Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: What If... (4x16)

Wow wow wow! I just got super pumped for the rest of this season, and I sincerely hope Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gets renewed! Or should I say... Agents of Hydra?!?!?!

Cons:

I don't really have anything to complain about. I guess the one small thing is that there's that kid in Coulson's class who refuses to be brainwashed about Hydra, and so he tags Jemma's car that she stole, and then just lets her take his car? That felt odd to me? Not just the car part of it, but the entire existence of this glitch in the matrix, if you will. I'm sure we'll be told more, but for now it felt a little odd.

Pros:

Where to even start? There was so much going on and it was all amazing! We split the episode between Jemma and Daisy, who have both just woken up inside the framework and need to get back to each other to form a plan.

Daisy discovers that she and Ward are a couple, and that she's a Hydra agent, and that Fitz is a crazy evil doctor, and May is an even more bitter and intense person than in real life. Meanwhile, Jemma wakes up buried, digs her way out of a shallow grave, and stumbles around like a crazy person trying to get back to where she needs to be. She finds Coulson, but of course he's been brainwashed just like everybody else. Eventually, she and Daisy find each other. And then Ward shows up. Turns out, he's part of the resistance. Jemma, Daisy, and Ward go on the run. Later, Daisy and Jemma try to trigger their way back into reality so they can regroup and form a better plan, but they can't. They're trapped!

The episode ends with Daisy confronting Coulson, begging him to remember, and he seems to, just a bit: he says "Daisy?" We also learn that Fitz and Aida are together. Aida is apparently the head of Hydra.

That's a lot of information. I want to praise this episode for its pacing, its intensity, its laughs and its dramatic moments. Everything was pretty much pitch perfect. First of all, I love that we're not just living in opposite world. It's not just that good guys are bad and bad guys are good. We see the world, and we understand why people would be different due to their circumstances.

Coulson lives an ordinary life as a teacher. He seems to actually care for the kids under his charge, even if he does let them get taken away. The reason he's able to break through to a real memory at the end is very sensible. Coulson is a person who's already been brainwashed once, and found a way back from that. Simmons manages to get through to him by bringing up Tahiti, and there's this flicker of something in his mind. I love that there's a clever in-universe reason why Coulson would be slightly less susceptible.

Similarly, it makes sense why May is the most roped in. She's been in the Framework the longest, and her story is built on the backbone of a real event. In this version, she saves the little Inhuman girl, only for that same girl to later kill a bunch of people. It's this event that allows Hydra to emerge from the shadows and take over, rallying the people against Inhumans.

Fitz is suitably creepy. I love how everybody at Hydra keeps talking about "the doctor" and when you finally meet him, it's Fitz. Not exactly a big shocker, of course, but there was a part of me that thought it might be Radcliffe. Fitz as this evil Hydra scientist is infinitely more fascinating. Is he this way simply because he doesn't have Simmons has a tempering influence? Seems unlikely. There's something else going on. This whole episode is framed to disturb the viewer with all of these unlikely and backwards moments, like Coulson turning Simmons in, and denying that Hydra are Nazis, or Ward sleeping in Daisy's bed, apparently a contended boyfriend. And we see Fitz and Aida kiss. It's gross and terrible, and the episode frames it that way. There's something so intrinsically wrong about seeing him with anybody but Simmons.

Ward was a great surprise. I love that even though he's part of the resistance, and is working to help the good guys against Hydra, there's still something undeniably despicable about him. Of course he's still a traitor in this world. Sure, maybe it's a more sympathetic betrayal, but a pattern is a pattern nonetheless. I don't think we're going down the road of a Ward/Skye romance within the Framework, because that would just be weird and uncomfortable, but I'm actually excited to have him back around, even if he is just a bit of programming. I never felt like this show did enough with Ward as a character.

I think Jemma Simmons gets MVP for the week. Elizabeth Henstridge's performance was on point. Her voice is hoarse, and she's confused and scared, and everything she encounters just makes her more anxious. You can forgive her and Daisy both for thinking they'd be able to waltz in here, grab their friends, and get out. They simply had no idea what they were in for. Watching the dawning realization is really fun, and really intense.

I also want to praise this episode for its allegorical conversation about racial profiling and Nazism. Especially in today's social and political climate, it's important that our media doesn't shy away from these things. Hydra propaganda declares that they are not affiliated with the Nazis, but Jemma is sure to confirm Coulson's student's beliefs. Hydra are Nazis. Every single one of them. They don't like being called that? Tough. The rhetoric about Inhumans is disturbingly familiar. For example, it's not illegal to be an Inhuman, just to lie about it. And they do experiments on Inhumans and don't even seem to care about the - pardon the pun - inhumanity of it all.

Throughout all of this chaos and stress, this episode also managed to be quite funny, which was a pleasant surprise. I especially liked all of Jemma's hi-jinks as she tries to regain her footing. She's grown so much from the girl who had trouble lying! When she and Daisy finally find each other, Daisy says that Jemma is supposed to be dead, and then they have this exchange: "Wait, are you still dead?" "No, I'm feeling much better!" Neither of them are intending to make a joke, and the moment is just brushed aside as they both have more serious things to attend to. I loved that.

I'll end this review simply: this was a superb episode. I cannot wait to see where things go from here. Who's leading the resistance? What will happen when Fitz and Simmons meet up in this world? Is Coulson a new ally, or is his remembering of Daisy's name just a temporary blip? I'm so excited!!

9.5/10