shield-4-13The depths of Holden’s plans with regards to his new technology become apparent, linked to a face from his past who the team must try and use to reach him. Mace receives some unwelcome news and the team face a new Inhuman from an unexpected quarter.

With Holden now having the Darkhold and working in cahoots with the Superior, you might be forgiven for wondering why he doesn’t just get on with it and win the day. But Holden, ever a complex individual, has a slightly esoteric angle on world domination.

Meanwhile, in a bid to find Holden (and hopefully the real May), Mack and Coulson track down someone with a highly familiar face. Convincing them to help locate Holden, on the other hand, proves incredibly tricky.

Back at home base, Mace is feeling a little like a fifth wheel trying to find a useful role in the team without his regular dose of super serum. Simmons’ news with regards to his test results makes things even worse – effectively, the serum is no longer an option, unless he wants to dice with some fairly serious side effects. It’s interesting to watch Mace try to adapt to what is an ever-shifting role – he’s gone from Director to Inhuman to pretend director to pretty much wandering round the place looking for a job. He’s missing the action, and you get the feeling he’ll do something silly given the chance.

An explosion on Capitol Hill causes a whole new set of problems for the team, given that it went off in Senator Nadeer’s office just as she had been publicly expressing displeasure at the fact of SHIELD hiding away Inhumans to avoid the attentions of the Superior. Mace is left dealing with PR while everyone else tries to work out what the hell happened, though the answer when it comes, is unexpected to say the least.

As things spiral towards the conclusion, we have a whole variety of balls in the air, and a pair of them drop the wrong way as two people in two different scenarios do the exact opposite of what’s expected of them, with potentially fatal consequences for both.

Again, SHIELD reminds us why it’s so much more than ‘Avengers on TV’, with another solid dose of intrigue, revelations, personal struggles and big set pieces all thrown into the mix. Holden’s continued progression, and the revelation of not only his ultimate goal but also one of the personal driving forces behind it, yet again add layers upon layers to the character. Damn me if he isn’t one interesting antagonist, never really fully on one side of the fence or the other.

Everyone else plays their parts well, though in fairness it’s an episode in which Hannah is doing most of the dramatic heavy lifting. Jason O’Mara gets his fair share as well with the ever shifting woes of Mace, and Henry Simmons and Clark Gregg make a nice double act, the former reminding the latter that if there’s anyone who knows about loss, it’s him. Once again, Mack gets to be Coulson’s conscience, to good effect. Now if only we could hurry up and get May back so she and Coulson can finally go get some down time together!

Verdict: Pacey, focused and with some pleasing parallels between disparate character arcs, this is another strong episode that showcases the strengths of the show. I’m excited to see where this heads next. 8/10

Greg D. Smith