Naturally, General Talbott is against the idea. Because SHIELD is in the public eye once more, they’re held to a higher standard of procedure. Coulson, with “backing” from “Director” Mace, tells him they’re going to do it anyways. Naturally, things go about as well as you’d expect. It isn’t long into the operation that Coulson and Yo-Yo are compromised and embarrassed in front of the entire subcommittee.
I wonder how this will affect the show going forward. It seems like it could be a big deal, but it’s kind of forgotten by the end of the episode. SHIELD just got back on its feet and Coulson – being the reckless idiot that he is – almost burned the whole thing to the ground because he couldn’t be patient. I’ve had a lot of problems with Coulson’s leadership this season and I’m hoping something will come of that. He’s been less than stellar lately.
Of course, the other big news from the operation going south was that there was a leak inside SHIELD. Someone told Nadire they were coming and which Inhuman was going to be on the team. Pair that with the information from Radcliffe that there’s a second LMD inside SHIELD and it doesn’t become hard to put two and two together. Something is definitely up.
The other story line that was handled this episode was May’s “escape” from her imprisonment. The most interesting thing about this was we learned when she got kidnapped, basically right at the end of the Ghost Rider storyline, not earlier in the season when she got infected like a lot of people thought (myself included).
The biggest issue with this storyline was that it was a giant waste of time. I knew immediately that she inside a simulation. It took her forever to wake up the last time she was put under and she didn’t even have her bearings. This time she wakes up out of nowhere and is immediately aware of her surroundings? That was a bit far-fetched and it took up a decent part of the episode. That was time we could have spent on the other, more interesting story lines.
The only interesting bit of this was the ending, where Radcliffe rewrote her memories for to have saved the girl long ago instead of having to kill her. One can only wonder how this will affect her when it’s all over. Will she be a changed woman? Is the world ready for a more emotional Melinda May?
Of course, the real revelation was that Radcliffe was the second LMD. For a while I thought it was Fitz. With his obsession over Aida, I thought maybe he was programmed to try and fix her. Turns out, he was investigating her and Radcliffe. I definitely prefer this option because it means he wasn’t being a total jerk to Simmons, again. Seeing him put a bullet in Radcliffe must have felt kind of cathartic, even if it wasn’t the real Radcliffe.
Instead we find that Radcliffe has flown into the arms of Senator Nadire. I couldn’t tell you why, except that he really wants the Darkhold. It makes me wonder if his original goals were so admirable in the first place, or if Radcliffe is more evil than we initially thought. In order to get protection though, Radcliffe will have to meet the Superior. Anyone with a code name is a revelation waiting to happen.
Written by Peter Freeman, TV & Animation Writer -- Click to read Peter's posts
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