Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Episode 15: Self Control Review

If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.

Synopsis: Aida continues to go crazy. And with 4 LMDs in the base can Fitz and Jemma survive? (IMDB)

Writer: Jed Whedon

Director: Jed Whedon

Rating: TV-PG

Running Time: 45mins

Wow is all I have to say after watching this episode. After 3+ seasons and 81 episodes, I have to say that this is my favorite episode of Agents of SHIELD by far. That is definitely a lot to live up to after changing the tone after its initial premiere, after various MCU tie-ins, and season story arcs but this one, the ending of the LMD story arc tops them all.

The last episode ended with 4 new LMDs of Coulson, Mack, Mace, and Daisy, or so I thought, entering the fray. This seemingly left Fitz and Simmons to fend for themselves and try to get out of an impossible situation. Knowing of the new LMDs, paranoia ensued which was understandable and this presented a palpable sense of tension as we wondered how they were going to get through this. They knew of the LMDs but they didn’t know that they knew of them so they tried to act normal but that only went so far. Or at least it was determined that one of them was an LMD.

This prompted Simmons to point a gun at Fitz and gave them the opportunity to take a real look at one another. The tension continued as we didn’t know which one of them was an LMD. This led to a very emotional moment where Fitz pleaded to Simmons that he was real but the more he talked, the more he seemed otherwise. Fitz cut his own wrists but as an emotional Simmons went to check on him, Fitz got the upper hand and knocked her out, thus proving he was an LMD (and not Daisy because it wouldn’t make sense). Ingenious as she was, as Fitz was scanning her mind, she managed to escape and take out LMD Fitz, not before an other emotional moment where she repeatedly stabbed LMD Fitz who still plead that he was real.

At this point, the LMD’s true mission was revealed which was to round up all the inhumans to protect them from the Superior, but really kill them. Daisy and Mack volunteered to round them up. Daisy’s moment of clarity wasn’t as exciting as Simmons’ as she stumbled upon an army of deactivated Daisy LMDs who would presumably had her mind uploaded to them. Daisy immediately sensed something was wrong, obviously, and hid within the Daisy LMDs and subdued LMD Mack. Daisy got the full sense of what was going on when she stumbled upon on a dead Fitz, followed by Coulson and Mack killing other SHIELD agents.

The reunion of Daisy and Simmons was very emotional to say the least as Simmons had to come to term with what she did and the situation they were both in and Daisy had to prove to Simmons that she wasn’t an LMD. Luckily for her, it wasn’t as difficult since LMDs don’t have inhuman powers. So with that out of the way, it was up to them to find a way out of an impossible situation. Unfortunately for them, Coulson and the other LMDs managed to convince the other agents that Daisy and Simmons were the LMDs.

Don’t forget LMD May hanging around. She was different than the other LMDs since she was more self-aware than the others and had a greater sense of identity than the rest of them. It was clear that since she was the first LMD introduced, she was going to play a significant role this season and she did in this episode.

Daisy and Simmons’s master plan was to gas out the human SHIELD agents, leaving only the LMDs to deal with. This led to an amazing fight scene between Daisy and LMD Mace with her destroying him. LMD Coulson and Mack showed up afterwards, followed by Daisy using a super quake to disintegrate LMD Mack. Daisy and Simmons were so close to escaping but the only thing standing in their way were LMD May and a bunch of explosives waiting at the exit. To get by, they were able to appeal to May’s humanity to but when LMD Coulson showed up, this led to another very emotional moment where she realized that nothing was real and this Coulson wasn’t the man she loved so she blowed everything up, allowing everyone to escape.

Tying up loose ends elsewhere, the Superior was gravely injured and was ready to die but Aida wasn’t done with him.She reset the framework simulation to each person’s moment of regret which didn’t sit well with Radcliffe but Aida’s objectives were to protect him and the framework. These objectives started to conflict with one another with she started to feel human emotions such as: love, anger, and regret. She believed that the greatest threat to the framework was Radcliffe. He appeared to have convinced her otherwise but she then cut his wrists and forced him into the framework. Aida wasn’t done with the Superior because she needed to build an LMD of him, remotely controlled by his mind remotely and who was both self-aware and can feel human emotions. She wanted him to guard the framework until she can feel human emotions herself.

Now to the next story arc. In order to save the others, Daisy and Simmonds had to hack into the framework so they could upload themselves so they could find the others and also where their bodies were hiding. The framework created some interesting storylines for the group. Coulson was a teacher, Mack had a daughter, and Fitz was some sort of rich celebrity. The most interesting storylines included May seemingly being the head of Hydra, Simmons being dead (at least in the framework so it will be interesting to see how that will work), and Daisy having a boyfriend who wasn’t Lincoln but Ward!

Overall, like I said before, this is the best episode of Agents of SHIELD that I’ve seen so far. The episode was emotional and full of tension, the action was exciting and the acting from everyone was amazing. It was a fitting end to the LMD arc and sets up what looks to be another exciting story arc within the framework (or at least I assume it does).

Score: 10/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.