Agents of SHIELD Recap: Uprising – Episode 403

Violet recaps Season 4 Episode 3 of Agents of SHIELD, titled Uprising, where a terrorist group causes blackouts around the world! Meanwhile, Daisy spends some with Robbie and his brother, Gabe. Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts about the episode.

• His thoughts on Episode 403 of Agents of SHIELD: Uprising
• Her thoughts on Agents of SHIELD, Season 4 Episode 3: Uprising

Recap of Agents of SHIELD, Season 4 Episode 3: Uprising

The episode begins with Yo-Yo attending a rooftop bachelorette party in Miami, Florida with her friend, Maria, when suddenly, there’s a blackout. But it becomes evident that it’s more than just a blackout, it’s an EMP (electromagnetic pulse), when a helicopter loses power and slams into the side of a building, and then everyone notices their phones aren’t working.

Shortly thereafter, a video is broadcast saying that the blackouts will continue until the governments of the world end Registration of Inhumans. SHIELD is on the case. The Director says he wants Mack, Fitz, and Coulson to head to Miami within the hour.

Meanwhile, in the lab, as Coulson stands nearby, Simmons is on the phone trying to get information about May, without success. The Director comes in and tells Coulson that May is at a CDC center in upstate New York. Just then, Chen, the man who was having the same side effects as May, starts seizing, then flatlines and dies. Simmons warns that the same will happen to May in 24 hours, and the Director gives her permission to do whatever she needs to stop it. Coulson wants to go with Simmons to help May, but the Director orders him to go to Miami instead.

Coulson, Mack, and Fitz head to Miami. Fitz has some equipment to trace the blackouts and figure out who’s responsible, which he thinks will be pretty easy.

Armed men show up at the party where Yo-Yo is, in search of an Inhuman. They seem to have information there is an Inhuman there. One guy accuses the magician, and the armed men hold a gun to him.

Meanwhile, Coulson, Mack, and Fitz realize they’ve crossed into the blackout zone in Miami when their car suddenly shuts down. Fitz is frustrated upon figuring out it’s a continuous pulse EMP, which means none of their tech is going to work. They’ll have to find the source by using old school methods.

At the party, the men are about to shoot the magician, but Yo-Yo uses her powers to take the gun – twice in a row. Her friend Maria, who is prejudiced against Inhumans, notices Yo-Yo dropping the guns into the plant behind her, and gives her away to the men.

Coulson, Mack, and Fitz crash the party just then, and fight the armed men, knocking them out and zip tying them. When Yo-Yo tries to comfort Maria, she doesn’t want anything to do with her now that she knows she’s an Inhuman.

Yo-Yo wonders how the men knew where she was. Coulson questions one of the men, who isn’t very cooperative, claiming to be just a concerned citizen. Coulson shoots the man, who is wearing an advanced bulletproof vest. They figure out that these men are setting up and hunting Inhumans — and that the Watchdogs are behind this. They find a piece of paper on one of the guys which is a list containing asset numbers and addresses from the Inhuman Registration List. Coulson explains that every time an asset is on the movie, it’s automatically updated.

• Read about when SHIELD first encountered the Watchdogs in Season 3 Episode 14

Fitz gets to work making compasses to triangulate the source of the EMP.

Meanwhile, an EMP hits DC, and another video is broadcast, announcing that they control 7 cities, and threatening to blackout 7 more cities in 24 hours. The Director gets off the phone with the President, who has agreed to give Coulson one more hour before sending in troops to the blackout zones to take out Inhumans by any means necessary.

Fitz is able to find the location of the EMP source, and they head there. Yo-Yo uses her powers to distract the armed men inside, and goes around collecting all their guns. They all then fight the now unarmed men, then power down the EMP. Light is restored to Miami. Coulson finds passports and visas on the men, who have Watchdog tattoos, and realize that someone has taken the formerly domestic Watchdogs global. He then reports in to the Director.

Back at SHIELD HQ, Coulson gives the Director the full report. They both conclude that someone is backing the Watchdogs. They consider how to counter the hatred and fear that the people who are against the Inhumans are spreading. Coulson suggests going ahead and taking SHIELD public. The Director thinks it’s too soon, but Coulson offers him some advice: it’s important to know when to throw out the plan.

Mack confronts Yo-Yo about helping Daisy and not saying anything about it. He gets more upset when he learns that Yo-Yo knew about “the man on fire.” Coulson and Fitz enter the room, and Yo-Yo tells them about Ghost Rider. They watch the press conference that the Director is holding. The Director announces that the Inhumans were not behind the blackouts, which were actually caused by human extremists wanting to spread fear. He then announces that an “old friend” is back, and is responsible for turning the lights back on — and that old friend is SHIELD, who is there to protect everyone, human and Inhuman alike.

Radcliffe, Simmons, and May

Dr. Radcliffe works on something that can help May. Before SHIELD shows up, he puts his AI, Aida, to sleep. Simmons brings May into Radcliffe’s office and explains what happened to May. She estimates less than 6 hours until certain death.

Radcliffe puts his device to work, and discovers what’s causing her hallucinations. The question is, how do you cure fear?

Suddenly, May starts seizing. Radcliffe thinks he knows how to solve their problems: they’ll have to kill May. He reasons that it’s like when you shut down and restart a computer, and that when they kill and revive May, her brain will go back to “default” and eliminate the hyperactive areas that are causing the hallucinations. Simmons reluctantly agrees, and injects May, killing her.

They approach minimum brain activity threshold, and just as Simmons is about to shock May back to life, a blackout hits. Simmons tries to perform CPR on May to revive her, but to no avail. Radcliffe suddenly remembers that Aida has a magnetically shielded battery, which they then use to power the defibrillator. Simmons then uses it to successfully bring May back to life. When May wakes up, she seems back to normal.

May gives Coulson a phone call, and he notices she sounds more like herself. She tells him it should be him up there, referring to the Director’s press conference, but Coulson says he’s right where he belongs.

Daisy and Robbie

Robbie tells Daisy that his Uncle Elias worked at Momentum Labs as an electrical engineer. They overhear on the radio about the blackouts, and Robbie worries about the blackout happening in LA. A few moments later, the blackout hits LA.

Since Robbie’s car is too old to have electronics, his is one of the few on the road that works. He speeds to the Metro train station to get his brother. On the way, he tells Daisy that he believes that if he rights the wrong his uncle did, then he can get rid of his Ghost Rider powers.

They drive up just before a gang of guys is able to attack Robbie’s brother, Gabe. Robbie gets mad and fights the guys. Daisy steps in and helps out, using her powers, which hurts her already injured arm. Eventually, Robbie and Daisy knock out all the attackers.

The three go to Robbie’s place. Robbie reveals to Daisy that he doesn’t get hurt. He always heals by the next day. Robbie heads out to Canelo’s, and warns Daisy not to tell Gabe about his “night job.”

Gabe and Daisy talk while Robbie is out. She makes up a story about how she and Robbie met and how she hurt her arm. Gabe seems to think he’s the one who takes care of Robbie instead of the other way around. Gabe figures out that Daisy is Quake, but says her secret is safe with him – as long as she leaves and never comes near Robbie again. He says that Robbie needs good people around him, and that’s not her.

When Robbie comes home the next morning, Daisy is gone. We see that Daisy is sitting in a van, listening to the Director’s press conference on the radio, but she turns it off.

Senator Nadeer

Senator Nadeer spreads her belief that the Inhumans were behind the blackouts, despite what SHIELD Director Jeffrey Mace has said. She gets a phone call from a disguised voice saying that they were able to eliminate 17 Inhumans worldwide. She responds that it’s a good start. On her way out from her brother’s place, she talks to someone. It appears that her brother is encased in the stone that encompasses a person after they touch an Obelisk.

Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Season 4 Episode 4: Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire

Preview of Season 4 Episode 3 of Agents of SHIELD

What did you think of Season 4 Episode 3 of Agents of SHIELD, titled Uprising? Let us know in the comments below!