'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: 'Self Control'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

Wow. Just wow. That's the only word that keeps coming into my mind when it comes to last night's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because holy cow, this one was quite the game changer. Sure we knew we were going to be in trouble this week with four LMD's running around S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, but I don't think any of us expected this episode to be quite as devastating as this one turned out to be.

After all, 'Self Control' was more or less an hour of scorched earth. One where I'm not sure that anything will ever quite be the same tone and design wise for this show considering what happens to HQ and considering where our characters end up and from the get go this episode upped its game by taking an already incredible twist and enhancing it further by revealing that Daisy was not the fourth LMD after all, it turned out to be Fitz, who quickly turned on Jemma in an effort to convert her into an android as well and that was just the beginning for a tale that quite frankly felt like a grand homage to The Thing since for quite some time we really had no clue as to who was a droid and who was flesh and blood. 

That made for one tense story and one that sunk into dark territory once Fitz's real identity was revealed since the Coulson-Bot and Mack-Droid went on a brief killing spree to in essence blackmail Jemma and Daisy and capture them in the hopes of converting them as well and in the process of hunting down two of their own, S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ was more or less laid to waste. All bets were off during this sequence of the story and well, considering that it was a matter of life or death for Jemma and Daisy it makes sense, but the fact that HQ has once more been blown to bits and that what remains of the active agents are once again on the run with a shaky plan at best to rescue their friends from the Framework is stunning to say the least and truly I never saw this kind of wild plot twist coming. 

But, the show wasn't done dropping our jaws with the destruction of home base. The whole mess with the Darkhold has suddenly become infinitely more complicated because dear Aida is discovering conflicts within her programming. She is of course, digitally sworn to protect the Framework, but she has concerns with the fact that humanity is filled with regrets and that someday, Dr. Radcliffe may regret building the Framework. He of course assures her otherwise, letting her know that when the human mind is connected to this digital utopia that regret can never exist, making her corporeal concerns null and void, giving her the wild notion to murder Radcliffe, and upload his mind to the Framework so that he can never change his mind when it comes to his decision to build this perfect virtual paradise.

So...just like that, Aida is our brand new villain. An Android obsessed with protecting a world that doesn't physically exist and not only will she do whatever it takes to defend the Framework, she also seems to be obsessed with finding a way to become more human and experience what we do and well...that makes her one of the most dangerous villains S.H.I.E.L.D., and what's left of it, has ever faced. Plus to top it all off, Daisy and Jemma appear to be lost and confused in the Framework and one has to wonder if Jemma will even be able to make a difference considering the fact her avatar appears to be dead in this digital world. Either way, this was simply a stunning episode, one that still has my head spinning a day later and I'm dying to know why the virtual Triskelion had a Hydra logo for all to see in the closing moments of this episode...time will tell I guess. Until next time.

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