nooooo!) all that’s left
to do is find Daisy, learn where the Russian base holding the crew is located,
escape the Framework and break everyone out. Easy as pie, right? I’m sure nothing
else terrible will happen on the way there.
This episode of S.H.I.E.L.D had a lot of great plot and character development,
including a very satisfying goodbye to one of the brightest stars of Season 4.
Again, though, this episode felt like more or less buildup to what’s coming
later, with Daisy and Fitz only really having bit parts this week to introduce
topics that’ll come into play over the next few weeks. I feel that Mace’s death
is what’s going to really get the ball rolling for this storyline, and with
Daisy breaking out of the Triskelion next week I can’t wait to see what happens
next.
FINAL SCORE
7/10
Good
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