Last week’s Agents of SHIELD episode, Emancipation, has Lincoln making an attempted escape to meet up with Daisy. Also, Coulson and Talbot continue the Sokovia Accords debate after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Josh provides the recap for this episode. Don’t forget to check out both Josh’s and Violet’s thoughts on the episode, following the recap!
- His thoughts on Emancipation, Episode 320 of Agents of SHIELD
- Her thoughts on Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 20: Emancipation
Agents of SHIELD starts with Coulson and May discussing the Sokovia Accords. Coulson seems to have a meeting with Talbot planned. He shows up, and Talbot seems suspicious. Talbot tells Coulson that the President sent him, and the Sokovia Accords are the law now, and that SHIELD needs to rejoin the government. Talbot demands to know what is going on in the “shadows.” Coulson takes Talbot to the SHIELD base for a tour, which ironically is right below the bar they are in.
Daisy, meanwhile, has been hacking around Fitz’s security measures. She looks pretty drained–literally. Hive tells Daisy that her friends are getting in the way, and he is losing patience. Radcliffe comes in, and tells Daisy that they have drained enough for the day, not wanting to kill the “golden goose.”
Radcliffe tells Hive that he is ready for his next trial. Hive has some special people planned–for Daisy apparently.
On base, Agent May confronts Lincoln, and tells him that he is off the rails since Daisy has been gone. Lincoln wants to be released, but May says his immune system is shot at the moment.
Fitz and Simmons, meanwhile, work to stop Daisy’s hacks, and they discuss how Mack seems to be both physically and mentally broken. Agent May approaches the two though, and tells the two of them to figure out Hive’s end game.
Coulson tells Talbot about his Inhumans, and asks Talbot to keep them quiet. Talbot meets “Yo-yo” and she demonstrates her powers. Coulson then pleads more, to keep the Inhumans he is working with secret.
We have another horrible group of people though–The Watchdogs, which we met a few episodes ago. They apparently have a training camp going so that they can take down the Inhumans. Meanwhile, they get some inside information on an Inhuman to take down, and they are prepared to “make an example” of it.
Back in quarantine, Lincoln whispers to Daisy to make contact with him. Daisy reveals she has been listening. She managed to hack the system, looping his security feed, so he can talk freely to her. Lincoln tells her that he wants to be with her, but he says he doesn’t want to be brainwashed. Daisy identifies Talbot approaching though, and cuts the feed.
Talbot is not so happy to see Lincoln. Talbot tries to explain the point of the Sokovia Accords. Lincoln volunteers to register so that he can be allowed to be freed. Talbot wants to know why Lincoln hasn’t tried to leave, and he says he isn’t that type of guy, and he wouldn’t make it off the base.
Talbot’s next visit is seeing Lash, and he is not happy to see that this Inhuman is not more contained. He also says that he knows about Daisy. Talbot demands to know what is going on. Coulson tells him all about Hive, and how he is worshipped. Talbot is also told what Hive is doing to Daisy. Talbot uses this as justification for the Sokovia Accords, saying this is a “nightmare scenario.” Fitz and Simmons seem to think that Hive has everything he needs to make more Inhumans from humans. They also came to the realization that Daisy has Kree blood in her. Talbot is getting uppity, and demands to know how Coulson plans to take him down.
Lincoln, meanwhile, gets contacted by Daisy again, who asks him if he really wants to leave.
Mack, meanwhile, talks with Yo-yo, and Yo-yo asks what happened. Yo-yo tells him that he needs faith, and a beer. She tells Mack that they have to stand up and fight.
The Watchdogs make their move on the Inhuman they wanted to capture. They corner the Inhuman in an alley, but this Inhuman turns out to be James. He gets a piece of chain, and uses his powers to ignite it. Then Hive shows up. They are captured and taken back to his hideout.
Radcliffe is brought these men, so he can experiment again. They are then exposed to Radcliffe’s experiments. Things again don’t go as planned though, as the men inside are deformed, not seeming to be Inhumans. But they seem to be much stronger than normal humans. Hive seems happy with the results, while Radcliffe is not. Hive demands more, and Radcliffe protests at first, but is too afraid to disagree.
Daisy then meets up with Lincoln again via video, and works to help Lincoln escape. She helps him “MacGuyver” his way out.
Coulson, Fitz and Simmons, meanwhile, continue to talk to Talbot, and they see that Daisy is hacking some more. Fitz discovers that Lincoln is working on his escape. They get all hands on deck, and Talbot says he is going to alert the President. Coulson asks for more time. Meanwhile, Fitz, Simmons, and Mack work to figure out how to get Daisy out of the system. Mack realizes that Daisy could hack the Quinjet to get Lincoln out.
Lincoln goes up a ladder, and is surprised by Mack. Lincoln tries to avoid using his powers, but uses them to knock Mack down. Lincoln gets to the Quinjet, and takes off as Daisy promises that they will meet alone.
Daisy, meanwhile, tells Hive that Lincoln is on the way. Hive then wants to show Daisy the beginning of his Inhuman army. Hive then tells Daisy that he needs more blood. Daisy asks how much, and Hive says, “all of it.”
The good news is that Lincoln was playing Daisy and Hive. Agent May was in on it, but they could not tell anyone as Daisy might learn the plan, Coulson seems to be in on the plan as well. On the Quinjet was not Lincoln, but Lash. Lash greets Hive, and the two begin to fight. Hive’s new Inhumans join the fight, taking on Lash. Daisy comes out to take on Lash, but she seems to be too weak to do anything. Lash uses his powers on Daisy, removing something from her. It looks to be the virus. Lash even speaks to Daisy, telling her that she is free. Lash puts Daisy on the Quinjet, but James shows up. He is able to impale Lash. Daisy knocks him from the ship though.
Back at base, Daisy is greeted by the team. She seems weak, and sad. She explains that Lash had died saving her. Talbot wonders if Daisy returning could be a trap. Simmons is able to test her though, and she should recover fully. Simmons has some bad news though. Fitz and Simmons explain that Hive could be planning to figure out a way to disperse his new Inhuman making virus. Talbot tells Coulson that what Hive stole from the ATCU will be able to disperse the virus.
Mack and Yo-yo talk, and Mack seems to be a little more cheerful now. Yo-yo gives Mack a gift before she leaves, which turns out to be a crucifix pendant.
His Thoughts on Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 20: Emancipation
So, I had figured that Lincoln was playing Hive and Daisy this episode. We know that Lincoln is hot-headed sometimes, but I would have been furious if he just willingly decided to go to Skye, knowing full well he would probably end up being possessed by Hive. It was interesting how the one person “fooled” in the escape plan was Agent May—the one person that was actually in on Lincoln’s “escape.” I guess that made it believable enough for Daisy.
Lash seems to now be dead, but he did one final good deed before he went. It certainly made me feel more for him, despite him previously being a murderous Inhuman killer. I wonder though—how will they cure any other Inhumans under Hive’s control now? Lash is no longer around to help with that. Another thing that came to mind for me though—How did Lash know he would be able to cure Daisy? I guess it could be explained as instinctual.
I was surprised how readily Coulson and the team were to trust Daisy again. I don’t think they could actually see what Lash did or for sure know it worked, given that Lash’s mission was to kill Hive, not save Daisy. You would think they would have been a little bit more prepared for her arrival than just greeting her all happy.
Mack seems to be on the mend both physical and mentally, which is a good thing. He has become one of the characters I really like of the show, so I am glad he is on his way back up.
One thing I didn’t really care for on this episode was the handling of the Sokovia Accords. This episode seemed to indicate that the Accords affected all Inhumans, but as far as we know, from Captain America: Civil War they were only intended to affect the Avengers. I am not sure if there was miscommunication between the TV and Movie people at Disney/Marvel or if the movie just didn’t completely spell out the full details of the Accords, but it definitely is a bit worrisome that this was not cohesive.
Her Thoughts on Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 20: Emancipation
Okay, I’ll admit it, Lincoln had me fooled. It wasn’t that I thought he was actually going to Daisy because he wanted to be with her, because that would be incredibly stupid, since he’s pretty much willingly going, knowing that he would end up just like Daisy, under Hive’s control and blindly following him. No, that didn’t make sense to me. Instead, I thought maybe Lincoln actually was brainwashed by Hive all along, since there was an opportunity for it, and that somehow his infection avoided detection by the test. Somehow my brain missed the much simpler solution that he was just tricking Daisy.
I felt disappointed by the outcome with Lash. It is suggested during this episode that the reason for Lash’s existence is to take down Hive. This makes perfect sense, considering Lash’s disposition to seek out and kill Inhumans, and who better than to kill than the Inhuman of Inhumans, Hive. Sure enough, when Lash faced off with Hive, he was able to withstand Hive’s attacks, and actually able to legitimately fight him. But then it turns out that the reason for Lash’s existence is to save Daisy by taking the infection out of her? Whaaat? That makes no sense at all, given Lash’s propensities. Very disappointing.
Well, I guess Daisy is back at SHIELD now, and they’re all glad to have her back. But Hive’s still out there and still powerful. So, what now? I guess we’ll see on the 2 hour season finale!
Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 21: Absolution
Preview of Season 3 Episode 21 of Agents of SHIELD
