Hail Fitzdra.
Full spoilers for Marvel's Agents of SHIELD continue below.
With only a few episodes to go this season, "All the Madame's Men" had some heavy plot lifting to do to set the stage for the Season 4 finale. As such, it was a solid episode in this pod but not a standout, making some good strides with character development and tying up loose ends, and offering an interesting twist with Aida's storyline.
After Daisy threw Madame Hydra out a window and seriously damaged her, she knocked that version of Aida out of the Framework for long enough for her to check back in with Anton Ivanov back in the real world. There, and during Simmons' storyline where she discovers the Framework version of where Aida is hiding, we learn a good deal more about Project Looking Glass; namely, that Aida wants to use it to create a human body for herself and circumvent her programming.
It's why she needs Fitz, but Fitz's storyline has grown much more interesting than that. As Aida identifies all of the core SHIELD cast's defining traits, she names Fitz as the "romantic." It's unclear now if she's truly developed feelings for him or just knows that giving him feelings for her will get him to do exactly what she wants, but it's likely the latter.
In this case, that means complete Looking Glass and create her a body that she can bring back into the real world. When he asks if he can return with her, that leaves a lingering question about whether this version of his consciousness can be uploaded back into his real body. Hopefully not, but I can't help shake the feeling that this arc of Fitz's story is going to have the most impact in whatever comes next after the team leaves the Framework.
The kicker at the end of this episode showed Aida and Anton discovering where Simmons and Daisy are hiding in the real world, which puts a target on their backs and also means our time in the Framework is nearing its end. It makes sense, then, that Agents of SHIELD is tying up a lot of its loose ends in this alternate reality. Ward, in particular, made a great, emotionally resonant impact in this episode, particularly with his candid conversation with Daisy about his Skye. As much as the Ward character felt like he'd reached the end of his story toward the end of his run as Hive, this has been a very welcome return for Brett Dalton as he offers a new twist on that character.
The same goes for B.J. Britt sticking around as Triplett, and Simon Kassianides return in this episode as Bakshi. Both were characters SHIELD left in the rearview mirror, but this new twist on them -- particularly the still-evil Bakshi in "All the Madame's Men" -- has been a nice change of pace and trip down memory lane; it helps make the Framework not feel like a throwaway plot device. Meeting Fitz's father has also offered new depth to Fitz, especially with Radcliffe challenging his father's perception of his relationship with his son.
So now Fitz is the leader of Hydra and Daisy and Simmons are quickly running out of time to get the remaining team members out of the Framework. At least everyone is a team again, with May finally seeing the light and some of the innate group dynamics slipping past their programming.
The Verdict
Marvel's Agents of SHIELD delivered a good episode that was more in the service of tying up plot than delivering one standout storyline. The series continues to do well by the Framework conceit by playing up this alternate reality premise, both by offering up new twists on familiar characters and bringing back old ones in fun ways. There's definitely the feeling that the end is in sight as SHIELD brings all its plot threads together and heads its characters toward exiting the Framework.
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