SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3, EPISODE 18 FOLLOW!
By: Tyler Miller
Boy was this another great episode for Agents of SHIELD. The show has just been getting better and better ever since “Spacetime” a couple weeks ago when Daisy found out about the future. There wasn’t too much action this week, but the show still delivered a solid episode with everything else on hand.
The episode started with SHIELD HQ in panic after Daisy’s escape from the base. Joey and Elena were moved to the Cocoon, leaving everyone else on the team at HQ. Coulson had his leg injured during Daisy’s escape, but that isn’t keeping him from going out in the field and doing what it takes to stop Hive and get her back.
Through a short conversation with Fitz and Simmons, we learn that the parasites Hive infects people with don’t make them mindless drones. The infected people simply end up being kind of addicted to Hive and feel an attachment to him that brings out some of their true feelings; in Daisy’s case it’s her desire for a real family. Fitz and Simmons believe that a man named Dr. Radcliffe may be able to help them make a cure for Daisy, so Coulson sends them and Mack to go and find him.Before they head out though, they attempt to have a conversation about their new relationship, but it gets cut short by May who gives Simmons a gun in case she needs it while she’s out in the field.
Meanwhile, Coulson is having a video chat with Talbot about something related to Hydra that seems pretty damn important. Coulson puts it to the side though because the Daisy/Hive situation is the more pressing matter at hand. He then tells May that he believes Hive will go after Alisha, the red-headed Inhuman that can make clones of herself, giving them their mission for the day. Lincoln comes along as well, but with the understanding that he has to wear a vest that will blow up if he gets infected by Hive. This upsets May because she knows it’s something that shouldn’t happen at all, and she doesn’t want to be forced to pull the trigger.
As for Hive and Daisy, the two of them are chasing about her parents and her real name when she stops after realizing she doesn’t need to tell him any of that stuff. Hive then gives us the clearest idea of his plan yet, revealing that he doesn’t want a war with the humans. He simply wants to make Earth the home that Inhumans deserve.
They then go to James’ house looking for a companion piece to the artifact that he gave Lincoln and Daisy. James claims her doesn’t have it and tries to talk his way out of the situation when Daisy gets tired of it and breaks a Terrigen crystal near James, triggering Terrigenesis.
At the same time, Lincoln finds Alisha and begins to tell her about Hive and what he can do. She then reveals that she’s been swayed by Hive and attacks Lincoln. May joins the fight to help out but almost gets killed, leading to Coulson coming in and saving both of them by killing Alisha, who turns out to just be one of her clones. The real one is with Hive and Daisy. He tells her to go get some rest and then infects James when comes out of his trailer as a brand new Inhuman with some fire based powers. James then shows Hive and Daisy the companion piece to the artifact he gave her, and it turns out that it can be used to destroy Hive, hence why he wanted to get James on the dark side.
Lincoln, May, and Coulson return to the plane and Coulson takes Lincoln off the mission because of how he acted out in the field, obviously upsetting Lincoln. He also apologizes to May for making Lincoln wear the suicide vest earlier and the two of them head to James’ place with some SHIELD soldiers. When they arrive they see the place is empty and that Hive took the device that James had hidden. The place turns out to be rigged to blow, causing May and Coulson to jump down in the hole where the device was when the trailer explodes. They get saved though thanks to Coulson’s holo-shield!
Going all the way over to Romania we have Fitz, Simmons, and Mack trying to find Dr. Radcliffe. Fitz and Simmons infiltrate a party to try and locate him, and continue their discussion from earlier about their relationship, agreeing to just go all the way and stop holding back in terms of what they’ll do romantically.
After some time, Radcliffe’s assistant takes the two of them back to an operating room and requests that they perform eye surgery on a man to prove that their device will work for Radcliffe. The two of them decide to do it, but it turns out that the man is Radcliffe himself and he was simply testing them to see what they would do. They try to explain to him what’s going on, but he has them removed from the room. Fitz doesn’t let this happen though and fights back to try and have a chance to convince Radcliffe, while Simmons is taken out the room. Things take a left turn when Daisy appears in the room and takes Radcliffe away. Before she leaves, she uses her powers to choke Fitz and tell him to back off or next time she’ll kill him herself. She also tells him that someone in SHIELD is going to die before she leaves, leaving him reeling on the ground.
As for Simmons, she gets cornered by Hive who taps into Will’s memories to try and reach out to Simmons and have her let her guard down. It seems like it’s working but she sneakily takes her gun out and shoots him a couple times in the stomach and gets out of there. Upstairs in the restaurant, Mack comes in to try and help Fitz and Simmons but ends up getting in to a fight with James. Neither person wins though, with Mack making it out of there. The three of them eventually make it back to the rendezvous point, and Fitz/Simmons finally go all the way with each other while Mack gets their stuff loaded up on the Quinjet
Back at SHIELD HQ, May and Coulson are in his office while he’s talking to Talbot about the Hydra situation. It turns out that Talbot knows all the last known locations of Hydra and is ready to take them all out. And in one fell swoop, Hydra is taken off the face of the map. Just like that. Finishing off the episode, we have Hive and his band of Inhumans along with Dr. Radcliffe in a town of some sort that he bought so that they can perform the experiment that created him.
Other thoughts:
- Coulson’s holo-shield was too badass! That has got to come in handy again at some point in these last few episodes.
- Daisy is incredibly ruthless now that she’s working with Hive. Seeing her hold Fitz the way she was and how painful it was just shows how she’s letting herself use the full extent of her powers.
- Fitz and Simmons going all the way is what we’ve been waiting for for sooooo long. I really hope this isn’t a sign that one of them will die in the season finale. Don’t take them away from us!
- Hydra being taken out in such a matter of fact type of way may rub some people the wrong way, but honestly Hydra is not even that big of a deal now that Hive is here. Ever since he made it back to Earth, Hydra has taken a back seat to the bigger Inhuman/Hive picture, so I have no problem with them being taken out the way they were.
- Hive’s plan to make the Earth a home for Inhumans makes me believe that he plans on eliminating all humans on the planet in one way or another. Perhaps he’ll use the Terrigen crystals that Daisy brought to attack the planet and leave only Inhumans alive?
This week was a great week for Agents of SHIELD and next week looks like it’s going to expand the scope of things in a big way with the introduction of Kree soldiers coming for Hive. It begs the question of whether or not we’ll see more Kree get involved in the conflict before the season is over. I’m stoked for whatever comes next (and more of the Fitz/Simmons relationship).
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