Agents of SHIELD Recap: The Return – Episode 421

Josh recaps Season 4 Episode 21 of Agents of SHIELD, titled The Return, where AIDA experiences what it’s like to feel for the first time. Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts about the episode.

• His thoughts on The Return, Episode 421 of Agents of SHIELD
• Her thoughts on Agents of SHIELD, Season 4 Episode 21: The Return

On this episode of Agents of SHIELD, AIDA has begun to feel. She seems pretty excited about it, and wants her new love, Fitz who she now actually can love, to be with her. Fitz, who is standing on the beach with AIDA, after she teleported both of them there, seems to be at a loss, trying to unravel what has happened to him. AIDA/Ophelia tries to comfort Fitz, saying that he only did what he did because of the circumstances of the Framework, and he is still a good person.

Meanwhile, Coulson and May are still inside the location AIDA had imprisoned the two, trying to figure out their next move. The Superior shows up though, excited to get his chance to take down Coulson. Coulson is able to use his nifty holographic shield to de-face the Superior (literally takes his face off), but unfortunately it looks like the Superior has made copies of himself. Several copies. May and Coulson find they have to lock themselves in a compartment, and work on a plan to escape. The two discuss what happened while LMD May took her place. She also asks how long it took for Coulson to realize that May was an LMD. Based on Coulson’s response, she is able to see it took a while.

Locked away, May winds up finding some Epinephrine, and tells Coulson that if she uses it, it might give her enough energy to take down these robots. Coulson doesn’t think it is a good idea, but doesn’t have any better options.

Skye and Jemma, meanwhile, have to figure out their next move, as they are under attack in the air, and the Zephyr has no defenses. They figure out how to do some techno-magic though, and get some defenses online. Meanwhile, Yo-Yo demands to know what happened to Mack, and Skye has to break the news that Mack refused to leave. Yo-Yo is not happy about this and wants to go into the Framework in order to remind Mack about the real world. Skye says it is not a good idea, given their situation and that being an Inhuman could be dangerous for Yo-Yo.

Meanwhile, Coulson and May are in some trouble when Ivanov fires some torpedoes at the rig where AIDA’s base was. This causes Coulson to have to act fast, and get May to the surface, in hopes for some escape. Luckily, Skye and Jemma have found their location and provide an escape route through the Zephyr. But there is one more problem—Mack. He is still “jacked in”, and about to drown due to the flooding of the facility.

Back with Fitz and AIDA, AIDA is trying to process her emotions, and Fitz tries to convince AIDA to go back and rescue Coulson, May, and Mack, as it will make her feel even better in terms of her emotions. Fitz’s plan works, and AIDA rescues Mack. She teleports herself, Fitz and the unconscious Mack to the surface of the rig, right in front of the Zephyr. Jemma doesn’t hesitate and shoots both Fitz and AIDA with a sleep bullet.

Fitz and AIDA are locked into a containment module on the Zephyr, and Coulson’s best plan of action is to fly to their old base of operations. While there, Jemma uses a tablet to watch Fitz and AIDA talk. Fitz clearly feels horrible about the decisions he made in the Framework, and tells AIDA he doesn’t know how he is going to confront Jemma. Based on the conversation, it looks like Fitz might be saying that they are done, and Jemma is about to break down, but then the true Fitz comes through, and tells AIDA that he should be with Jemma. AIDA is taken aback by this, and begins to get angry. She tries to teleport the two of them out of the containment module and she figures out that she is unable to. She blames Fitz for this, and gets pretty violent with him. Fitz is able to escape to another compartment, but Fitz is freaking out, worried that AIDA will escape.

Things get worse for the team, as Talbot figures out that Coulson and company are at their old base, and a team is dispatched to take them in. Talbot is under the assumption that Coulson and the rest of the group are LMDs, so the two sides wind up in a standoff, with Coulson trying to explain the situation.

Meanwhile, Fitz yells through the glass of the containment area that everyone needs to evacuate the area, saying that AIDA has more than teleportation. Coulson tells Talbot that they need to evacuate. Meanwhile, some SHIELD agents are able to get Fitz out of containment, but on the way to the Zephyr, AIDA takes most of them down. Talbot decides to let Coulson and the team go, but doesn’t evacuate with them.

AIDA teleports away, and reunites with Ivanov. It looks like she has decided to partner back up with him. She has a weird exchange where she tells Ivanov to make her feel something different, so she looks like she is going to “get it on” with him, but then opts to bash his synthetic brains in instead. Another Ivanov appears and asks her if she feels better now. Then they concoct a plan to use the Darkhold to remake the world, and AIDA wants to make the SHIELD agents suffer.

We see Simmons approach Fitz, but he is ashamed, unable to even look at her. Meanwhile in the chaos, Yo-Yo decided to jump into the Framework to get Mack out of it. Unfortunately for her, she wakes up in a facility where she is bound to an operation chair.

Then finally, a familiar skull-face returns—Ghost Rider/Robbie has returned, coming back through the portal we saw him leave in when he took down his uncle.

Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Season 4 Episode 22: World’s End

Preview of Season 4 Episode 21 of Agents of SHIELD

What did you think of Season 4 Episode 21 of Agents of SHIELD, titled The Return? Let us know in the comments below!