Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – The Patriot Review

On this week’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Aida storyline was put on the back burner as everyone asked, “What’s in the briefcase?” It may not have been the most suspenseful episode, but it definitely set a lot of things up for the rest of the season. Let’s take a look at who was “The Patriot” this week. The episode started simply enough, with a press conference led by Director Mace, but things quickly went awry. A sniper tried to take him out, so Coulson and Mack rushed him out and onto the jet. Then, the jet was attacked and it crashed, which led everyone to (correctly) believe that he was being directly targeted. When the plane crashed, instead of searching for high ground, Mace was only concerned with finding a briefcase that had flown out of the plane. Seemed pretty odd, but Coulson went with it. All communication was blocked, but Coulson wasn’t worried, because at least they had a guy with super strength to watch their backs. Naturally, the forest where they landed was full of former Hydra agents. It was clear they wanted Mace in their clutches. Mack and Coulson come up with a plan to ambush them, but it didn’t go so well. They relied on Mace’s help, but his focus was only on that case. He grabbed it and ran. He tried to open it, but he was followed and the contents of the case were destroyed and Mace was shot. It turned out the Director wasn’t Inhuman after all and he had been using injections to give him momentary super strength when he had to be on display. He’s just a regular guy. This seemed like it should have been a bigger reveal than it was. I wish they would have done something more to lead up to it. Talbot said something about how the Director is never far from that briefcase, but I don’t remember seeing it at all throughout the season. I could definitely have missed it, but I think they could have had a better lead-in to this significant reveal. While this was going on, everyone else was on the base trying to figure out where the jet crashed. Eventually, Simmon’s interrogation skills, along with the first Aida’s head, helped them find out that the former Hydra agents were hired by the Watchdogs and they were able to get a location and help rescue Coulson, the Director, and Mack. The third storyline this episode was checking in with Radcliffe and Aida. It doesn’t look like they are getting along so well. Radcliffe just kept insulting Aida number two and she kept giving him icy looks. She might not have rebelled on her own last time, but it will definitely happen if Radcliffe continues down this path. We also checked in with the real May who escaped for a few minutes, but was sedated again. In the end, the Director tried to resign, but Coulson insisted that he should still be the face of the organization while Coulson handles the operations. RoboMay was pretty chill this episode, but she might be onto to herself since she got a deep cut during a fight, which revealed her metal interior. I really don’t know how Radcliffe made an android that could fight like May and also think its human. Even for this show, that seems a little hard to believe.

Final Thoughts:

- It makes sense that they are developing Inhuman powers in injection form, but it was a really bad idea for Talbot to lie to the public. Now things might be even more confusing. - Fitz and Simmons have only had little scenes together lately, but Fitz seems a little bit too concerned about this whole Aida thing. I’m a little worried it’s an unhealthy obsession. - Mack is still the real MVP of this show. He was able to defend himself against two guys with just a hatchet for awhile. If I were in trouble, I wouldn’t want an Inhuman, I would want Mack defending me. - I also really enjoy the subtle sass that is in the dialogue. My favorite quote this week was from Daisy talking about explosive bullets, “They don’t sell those at Wal-mart… yet." Tune in next week on ABC 10/9c to see if the team finally figures out that RoboMay has replaced their beloved agent.