agents-4-11Daisy and Coulson hatch a cunning plan to use the former’s formal hearing to sign the Sokovia Accords as an opportunity to get one up on Senator Nadeer, much to the disapproval of General Talbot. May embarks on a journey of self discovery. And is Mack and Yoyo’s new romance doomed from the start?

Secrets and lies and layers upon layers of intrigue this week, as SHIELD goes a little bit Inception and a little bit Matrix on us all. An early throwaway remark by Holden to Aida leaves us questioning exactly what might be going on, and clever little divergent actions by various characters keep us guessing right up until the final scene.

May of course is still trying to fight and escape from her captivity at the hands of Holden, and the thread we get with this gives us an insight in his clever little solution for keeping his sedated prisoner busy and ‘content’. The flight and fight scenes between May and Aida are impressive, and draw you in even as they turn the tables more than once.

Mack and Yoyo finally get some quality alone time, but then a sudden mood change sees Mack heading for the exit and Yoyo questioning what’s really going on. There’s some great work from both actors here, developing each character organically while providing some nice surprises as well as links to earlier hooks laid down.

With Coulson back in operational command at SHIELD, the first big mission delivers mixed results. While their hand is revealed to the enemy, they are provided with some valuable insight into what they’re up against – the question is whether they can make use of that information in time. The Sokovian hearing for Daisy that runs alongside gives us another nice moment of connection between her and Mace, with a surprising dynamic emerging – Mace may not be the superhero that we initially assumed, but there’s room there for him to become a decent authority/mentor character within the team dynamic, occupying a different niche to Coulson.

Meanwhile, Fitz’s obsession with Aida is worrying Simmons. Has he gone too far, and in doing so put the entire team at risk?

The twists keep coming in this episode, and every time you think you just might have a grip on where it’s going, it upends you once again. By the end, so many layers have been peeled away that you might be forgiven for needing to watch the whole thing again just to make sure that you caught it all. A breathtaking climax shifts the ground under the viewer once again, casting two characters in a very different light and leaving some serious issues to be resolved.

The sting twists the knife for a favourite character just that little bit more – if there was ever any doubt as to the inventive cruelty of the enemy SHIELD now faces, it’s put to bed by this chilling scene.

Verdict: Bursting at the seams with character development and twist after twist, this is Agents of SHIELD at its inventive best. Borrowing heavily in feel from other sources but giving them its own unique take, this stands hands down as one of the best, most engaging episodes of the season so far. Majestic stuff. 10/10

Greg D. Smith