As FitzSimmons work at gunpoint on the very machine that could spell the doom of the world, Daisy and May head off to Hale’s secret base, leaving Mack, Coulson and Deke at the Lighthouse. Meanwhile, Talbot has compliance on his mind…

Is there any single character in the Agents of SHIELD universe who has been more mistreated than General Glenn Talbot? Treated initially by Coulson and co as a slow-witted annoyance, the man earned their respect only to end up shot in the head and then left to the less than tender mercies of HYDRA for six months. Now it turns out that not only was he tortured and mentally broken down by his time in one of Hale’s cells, he was also brainwashed in the traditional HYDRA way and now he can’t even call his own wife and kid without getting activated and sent off on some horrifying ‘mission’.

At any rate, while that’s occurring, Coulson and May have some catching up to do after last week’s bombshell that – if you’re anything like me – will have had you yelling ‘Finally!’ at your screen. However, it seems that conversation may have to wait – you don’t get a confession like that out of may easily, after all, and Phil isn’t exactly Mr Good-at-expressing-himself-emotionally either – we may not have come as far last week as we had liked, boys and girls…

The episode broadly splits into three threads – the boys back at base bemoaning their various women troubles, the girls off on mission to kick ass and take names, and the younger Von Strucker and Ruby, alternately terrifying/torturing FitzSimmons into rebuilding the missing part of the transformation chamber so that Ruby can get her infusion of gravitonium and fulfil what she sees as her destiny.

As the episode races towards its climax, there are multiple moments I found myself watching from the very edge of my seat, the tension palpable as the show throws scare after scare at the audience. The ending, when it comes, is a shock, and makes it clear that the conclusion of this story is going to be a messy one, in a lot of different ways.

Kudos goes as usual to the writers, who ratchet up the tension perfectly in each separate storyline. Performances too, deserve recognition, with special mention to Jeff Shaw’s Deke, who’s gone from sketchy idiot you can’t quite trust to likeable goofball in an organic and believable way. The pace rarely slows during this instalment, and when it does it’s just to twist the tension a little further, until your nerves feel like a guitar string being tuned. With how things end this week, I am almost dreading tuning in next time – I’m not sure my blood pressure can take it.

Verdict: Action packed, emotional and with moments that invoke genuine edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting stress, if this does turn out to be SHIELD’s final season, it’s going out with a hell of a bang. 9/10

Greg D. Smith