'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: 'Wake Up'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

As the old saying goes, united we stand, divided we fall and oddly enough that particular statement can easily be applied to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because when this intrepid team comes together, miracles happen, often times ones that save the world but when they are divided...disaster is certain to strike and as the back half of season four continues along, the unity this team experienced in the midseason finale, is starting to crumble right before our eyes.

Granted in many ways said unity was shattered the instant we found out Agent May was an android, and last night's episode dug deeper into that, but truly the focus of this story were the divisions that are slowly growing in S.H.I.E.L.D., ugly ones in fact, that may change the landscape of certain relationships and if anything the title for this episode was eerily appropriate because 'Wake Up' didn't just refer to May's plight, it directly referenced the fact that Coulson and the gang need to be cognizant of the threats that are growing within their own organization because their true enemy for the remainder of this season, is a home grown one, and one that could care less about the collateral damage that will come from their actions. 

But before we get too deep into that, let's talk about Agent May's story since this episode bothered to fill in the gaps that we've all been wondering about, specifically when did Radcliffe kidnap her and how on earth does one keep an agent as strong willed as May under wraps and as it turns out, the good doctor replaced her shortly before the final mission involving the Darkhold, and he's been using a form of dream therapy where she believes she is fighting a good fight in order to keep her unconscious so that the May-Droid can do her thing. But despite his best efforts to keep this whole mess going smoothly, May 2.0 knows what she is now and confronted Radcliffe about her true origins in a stunning moment that more or less led to the reveal of the fact that Radcliffe is the grand theft to S.H.I.E.L.D. and everything they are working toward.

Granted, the fact that he replaced an agent with an Android isn't exactly a friendly move to begin with, but Radcliffe has been quietly planning his next steps behind the scenes and while Coulson and the gang went to Capitol Hill to have Daisy sign the Sokovia Accords and become a legitimate agent once again, Phil decided to make the most of this opportunity and bug Senator Nadeer's office to keep an eye on her, a move that backfired because she knew they were coming. This is where the divisions within S.H.I.E.L.D. began to grow since Phil and General Talbot were at each other's throats about the decision to bug her office to begin with, and an accusation from Phil that perhaps Talbot was the one who tipped the Senator off offended the General on a level we've never seen before, and clearly Coulson knows he made a mistake in taking his fury that far.  

Which brings us back to Radcliffe, who as it turns out, is the one who leaked the op to Senator Nadeer, all in the hopes of being placed under her protection because clearly Radcliffe was able to think far enough ahead to know that eventually Fitz would figure out that Radcliffe altered Aida's programming to gain access to the Darkhold and Radcliffe even created an LMD of himself to be captured in order to ensure his safety. So, this complex story basically left everything and everyone a mess. S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to be heavily investigated by the Senate, the May-Droid knows the truth about her true identity but likely won't say a word about it because she's programmed not to and at this point...who knows if S.H.I.E.L.D. can properly protect the book with all this infighting now getting underway. Either way, things are only going to get worse before they get better, so here's to hoping Coulson can put a stop to the infighting and get his team back on track in a timely manner so that Radcliffe never gets his hands on the book. Until next time.

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