Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Hot Potato Soup (4x12)

Ah, the Koenig brothers. You delight me. Ah, Fitz's daddy issues. You depress me. Let's discuss.

Cons:

There was one "reveal" moment in this episode that didn't pack a punch the way it was meant to. Fitz spends the episode trying to figure out the LMD Radcliffe's programming, and finally he gets it: the robot has a brain that functions like a biological brain, and contains the memories and personality of the original human. This was set up like a big accomplishment, that Fitz finally figured it out. And it did lead to Simmons realizing that May was also an LMD. But there was also a sort of... duh? component to the whole thing. The scientific explanation was typical technobabble, and it felt like a natural extension of what we already knew, given that the May LMD thought she was the real May. Also, how did Fitz miss the glowing yellow brain in the Radcliffe bot up to this point? Are you telling me he gave up on learning how he worked without even looking inside his hardware?

I don't really care about real-Radcliffe and his alliance with the Russians. Are they the people financing Nadeer's crusade against Inhumans? We're not really sure. There could probably be some tightening up of these various plot points. I enjoy the fact that the generically evil Russian bad guys are forming a link between Nadeer and the LMDs. I'm less thrilled with the fact that they are generically evil Russian bad guys, and that we don't know what that connection is yet.

Pros:

This episode was a success, though. In plot, it was pretty simple, actually. While Fitz, Simmons, and Mack are learning about LMD-Radcliffe, the others are all embroiled in a mission to save Billy Koenig. Sam and Thurston Koenig are also around, as is LT Koenig, the sister who apparently got the rest of them involved in S.H.I.E.L.D. They have been playing a game of "hot potato" with the Darkhold, constantly passing it between siblings to prevent its being discovered. Unfortunately, Billy was the last one to have it, and he's the one that's been kidnapped. It's a race to the secret location where Billy hid the book. Our good guys look like they're going to win, but not before LMD-May briefly gets her hands on the Darkhold and Coulson discovers the truth about her. Then, things turn south. Radcliffe now has his hands on the Darkhold, and he promises to help the Russian baddies deal with Coulson, who is constantly getting in the way of their plans.

In essence, this episode is just about Radcliffe getting his hands on the Darkhold, something he's wanted for quite a while, and something we as the audience should definitely be worried about. But the way this all came about allowed for a lot of interesting story, some great comedy, and amazing character beats. Let's go through some of them:

The Koenig brothers are hilarious. I like that they keep things light even in the darkest of times, but not in an unrealistically cheery way. In a way, seeing them brings me back to that Season One feel. If you know how I felt about Season One, you might thing that's a bad thing, but in some ways it's not. There's something so simple and refreshing about the comedy provided by these brothers. I also loved meeting LT. You assume it's going to be another identical brother, but it's actually a sister, which was a great twist. The Koenigs were all involved in the first generation of the LMD project, but Radcliffe has now surpassed them. There's a great moment when you think the Koenigs are actually robots... but no, they were engineers on the project. Ha!

Comedy highlights: Sam tries to convince Daisy that Billy is the one who ran and hid when the Russians came after the two brothers, but Daisy, watching security footage, sees that Sam is the one who hid behind the bar: "I mean you're... you're literally wearing the same thing right now." Sam also fills Daisy in on the fandom for Quake. Quake and Black Widow's ship name? Quack. Oh boy. When Radcliffe is inside of Billy's head, he thinks he sees him assembling a bomb, but he's really just recharging his Darth Vader alarm clock. Brilliant.

On a much more depressing note, we get a continuation of the May/Coulson tension. They actually have their first kiss, but of course May is not really May. The minute she has her hands on the Darkhold, she knows her true mission, and pulls a gun on Coulson. This was a great scene, full of tragedy and dawning horror. Coulson knew that May wasn't real, all because he's absolutely positive that May would never betray him. I love that. It was also great when Daisy came in, used her powers to knock LMD-May to the ground, and then just says "so, May's a freakin' robot." You really feel for poor LMD-May, who tries to explain to Coulson that her memories and desires are genuine. Her connection to Coulson is not a lie. But how can Coulson believe that? And why would he want to, when the real May is out there somewhere? It's a terrible tragedy, and they're really taking advantage of all the angst in this scenario. I'm a fan.

The subplot with Fitz may have had sort of a weak reveal, but it also had a lot of strong character moments. We learn that Radcliffe knew Fitz's father, and that Fitz's father walked out on his family when Fitz was only ten years old. Apparently, a lot of Fitz's confidence issues come from the fact that his father always told him he wasn't good enough. There was a lot of stand-out acting from Iain De Caestecker, to nobody's surprise. I loved how much Mack and Simmons were both there for him, too, as he worked through his emotions. Suddenly, LMD-Radcliffe saying "you're like a son to me" takes on a whole deeper meaning, given Fitz's bad relationship with his own father.

I'll leave it there. This wasn't one of those episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that shocked and impressed me to my core, but it was one that developed the plot, had a lot of laughs, a lot of drama, and intriguing reveals. I can't wait for more!

8/10