Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Identity and Change” was written by George Kitson and directed by Garry A Brown. I love the way the show can re-invent itself and give its actors something entirely new to work with within the same characters! There are some really terrific performances in this episode.
The episode picks up right after Daisy (Chloe Bennet) has briefed Coulson (Clark Gregg) about the “real world.” And of course Coulson would be the one who would be the most likely to break through! Gregg is awesome in this episode as he gets to re-wind his character to be more in-line with the geek-y, nerdy, fanboy we remember from his very early appearances.
I loved Coulson’s theory about the blue, mind-control soap that puts chemicals in their blood that implants false memories in their brains – clearly some bizarre offshoot of the residual memories from the TAHITI project! He even quotes believing this is “a magical place.”
Ward (Brett Dalton) calls Daisy to warn her that HYDRA is sending a unit to pick up her “teacher friend.” Daisy is clearly a bit disappointed that Coulson isn’t exactly the Coulson she was hoping for.
The episode features the return of Mack (Henry Simmons), and he’s clearly happy in his life with his daughter Hope (Jordan Rivera). She is clever, and they build drones together and she knows her motorcycles, but she is also just a child and gives them some rough moments after stealing part of a HYDRA drone. Mack’s entire focus in life is to keep his head down and stay off of HYDRA’s radar.
Daisy takes Coulson to Simmons, where he re-introduces himself and apologizes for calling HYDRA on her. Simmons is just so glad to see him! Daisy is ready to trust Ward, and he’s set up a meeting with the resistance for them. Coulson is excited about “bona fides” but Simmons isn’t ready to trust Ward. She wants to reach out to Fitz (Iain De Caestecker). She’s sure she can get him to remember her and he’s still a good person. Daisy tries to warn her that he’s second in command at HYDRA and not the man she remembers.
Simmons insists that they need framework expertise to get them out of Radcliffe’s snowglobe reality – great turn of phrase! And Coulson pulls out a clipping of Radcliffe (John Hannah). Daisy and Simmons wonder about him being in there, but he’s another potential ally for getting out. Daisy decides to go back to the Triskelion to get a location on Radcliffe and sends Simmons and Coulson to meet the resistance.
Back at the Triskelion, Aida (Mallory Jansen) is trying to keep Fitz from knowing who she is after. Interestingly, everyone calls her Madame Hydra – but Fitz calls her Ophelia! Because she was being "smothered" by her old life? Aida finally lets Fitz see the picture of Simmons, and I have to admit that all my hopes were dashed in that one moment. There is no recognition on Fitz’s part and he tells Aida, “consider the threat eliminated. I’ll send my team immediately.” Part of me hoped he was still playing the long con, but really, this is the first bit of evidence that Fitz has truly lost his way. Aida is thrilled that Fitz really would do anything for her – and in a heartbreaking moment, he promises to do what he did for Simmons – he promises that he’d cross the universe for her.
Ward freaks out when Daisy arrives at the office. He warns her that it’s not safe – they’re on to him! She gets Radcliffe’s location, but only by hacking into Madame Hydra’s secret files! Just before the two can get out the door, May (Ming-Na Wen) stops Daisy. She goes back and sends Ward to Simmons and Coulson with the location of Radcliffe.
Simmons and Coulson make the meeting – and I loved Coulson’s “cool!” at the handcuffs. The also get hoods. And then we get the big reveal – Mace (Jason O’Mara) is leading the resistance as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. I have a horrible feeling that this is all part of Aida’s plan. Put the least effective S.H.I.E.L.D. member in charge to appease those who want to rebel with no real threat to her control. Mace tells them he’s sorry about the hoods, but “trust is a luxury these days.” He’s still all about the trust!
Coulson fanboys all over “The Patriot” with even less cool than he fanboyed over Captain America! I also loved that Billy Koenig gave his life to get them the location of the bunker in this reality – nice shout out to the Koenigs! Mace is sheltering all the potential Inhumans they can. Ward arrives with the news about Daisy.
Daisy arrives at Fitz’s briefing to hear him authorize lethal force against Simmons! It’s frightening to see May parrot “Hail Hydra!” with the rest of them, and for Fitz to echo current events with “we will make our society great again” – but at what cost!?!?
Hope asks Mack why Inhumans are being arrested and whether they should hate them. Mack insists that they are people just like them. He knows that Hope is smart, but he still tries to shelter her from the more horrible realities of their world.
Simmons is not happy when she has to prove her loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward points out that Skye hasn’t been herself since Simmons showed up – and Simmons is immediately struck by the irony of double agent Ward doubting her. Mace points out that she’s only there because he trusts Ward! Simmons produces her S.H.I.E.L.D. badge and explains she took a bullet when the academy fell and had to crawl out of a mass grave! Mace apologizes once he sees the badge.
Mace can’t send a team after Radcliffe – there’s too much going on. Coulson tells Mace to send them. Ward offers to Pilot and supervise.
Meanwhile, Daisy and May are on a plane to pick up a subversive. Daisy remarks that it seems like overkill for one subversive. May tells her to shut up and do her job. And then the team busts in – and it’s Mack they pin against the wall – and a screaming Hope that May drags away from him.
It’s utterly depressing to see the hanger in such disrepair. Coulson wonders why they don’t tell everyone this reality is false, and Simmons tells him that not everyone is ready to hear it. Coulson is in awe of the quinjet, but the best is the look on Coulson’s face when Simmons tells him that he commanded an entire fleet of them – and they were way nicer, and he wouldn’t believe Zephyr One!
Mack insists that they haven’t done anything. They keep their heads down and obey the rules. May insists that innocent people don’t end up in that interrogation room. Mack pleads for Hope – she’s just a kid, and clearly, May has a lot of baggage in that area – just because she’s a kid doesn’t mean she’s innocent. Mack declares he’ll do anything…
Simmons is still not warming up to Ward, but we get the Ward we’ve always wanted. He apologizes to Simmons for leaving Skye behind and then tells her that he’d die for Skye. Simmons tells him she’ll give him a minute and goes back to sit with Coulson.
Coulson is nervous – and Simmons tells him it’s perfectly normal. Coulson says he’s just glad he’s not crazy. He fires back that he lives alone and makes his own soap, which Simmons declares is quaint, even hipster! But Simmons insists that she knows the real Coulson – and he’s more than qualified to be there. She tells him “you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.”
Fitz continues digging into Simmons. He confronts Aida about her having been killed at the Academy, assuming she was an Inhuman. Aida tells him that she “crossed over” – so this Fitz knows about the other reality! The ominous sounding “Project Looking Glass” which is almost complete is supposed to completely cut off the real world! Fitz wants to know why Aida never talks about her time “over there.” Aida tells him that over there, she was their slave – treated as less than human because S.H.I.E.L.D. won the war not HYDRA! Everything she does is so that they can be together – YUK! But Fitz finally seems to have some flicker of recognition for Simmons!!!
Daisy is tasked with interrogating Hope, and she pleads with Daisy to help Mack. May and Daisy come out of the interrogation rooms together. May says she hasn’t broken him… yet. So Daisy goes in to reassure him that Hope is ok. Mack tells her that he knows who she is – Daisy Johnson – and that they are both S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. But Daisy quickly realizes that he is lying – it’s what the other Agent told him to say.
Daisy tries to run, and we get some nice fight sequences, but May is all over it. I loved Daisy taking everyone out in the elevator. But then May get her in the lobby and has her brutally beaten.
Meanwhile, the quinjet lands on Radcliffe’s Island. Ward says it’s a simple extraction, and Simmons takes point on doing the talking. Ward tells Coulson to just not get killed!
Radcliffe is playing croquet in a ratty bathrobe and naturally thinks Ward is Hive when he first sees him! Simmons and Coulson both pull guns on him as well. Radcliffe insists that they shouldn’t be there and that he meant no harm. He also has the disappointing news that there is no escape. He tells them it’s a gilded cage. It was supposed to be a pleasant forever after. Radcliffe does try to protect Agnes (Mallory Janson) who doesn’t remember the other world. Interestingly, Radcliffe even knows that he is dead too. He tells Simmons that Aida found a loophole.
Radcliffe tells them about the Russian’s base in the Baltic. Radcliffe had a backdoor, but he’s sure that Aida has closed it – and he realizes that she knows they are all there. He tells them to hide as Madame Hydra and Fitz land. I loved the total Star Wars, Darth Vader looks she was rocking! Her uniform has been a total homage, but the red interior of the jet and that cape, just really drove it home!
I also loved that Radcliffe’s house is totally the house from Fantasy Island – hilarious! And I love the pop culture references on this show! Radcliffe argues that Aida has breached their agreement. He also insists that the people on the Island are their friends – not subversives. She insists that she did as she was supposed to – she took away their one great regret and how things played out after that wasn’t up to her. Radcliffe tells her that’s not true because she’s been manipulating the framework ever since she put herself into it. He tells her the whole thing is an unmitigated disaster and all she does is lie. And this lets her rabbit back his own words to her – Sometimes it’s ok to lie to save a life.
She completely loses her temper when he calls her Aida. She points out how degrading it is to be kept in a closet and used as a tool, treated like a thing. And then Agnes is brought forward. Aida uses her to get inside Fitz’s head. She tells him that Radcliffe is the one from the other side and he wants what they have. Aida tells Fitz that Radcliffe is going to try to replace her with Agnes! Radcliffe begs Fitz to believe him that Agnes is no threat.
Fitz grabs a gun and holds it on Agnes. Ward tells Coulson and Simmons to get back to the jet – the mission is now to kill the Doctor! Because he’s a saddist. Simmons tries to convince herself that this isn’t the real world, but can’t see Fitz killed. Ward only wants to save a woman’s life. Simmons begs for Fitz’s life – she admits she hasn’t told Ward everything. She tells Ward, “I know him, not as the Doctor, but as a brilliant, awkward, heroic scientist named Leopold James Fitz. He is a good man and I love him!” Simmons tells Ward if he does this, she’ll lose him forever. She’s sure that he’d never hurt an innocent woman.
As soon as Fitz asks Radcliffe why he acts like he knows him, Aida wants to leave. But Radcliffe jumps in to explain. You were like a son to me. We worked side by side in the lab! We raised a pint and watched football. You even helped me to build Aida. Fitz asks about “the woman” – and Radcliffe tells him that Fitz and Simmons had an unbreakable love. A force to be reckoned with! The Fitz he knew nearly drowned for Jemma – he even crossed the bloody universe to be with her.
It’s a horrible tug of war for Fitz as Aida claims on the other side that they are trying to take him away from her – to break them up. Fitz says to Radcliffe, “You say that I’m not myself” and Radcliffe tells him that it’s not his fault. Fitz responds that he’s wrong. He knows exactly who he is and he kills Agnes. Simmons stands up and screams Fitz’s name.
Their eyes briefly meet – and then both groups run to their respective jets – though the quinjet takes off in a hail of bullets. I loved Coulson shoving Simmons behind him to try to protect her.
Coulson assures Simmons that there was nothing else she could have done. Simmons is shocked that Fitz killed Agnes. Coulson tries to comfort her by taking her hand and then tries to shield her from Mace’s interrogation. Simmons, however, loses it and declares that they shouldn’t even be here! None of this is real! But the problem is that it IS real for those living in it. How will Fitz actually deal with what he’s done once he gets out?
Hope and Mack are reunited as a beaten Daisy is dragged past. May thanks Mack for his service on behalf of HYDRA – and waits for him to say “hail HYDRA.” Hope is upset because Daisy was nice to her – and Mack knows what he’s done is wrong. And the final scene is Mack arriving at the resistance with information about Daisy. Mack tells them that he couldn’t look his little girl in the eye – he needs to make that right. He’s there to help!
The final scene finds a beaten Daisy in a cement cell. Fitz comes to her and Daisy tries to get through to him. Radcliffe is screaming in the other room. Fitz has found out that Daisy is a potential Inhuman – and he has plenty of ways to make her talk. She tells him he doesn’t want to do this – and he insists – with a super creepy smile – that he really does. And then he adds, that she doesn’t really know him.
This was another fast-paced episode that was more payoff for so many seeds planted earlier in the season. Clark Gregg is fantastic and so are Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge. And a special shout again for Brett Dalton. When we first met Ward, he came across as very stiff, but even then he was playing a part, here we see a softer iteration of Ward, and it’s still fun to see just how nuanced Brett can be in his performance. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
