Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Purpose in the Machine,” was written by DJ Doyle and directed by Kevin Tanchaeron. The episode marks the return of May (Ming-Na Wen) and Ward (Brett Dalton), and surprisingly, also satisfyingly resolves Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) disappearance. The show continues to weave a satisfying blend of action, humor, and great characters.
The episode starts with a flashback to 1839 England. We see what looks like an ancient castle, and there appears to be a kind of lottery with the winner (loser) being locked in a room with the monolith. We’re ominously told that in all of history, no one has ever returned.
Flash to the present day, and Daisy (Chloe Bennet) is frustrated because she’s impatient to build the team and knows that Andrew (Blair Underwood) won’t clear Joey to join the team. Mack (Henry Simmons) is on Andrew’s side in being cautious. Bennet has really grown into this role, and it’s been a great ride to watch her grow from fresh-faced, wide-eyed hacker to experienced agent. It’s also terrific to watch her as she’s grown into her powers and learned to control them.
Realizing where Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) is, the entire team rush into the monolith chamber and pull Fitz away from it, just as it suddenly liquefies and surged up against the glass. Fitz is convinced he’s missed something, but he’s found some sand and quickly goes about analyzing it. The sand is about a billion times older than earth and the monolith is a portal.
Coulson (Clark Gregg) points out that Simmons could be long gone by now or dead as it’s been months. This is not the always optimistic Coulson we’ve come to know and love. This is a Coulson with the weight of being Director and all he’s been through really weighing on him. Gregg is doing a great job showing the subtle ways that Coulson has been affected by the loss of his hand. We see him attaching it as he joins the team, so it seems obvious that he takes the mechanical hand off whenever he can. But in the end, he is still Coulson and just asks what Fitz needs. It’s classic Fitz that he asks for a physicist and a sandwich in the same breath. And it’s heartbreaking all over again because we know that Simmons is usually the one to make him his favorite.
Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) declares that she’s on this with Fitz, and Coulson calls her on it. “Haven’t you been the whole time?” Coulson’s nobody’s idiot. He’s known exactly what the whole team has been up to the entire time, and he’s let them run with it. Proving once again, that that’s what you do when you trust your people and know them. At least we know he hasn’t lost that quality even after Ward.
Coulson heads off to get Professor Randolph (Peter MacNicol) as someone who’s about as old as the sand and knows something about portals. It was wonderful to see MacNicol reprise this role – can we keep him? He obviously enjoys it. Randolph is in a Norwegian prison, laying low. He’s been following the Avenger news and knows it’s not good. Randolph notices almost immediately that Coulson is different. In the end, Coulson convinces him to come – because Randolph is worried about the portal as we learn later in the episode.
We see that everyone has been profoundly changed. May’s father, William, played by the wonderful James Hong, also notices a change in her. As do we. When last we saw her, she seemed to have gained some happiness and a willingness to re-engage with the world. We learn that she did go to Hawaii with Andrew, but is now staying with her father after he broke his hip in a horrific car crash. We quickly learn that she’s now worried Ward is coming after her loved ones, to punish her for getting Kara killed. It’s typical Ward to want to hurt the way he was hurt himself.
I’m a huge fan of Hong from
Big Trouble in Little China, but that’s barely scratching the surface of his career. He’s every bit as larger than life as you’d want May’s father to be. It was terrific learning something of May’s childhood – she was a figure skater, but gave it up for martial arts because the padded floor was an improvement on the ice – which hurt. Hunter (Nick Blood) arrives to recruit May in his hunt for Ward, but May insists she’s out. Clearly, she doesn’t want to leave her father unprotected. Her father knows she’s trying to protect him from some of her unfinished business. May insists she just wants to live a normal life. Her father points out that the thing he remembers the most about her figure skating was how fast she always got up when she fell. And that she always got back up that way even if she was hurt. In the end, it’s enough to send her off with Hunter. I can’t wait to see the two of them up against Ward!
Ward, meanwhile, is busy with his trusty side-kick Kebo (Daz Crawford) rebuilding HYDRA. Dalton is clearly enjoying every moment of playing crazy, evil Ward, and it’s great to see how much his character has changed. He’s embraced life in his own way. The scene with Ward driving and the guy on the hood was great. He’s clearly focused on doing what he needs to get HYDRA back in business, but I do wonder if he did have something to do with William’s accident, if he didn’t intend to kill him but intended to use the anticipation of something happening to her loved ones to torture May.
Ward is focused on recruiting Von Strucker’s son, Alexander (Spencer Treat Clark), who appears to be a thoughtless playboy. I loved the scene in which Ward and Kebo take the boat. Great fight scene! As many others have pointed out, it’s a nice line when Ward references Von Strucker’s pointless death, which happens off camera and was pointless after he was in the final scene of
Winter Soldier. I had to wonder if there was something cut from
Age of Ultron that Joss Whedon wasn’t too happy about surrounding the character.
In the end, Ward enlists Alexander, and the final scene would indicate that he’s sending him after or undercover with Andrew as he signs up for Andrew’s class. Ward uses the “I came from a complicated family” routine with Alexander again. I have to wonder if Andrew will pick up on there being something off about him.
There’s a terrific scene between Andrew and Daisy that really shows how far she’s come and what she’s learned from her entire experience. Andrew is, in fact, not clearing Joey for duty. As he points out, Joey still has no control over his powers – let’s not forget some of Daisy’s early blunders! Andrew cautions her that desperation leads to mistakes. He also tells her that she’s turning into a leader. And I can’t give the writers enough credit for taking the time to really build this character. They’ve managed to play the long game with the characters and still deliver action-packed and fast moving storylines – a difficult balance at best. Daisy tells Andrew that when she changed, she felt like a monster. She wants a place to show inhumans that there is a place for them where they aren’t monsters and where they can make a difference.
Randolph maintains that the monolith liquefying isn’t random, it’s triggered by something. Randolph admits that he’d come to confirm that the portal existed and then destroy it. I loved the line when he says he’s hesitated to act because “I don’t know what Amazon woman (Bobbi!! – and kind of a nice nod to her stint as Wonder Woman) and robot hand are capable of.” Fitz shows him the scroll and he recognizes the word, clarifying that it means more than just death, it can mean death by punishment. He tells them about the castle in England. I loved his saying, “To the plane!” and then asking if it was ok for him to say it. And Coulson’s somewhat put out, response that it was ok, let’s go to the plane.
They head off to England and find the secret room. Another great exchange between Randolph and Bobbi is when she says it’s kind of like the bunker under the Louvre, and he’s all, there is no bunker, you’re messing with me. But then admits that now he’s going to have to go and check. She’s definitely got his number! Mack’s response to the bunker is “A room full of ancient gack. Reminds me of your office, Director!”
They manage to get the monolith into the hole and working together get the machine to turn on, which liquefies the monolith. Fitz shoots a flare into it, and that turns out to be the thing that brings Simmons to the right spot. As the machine works, Daisy is suddenly overcome and gets a nosebleed and collapses. Daisy is the only one to hear the pulsing noise because it reverberates with her powers. The machine is broken, however. Mack determines that the works are all underground, and Daisy realizes that they don’t need the machine when they have her powers.
They rig up a camera to put through, but did anyone doubt that Fitz was going in there? I was just relieved he attached himself to the cable! It’s a fantastic scene as Fitz and Simmons struggle to come together, touching fingers and seemingly pulled apart – it’s such a nice metaphor for their entire relationship. I was sure that when the monolith was destroyed, it was only Fitz that had made it back, so yes. There was cheering on my couch when we see that Simmons is there as well. And who didn’t love Mack telling Daisy, “You did good Tremors.” Love them as a team!
Randolph wants to know what Daisy is. Coulson tells him they call themselves Inhumans, and Randolph replies he hasn’t heard that term in a long time. Clearly, he’s going to have some interesting information!
The final scene with Fitz and Simmons show her having a nightmare and waking up in full on fight mode, homemade knife at the ready. Clearly, she’d going to have a lot of PTSD issues to work through with Andrew. Fitz is asleep, sitting up by her bed, and she gets out of bed to go and curl up with her head in his lap. Hopefully, the experience will bring them closer together.
A lot of balls were thrown in the air with this episode, and I’m looking forward to their payoff in the coming episodes. What did you think of this episode? Were you like me and glad they didn’t prolong Simmons’ ordeal? What was your favorite scene? Were you happy to see Randolph back? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
