With Kora captured, the Agents formulate a new strategy in order to try to stay one step ahead of Nathaniel and his Chronicom allies. But will it be enough?

How do you fight an enemy who can literally predict your every move? Well, you try to be as unpredictable as possible. There’s probably an extended philosophical debate to be had there about whether the all-seeing opponent would predict that unpredictability and whether it would even be possible to be unpredictable enough to foil their abilities, but for the purposes of a genre TV show, it’ll get us there.

Kora, having been captured, announces her desire to join forces with the Agents of SHIELD. Coulson and co are understandably sceptical, although it turns out she’s not lying, even if what she’s saying can’t really be taken at face value. She also doesn’t know of course that her mother is not only dead, but at the hands of her new best friend. Wonder how that one will end up playing out…

Daisy meanwhile is the one who comes up with the notion of being as random as possible to try to defeat their opponents, and inevitably she drags along Sousa and Mack. This gives them the opportunity to have the funniest version of a ‘father figure to potential boyfriend’ talk I’ve seen in some time. The writers nicely subvert a good few tropes along the way here, and it’s honestly a relief to see. I do hope this one ends up working out though – the show seems to have given Daisy at least one beau per season so far and each one has wound up bad, dead or both.

Nathaniel has frustrations of his own, having abducted Simmons because (you guessed it) every outcome where Sybil predicts failure for him and his merry band revolves around Fitz. So he really needs to know where Fitz is, and he thinks Gemma can maybe help him with that. As he delves into her memories, we finally get to see some Ian De Caestecker, in some heart-wrenching exchanges between the two scientists.

Perhaps the biggest shock of the episode comes towards its end though, as the full extent (and horror) of Nathaniel and Sybil’s plans are revealed. Granted, it boils down to a more conventional way of achieving their goal than the methods they’ve tried so far, but it’s no less nasty for that. As the credits roll, it’s difficult to see how the gang will get out of this one in next week’s double length finale.

Verdict: Still feels like it’s building way too much momentum to almost be at the very end of its run. 8/10

Greg D. Smith