Just before the winter break, Agents of S.H.I.E.LD., we wrapped up the Ghost Rider and supernatural storyline. Robbie Reyes teamed up with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in taking on his uncle Eli Marrow who had gained extraordinary abilities. However, with one threat gone, a new one arises. Aida, the Life Model Decoy (LMD) that Fitz and Radcliffe created has turned against her creators (as most robots do in the movies). She has already killed one agent and even took Agent May hostage and replaced her with her own LMD doppelganger. It’s clear that the second half of the season will be dealing with Aida as she is an almost pseudo-Ultron: an all-powerful, who turns on her creators to carry out her own nefarious agenda.
The episode begins with the agents completely oblivious to Aida and what she has done. Everyone is interacting with LMD May as if it’s no big deal. Now that they have the Darkhold, they need to properly store it, so that no one else can use the book as it would be bad consequences. The next big decision is to wipe Aida’s mind, since she used the Darkhold to pull Coulson and Fitz from the “in-between” dimension. Even though she has a sophisticated memory (being an android), all references to what’s inside the Darkhold need to be purged. Now we know that Aida isn’t just going to simply let them do that to her, right?Turns out, when she used the Darkhold, it opened up her CPU (or whatever android have) and now she is feeling emotions for the first time, hence, the new and improved evil Aids. When they first try, and confront her, they try and shut her down. However, Aida has made some upgrades and now is the only one in charge of her. Radcliffe and Fitz cannot shut her down. The redshirts they brought with them are easily disposed of. Aida has a new mission, it’s to steal the Darkhold.
Meanwhile, Senator Nadeer, whose brother Vijay has finally been rescued from his Terrigenesis, she is helping him recuperate in their family estate. However, she does not have his best interests at heart. Turns out the senator is not just an anti-Inhuman politician, she’s heavily involved in the anti-Inhuman terrorist group, The Watchdogs. She’s so dedicated to the cause that she has set up her own brother to be attacked by them. At the last minute, she reneges as he has not shown any powers and he pleads with her reminding her that she is his sister. This doesn’t last long as The Watchdogs plan on killing him anyway when she doesn’t suspect. Also, Daisy, Simmons, and Director Mace (who’s spending more time in the field) arrive at their estate as well. Just as The Watchdogs are about to kill Vijay his powers come forward. Looks like we have another Speedster on our hands as he easily dispatches them. His sister manages to convince him that he should come with her and she will not harm him. When he goes with his sister, there’s nothing that the agents can do to stop. This turns out to be a bad choice as he is killed by his own sister. Her hatred for Inhumans (and everything alien) is stronger than her love for her brother.
At the base, Aida has managed to connect to their network and not only shut everything down, but turn every piece of technology against the agents. As they are evading Quinjet fire, they also have to go to hand to hand combat with Aida. After Coulson loses in hand to hand with Aida, LMD May (who doesn’t realize that she is a robot) tries to take her on. Aida quickly deactivates her and she is none the wiser. It’s very reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica when the hominoid Cylons don’t realize they are the enemy until they are activated. LMD May awakens, but now Aida can see everything that she sees, which proves beneficial when Coulson tells LMD May where the Darkhold is hidden. However, Radcliffe and Simmons manage to disconnect the base from the Internet and go analog, which disconnects Aida from the base, rendering her powerless. Mack is taking no chance and decapitates her.However, the true villain is not Aida. Radcliffe has been playing a long con with the agents as not only did he organize everything, but he has a brand new Aida (let’s call her Aida 2.0), and they are still holding the real May hostage. Radcliffe wants the Darkhold for himself, and is patiently waiting for his move to gain it.
Overall, this was a solid episode and has great references to the comic books as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. It also had some great references to 80s sci-fi movies, there are numerous Terminator references as well as an obscure reference to Chopping Mall, which I needed to Google to know what it was about.
Next week Radcliffe and Aida will continue their quest to try and get the Darkhold.
