MALLORY JANSEN, JOHN HANNAHDaisy is welcomed back to SHIELD – apparently whether she wants to be or not. AIDA’s nefarious plans take a really dark turn. The gang remain blissfully unaware of the infiltrator in their midst wearing the face of a trusted ally. And Senator Nadeer takes her brother (newly emerged from his Terrigen cocoon) home – but for what purpose?

After the winter hiatus, SHIELD returns with a new title card to accompany its new big bad and new focus. Gone is the fiery intro of the first part of the season, now that Robbie Reyes is – for the moment at least – no longer with us, and instead we get a very robotic feel instead.

This of course ties in with AIDA, who we last saw locking up the real May while her artificial counterpart was making moony eyes at Coulson. The main thread of the episode concentrates on AIDA and the next stage of her plan, and sees the newly homicidal AI going up against the team, including Fitz and even Holden, who doesn’t seem to have as much control over her as he used to.

The other thread of the episode follows Senator Nadeer and her brother, freshly emerged from his cocoon, and the pursuit of them both by Daisy, Simmons and Mace. Henstridge gets a chance to have some action-packed fun with her character for a change, going toe to toe in a proper fisticuffs fight with a bad guy, Daisy for once being the one sitting on the sidelines.

Back at base, the rest of the gang have their hands pretty full as AIDA goes full on HAL on them all. Mack and Yoyo get to have some fun as a double act here, including several quips about action movies in general and one franchise in particular. In the middle of an episode that gets quite dark, it’s nice to have the two of them providing a bit of levity and the chemistry between them is, as ever, great. Coulson and May meanwhile, continue to deliver a chemistry that feels subtly wrong. It’s possible that this is intentional, being as how we the audience know that this isn’t actually May, but it still makes the scenes where they are reminiscing with one another wistfully quite painful to watch.

Arriving at the Nadeers, Daisy, Mace and Simmons find themselves facing off against not just the errant Senator and her brother, but some old adversaries too. The resolution of this standoff leaving us with little doubt as to the exact nature of Senator Nadeer’s character going forwards.

Meanwhile, things at base reach their climax, replete with one liners and disturbing revelations. HYDRA might be long since dead and buried, but SHIELD is once again about to face multiple threats from all directions, and it’s promising to be a season where nobody is ever quite safe to trust.

The sting delivers a nice surprise to ramp up that tension further – we see something occur which we haven’t seen before, which suggests that far from being overwritten by the current war against the machines style storyline, the inhumans plot is about to introduce a new twist.

Verdict: One of those episodes where there is quite a lot to take in, this one merits more than one viewing to get everything squared away in your head. It’s a shame that the series seems intent on dispensing entirely with the Ghost Rider for the moment, but this being Marvel, you have a feeling he will be back. Solid, if not inspiring stuff. 7/10

Greg D. Smith