Season 3 Episode 12 of Agents of SHIELD, titled Inside Man, brings back our old friend Talbot. Check out Josh’s episode recap as we discover who this mysterious “inside man” is, as the name of the episode indicates. Don’t forget to check out our thoughts on the episode after the recap!
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Episode Recap of Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 12: The Inside Man
Agents of SHIELD picks up this week, with a flashback, back on the other side of the portal, when Ward is invaded by the alien. Flashing to the present, Grant discusses how the real Grant is the perfect host. Malick brings a present to Ward — the Inhuman who “froze up” Bobbi. He “freezes” his captors with the exception of Ward, who seems to be immune. Ward then uses some sort of ability to invade the Inhuman’s body with some sort of sand-like material.
Moving over to Coulson, he has met up with Talbot, who seems to be having spousal issues. Coulson discusses his annoyance with Talbot not working with him. Talbot, meanwhile, is not happy either, working with Talbot. Meanwhile, the rest of the team gets ready to keep an eye on Coulson. when they head to the Inhuman “Symposium”. Meanwhile, Skye and Bobbi talk about what happened to Inhumans–Skye taking the stance they were “awakened”, meanwhile Bobbi seems more conservative.
Meanwhile, Agent May and Lincoln are keeping an eye on Talbot and Coulson. He identifies a threat–who turns out to be Creel. Lincoln jumps in to provide backup to Coulson, and after some fighting, Talbot gets out of the truck to diffuse the situation. It looks like Talbot has hired Creel as a bodyguard.
Creel is taken into a holding center, and Fitz and Simmons interrogate him. They ask how he was able to touch the obelisk, but he provides no information. Talbot tries to convince SHIELD that Creel is “reformed”. Coulson seems allow Creel to leave, given Talbot is set on him going with him on the mission. This news frustrates the rest of the team. Another thing that bothers Skye–Coulson benches her, because no aliens are not allowed at the symposium.
Back with Grant, Malick is concerned about his body’s health, asking if a new host is needed. Turns out Grant cannot inhabit an Inhuman. But Grant seems set with the body he currently occupies.
Coulson provides a mission briefing, with Coulson trying to figure out who the insider is in the symposium. Coulson and Talbot head inside, Coulson is undercover as a doctor. Meanwhile, the other agents will be investigating other guests’ rooms, while Coulson and Talbot attend the symposium.
Grant, meanwhile, demands 5 humans delivered to him, when Malick leaves him alone. His Inhuman guards are to retrieve them.
Back on the helicarrier, Lincoln and Skye spar with each other, for training. It is interrupted by Simmons though, who is having issues with Creel’s DNA. Simmons needs Lincoln’s help, since he familiar with DNA.
At the meeting, Talbot heads the meeting. He says that they need to come up with how to handle the Inhumans. The SHIELD agents try to discuss who they think the “insider” is, but there doesn’t seem to be a consensus.
Meanwhile, Hunter sees Creel leaving his post, as Simmons is about to analyze his blood. It looks like Creel’s blood might be a way to “vaccinate” against Inhumans. Skye is pretty upset about learning this, but Lincoln thinks that this vaccine is a good thing–saying it should be limited on who should be able to “transform”.
Meanwhile, May discovers an encrypted message from one of the leaders at the meeting. May is concerned and wants to get into her room. Bobbi heads up, and finds documentation that she has an Inhuman locked up for testing purposes. Hunter, meanwhile, is still trying to figure out what Creel is up to. He discovers the trapped Inhuman, but Creel is able to knock Hunter out.
At the meeting, Talbot turns on Coulson, and demands his arrest, and exposes who he really is. Then Malick joins the meeting, and calls Coulson out as the director of HYDRA. Outside, Hunter wakes up with a bunch of guns in his face. He is rescued by Bobbi and May. Hunter puts its together with May–the Inhuman being held is imprisoned by Malick, and Malick is blackmailing Talbot. Luckily, Hunter brought Bobbi’s batons and some guns, so they work to rescue Coulson.
Malick, meanwhile, talks to the members of the symposium. He says he will help the world, and tries to put Coulson in a bad light. Coulson is locked up per Malick’s orders. Talbot and Malick come visit Coulson, and Talbot demands his son back. Malick of course backs out of that deal, and both Talbot and Coulson are locked up. Malick orders their death. Creel shows up though, and Talbot and Coulson are freed.
Hunter and Bobbi move in for rescuing, and Creel shows up. Meanwhile, Agent May seems like she has good news–and has rescued Talbot’s son.
Back with Grant, his 5 humans are delivered to him. Grant’s sandy “dust” seems to devour the humans.
Back at base, Skye and Lincoln talk again, and they seem to get over their differences about the potential vaccine–to some extent at least. This of course leads to some romancing in Lincoln’s room.
Talbot, Coulson and the team are aboard the helicarrier, and his son is now safe.
Back with Ward, we see the soupy mess he has left over from his “devouring” of the humans brought to him.
The final scene of the episode has Malick working with the Russian leader from the symposium. They seem to be set on making a “sanctuary state” for Inhumans. Turns out they are not alone though–Bobbi and Hunter have snuck aboard the ship as well…
Josh’s Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 12: The Inside Man
This was another pretty good episode of Agents of SHIELD. I am really interested to see where Grant Ward ends up. Grant has been confirmed dead by himself, when he reveals that a host for him is required to be dead. I wonder if this means that by the end of this villain’s run, we will have seen the end of Ward, permanently. Either way, he is shaping up to be a pretty formidable villain, it would seem. I am wondering how Malick has any hope to control him.
As for the turn-coating Talbot, I guess I can see why he did it—his son was in the hands of Malick. But you would think he would have been able to come up with a way to tell Coulson, so they would be able to work out a plan to stop Malick. I am curious to see how Creel will do on the good guys’ side now though. He was a pretty formidable foe in the past, so I am curious to see how is alliance with SHIELD will go.
The other interesting bit of the episode was the discovery of a potential cure to the “Terra-Genesis” in Creel’s blood. I enjoyed Skye’s and Lincoln’s debate, and it certainly is a tough one to pick sides on. I would probably err on the side of Lincoln though, as this vaccine prevents catastrophic powers from ending up in evil people’s hands. Sure it also stops the good guys, but it seems like this would be better than the alternative of killing or imprisoning people who have powers. Some people aren’t even able to control their powers, so some innocent people could be imprisoned/killed just because they are not able to control their abilities.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 3 Episode 12 of Agents of SHIELD: The Inside Man
Although I didn’t see it coming that Talbot was the “Inside Man,” and though I did feel betrayed, I can’t say that I was surprised. It kind of seemed to fit. But then it turned out that he was being blackmailed with the life of his son, and it made more sense. It then quickly became obvious that Malick wasn’t going to follow through on his deal with Talbot. Luckily, Talbot and Coulson were saved. What does this mean going forward? Will Talbot’s tenure as the ATCU be threatened? Or will this whole incident be swept under the rug? After all, the representatives at the symposium just think that Coulson is the head of HYDRA, which doesn’t really concern them, since Malick took him into custody, and Malick continues to appear on the up and up. It seems that Malick has also recruited one of the representatives to help him gather up the Inhumans as well.
As for Ward’s powers, I’m not sure I understand them. We’ve see some sand flying off of him toward Mr. Giyera and the new Inhuman from Colombia, but don’t see what happens to them. Then we see the same thing happen to the humans that are brought to Ward, and the aftermath shows blood and skeletons that remain. The difference is that the former are Inhumans, while the latter are not. But what exactly does his powers to do Inhumans, and will we get to see it without it cutting away, or is it too gory? In any case, at the end, we see that the Ward monster is no longer weak and pale, but now looks normal and strong. I guess he’ll be ready to wreak some havoc on the Earth soon.
Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 13: Parting Shot
Here are scenes from the next Agents of SHIELD episode, titled Parting Shot:
I thought it was dumb for Talbot to think Malick would keep his word. But, it’s not like he had a choice.
Talbot with the double cross, but the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were able to pull it off. Bobby and Hunter in the belly of the beast at the end of this episode, OMG!