At the start of season 4, Agents of SHIELD made an interesting decision to move into ABC’s 10 to 11 p.m. time slot. The reasoning behind this was that the show would be able to push for more adult characters and stories to change things up, and boy has it done wonders for the Marvel property. Between Ghost Rider and now the LMD stories, the show has definitely stepped it’s game up and continues to build plots that are fun and compelling. The focus on the LMD’s has been really interesting but each week feels like it is twisting the story in a big way and that has kept things confusing but just as interesting. Agents of SHIELD has always been a show that feels all over the place, but now it has increased the emotional weight and is on top of it’s game.
Last night’s episode, “Hot Potato Soup,” continues to escalate the story surrounding the Darkhold and SHIELD attempting to hold off Nadeer from getting her hands on it. Everything surround Nadeer has been hit or miss because she seems to just pop in to create an annoying situation for SHIELD; however, having the character now working with Radcliffe has definitely made her more interesting and brought a whole new aspect to the conflict of Agents of SHIELD season 4. Radcliffe has completely stolen the show though, because of how deceptive he continues to be; the character is the ultimate snake but Hannah is just so charming in the role that viewers can never trust. It will be interesting to see what his end goal truly is, only because while right now he’s jumping around to the most convenient protection, but he has to have a specific goal in mind if he were able to get ahold of the Darkhold. “Hot Potato Soup,” also introduces a new aspect to Radcliffe and Fitz’s relationship with the betrayal; not only does Fitz feel like he was betrayed by a father figure, but the Radcliffe LMD actually opens up about how he did know Fitz’s real father, who turned out to be a terrible person. It opens up a new part of Radcliffe’s life that will be interesting to explore, especially because it possibly expands his ability to continue being a part of Agents of SHIELD and also that he might get to work with the SHIELD team again.
On top of this, Agents of SHIELD finally addresses the conflict of May being an LMD and how Radcliffe shook things up on that front as well. The May story has been a wild one, but one that is full of emotion, and last night’s episode really displayed that. While it’s been frustrating to have the real May sort of sidelined in the second half of season 4, the show has definitely kept things interesting. There has always been sexual tension between May and Coulson, but the writers made a great choice to finally act on it during this story. Things have been pretty rocky for the SHIELD team lately, and the show as really boosted the amount of personal and intimate scenes that May and Coulson share with one another. It has only boosted the emotion that is felt when May tries to escape her mental prison and creates sympathy for Coulson. This is the second time that viewers have watched the man who has dedicated his life to the SHIELD organization try and have some type of functional relationship in his line of work, only for the man to have his heart broken or be faced with an impossible conflict.
Yet, this is the type of content that has really escalated Agents of SHIELD into being a great show now. The LMD story, at first, could have easily felt like a cheaper knock off of Avengeers: Age of Ultron. However, Agents of SHIELD chooses to make things more complicated and bring into question what counts as consciousness and being considered “alive.” Radcliffe’s LMD does a nice job of almost confusing Mack, but doing it with legitimate points about what it means to be alive. It creates a lot of compelling possibilities for the show to explore, and “Hot Potato Soup,” even gave viewers a little taste with the team fully learning that May is an LMD. Coulson struggles to accept how real the LMD May actually is, and she even tries to argue that she has the same memories and mind, it’s just an artificial body. At times, it does seem very easy to dispose of a robot, which the show displays through Mack’s readiness to blow LMD Radcliffe’s brains out; but when the situation hits closer to home with May, Coulson feels he has to keep the LMD around because he can’t bear the thought of losing the real May forever.
Agents of SHIELD has had a wild ride as a show, but it has developed and built to a point that it should be proud of. “Hot Potato Soup,” really shows how far the show has come and how mature it has gotten with it’s stories and the content it wants to deliver to the fans. The show has done something fresh with the LMD plot and made it their own, which has been really interesting so far. Hopefully this trend continues and SHIELD just has to grind out a tough time without losing their mental strength. The show seems like it is pushing the heroes to the brink, but what else really makes this season fun is that there is a ton of team conflict. When topics like Fitz’s father pop up, not just Simmons is concerned, Mack is as well. Agents of SHIELD has developed a great team that is close, and the LMD half of season 4 is going to test what they are made of as a team.
Other Thoughts:
- Man, Agents of SHIELD sure knows how to trigger people… having the first May/Coulson kiss be with her LMD. Hah.
- John Hannah continues to be such a great addition to the Agents of SHIELD cast. Love him as Radcliffe and it will be fun to have the actor doing multiple things with the LMDs in the picture now.
- LOVE that they chose Artemis Pebdani to be the original Koenig. She’s so much fun on shows like Son of Zorn and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
- May’s story reminds me of the previous season of Doctor Who. If you watch, you know what I’m talking about.
