Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “The Patriot” was written by the team of James C Oliver and Sharla Oliver and was directed by Kevin Tancharoen. The Olivers also wrote 2 episodes of the digitally released mini-series
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot, and both wrote for
Under the Dome. This was a terrific episode, that does what S.H.I.E.L.D. does best – moves the plot along at a speed that is the envy of other plodding, traditional-season-length shows. Best news? Coulson (Clark Gregg) ends the episode back in charge where he belongs, but we don’t have to lose Mace (Jason O’Mara) – at least not yet.
The episode starts with Mace giving Daisy (Chole Bennet) public recognition. It seems very strongly in this episode that they are setting Daisy up to take over S.H.I.E.L.D. – or at the very least take over from Mace as the public face of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I love Mack (Henry Simmons) and Coulson on duty and musing about Talbot’s (Adrian Pasdar) ego – and mysterious briefcase. I also loved Coulson being the first to notice that their agent was missing from the roof and Daisy seeing the sniper (Troy Caylak) almost immediately after – and making another great public save. I also loved her quaking onto the roof and nailing the sniper!
Mace stops the bullet and tosses the podium high enough to save the crowd, but Burrows (Patrick Cavanaugh) whisks him away with a “Sir. You’re on the clock.” Now, I thought at the time that that was odd – why stop such great optics? On the clock for what? But it quickly becomes clear as the episode unfolds that Mace’s serum is running out – it’s time for another dose. I have to say that I did figure out what was in the case long before it became obvious…
Back at the lab, Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) is appalled to see Agent Crawford (Kimberley Drummond) working on Aida’s head and tells her to put it away and not go near it. Simmons is having a bad day as Talbot continues to disrespect her and throw his weight around.
I did adore Talbot assigning May (Ming-Na Wen) to interrogate the prisoner and telling her that besides his mother (this explains a lot), she’s the most intimidating woman he’s ever known! May joins Daisy in the interrogation room, and together, they get results. This was only the first attempt to kill Mace.
Radcliffe (John Hannah) continues to try to get Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) on his side, and it seems like Fitz is totally against any plans to see what went wrong with Aida (Mallory Jansen) – although we already know he’s asked that Agent to poke around. Fitz warns Radcliffe to steer clear of HQ for now, but promises to drop by for football.
However, Fitz really does to seem to have an unhealthy fascination with Aida, and the final scene with him tinkering with her in a locker and promising her that he’ll fix her as he downloads her entire program is chilling. And of course, then there is the lying to Simmons about it. This can’t end well – though it may lead to the discovery of the real May.
Meanwhile, we learn that Radcliffe actually has a back-up Aida. And it seems like she may be getting tired of him always sniping at her! She isn’t too happy that he doesn’t appreciate her saving him. It is wearisome – though completely in character – for Radcliffe to continually blame Aida for his own mistakes. Radcliffe is worried about May-bot being totally on her own. May is hideously strapped to a stretcher with a feeding tube – blerg!
Radcliffe is determined to play the long game and let May-bot find out where the Darkhold is from Coulson. Meanwhile, May is not peaceful in her peaceful scenario – because as Aida points out, the real May is prone to violence – not spending time in a day-spa! The real May is much tougher than they can possibly imagine, and I wasn’t surprised to see her break through their sedation. She almost manages to break free, but of course, Aida is able to overpower her and re-sedate her. Radcliffe realizes why the simulation was rejected and has something else in mind for May – some kind of opponent to vanquish – whatever he’s come up with, I’m betting it’s nothing good. Maybe he’ll set up a simulation of pitting May to find the Darkhold or fight off May-bot – something to help him achieve his own ends.
Burrows is his usual reprehensible self as he talks about the great optics of Mace saving the day with the podium. Mack points out that nothing will make it better for the family of the Agent who died. Mace is quick to agree with Mack – and that’s just before Burrows is sucked out of the plane to his death – and the plane goes down.
Mack, Coulson, and Mace make it out of the crash ok, but the pilot – McCafferty (Aastair Bayardo) is killed. Coulson quickly realizes that whoever is behind the attack knew their protocols. Crashing the quinjet was plan B, so plan C can’t be far behind. Coulson wants to get to high ground to get a signal on the satellite phone, but Mace insists that they find Burrows right away – leave no man behind and all that. But this is where I knew what was in that briefcase. Mack questions Mace, but follows Coulson when he muses it’s best to stick with the guy with super-strength in these situations – too bad that’s not Mace! And as the show always does so well, we get that little bit of humor of Coulson discovering his mirror-shades are broken – and it’s also a nice symbol of him finally seeing through the illusion of Mace. One final note on this scene – I loved the downed jet set – gorgeous and nicely filmed.
Back at the base, Talbot plays right into Radcliffe’s hands by upping May-bot’s security clearance. It seems like he is stonewalling Simmons completely, but it becomes obvious that he just doesn’t want her poking around in Mace’s file. Talbot assigns Simmons to find a “sciencey-way” to find their men on the ground. Talbot gets a call from the President, and even the President is concerned that Mace got the briefcase.
Coulson quickly realizes that Mace is all about finding the briefcase. Coulson and Mace are interrupted in arguing over the classified nature of the briefcase by the arrival of the Watchdogs – who are using old Hydra equipment. Coulson identifies priority one as destroying the truck blocking their signal so they can call for backup but Mace overrules him. And that was the final clue – Mack is ready to mutiny, but Coulson points out that Mace is in charge – like it or not…
Fitz arrives back at the base, and he and Simmons share a quick moment. They are clearly on the same page about Talbot being there “helping.” Simmons wants to know that Fitz has cleared his stuff out of Radcliffe’s. They agree it’s for the best that Radcliffe lays low, but Fitz does say the program showed progress. Simmons is adamant that the program was a mistake. Fitz suggests that the real problem was keeping the program from her – hers was the brain missing on the project and maybe with Simmons’ help, they could figure out what went wrong. Simmons asks him to just drop it.
Fitz tells Simmons that he was only trying to protect Simmons – aw! Fitz seems to give in and his final words that “May is too stubborn to give up” is about her interrogation of the prisoner, but segues beautifully into the real May breaking out of her mental prison.
Daisy finds May-bot sitting in Lola. And it’s disturbing to see her sharing memories of Coulson and actually showing feelings for him. May-bot isn’t supposed to know what she is, but she tells Daisy that she can’t shake the feeling that something is off – she clearly suspects that she isn’t human. Daisy is adorable as she teases May about what is happening between May and Coulson – so much like a daughter and her “parents.”
The Watchdogs have Burrows body – and the case – which they remove. Coulson sets up the strategy and Mace looks suitably nervous. Mace, of course, can’t fight and grabs the case and runs. I loved Mack asking what Mace was doing, and Coulson’s long suffering “I don’t know.” So perfect. Clark Gregg just nails it every time – and he really runs the gamut in this episode – action, humor, and drama.
It’s hilarious to watch Mace try to get to the serum and instead get shot in leg. I was sure he’d been shot in the butt at first! Coulson seems to know even before seeing the case that Mace doesn’t have powers – I’m betting he’d already figured it out too. Mace doesn’t even know what it is – just that it was uniquely calibrated to his DNA – he didn’t question the science.
Talbot utterly fails in interrogating the sniper. I did love Talbot calling the bad guys “squid-heads.” Simmons realizes that she has access to Project Patriot, but asks Talbot to just come clean – and he finally does after clearing the room. I love that they circled back to the serum that Daisy’s father used. Talbot says they “cleaned it up,” but they didn’t have Fitz and Simmons working on it, so I’m waiting for the side effects to kick in. Fitz and Simmons are horrified! I also love that the circled back to Captain America and the Erskine Program that made him a superhero. Talbot says there is no program – they just needed a single person to be the Inhuman figurehead of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also tells them that they only used it sparingly.
Mace tells Coulson and Mack that he feels badly that they are out there without protection. Mack is pissed and asks if Mace really thinks they need his protection. Mace is clearly disappointed that the answer is clearly no. He also tells them that he only lied because those were his orders – you don’t say no when your country calls! He really does share some traits in common with Captain America. He seems a little surprised when both Coulson and Mack come to his aid to help him get to safety. They would never leave a man behind either.
Back at the base, Simmons has a plan to get the sniper to talk – and this is just a fantastic scene. Simmons uses Aida’s decapitated head to Godfather him! They get the location and fill Daisy and May in. I loved Wen’s portrayal of May-bot – there’s just a subtle petulant child quality to her remark that they weren’t even searching in the right state.
Back on the ground. Coulson has a plan to take care of the newest Watchdogs. Coulson has Mace suit up and offer the Watchdogs the case – telling them that it’s a cure for Inhumans. Mace puts a good face on challenging them and shows none of the fear we’ve seen in his private moments. We get treated to another show of Coulson’s awesome shield as he saves Mace.
Meanwhile we get a great fight scene as Mack finds himself in a garden shed with garden implements! He has to settle for a hatchet, but he’s joined by May in the nick of time. Coulson and Mace are ready to fight – even though Mace has only had a very little bit of basic training – when Daisy arrives – complete with heroic music. Mace is clearly seeing her in a new light.
Coulson and Talbot go toe to toe, but Mace asks Talbot to leave him and Coulson alone. Mace comes clean about the Vienna picture. The fact is he was trying to run away from the explosion and he tripped – he didn’t even know the woman was there. He tried to deny it, but they thought he was being modest – and then he clearly liked being treated as a hero. He really wanted to become that man. He offers to resign.
But Coulson has a better plan. He tells Mace that he was good at lying – even with a gun pointed at him – and that’s not nothing. Coulson wants Mace to keep the title and handle the politics – the part he always hated anyway! Coulson, however, will take total control of operations!
The final scene has Daisy coming to call May-bot into the Director’s office where Coulson needs to see them. May-bot, however, has made a shocking discovery! She has a nasty cut on her back from landing on the table saw back at the Ranger’s Station – and she’s clearly not human. She’s finally discovered what’s off – but what will she make of it? Is her programming good enough that she’ll go to Coulson as her closest friend and tell him what’s she’s found, or will she keep it a secret, fearing that she’s been the subject of some horrible experiment?
This episode really moved things along, putting Coulson back in charge and continuing to set Daisy up to play an even bigger role in S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s inevitable that Simmons is going to be furious with Fitz, but hopefully, he will at least be able to help save May – or maybe we’ll see May-bot to that herself! What did you think of the big reveal on Mace? Is he still worthy to serve S.H.I.E.L.D.? I think he is at heart a fairly humble, honest guy and we’re going to see him go out in a blaze of glory – what do you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
