Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4 (LMD) episodes 9-10 review - Broken Promises/The Patriot

We enter the second act of Agents of S.H.E.L.D. with LMD.

Broken Promises

It appears for most of the episode that Ada is after the Darkhold for herself, with speeches about being opened to emotions and counter-speeches about Radcliffe not watching enough robot apocalypse movies. It’s only a minor part of the episode but using that as a new way of bonding Yo-yo and Mack was a stroke of genius.

Sadly, I haven’t had a chance to watch her solo series, so no opinions there but let’s get to the episode at hand. AIDA uses her wits and her inside agent in the May LMD to get into the base in an attempt to steal the Darkhold. But we need a subplot to distract the people who are less affected by this so Simmons, Daisy and Mace head out to rescue the brother of Senator Nadeer who was rescued by Simmons a while back.

OK, so we find out that Senator Nadeer is in fact a complete moron who believes that inhumans are the second coming of the Chitauri… Because she’s f*cking stupid. No seriously, even without the perspective of knowing what inhumans actually are, long buried Kree DNA activated through exposure to products found in fish oil, there are a few holes in linking this to the Chitauri. The first and most obvious is a race that has the power to create super-powered humans wouldn’t start with a massive invasion. Did none of you watch the Reach’s invasion plan in Young Justice?

OK, so the Chitauri are personal to them because their mother was killed by the Chitauri but now to compound the idiocy she tries to get a team from the Watchdogs to assassinate him. Apparently, there was some promise but that seems equally as stupid. The brother, as it happens has some pretty nifty reaction speeds from his terrigenesis. Also, possibly, something else, given what happens at the end.

Nadeer compounds the stupidity even further by not killing him, then telling the watchdogs not to kill him, then killing him anyway, then saying they need to attack S.H.I.E.L.D. I’ll be blunt, I’m not the biggest fan of this plot-line. I like Simmons, Mace and Mack together, I find Nadeer about as threatening as a the noise my laptop is making as I type this review and I’ve made my thoughts on watchdogs clear by this point.

So back to the robot apocalypse… actually there’s not much more to say. I like what I saw and I bringing it back and making Radcliffe actually be the one responsible was a bold move that I didn’t see coming.

Rating 8/10

The Patriot

So, Talbot decides the new leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to be a guy taking a temporary super-power drug.

The one problem with the LMD threat is that AIDA is not exactly a physical threat, neither is Radcliffe. As he says in this episode he’ll have to play the long game, which means this plot will largely be boiling in the background whilst the focus is on the watchdogs and Senator Nadeer and maybe also her inhuman brother if he comes back. And you know how much I love the Watchdogs, right?

Fortunately, this episode isn’t too heavily focused on them as the main plot revolves around the reveal that Mace is indeed not inhuman but someone who takes temporary super-power serum, carried by his now dead assistant whose name I don’t remember but I remember finding him mildly irritating.

So, when the watchdogs use an assassin to force Mace into the air before sending him down in Virginia, minus the tracking beacon, it’s up to Coulson and Mack to be the voices of strength as his powers run out. It’s time that you see that whilst he put on a good face, Mace was never really an operational strategist and has no idea about running ops in the field without his powers. And he and Coulson come to a conclusion that whilst he may stay head of S.H.I.E.L.D. to the public, Couslon will be taking charge of the operations. Good, I guess

Meanwhile back at base, Talbot was being an idiot, Simmons was trying to take control and Fitz… I have no idea what Fitz is up to… I just hope he works out that there’s nothing wrong with AIDA’s programming so he can confront Radcliffe about it. But it kills me he’s keeping this from Simmons, who’s more than insistent that the close the chapter on LMDs for good

We do have some LMD stuff in progress. Let’s start with the LMD becoming somewhat resentful of her creator after repeated scoldings for using excessive force. Will AIDA go rogue? I hope not, they had something unique with the twist from last week. They can’t keep May sedate but work out that she’s calmer in the heat of battle than in somewhere tranquil. Meanwhile LMD may begins to discover more about herself. We’ll see if she realises what she is after the discovery of metal under her flesh next time.

Rating 8/10

Images/clips used in this review are from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers Assemble (The Avengers) and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use