'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: Hive vs. Lash in a Battle to the Death
Warning: This recap for the “Emancipation” episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. contains spoilers.
Daisy makes another attempt to turn Lincoln, but it backfires and results in the Lash/Hive fight we’ve been waiting months to see. It ends with Daisy back with S.H.I.E.L.D. as Hive prepares to turn most of the planet into Inhumans in one fell swoop.
The Plot
Coulson reveals the S.H.I.E.L.D. base to Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) and brings him in on the Hive problem. Daisy is being drained of blood to make Dr. Radcliffe’s serum which turns ordinary humans into swayed Inhumans. It works… sort of; it transforms them into deformed monsters which is fine for Hive because the important thing is they’re all under his control. Daisy also hacks into the base to breaks Lincoln out of his incarceration. She even steals him a Quinjet, but it’s a double-cross: when the plane lands, the team has sent Lash instead. Lash almost kills Hive, but is overwhelmed by his followers and is eventually killed by James (Axle Whitehead). Before he dies, Lash removes the parasites from Daisy; she’s no longer under Hive’s control.
Crossover, Underwhelming
Considering how integral the crossovers with the Captain America movies have been in the past, this year’s tie-in with Civil War has been something of a let-down. In the movie, a botched Avengers operation ends with civilian deaths, which leads to the Sokovia Accords, an attempt to create oversight for people with superpowers. Talbot wants to bring S.H.I.E.L.D. into line with the Accords, but Coulson would rather his enhanced personnel remain off the books. When Hydra revealed itself, that was huge; when the hellicarriers fell, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was changed forever. Here’s the tl;dr of Civil War’s effect on the show this season:
Talbot: “You should register your Inhumans.”
Coulson: “Nah.”
Talbot: “Good talk.”
Lincoln’s Redemption
Lincoln has been very trying for the last half of this season; his impulsiveness is almost childlike — in a very bad way. It’s nice to see Agent May turning that into an asset rather than just letting him wander around irritating his coworkers. Their subterfuge works precisely because he’s been prone to doing stupid things like serve himself on a platter to Hive just to try and save Daisy. Major Talbot’s cartoony pig-headedness worked the same way and sometimes it works to the show’s advantage.
Death of Lash
So it turns out that Lash was the anti-Hive all along and the long-awaited fight between the two lives up to expectations. Maybe Fitz and Simmons can examine his corpse and figure out how to remove Hive’s parasites from Inhumans? Plot aside, there’s a brief shot of May standing by Lash’s chamber which — for the romantics — kind of suggests that she’s still trying to connect with her former (well, technically, current) husband. How much of the human is left in that body? When he says, “Now, you’re free,” is it Lash or is it Andrew?
S.H.I.E.L.D.ed Thoughts
Line of the Night: “100% fairly certain!” John Hannah (The Mummy, Four Weddings and a Funeral) was born to play comic relief scientists in genre properties.
Anybody know what “Elroy” means? It’s probably nothing, but it was painted in enormous letters behind Hive and Lash as they fought.
What’re we calling these melty Inhumans? Should we go with James’s suggestion, “ugly muffins”?
Net week is the two hour finale where Hive tries to fire off a rocket full of serum that will disperse high in the atmosphere, infecting “a significant percentage of the human race”. Not that anybody cares: We just want to know who dies? Will it be Mack, Elena, or Lincoln? Or maybe a dark horse candidate like May?
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.
