Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Lockup (4x05)

Woah. Intense! The action is really heating up (no pun intended) and the plot twists keep on coming.

Cons:

I guess I spoke too soon when I said that Fitz and Simmons were on solid footing. This week, we start the episode with the two of them bickering over Aida and all the lies. I'm a little miffed that we're actually going this route, but hopefully it won't go too far.

Daisy started to annoy me just a teeny tiny bit this week. I liked the concept of her going rogue and hanging out with Robbie Reyes, and I liked that S.H.I.E.L.D. then brought the two of them in. What I'm not crazy about is Daisy's continual self-hatred and martyr complex. I don't really get it. At one point she literally locks Coulson and May out of a fight so that she can take on a room of bad guys by herself. Why? Because she doesn't want anybody else to get hurt. It's "her fight." Except... no? In this case, the fight was about the Darkhold, and so Daisy really had no reason to take it all upon herself. I get that she lost her bland white boyfriend Lincoln, but I don't know that that justifies all of this behavior.

Oh, and one last complaint? The ghosts look stupid. And even Robbie's flaming skull came across a little too CGI for me this week, although in the past it's been passable. Damn those TV-show budgets!

Pros:

So, the main plot was really intense and action-filled, and I was pretty happy with it overall. Essentially, the group is just trying to make progress in learning about this whole Darkhold thing. Lucy Bower (the ghost) finds the book but can't seem to read it. We see a flashback of her and the coma dude finding the book, and it turns out that it "reads" people who are touching it, appearing in that person's native language. Flash forward to the present, and Lucy gets her hands on the book but discovers she can't read it as a ghost. So. That sucks. Coulson and May go to the prison where Robbie's uncle Eli Morrow is being held. They plan on releasing him to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody so they can get his assistance. Bad news: Lucy has arrived at the prison. Mack, Robbie, and Daisy go in to help Coulson and May, and all hell breaks loose when Fitz is forced to open all of the prison doors to allow his people a chance to escape. Epic fighting commences, and Lucy ends up getting away with Eli Morrow. She brings Eli to the Darkhold, and demands that he read it so they can finish what they've started.

I like that this plot thread felt very focused and contained. Tons of cool action, chaos at the prison, Lucy running around causing problems... and then Robbie, who Mack brings into the field very reluctantly, manages to make everything worse. He sees a member of the gang who attacked him and his brother and put his brother in a wheel chair, and he decides to take his revenge by going all flame-skull on him. While he's busy doing this, Lucy manages to kidnap Eli, which means that S.H.I.E.L.D. has failed in its main objective in coming to the prison in the first place. Yikes.

I love the hints that they're dropping that Robbie and his brother were supposed to be killed. Apparently, it was a hit, not just a random drive-by shooting, that put his little brother in a wheelchair. What could this mean?

Also, the stuff with the Darkhold is giving focus and depth to the ghost plot thread. I'm happy to say that things are a little more interesting now, in that regard. I love the idea of a book that changes its text depending on who's touching it. And how far does that go? Does it just translate depending on who's looking, or is the content different from person to person? Perhaps more importantly, what the heck does it even say?

Mack was pretty great as team leader, when he led the "rescue mission" into the prison. I liked how he took charge, especially given how strained things are with Daisy at the moment. I wonder if we're ever going to get back to the solid partnership these two once shared. I miss that!

May admits that she thought of Coulson when she died briefly, which I thought was an interesting element. I just wanted to mention that here, since I'm not really sure where it's going. Still, Coulson and May's relationship is a strong and beautiful thing. I'm ready for more.

And after all that, I must say I think that the subplot was even better. Jemma has to take a lie detector test, and some of her results are iffy. However, it seems like she's dodged a bullet when Director Jeffrey Mace asks her for help - he's got a televised debate with Senator Nadir about the Inhuman vs. Human situation, and he wants Simmons to talk into his earpiece and help him refute her accusations. This debate actually goes very well for S.H.I.E.L.D., and with Simmons' help, the Director is able to pull out a resounding win. He even reveals that he's an Inhuman, causing shock and a big upswing in approval ratings. Jeffrey tries to get Simmons to take another polygraph test, but Jemma reveals that she knows a secret about the Director: his story of heroism is a lie. The Director, properly blackmailed, backs off.

And it seems that Jeffrey is easy to threaten. We later see him meeting with Senator Nadir, who has video evidence of Daisy and Robbie with S.H.I.E.L.D. at the prison. She threatens to turn her videos over to the news, which will damage S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reputation something fierce. As the episode ends, we hear Jeffrey ask Nadir: "what do you want?"

God, Jemma is just so cool. The way she put Jeffrey in his place like that was awesome. It was fun to see her use blackmail against Mace, especially after seeing the two of them work so well together during the debate. They actually do make a good team, which is what makes Jeffrey's uncertain motives all the more interesting. Just what exactly really happened with Jeffrey when he heroically "saved" those lives?

Also, Mace revealing to everybody that he's Inhuman?!?! That seems seriously risky. I almost can't believe he'd do that without clearing it with his PR people, but whatever. For the time being it seems to be working in his favor. I was glad to see Nadir back. Her rhetoric against the Inhumans is unfortunately all too familiar in today's political climate, and I liked seeing Simmons and Mace cut through all of her fear-mongering and bigotry with stone-cold numbers. We'll have to see if Mace and S.H.I.E.L.D. can stop this Inhuman vs. Human conflict, or if Nadir will fan the flames to greater heights. And what is Nadir going to use her blackmail opportunity for? I'm scared!

8.5/10