Director Mace’s big secret came out, as did a few other dangerous truths, on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 4×10.
‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ 4×10 recap:
If last week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. focused on the strata of skin and lies that cover so many secrets, “The Patriot” peels back those layers to reveal the bloody truths themselves. It’s dark work, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 4×10 handles it deftly.
“The Patriot”‘s central secret begins to unravel when a sniper attacks Mace. Mace and Burrows (with a Very Important Briefcase strapped to his arm) are whisked away to a safe location by Mack and Coulson.
Alas, they never reach that safe location. The quinjet is attacked en route, and Burrows is swept out of plane along with the briefcase. (Poor Burrows. His last word was “Trending.”) Upon crashing, Coulson finds that they have absolutely no connection to the outside world, so Mace leads them to find the briefcase… er, Burrows’ body.
Nothing suspicious or secretive going on here, folks. Nothing whatsoever.
Meanwhile, that totally nonexistent secrecy is also at play in the base. Talbot and his delightfully colorful vocabulary have taken control of the search for the quinjet — and “the package.”
Simmons shares her frustrations with Fitz when he returns from a professional breakup with Radcliffe. But Fitz has his own frustrations, and his own secrets. Though he has warned Radcliffe to stay away from the base, the aborted LMD program rankles at Fitz.
Spurred on by the fresh round of peril that has struck, he asks Simmons to help him reboot and fix Aida. Simmons is not interested; Fitz reminds her that his goal is to protect her, which is sweet (if ominous.) Still, Simmons and I both agree that robots are really the wrong mechanism for that kind of thing.
Eventually, Simmons manages to force Talbot’s hand, and the Brigadier-General finally spills the beans where Mace is concerned.
As many suspected, Mace is not Inhuman. He is an ordinary, if well-muscled, man given extra strength by injections of a formula similar to that used by Hyde back in season 2.
Fitz and Simmons scrape their jaws off the floor, appalled at both the secrecy and the method, but Talbot is unrepentant. No powered person fit his criteria for the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., so he just, you know, made one.
Gosh, who else has been “just making” secret humanoid experiments for funsies? Oh yeah!
It’s that dumbass Radcliffe. His most useful contribution to this episode is the bit of exposition he delivers to a seemingly-envious Aida — that the LMD May has no idea what she is, and is operating on a subconscious level.
In fact, the differences between real May and fake May are never more evident than when real May awakens from her drugged and tortured dream. Instantly fighting, instantly violent, the genuine article is a thousand miles from the version which may share May’s memories, but not her fire and ferocity.
Radcliffe realizes this too, after Aida sedates May (instead of killing her, yay.) May’s subconscious is not a peaceful place; she is soothed not by tranquility, but by battle.
Speaking of battle, Mace’s truth-bomb explodes in a violent shower of glass and blood. Running up against armed men, Coulson, Mack, and Mace split up and Mace attempts to get the suitcase. But in the fight, Mace’s opponent shoots both vials of the serum, and then shoots Mace in the leg.
Coulson comes to the rescue, but it’s too late for secrets. Humiliated and weak, Mace admits to the truth. Coulson is affronted to say the least, but neither he nor Mack reject Mace in his hour of need. The agents bunker down in a nearby ranger station, and prepare for the attack.
Back at the base, Simmons takes on the role of hammer to the sniper’s “glass,” and performs a successful bluff with Aida’s bloodified, ice-packed head. (Which is an extremely economical use of props, good work Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!) This interrogation establishes two things: The location of the quinjet, and the fact that this attack is a direct response to Nadeer’s request from the Watchdogs “superior” last week.
Daisy and fake-May jet off to the rescue, while Coulson convinces Mace to bluff their attackers — a ploy that works long enough for Mack to plant a distraction. Daisy and May show up in the nick of time, though May shrugs off a truly hideous collision with the blade of a rotating saw.
More on that in a minute.
Mace is contrite when they return to the base (Talbot is not, but hey, it’s Talbot.) Mace confesses that his “heroics” in Vienna were the product of an accident and miraculously-timed photo. But it turns out that his heart is in the right place; fervently, Mace tells Coulson that he thought he “could be the face to end Inhuman prejudice… I believe that Inhumans deserve the same rights as anyone else in this country.”
With the lies and facade stripped away, Coulson finally sees Mace for what he is. A liar, yes, and maybe not the brightest of bulbs. But in his honesty and pure intentions, Mace still fits within the framework of S.H.I.E.L.D. — this time as a shadow Director.
Mace will continue to be the face of the place. “But when it comes to operations, make no mistake,” Coulson says. “From now on, I’m calling the shots.”
Fitz is doing this as well, though he’d probably protest that description. He shuts Aida’s head into a vault, but not before loading her programing onto his phone… and lying to Simmons about it.
“Don’t worry. We’re going to figure out what broke you,” he tells the lonely head.
“Thank you, Fitz,” it says weakly. “Thank you.”
Someone who isn’t feeling thankful is fake-May, who is rigidly shocked to accidentally discover her own unconscious secret. Investigate her wound, May finds that she is actually made of metal.
Which just might make her as grumpy as the real May, now that I think of it.
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