Breakups aren’t fun for anyone
(This review contains
spoilers!)
We’ve reached the penultimate episode
of S.H.I.E.L.D’s continually amazing
fourth season, but this episode was so great it honestly felt like it could’ve
been the finale. While the Agents of
HYDRA storyline has essentially finished up, all three of the arcs are all
coming together for what looks to be an explosive ending. But despite this
episode serving as mostly setup, it did so in a way that made it on par with
the best episodes of the season.
Everyone’s been divided up after
escaping the Framework. Daisy and Simmons are desperately trying not to crash
the Quinjet, Coulson and May are facing off against a legion of Russian guy
LMDs (I really should’ve learned his name at some point) and Fitz has been
kidnapped by the now-human Aida…or is it Ophelia now? They called her Aida at
one point in the episode, so that’s what I’m sticking with.
Speaking of Aida, she was definitely the
highlight of the night. Now that she’s human she can finally experience free
will and emotion for the first time, and it’s played awesomely by Mallory Jansen.
She’s been fantastic all season at making Aida seem like a cold, unfeeling
robot, but she’s even better at her when she’s discovering both good and bad
emotions for the first time.
There was even a moment where it
looked like she could potentially be joining the team for the last episode to
help take down the Russian guy once and for all. Once Coulson and May managed
to escape and were retrieved by the rest of the team, Aida used her new Inhuman
powers to swoop in and save Mack. He’s still plugged into the Framework, but
they have him now, so that’s nice. I’m looking forward to them puppeteering him
around all next season, subtitled “Weekend at Mack’s”.
In all seriousness, Mack had a small
but significant part here to set up next week. Yo-Yo is understandably upset
that Daisy couldn’t bring him back, and at the end of the episode it’s revealed
that she uploaded herself into the Framework to go after him. The final tag of
the episode showed her strapped to a bench in what looks like the world’s most
sinister dentist’s office. The big question for me is really how this is going
to go. They can’t escape the Framework without Daisy to open the exit for them,
and it looks like she’ll have her hands full next week.
Back at home base, Fitz and Aida had
some time to spend together, which…didn’t go well. Aida wasn’t a fan of the
news that in this world Fitz loves Simmons, leading her to show off what’s
really interesting about her: she’s got multiple Inhuman powers. In addition to
her teleportation, she has Lincoln-esque lightning powers and body
regeneration, which she used to take out a pair of redshirts.
I’d like to take this moment to
remember Davis, the best redshirt S.H.I.E.L.D
has ever had. He had a silly name and that made it easy for me to make
jokes about him. May he rest in peace.
So now the agents are facing off
against an unkillable inhuman who’s feeling heartbreak for the first time and
has access to a book of doom that can give her the power to alter the world the
way she wants. Who can they possibly get to help them to stop her?
In the last moment of the episode, a
portal opens and Ghost Rider emerges in one of the coolest shots ever. I mean,
it’s hard to make a guy in a biker jacket with a flaming skull face not look
cool, but it’s been so long since we’ve seen him that he could be making a
sandwich and he’d still look badass.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg
of everything that happened in this episode. Talbott came back, there’s a
conspiracy against S.H.I.E.L.D, we got to see what happened to the base, and
plenty more. This episode legitimately felt like it could’ve been the season
finale, but knowing that there’s still more to come made it all the more
exciting. The Return was S.H.I.E.L.D at its best, with a lot of
drama and tension, but also plenty of Marvel’s trademark humour to pad it out.
If anything, this is the perfect example of what a penultimate episode should
be.
FINAL SCORE
10/10
Legendary
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