Agents of SHIELD S04E13 Review: Aida v.0

Agents of SHIELD, Season 4, Episode 13: Boom

I actually watched these episodes of Agents of SHIELD as their aired, or at least not this long after the fact, but dealing with multiple projects at once kind of made me not find enough time to review them in a timely manner. So, um, yeah, have this three-month late review of episode 13 of Agents of SHIELD. Which is honestly not a critique on SHIELD's part. It's been consistently decent, just... nowhere as awesomely entertaining as it was when Ghost Rider was running around. That's not to say that the show's bad, no, because the L.M.D. storyline has been one of the better and most consistently paced stories that Agents of SHIELD has ever done. It's just that I kind of ran out of energy to talk about it back in February and March. 

Mind you, the Superior, a.k.a. Anton Ivanov, is easily one of the weakest recurring villains that the show has ever introduced, but he's clearly meant to play second-fiddle to Holden Radcliffe and Aida as a villain, so honestly him being a one-dimensional generic warlord isn't a particularly big problem to me. And honestly, as awesome as the ironic revelation that Shockley was the actual Inhuman-gene-carrying Watchdog instead of Senator Nadeer, and the awesomeness of the effects of his explosion powers, there's a distinctive feeling of repetition in what they're doing. Ivanov is just an uncharismatic bore, and Shockley is a cool but ultimately one-dimensional villain.

I did find it very awesome how Quake ended up dealing with him, and freaking FitzSimmons sealed him in what amounts to a gigantic Pokeball, which is just amazing.

Far more interesting is the storyline revolving around Jeffrey Mace, a.k.a. the Patriot, who finds himself reduced to what's basically team mascot. After finding out that the serum that gives him super strength also has the likelihood of causing cardiac arrest (because of course it does), Jeffrey goes into a B-plot of soul searching, before realizing that his role is to take on an entire convoy of Russian Watchdogs in an epic moment of heroic sacrifice, allowing himself to be captured so the rest of his team can get away.

Mind you, Coulson telling Jeffrey about his own role in a bigger team, referencing his impalement by Loki in The Avengers, is kind of a giveaway that something similar's going to happen, yeah?

Meanwhile, Coulson and Mack are on the hunt for Radcliffe, and the hunt takes an interesting turn as it's revealed that Aida is actually modeled after someone -- Radcliffe's ex-girlfriend, Agnes. Agnes is dying from an inoperable brain tumour, and it really gives both Agnes and Coulson's actors a huge opportunity to act as Coulson ends up being sympathetic after being built up throughout the entire episode as being willing to pull all the stops if it means finding May, while Agnes, despite being cooperative, ends up being seduced by Radcliffe's promises of a world where she could live without pain and the episode makes a very excellent way of showing just how conflicted Agnes is before she finally makes her choice. Aida herself doesn't get any less screentime, showing some hints of jealousy and more hints of curiousity as she witnesses the person she's modeled after die before being transplanted into the Framework -- the virtual world that Radcliffe has constructed. It's an ineresting endgame for Radcliffe, one that would be pretty m'eh if not for the Darkhold's involvement in it all. 

Aida is actually showing emotions... is that jealousy she's showing when Radcliffe reveals that she's actually modeled after someone and that she isn't as special as she thinks she is? And there's definitely resentment at continually being called a tool by Ivanov.

Oh, and Senator Nadeer dies. Which is good. Like Quake, I pretty much hate the character (though that's not to the fault of the actress, of course) and she's already been milked for all the drama she could have been, so yay to seeing her go. 

It's not the most well-paced episode of Agents of SHIELD, honestly, with the episode feeling too slow-paced at times, and the Inhuman threat of Shockley, while being a nice nod to the fact that we're not completely abandoning the Inhuman storyline, feeling a bit weak in the face of everything that's happening. But it's still interesting stuff, and one that's still entertaining to watch despite Ivanov's blandness as a villain.

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Apparently people in the internet seem to think that Shockley's explosion powers makes him similar to the Marvel comics supervillain Nitro, the jackass who blew up a city and kick-started Civil War in the comics? I'm not familiar enough with Nitro to really comment on that, so I'll just leave them here.
• Radcliffe has improved upon the Terrigen crystals since his employ under Hive, having refined them to not kill normal humans. 
• Coulson references his role as the Avengers' non-powered consultant, and the fact that he ended up playing an important role although he also ended up being killed by an Asgardian staff -- referencing his death at the hands of Loki in The Avengers. He also mentions losing control of his anger and unleashing a demon that threatens the universe, referencing to his killing of Ward ended up causing Hive to be able to find a way to Earth. 
• Calvin Zabo's serum being unpredictable and nearly killing Cal himself is referenced by Simmons, because Jeffrey's super strength serum is derived from the same material.