‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Recap: S4E3:“Uprising”

This season Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been veering towards the mystic.  The first two episodes have very much centered on Robbie Reyes, AKA Ghost Rider as well as the astral beings that infected May and have been causing her to see hallucinations where everyone appears to look just like Kaecilius., the bad guy from the upcoming Doctor Strange movie who Mads Mikkelsen is playing.  It appeared that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be going away from the Inhuman storyline and veering towards a mystic-type.

Turns out, that’s not the case.

This entire episode served as a reminder that Inhumans exist and are still very much on everyone’s radar.

The entire episode centers on a terrorist attack that goes off simultaneously across the world, where terrorists claiming to be Inhumans have launched multiple EMP attacks, disabling power in major cities.  Because of the Sokovia Accords from Captain America: Civil War, also included the registration of all Inhumans across the world, the terrorists demanded that Inhumans no longer be registered or else chaos would happen across the globe.  It’s up to the still in the shadows S.H.I.E.L.D. to come and save the day.

The episode begins in Miami as Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez is out with some of her friends partying as part of a bachelorette party when the blackout starts.  It’s clear that she still she still has a crush on Mack (even though she can’t act on it) and her friends joke with her about how cute he is.  When the blackout occurs, the bride to be wants to find her fiancé.  Before the girls can leave the rooftop party, armed men storm the party in search of an Inhuman they know is at the party.  Yo-Yo learns about her supposed friend’s prejudices against Inhumans during the siege but keeps her secret to herself.

Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Coulson continues to worry about May, who is going crazy after being exposed to the box back in the first episode and the ghosts have caused her to experience hallucinations.  She’s been shipped to the CDC, but they don’t know what to do either.  The director, Jeffrey Mace needs to pull Coulson away from May’s dilemma as he needs his best to handle the blackout situation as it could cause a big problem for the still I the shadows agency as they prepare to go public.  Coulson goes with Mack and Fitz to Miami to investigate the blackout while Simmons tries to investigate May’s problems in the hopes of curing her before she dies.

Radcliffe is still working on his Life Model Decoy, but when Simmons arrives with May, he has to hide it.  As he and Simmons investigate May’s brain, we are treated to the holographic projections we last saw in Iron Man 3 (It’s all connected) as a nice Easter egg.  As they look into her brain, they discover that whatever is happening to her is causing her “fear factor” to be amplified times ten.  Since there is no way to get rid of fear, Radcliffe comes up with the bright idea of killing May and if they revive her, then she should come back alive and the ghost infection should be purged from her mind.  Unfortunately, after they “kill” her, another EMP goes off, which causes them to be unable to resuscitate her.  Lucky for them, Radcliffe has the power cell from the Life Model Decoy that he uses to help jump-start her heart.  As May awakens, she has no memory of the last two episodes.

Over in California, Daisy is still teaming with Robbie when a blackout happens in their area.  Robbie knows that when the power goes out, the criminals come forward and rioting occurs.  Robbie’s main concern is his brother Gabe.  When a few people are attacking people I the area, they eye Gabe in his wheelchair.  As Robbie and Daisy beat them up, Daisy is forced to use her quake powers which cause her pain.  Without her S.H.I.E.L.D. issued armbands, she’s in bad shape.  Robbie goes on a drug supply run and this forces Gabe and Daisy to do a little “getting to know” each other.  Gabe correctly guesses that she is Quake and wants her to be away from his older brother as he knows that his brother has a dark side (he doesn’t know the exact extent though).  When Robbie returns, Daisy is gone.

Back at the hotel, the siege is continuing as the armed militants are searching for the mystery Inhuman.  People of the party turn on a local magician thinking he’s the Inhuman.  Yo-Yo does her best to use her “flash” speed powers to disarm the armed militants, but then her supposed friend notices her and betrays her.  Now the militants know that she’s the one that’s the Inhuman and corner her.  Lucky for her, Coulson and the gang turn up at the right moment.  We are treated to a very cool “one-shot” fight sequence where they disarm the militants.  After they take them down, they realize that the militants are members of The Watchdogs, the anti-Inhuman vigilante group.  It looks like they have received some major backing, enough to launch an international terrorist attack.  The group quickly learns where the master EMP is and after defeating the guards disable the device, saving the day.

In the aftermath, director Mace takes Coulson’s advice and decides to take S.H.I.E.L.D. public (ahead of schedule) and letting the world know that they are back in business.  He also lets the world know that the blackout was not Inhuman-sponsored and the new S.H.I.E.L.D. will protect everyone, human and Inhuman.  Meanwhile, it appears that one of the masterminds of the blackout was an anti-Inhuman senator who seems to have an ax to grind as her brother is in ash, presumably after touching one of the Terrigen crystals.

Overall, this was a solid episode as it focused on the Inhumans and reminds the audience of everything that happened last season.  Also, this was a step forward in uniting the film universe and the television universe.  S.H.I.E.L.D. is back as a public agency.  With the agency going public, hopefully, this will impact Marvel movies going forward.  With May back to her normal self, The Calvary’s back!

Next week is going back to the mystic side as Coulson finally confronts the Ghost Rider.