Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 10: Return of the One Liner

To no one’s surprise, Radcliffe is evil again. That was the big reveal of last week’s episode which was otherwise unremarkable. AIDA attempted to steal the Darkhold but was ultimately beheaded by Mack who spent the majority of the episode with Yoyo stating every movie where the robot turns evil. However, Mack should have realized that where there’s one psycho android, there are more. Radcliffe had another AIDA ready to go after the first one died.

This week, Daisy’s back in the spotlight and looking very uncomfortable in it. Luckily she didn’t have to stand in it very long as there was a public assassination attempt on Director Mace. Daisy apprehended the shooter and brought him back for interrogation. As she pointed out, he has access to advanced technology including exploding bullets which “they don’t sell at Walmart. Yet.” While Daisy starts the interrogation, General Talbot, who is back and thinks he’s in charge, doesn’t trust “little miss Richter Scale” to do the job. Instead he tries to convince May to do the interrogation. He’s smart enough to play to May’s (or LMD!May’s) ego, saying that, “with the possible exception of [his] mother, [May] is the most intimidating woman” he’s met. Daisy and May get the shooter to talk by using an obvious stage whisper while discussing how he’s clearly a failure. Of course, the shooter then had to defend his honor saying there was only ever a small chance this plan would work. How ominous.

We find out why the shooter is so untroubled a few seconds later. The plane that Coulson and Mack hurried Director Mace onto after the assassination attempt gets hit in midair causing it to crash. One of the agents, Agent Burrows, got sucked out the window. Director Mace insists they go after him. And as Coulson says “if your jet crashes in the woods and no one is around to hear it, follow the guy with super strength.”

Back at the base, General Talbot tries to take command (even though according to the color code protocol Simmons should be in charge). Talbot gives LMD!May expanded clearance, which can’t be good. He tells Simmons to find some sciencey way to regain contact with the Director. He then takes a call from the President, whose ringtone is Hail to the Chief. LMD!May can still do an impressive eyeroll.

Fitz and Simmons argue over whether they should look into what caused AIDA to malfunction, despite the fact that their friends are currently in danger. However, that has ceased to impress Fitz at this point, since the team is in jeopardy all the time.

Speaking of danger, the real life May has woken herself up from her induced coma and was understandably upset at finding herself in Radcliffe’s home. She doesn’t make it very far before AIDA stops her. Radcliffe blames AIDA for May waking up, even though AIDA did exactly as he asked, causing AIDA to make an un-robot-like glower. I’m hoping she turns against Radcliffe.

While Coulson, Mack, and Director Mace attempt to retrieve Agent Burrows (and the very important briefcase attached to him), Simmons digs into what is actually in the briefcase. She discovers that she has access to the file and threatens to read it aloud unless Talbot tells her what’s in it. But Coulson and Mack discover what it is first. As Mace tries to get away with the case (Burrows is dead), he opens it to reveal syringes. One of the bad guys destroys the syringes before Mace can use them. Coulson and Mack come in to save Mace and figure out that Mace is not actually an inhuman. He uses a serum to make himself stronger. This is the same serum that made Daisy’s father crazy. Though as Talbot says, they “took the bad stuff out, mostly.”

Thanks to Simmons being absolutely terrifying, the team manages to figure out where Mack, Coulson, and Mace are likely to be found. Mace acts like a Captain America wannabe and offers the bad guys a deal. Mack does the real work of blowing them up, shooting them, and chopping them up with a hatchet. Daisy and LMD!May come in to save the day.

To end the episode, Mace comes clean to Coulson about what actually happened in Vienna. Turns out, he never saved anyone. He tripped. But, he still wants to fight for inhumans and make sure they have rights. Coulson decides it’s a good idea to keep him on to deal with the politics, but Coulson is going to call the shots when it comes to missions. Fitz downloaded AIDA’s hardware against Simmons’s wishes and LMD!May discovered that she’s actually a robot. There’s gonna be a lot of fallout from this in the next episode.