Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4 Episode 16 review - What if?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is back and after that whopper of a cliffhanger to the last story arc, I'm excited to see what's next

What if…?

I’ll lay my cards on the table, I’m not usually a fan of alternate universe stories like this. It’s hard to keep the stakes and there’s plenty of awkwardness with new character interactions.

That said, this is a strong outing for this premise as things begin to progress beyond that which we saw in the opening.

So, HYDRA rules the world, how did that happen? Well, it started with the kid not dying in Bahrain, the reversal of May’s greatest regret, the child ended up in Cambridge and from what I understand, killed a lot of people. This turned everyone against S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA used it to their advantage to create their own world order, with May joining them thanks to her guilt over the event.

No need to talk about Coulson since he’s exactly the same he was in the teaser, so to Fitz then, whose one regret is what exactly? I have no idea but Simmons purportedly died during a HYDRA assault on the S.H.I.E.L.D. academy so his affections are for the new leader of HYDRA and whilst you can call Madame HYDRA all you like, she’s AIDA. He’s now HYDRA’s lead scientist and kinda sadistic which is very uncomfortable to watch coming from someone who’s usually as good natured as Fitz.

Let’s talk about Grant Ward, he’s not in the framework so it’s no his greatest regret that’s been changed, although I suspect it’s safe to say he doesn’t carry all the baggage that Ward did in the real world before I lost interest in him around half way through season 2. Here he works with the ‘resistance’ to protect ‘Skye’ from being detected as an inhuman. It’s actually going to be interesting to see Ward as a good guy again as they’ve long since run out of mileage of him being a villain.

More characters, both old and new need to come out of this for the world building to have a full effect. I know Mace and Radcliffe are due to show up but there’s limitless possibilities for cameos and appearances.

Hopefully the next episode will focus more on the story and less on Daisy and Simmons bumbling around looking for answers, their way out is closed and it’s looking bad, but that’s when these guys work their magic

Rating 7.5/10