Tag: clark gregg

Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 17: Identity and Change Recap

~ Metacrone

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Picking up where we left off last episode, Coulson and Daisy have spent the night catching up and are back at school the next morning. Coulson summarizes everything Skye has revealed to him, ending by saying he knew he wasn’t crazy. He can tell the difference between fact and fiction because he’s stopped using the Kree-blue mind-control soap. Instead, he makes his own. This will be a running joke for the rest of the episode, but, remember, you’re not paranoid if they’re out to get you. There’ve been way stranger weapons in the MCU. And I can’t use most soaps either, so I totally believe it’s a weapon, Phil.

Clark Gregg’s daughter, Stella, stops by to ask for help. He tells her he’s having grown up time and sends her on her way. But just then, Good Guy Ward calls to tell Skye that Hydra is on their way, so it’s time to bring Coulson in.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 16: What If… Recap

~ Metacrone

MALLORY JANSEN

Welcome to Agents of HYDRA, the world of the Framework created by Aida, the Darkhold and Radcliffe. As you can see above, Aida’s given herself a few perks, casting herself in the role of Madame Hydra, director of HYDRA, which is charged with the safety of mankind in the dystopian world that she’s created. Be careful what you wish for.

This all came about because Radcliffe generously told Aida to solve one regret for each person she placed in the Framework. When you’re dealing with Agents of SHIELD, their regrets tend to be events that have global and historical consequences, so changing a few small decisions has a giant ripple effect. Of course, it’s not all due to Fitz, May, Coulson, and Mack opting for milder versions of the events of their earlier lives. (I think Mace wanted to be an inhuman and a true hero, while the others all wanted less violence and loss.) Aida also undoubtedly keeps tight control on the situation in the Framework, so that no one’s memory is triggered, and nothing seems unrealistic to them. It all adds up to HYDRA’s law and order, Big Brother philosophy dominating the culture with very little resistance, since Aida controls the population as a whole.

This episode opens with Daisy Skye looking at her bed, guessing about which boyfriend she’s going to find there. And, it’s door #2, consolation prize Grant Ward. She tries to take matters into her own hands, but, oops, her powers didn’t follow her into the Framework. She’s stuck with him for now.

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Agents of SHIELD/Agents of HYDRA Season 4B and 4C: LMD Review and HYDRA Photos, Posters and Speculation

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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The LMD arc is one of my favorite arcs that this show has ever done. The story was compelling and a balanced combination of characterization, action and plot. All of the characters had something to do, or at least their LMDs did. We were kept guessing about the LMDs right up until the last episode. The only major disappointment was the writing for the Superior, who turned out to be a flat, boring character after his foreshadowing suggested someone more exciting. How you can make Zach McGowan boring, I don’t know, but they managed to do it. Maybe Ivanov will be more exciting as an LMD. He was offset by all of the Patton Oswalts, and all of the Mallory Jansens. Both were fun and amazing with their multiple characters. The other disappointment was the death of Senator Nadeer. I still have a small hope that she’ll turn out to have been an inhuman all along.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 15: Self Control Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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Wow! This was one of the best episodes of the entire series. Such a roller coaster ride of plot and emotion. It was well-titled, with Self Control, in the sense of self-rule, being the theme of the night. Who was still in control of their very self, and who had been replaced by an LMD against their will? Who was really in charge of the submarine and the orders coming out of it? Sometimes humans are so easy to fool. Which humans could control their emotions and their bodies long enough to beat the LMDs?

The episode starts with the two sneak peaks that were released last week. Aida’s playing classic rock for her captives in order to increase their dopamine levels. She’s chosen one of Ivanov’s favorites, since he’s about to undergo a terrifying procedure involving a saw and him becoming many things.

Fitz and Simmons are panicking over the LMDs taking over the base. They’re trying to figure out a plan when the LMDs approach them for advice about Ivanov’s weapons capabilities. They intend to bring all of the inhumans to HQ, ostensibly to protect them, but really to kill them. They have a fleet of Daisybots in the basement waiting to be activated, then they’ll send them all out to greet the inhumans personally and execute each one.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 15: Self Control Sneak Peeks [Video]

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

This week’s episode, #15 Self Control, marks the end of the LMD arc of Agents of SHIELD’s 4th season. After finishing its second plot unit the show will go on hiatus for six weeks, until April 4th. No word yet on what the third and final arc will be titled, or if the series will get a fifth season. I’ll be keeping an eye out for those announcements.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 14: The Man Behind the Shield Recap

~ Metacrone

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We open with Daisy and Coulson having a superfun sparring match, until Daisy kicks Phil too hard and he gets stuck in midair. I hate when that happens. They were in a mini Framework, designed for training exercises. When inside, agents can feel everything that’s happening as if it’s real. Phil notes that it was cold in the training room and Fitz tells him that Phil always leaves the base aircon set too low, so this is Fitz’s silent protest. I have a feeling that Fitz is quietly relentless with his silent protests, until the target is screaming for mercy.

The team discusses the larger version of the framework that May is in and possible ways to track its source code. Another agent comes in to tell them that they’ve found a GPS location for Mace’s suit in Nome, Alaska. The base is empty when SHIELD arrives, but Ivanov’s stalker wall on Coulson is still up. Coulson’s response: “This is why I don’t have Facebook.” Ivanov owns a mine that is pictured on the wall. It’s the location of one of Coulson and May’s early missions. The team sets off for the mine.

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Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 13: Boom Recap

~ Metacrone

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Oh look, now that we have a shiny new Superior, Agents of Shield has Dropped a Fridge on Ellen Nadeer. No need to pay that actress any more, or give the character an actual storyline to write her off. Just, BOOM, disposable female character. And a promotion for the less interesting white male character played by John Piper Ferguson. We definitely haven’t explored enhanced men who play with fire before. Not even ones who are  inhuman and turn on their own kind to work for the Watchdogs. cough Hellfire cough

Radciffe is emerging from a visit to Melinda May’s virtual prison world. He’s thrilled that it’s so endless and realistic. It’s keeping May happy and occupied, which meets Radcliffe’s twisted moral standards.

Ivanov has spent the night reading the Darkhold. He doesn’t seem to have been affected by it, which gives us a sense of how dark his mind was already. The Darkhold told Ivanov that Radcliffe was the one who could make his dreams come true. They will wipe out the inhumans together. First, they need an inhuman to dangle in front of SHIELD. Radcliffe has created purified terigenesis crystals that are harmless to regular humans but still stimulate terrigenesis in inhumans.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 12: Hot Potato Soup Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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This week, we meet The Superior of the Watchdogs and he is… Zach McGowan, of The 100 and Black Sails, who is an amazing, sexy, dark, intense, commanding actor. King Roan has become one of my favorite characters on the 100. He’s playing Anton Ivanov, a rich, reclusive Russian industrialist who hates inhumans and Phil Coulson, and collects military antiques, including a submarine. He’s a traditionalist who doesn’t hold with all of these new types of aliens and humans mucking things up on earth. It seems like a role with a lot of potential, but Ivanov spent most of his onscreen time tonight trading threats with Radcliffe and looking broody and menacing. Hopefully they’ll let him off the submarine soon so that he can get involved in the action. His motivations also don’t completely make sense yet. There was some vague link to the attempted assassination of the Russian Prime Minister last season, but nothing that would explain the extreme hatred necessary for Ivanov’s level of obsession.

But first, we get Patton Oswalt times three! Sam and Billy Koenig are hanging out at their favorite arcade/bar trading movie quotes when they’re rudely interrupted by a couple of Russian Watchdogs, who kidnap Billy (Sam? No. Billy.) Sam uses his watch to notify Coulson immediately. The shot of stunt Patton leaping behind the bar to hide was especially fun.

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Agents of Shield Season 4 Episode 11: Wake Up Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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In this episode, we find out exactly when and how Agent May was switched with the LMD. LMD May realizes what she is, but also realizes she can’t do anything to change Radcliffe’s plan for her. Coulson tries a reckless plan in a bid to gather more information about Nadeer and the Watchdogs, but it fails spectacularly, revealing that SHIELD has a mole. The title of the episode is a red herring, in many ways. Characters think they’ve woken up and figured out the truth, but it’s another lie, or only a partial truth, or they can’t use the truth to take the kind of action that they need to. The truth doesn’t always set you free, especially in government work. Especially if the government you work for is the federal government.

It turns out that May was switched with LMD May at the beginning of episode 8, The Laws of Inferno Dynamics, 5 days ago in AoS time. I remember thinking that she disappeared from the episode for a long time. It’s good to know that she hasn’t been held hostage and drugged for weeks, but 5 days is a long time for her body to be abused like that.

Mace assigned May to go get Aida to help take down Eli Morrow. Radcliffe called Aida and activated a protocol within her instruction files after he found out May was on her way over to his house. When May got there, Aida sedated her mid-conversation. She downloaded May’s memories, personality, and whatever else they can get out of the original’s brain into LMD May, who Radcliffe already had ready and waiting. Aida switched May’s clothing over to LMD May, did her hair and makeup, then turned her on. LMD May picked up the conversation exactly where it had left off before the original was knocked out. Creepy.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 10: The Patriot Recap

~ Metacrone

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Whoops, the Hero of Vienna wasn’t such a hero after all, and the “powered person that people could trust” that Coulson requested for the new SHIELD director doesn’t have powers of his own at all. I’ve been asking for the show to humanize Jeffrey Mace and make him more relatable, but that’s not really what I meant. I don’t know what to make of him at this point. Guess we’re rebuilding the character from the ground up, as the MCU loves to do. Things are never ever what they seem at SHIELD, or anywhere SHIELD adjacent.

Mace is standing at a podium on the steps of a government building, making a speech honoring Daisy for saving people when a bridge collapsed during one of her “undercover” missions. Coulson and Mack mill around the perimeter gossiping about Talbot, Burrows, and Mace’s Very Important MacGuffin of the Week briefcase. Suddenly, a sniper shoots at Mace from a nearby roof top. Mace blocks the shot with the podium. He’s then whisked away by Coulson, Mack and Burrows, while Daisy captures the shooter.

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