Agents Of SHIELD Season 4 Check-In: "Self Control" May Be The Best Episode In The Series

While I do not watch "Agents of SHIELD" religiously every week, I do binge watch it in sections. Something I really appreciate about "AoS" is that they dont spend all 22 episodes on ONE story. That's just too long to hold the audience's attention. Two or even three stories per season keeps the show moving along at a good clip. Take note ABC, NBC and CBS! Fewer, more focused episodes is the key to success.

The first part of season 4 featured Ghost Rider. It was OK but not my absolute fave. I'm seriously loving the LMD story that followed though. LMDs (or Life Model Decoys) are an invention of Dr Holden Radcliffe. It was revealed earlier in the year that Aida was a LMD. We eventually learn that Agent May is also. Uh oh.

It all comes to a head as Aida tries to complete of her mission of putting everyone inside the Framework. Think of it as a regret-free Matrix. The "official" plan is to gather all the inhumans together at HQ... to protect them of course. The actual plan is to upload them all. Daisy is trying to avoid detection when she encounters a whole room full of herself. Freaky! Mack comes looking for her Luckily she can blend in. Does she wear the same color/style of undies each day for just such occasions? She sneak-quakes Mack and escapes.

Fitz and Simmons are working in the lab. They discuss who could be a LMD. Jemma goes increasingly suspicious. Fitz tries to dissuade her fears by slashing his own wrists. But the jokes on Simmons. Fitz is an android! Jemma manages to stop him with some heavy equipment (it looks like an engine). She then repeatedly stabs Andro-Fitz. A few jabs to the neck eventually short circuits him. That was rough to watch.

Daisy again tries to hide but encounters Jemma. How can each be sure the other is not a LMD (especially when May didnt even realize it herself)? Simmons obviously has trust issues right now.

And in one of the best hugs in TV history, Simmons and Johnson share a tender moment after Daisy proves she is not an android by quaking Jemma. Great scene ! Since i'm a #Skimmons shipper, I thought my prayers had been answers when Daisy says to an injured Jemma "in all this ordeal, the one thing that I am absolutely certain is..." "...is that you and Fitz belong together". Damn! I was hoping she would profess her love to Jemma. Not that this would ever happen but it probably wouldnt be a good idea anyway. Given the current state of TV, one or both would most assuredly die quickly thereafter.

All the SHIELD team members are LMDs except for Simmons, Johnson and a few red shirts. Coulson, Mack, Mace, Fitz and May are. Radcliffe is after Aida slits his wrists. The Superior (who's a baddie) is also a LMD after Aida saws off his head with a power saw while he's still conscious. Horrific scene!

Jenna and Daisy barely escape HQ in the Zephyr . Android Agent May sacrifices herself and blows up the base. Simmons and Johnson decide to enter the Framework in order to save the others. The only caveats are: 1. If they die in the Framework, they are D-E-A-D; 2. They cannot stay in the Framework too long: 3. Yo-yo cannot pull them prematurely or severe brain damage will occur. Can we say "foreshadowing"?

In the final scene, we see what everyone is the Framework. It's a shocker on several levels. Daisy awakens to find out she's married to Grant. That guy just keeps coming back. Mack is living what looks like a happy home life with his dead-IRL daughter Hope. Coulson is a school teach and writes "Inhumans, Why We Fear Them" on the board. Simmons exits a limo looking all posh. Who is the lady inside? It's definitely not Simmons. We see a tombstone with her name on it. NOOOOOO! And finally Agent May looks out the window of SHIELD HQ. It now sports the Hydra logo on top. Craziness I tell you!

Grade: 5 Monsters (out of 5). "Self Control" may be the best episode to date. Great acting, shocking reveals and kick ass fight scenes were all present in the perfect amounts. Please keep it up "SHIELD"! "AoS" returns on April 4th.