Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Recap: “Hot Potato Soup”
By Ani Bundel
This week’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD sees the return of Patton Oswalt’s various Agent Koenigs, as the mystery of the “Superior” continues.
The left turn into the second “pod” of the season Agents of SHIELD: LMD has delivered on the twists in the last few weeks. And for once it doesn’t feel like the pacing is rushed, or the plot points raced through in order to keep the audience from growing bored.
"Radcliffe LMD: I’m not going to let this come between us. What’s a bullet in the head among friends?"
The result, though, especially after last week’s simulations within simulations, is to questions everything. The moment I saw Billy Koenig thrown in with Radcliffe I asked myself–is that a real Radcliffe? Is he really a prisoner? And what exactly does this have to do with meeting the “Superior”? (Somehow this cheap Russian knock off of a Wolverine stunt double did not strike me as the man who even Nadeer answers too, though so far it looks like that’s the answer.) So I wasn’t that surprised when he pulled off the ropes and announced himself not actually a fellow prisoner.
(ABC/Eric McCandless)
Nor was I surprised when there was another yet another Koenig, though the twist that she was the Koenig sister (and a badass who talks like The Rock) was a welcome one. (Also love the secondary twist of the peacenik Koenig who was a total moron.) Also, I absolutely loved the labyrinth sequence, and AIDA’s badassery taking down all of Cheap Russian Wolverine Knockoff’s men.
"Koenig: My mind is a steel trap, inside of a steel box, surrounded by quicksand and…oh is that a puppy?”"
I have to admit, I found it creepy watching the LMD May coming on to Coulson, and his falling for it. I kept hoping that Coulson’s spidey senses realize that this is not how Melinda May behaves, and that he’s been going along for the ride. The moment Simmons put it together though, i knew even if Coulson hadn’t put it together it was over. Something would give. And it turned out it was being handed the Darkhold, which tripped May’s programming. Quake taking her down was quite satisfying.
(ABC/Eric McCandless)
And with that, LMD May’s struggle to be a real girl came to an end. There was real pathos in her plea to Radcliffe to take her with him, when he stepped in to retrieve the Darkhold. But Radcliffe only ever saw her as a tool–as he sees them all, including AIDA. He leaves her behind for SHIELD to take care of. The fact that they didn’t burn her remains tonight like they did the Second AIDA and the LMD Radcliffe suggests that eventually she’ll come into play again.
"Mack: The only thing worse than a robot is a possessed one."
One of the other major twists this season is how they’re tying the backstories of the characters into the present, and using the present to reveal deeper truths about characters we already knew. Last week I saw a few complaints that the story of Hope, Mack’s daughter, came a little bit out of the blue and was semi removed from the action. This week, we have the reveal of Fitz’s father, and that Fitz was a disappointment to him. Unlike last week though, it felt far more relevant to the plot at hand. (It also helped that Fitz dismissed it instead of brooding on, and got on with the LMD plot.)
(ABC/Eric McCandless)
The button proved amusing, as we discovered that Cheap Russian Wolverine Knockoff’s obsession isn’t actually Inhumans, or even the Kree who created them, but Coulson, who he blames for all of this. (After all, magically Coulson is always there at every incident.) This does not bode well for Coulson, it’s never good to be the focus of an entire phalanx of baddies, with a particularly unbalanced one convinced that you are somehow responsible for all the world’s evils and all that. But it was a reminder of how one can have all the puzzle pieces and yet put them together to make an utterly wrongheaded picture.
Next: “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” Recap: “Wake Up”
Next week: the sidelined Director Mace comes back and has apparently eaten his wheaties (or taken his meds, at least) as the entire SHIELD team walks into a trap of Radcliffe’s making. Can they retrieve the real May? And what exactly will Radcliffe do with the Darkhold now that he (and AIDA) have it?