Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Wake Up (4x11)

Yikes. Talk about an episode with a lot of revealed secrets. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get started.

Cons:

The subplot this week focused on Mack and Yo-Yo's relationship, which seems to be going well until Mack gets a strange text and bails on their upcoming assignment. Elena is upset that Mack won't tell her where he was, so she confronts him. Turns out, he was with his ex. A woman who he had a daughter with. A daughter who died after just four days.

So... this is straight out of a soap opera. When we started learning more about Mack, like about his little brother and all that, I was very intrigued. I liked this sort of blue-collar genius motif they had going for him. I find it a little difficult to swallow the fact that he has a traumatic past with some woman we've never heard about before. This plot thread seemed like an unnecessary way for us to look closer at Mack and Yo-Yo's relationship... did we really need to add this piece to the puzzle?

I'm a broken record here, but I'm tired of Fitz lying to Simmons about stuff. He spends the episode researching Aida, with fantastic results, but he's evasive about it. I don't really understand why: couldn't he tell her he had a bad idea about Aida and Radcliffe? There was no attempt to even explain a contrived plot reason why Simmons had to be left in the dark. That's lazy writing for the sake of an unnecessary conflict.

Pros:

There are three big stories being told in this episode, and while ordinarily I might complain about overcrowding, this episode actually managed to balance them all with aplomb.

To start with, we have Daisy signing the Sokovia Accords, or at least trying to. She goes to a big conference, where Talbot and Mace support Daisy in clearing the air with the public and signing the Accords. Meanwhile, however, Coulson and Yo-Yo are trying to sneak into Nadeer's rooms to plant bugs. They get caught, and Nadeer calls S.H.I.E.L.D. out on all its deception. They get to go free, but this is going to be very bad for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s public image, and relationship with the government. Talbot is incensed.

This is a good conflict. Nadeer might be sort of cartoonishly evil, but she actually raises some good points about accountability. This whole situation reminds me a bit of the NSA scandal with Edward Snowden and all that. The fact is, S.H.I.E.L.D. does a lot of stuff that's not so above-board, in the interest of protecting the people and completing their tasks. We, the viewer, are watching this all through the lens of S.H.I.E.L.D., and we sort of get it - I mean, they know what's going on. They're the ones who can get shit done. But Nadeer is right, in a way. Don't the people have a right to know what S.H.I.E.L.D. is up to? At least to some degree?

I also like seeing the continuing dynamics between Coulson, Mace, and Daisy. Daisy talks about how Coulson always gives second chances, and that seems to create a stronger link between Mace and Daisy. They've lost the connection of being Inhumans, but gained the connection of being people who screwed up very, very, badly and are still allowed to stick around. I'm enjoying that quite a lot.

The other two stories both concern the LMDs (Life Model Decoys). The real May is still being kept prisoner by Aida and Radcliffe. For a while, we think she's escaped from her drug-induced coma, but we then learn that this is just a program that Aida has set up to keep her trapped in a loop. May is getting better at it though, and might escape for real. So... Radcliffe and Aida set up another program. One that traps her back on the day when she became the Cavalry. May saves the little girl this time, playing out a program she believes to be real.

Meanwhile, the LMD May has realized she's an android, and she goes to Radcliffe to find out the truth of what has happened to her. She discovers, to her horror, that she's unable to hurt him, and also unable to tell anybody - including Coulson - what's going on. He's programmed her to not want to tell anybody she's an LMD.

And then while all this is going on, Fitz is discovering that Radcliffe actually programmed Aida to be the way she was. It wasn't the Darkhold at all. Radcliffe is imprisoned, but while talking to him, Fitz realizes that he's another LMD... uh oh. The real Radcliffe is shown in a meeting with Nadeer. Apparently they are now working together, and Nadeer is taking him to meet "the Superior," whoever that is.

So. Much. Going. On. Here. Oh my word. May gets MVP for the week, for being so damn heartbreaking. Both versions of her, actually. First off, we get the real May stuck in her endless loop, with the reminder of her Calvary origin story to end things on a nice and depressing note. Great fake-out, too. I thought May was really escaping! And then the LMD May... her conversation with Radcliffe was so emotionally affecting. Her little android heart is breaking as she realizes she's doomed to betray her own people, and that she has feelings for Coulson. I mean, of course she does. But this was just the perfect way for the show to finally address this element out in the open. At the most tragic, inconvenient, heartrending moment possible.

And then there's the Radcliffe and Fitz thing, which, let me tell you, screwed me up. Fitz talks to the imprisoned Radcliffe about how upset he is that Radcliffe betrayed them all. Fitz wanted to be wrong. He wanted to be paranoid. This exchange just killed me:

Radcliffe: "You've been like a son to me."

Fitz: "Yeah, well, that's why this sucks."

It's not the script, though that's good too, of course. It's Iain De Caestecker, who is without a doubt the best actor on this show. He plays up Fitz's anguish and disappointment perfectly. That tacit admission that he thought of Radcliffe as a father figure is immediately undercut by the next moment in the script, though: Fitz realizes that Radcliffe is an LMD. I love the moment when Fitz opens the door to the containment cell, asks to borrow the guard's gun, and shoots Radcliffe in the head. It was just such a boss thing to do.

Radcliffe has been a surprising highlight of the show for me this season. He's a complicated man. His motivations all make sense, even if they're not sympathetic, and I really do believe that he cares about Fitz and the others, in his own way. He's fighting against years of selfishness, an ingrained belief that science is net-positive, and of course, the Darkhold's grip on his mind and imagination. Of course he'd create an LMD of himself in case of emergencies. Of course he'd protect Aida at all costs. But also, of course he wouldn't kill the real May. Of course he wouldn't want to hurt anybody.

I'm so excited to see where this all leads. As happy as I was with the Ghost Rider stuff in the first half of the season, I actually think I like the LMD plot even better!

8.5/10