Coulson confronts Radcliffe’s past while Daisy and Mace fight a surprising Inhuman on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 4×13.
‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ 4×13 recap
This week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t a particularly complicated installment — at least from a plot perspective. “Boom” follows two simple lines that do not intersect (at least from a plot perspective), both of which are rather cleanly tied up at the end of the hour.
That’s not to say that “Boom” is simple. In fact, the episode is wonderfully effective in its straightforwardness, which allows its primary ideas to rise nicely to the surface.
Ideas like taking control of whatever you can, as the world erupts around you.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 4×13 kicks off with just such an eruption in acting-Director Mace’s life. Simmons concludes that his strength serum is potentially deadly, the risk increasing with every dose. Mace is forlorn, grasping for a role in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new/old order.
Meanwhile, our Watchdog friend Mr. Shockley finds himself similarly adrift. On a mission for the Superior, Shockley intends to turn Nadeer into an Inhuman and use her as bait for S.H.I.E.L.D. But that plan explodes when it is Shockley, not Nadeer, who begins to chrysalize.
This revelation is satisfying for about five seconds, until Shockley’s ability to spontaneously (and catastrophically) combust makes itself evident. Nadeer is killed, and S.H.I.E.L.D. swoops in to investigate the explosion.
Mace stands guard, a glumly handsome team mascot.
Simmons, Daisy, and Fitz quickly trace the carnage to Shockley, though the mechanism of explosion is still unclear. In a strangely intimate confrontation with the Superior, Shockley vows to take care of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the rest of the Russians flee, and allows himself to be captured by Daisy.
The whole “Boom”-ing party transfers to the Zephyr, where Fitz and Simmons solve the mystery with blessed alacrity. Shockley attempts to explode and take Daisy and Mace with him, but Fitz and Mace are able to shove him into the containment pod just in time.
The pod explodes, but Shockley reforms himself from particulate matter. (It’s kind of gross.) The profundity of his own survival seems to inspire him; in a life that has utterly escaped him, he finds possibility.
Shockley calls the Superior and confesses his “sin.” But though rejected, he takes control, vowing to be the ultimate soldier in the war against Inhumans.
“The plan hasn’t changed,” he says. “I will deliver S.H.I.E.L.D. to you.”
But S.H.I.E.L.D. has its own ideas. Daisy reluctantly agrees to try countering Shockley’s combustive vibrations with her own, and the team winds up confronting him on a dark road. But when the Russians barrel down on the team, Mace realizes that they have been trapped.
And like Shockley, he finds possibility in those straights.
“I think I’ve figured out my place on the team,” he tells Fitz and Simmons. “I’m the blocker.” And block he does. Mace injects himself with serum and halts the Russians, giving Simmons and Fitz time to suck up Shockley’s dust into some container thing they just whipped up.
Unfortunately, the Superior is satisfied with apprehending the “Inhuman” Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. so Mace finds himself shocked and kidnapped.
Hey, taking control of your path isn’t always a perfect science.
Speaking of science (and paths, and control) Coulson and Mack take a side quest in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 4×13. Seeking the woman whom Radcliffe has copied to create Aida, they find Agnes Kitsworth, a beautiful Australian living in Spain.
Agnes is disgusted — but not surprised — to learn what Radcliffe has been up to.
“I’m the one thing he couldn’t quite fix,” she tells them. “He couldn’t deal with failure.”
Agnes, it turns out, is dying from an inoperable brain tumor. She has chosen to live out her life on her own terms, and literally could not want anything less than to see Radcliffe again.
But when she refuses to help find him, Coulson’s darker instincts kick in. Desperate to find May, he is inclined to disregard the compassionate caution that she would expect from him. Coulson gears up to force Agnes to help, and Mack refuses to be party to this.
Luckily though, Coulson makes a better choice. “Radcliffe took something from me too,” he says. “Her name is Melinda May, and she means everything to me.” May, he says, deserves the same chance as Agnes — to live her life on her own terms.
Moved by Coulson’s entreaty, Agnes agrees to help. She sends Radcliffe a message through their old channels, prompting him to reveal Aida’s template to the android. Aida is unnerved to find that she is not “unique,” but though Radcliffe programmed her to read social cues, he has not yet learned the art of reading robot cues.
With encouragement from Coulson and Mack on coms, Agnes takes a call from Radcliffe. He tells her that he has developed the Framework — a world in which death is obsolete. (He even has a test subject, and she’s thriving!) Finally, Agnes can live.
Agnes agrees to follow, but Coulson chooses calm. He respects Agnes’ choice — and now he knows that Radcliffe is keeping May alive.
Finally, Radcliffe hooks Agnes up to the Framework, uploading her memories. “Are you ready for a better world?” he asks her.
Indeed, Agnes seems happy in the Framework, which Aida describes as our world — with slight improvements. In reality, Agnes soon dies (whether naturally or by Radcliffe’s design is unclear.)
“In the Framework, her consciousness will live forever,” he says. “The body will always give up, eventually.”
And that’s true. But Aida is not giving up. As May drifts uneasily in the fantasy of the Framework, Aida takes Agnes’ necklace and fastens it around her own neck.
And as the time bomb of Aida resumes its quiet ticking, I have to observe that taking control of your own life is something androids can do too.
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