Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3 Episode 20 Review: Emancipation
Jay Ruymann
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The aftermath of Captain America: Civil War shakes things up for Coulson and his team on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3 Episode 20.
Talbot returns to torment Coulson about the Sokovia Accords and registering his Inhumans.
Not only the Sokovia Accords, but Cap's disappearance and Agent Peggy Carter's death leave Coulson questioning his childhood heroes and the future of his agency.
Cap, Agent Carter... They were my heroes growing up.
Coulson
Talbot's insistence of Inhuman registration would've been easier to swallow had his grudge against Lincoln not been the sole focus of the episode. His bias still clearly influences his decisions as a leader.
Hive's experiments on humans to turn them Inhuman continues to be a radical fail. Or does it?
With Daisy's Kree blood, he uses her exactly as Damon used Caroline in The Vampire Diaries Season 1: as a walking blood bag. With her blood, he has all of his "ingredients" to create a successful experiment.
But no experiment has ever gone as wrong as this one did.
His "volunteers," a group of Watchdog activists that are actively against Inhumans, were kidnapped and used as his guinea pigs.
The Sokovia Accords are a joke. We don't need registration, we need extermination.
Watchdog
Disgusting. Just pure disgusting. They may have been a horrible group, but those men didn't deserve what this experiment did to them.
They were turned into abominations, which works just fine for Hive because they have Inhuman powers. But at what cost?
Their faces are deformed, leaving them looking like pre-Harry Potter blood Lord Voldemort from the Goblet of Fire, and they're used as slaves.
They lost every aspect of their humanity and were turned into the one thing they hate the most: Inhuman. Except they're worse, much worse.
What Hive (and Hellfire) did to them is probably the most villainous aspect of the mission so far. It's horrifying.
Lincoln proved himself obnoxious as ever, again. Yes, it was a good plan, but Agent May was involved so that's why.
Lincoln reached out to Daisy as she repeatedly broke through Fitz's hacking barriers, but because Daisy designed the system it was basically a useless effort.
She fooled the agents into thinking Lincoln was sleeping, but instead broke him out of base. Or so she thought.
Daisy was weak from being drained of blood, under Hive's mind control, and being manipulated into creating more Inhumans (or as Hive calls them, his and Daisy's children) while breaking Lincoln out.
It was a good plan. Instead of Lincoln being on the jet and flying to greet Hive, it was Lash. Season 3-A villain against Season 3-B villain. Guess who won?
Lash was born to destroy Inhumans, it's actually astounding that no one put this together before.
Lash had the power to free Daisy from Hive's control and destroy his parasites. He had the power to kill Hive. Until Hellfire killed him.
In the comics, Daisy and Hellfire have a partner-esque relationship, but I'm really not feeling it. Hellfire is obnoxious and even more reckless than Lincoln.
Plus, Daisy is already reckless herself, pairing her with someone exactly like her wouldn't lead to great development.
Anyways, Lash sacrificed himself protecting Daisy and getting her on the jet back to S.H.I.E.L.D.. Back home.
This is Agent Daisy Johnson. I'm coming home. Repeat. I'm coming home.
Daisy
Lash could've been the saving grace that everyone needed from Hive, but now the agents are thinking that Lash was born to protect Daisy and not to kill Hive. Could that be true?
Could Daisy be the one destined to kill Hive? If she weren't a main character, I'd say no. She wasn't strong enough to resist his compulsion, how could she stop a parasite with earthquake powers?
Lash could've redeemed himself if he had been meant to be the hero, his destiny fulfilled and Melinda May could remember her ex-husband as just that. Instead, he died a monster.
In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3 Episodes 21 and 22, the two-hour finale, our mystery "fallen agent" will be revealed.
Things aren't looking so great for Mack. Yoyo gave him her necklace that was floating around the ship, but perhaps this means Mack is in the clear?
Why reveal something so big before the death? Yoyo could be in danger, too, since it is her necklace.
Who do you think will die? Could Daisy have to sacrifice herself to be the one to take down Hive? How will they stop someone so powerful without the Inhuman that had the power to counteract his?
So much needs to be answered. And can this finale not tear Fitzsimmons apart again, please? Thanks.
Leave your theories below and don't forget you can watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. online right here at TV Fanatic to pick up on any clues that might've been left this season about the death. Are you as nervous as I am?
Jay Ruymann was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He retired in January 2018.
