Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Broken Promises - Review

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Broken Promises” begins the second story arc – given its own subtitle of LMD – for this season. The episode was written by Brent Fletcher and was directed by Garry A Brown. I really like how ABC – or rather the writers – have structured the season. It makes great use of a shorter timeline for an arc to maintain interest and tension, so neither is diluted over 20 plus episodes. Breaking the season in this way at this point also allows viewers to watch either the fall or winter run of the show without really losing the core of the story arc – so people who might have drifted off for all the new fall shows can easily come back. Of course, December re-runs can let people do that too. What is really brilliant is that we move from a primarily super-human, supernatural story into a primarily android/robot driven story – which may appeal to two different segments of the fandom.

The episode begins wish some seriously creepy instrumental music playing over a slow motion of Aida (Mallory Jansen) cleaning herself up from her gunshot wounds. I have to say, this storyline is really reminding me of Westworld. To be clear, this storyline was likely all but written by the time Westworld aired, but the parallels are still intriguing. We find out that the music is actually for May (Ming-Na Wen), whom Aida is keeping drugged and hidden until May-bot can serve her “purpose” – and that’s not creepy at all!

Mace (Jason O’Mara) has called the team together to focus on disposing of the Darkhold. May-bot is assigned to go with Radcliffe (John Hannah) and erase Aida’s hard drive. Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Mace are on the same page – it’s too dangerous not to erase her after she read the Darkhold. Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) is with Radcliffe in thinking that Aida deserves to “live” considering how many people she just saved.

My favorite part of this episode might just be Mack (Henry Simmons) and all his admonitions about robots! He goes off on Radcliffe and Fitz: “First of all that thing is not a she, it’s a damn robot! And second of all, what’s the matter with you two chuckleheads? Have either one of you watched a movie in the last thirty years? The robots always attack!” The movies always end with the robot or android rising up against their human overlords and go “kill-crazy!” Radcliffe agrees to replace Aida’s hard drive.

The episode also fills us in on what’s happening with Vijay (Manish Dayal) and sister Senator Nadeer (Parminder Nagra) – Ellen. We find out that it was their mother’s death that started Nadeer’s crusade against Inhumans. She’s brought Vijay to one of their childhood homes and is clearly trying to keep him isolated – even though it seems that he hasn’t manifested any powers. He’s sure it’s because he fought back while in the cocoon as Ellen exhorted him to do. As it turns out, Nadeer is in league with the Watchdogs, and they’re there to kill Vijay.

Back at the lab, Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) identifies Vijay as the man in cocoon through her research on Nadeer. It was great to see Daisy (Chloe Bennet) back with the team – and I loved that Simmons says the same thing. This was a brief but great scene between the two. Daisy does point out that Vijay has been all over social media for the last seven months, but Simmons points out that he hasn’t posted any pictures in all that time.

Burrows (Patrick Cavanaugh) comes to bring “Quake” to see the Director. She corrects him, saying her name is Daisy, but of course, Burrows insists on using the media’s name – he’s all about the optics… Mace wants credit for saving Daisy – and making her popular with the public. The meeting is starting to go south, when Mace course-corrects. He doesn’t want to fight with Daisy – he believes her report that she was just trying to help. Maybe it’s just that O’Mara does the “golly-gee” so well, but I’m definitely starting to like Mace. He tries – and fails to make a joke about Daisy being “new” to S.H.I.E.L.D. and it’s hard not to like a guy whose joke falls so flat.

Daisy does take pity on him and concedes that the public does look up to him. She calls him the “hero of Vienna” and looks at his picture – when he says it’s not that big a deal, she calls him on it and says he can’t have a framed glamor picture on his desk and still be modest. It’s a nice way to remind the audience that there is something not quite right about that picture – Mace is still hiding a pretty big secret. And Mace immediately states he wants to build trust with her.

Daisy wants to go after the Watchdogs, but Mace wants to go after Nadeer and the Inhuman being held against his will. Daisy fills him in, and Mace is ready to go after Vijay with Daisy and Simmons to rescue him! On the way, Simmons is consumed with guilt about the Aida situation. Mace realizes that she didn’t tell him because she didn’t trust him. She apologizes anyway, and Mace apologizes for having put the bag over her head.

When Fitz and Radcliffe show up to shut down Aida, she immediately notices that Fitz seems sad – and that’s more information than she should be able to process. Naturally, when Radcliffe tries to shut her down he fails – again – it’s hilarious how closely this parallels Westworld! Aida knocks out Radcliffe and tosses Fitz through a glass door as well as taking out the two Agents they brought along. She’s made several upgrades “to herself” – including deprogramming pain. She asks Fitz why he’d want to kill her after she’d acted as his shield.

Fitz discovers Nathanson’s body in the lab but not May. The two head back to the base where Coulson, May, and Mack are coordinating the search for Aida. Mack wants to lock up Radcliffe, who suggests that the Darkhold has corrupted her programing. Coulson says their first step to finding Aida is to figure out what she wants. Radcliffe says it’s simple – she wants to live. (yes, Westworld again!)

Mace allows Daisy and Simmons to take point on finding Nadeer because he wants to use a more covert – and faster – way to find her, and they have more undercover experience. Henstridge is fantastic as Simmons goes in as a tough-as-nails lobbyist who is insisting on speaking with Senator Nadeer. The senator’s aide – Zack Bynum (Bryan Keith) seems to cave.

Mace tells Daisy that Simmons is a lot tougher than he gave her credit for, and Daisy points out that S.H.I.E.L.D. will do that for you. I love how this show really has shown us the growth of these characters! Even better is the way Daisy says Simmons has been kidnapped three times since she’s known – and then absently adds only twice on this planet – I loved the look on O’Mara’s face! It’s funny, but it is also an important moment for him – he really doesn’t know what the team has really been through, but he is learning, and he seems to be willing to make conclusions based on experience rather than simply being stuck in his own opinion.

Interestingly, Bynum has to go through the head of the Watchdogs – Terrence Shockley (John Pyper-Ferguson) to get to Nadeer. In the end, he reports to him – he’s recognized who Simmons is! Shockley tells Bynum to take care of it. I loved Simmons coming in and demanding his phone. Bynum immediately attacks her and a great fight ensues. Simmons really has come a very, very long way!

Apparently, Ellen and Vijay had made a pact that if either of them was ever infected by the alien plague it was up to the other to do the right thing – of course Nadeer is having her henchmen actually do the dirty work. Vijay insists that he’s beaten it and begs his sister not to give up on him and to trust him. Nadeer surprisingly gives in!

Mack remarks that Aida’s beauty works in their favor as she won’t be hard to spot. When he calls her Radcliffe’s “beautiful-weird-science-sexpot,” Radcliffe protests – really creepily – that he and Aida have never had sex, they’re just good friends. And that earns him an incredulous look from Fitz! Coulson is the one to come to the conclusion that Aida being able to read her GPS history is bad – and it is. She suddenly calls them and is in the system and in the base. Mack makes another classic pop culture reference: “this is exactly how Lawnmower Man ends!”

Aida wants the Darkhold, and Coulson tells her that’s not going to happen. Luckily for the team, Fitz and Simmons built a non-Internet server to power the base in case it ever got hacked again. It’s once again hilarious when Coulson points out that it seems to happen once a year! I love that this show can poke fun at itself! Fitz and Radcliffe go off to get the server on line. Coulson assigns Mack – with Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) to be the first line of defense against Aida.

I loved Yo-Yo being so happy that Mack has paid her a visit. But best of all? She completely shares his views on robots!! Her first comment to learning that Radcliffe has built a robot is priceless: “Why would he do that? Has he watched no American movies from the eighties? Robots always attack!” Mack brings the team together by telling them that the Robot Apocalypse is finally here!

Coulson and May are going to secure a door that has to be locked manually – and doesn’t that seem stupid? May suggests that maybe they should be guarding the Darkhold, but Coulson assures her it’s safe. They run into Aida – who Coulson seems to take out with his bionic hand – but she’s got two of them and knocks him out. May – surprisingly – tells Aida she’s not getting the book – and then bigger surprise – Aida shuts her down! May-bot does not know she’s a robot!

Coulson and May both wake up locked in a room. May is still concerned about the Darkhold – and Coulson is worried about them being watched. Not realizing, of course, that May-bot is the one watching him! Coulson takes out the surveillance camera and is then ready to talk freely. The two reminisce about how often they’ve been locked up together. May-bot muses, “Ever feel like you’re living someone else’s life?” Ironic? Coulson says yes and she remarks he doesn’t show it. Coulson remarks that he’s a terrible poker player because he doesn’t take enough chances. I think he underestimates himself! But he’s also clearly talking about taking a chance with May too. Coulson, of course, eventually reveals that the Darkhold is in Mace’s office but it’s cloaked.

Fitz and Radcliffe chat while fixing the system. Fitz is convinced that reading the Darkhold has changed Aida’s programming – made her emotions real. It’s an explanation for why she’s overridden her programming. Radcliffe berates himself for hubris and blames himself. Yet, he still goes on to argue that Aida has gone beyond being a robot to being a human being. Killing Aida would be murder!

Shockley tries to threaten Nadeer by suggesting she’s protecting her brother because she’s also an Inhuman. She doesn’t seem too scared of him, but they interrupted by Mace, Daisy, and Simmons. Daisy recognizes that Nadeer’s “security” are Watchdogs – not Secret Service. Mace assures her that they aren’t there to hurt her but to help her brother who is being held against his will. Shockley, meanwhile gets a call from “the Superior” who has ordered them to kill Vijay.

Vijay’s power manifests when Shockley tries to kill him. Vijay’s mainly saved himself when Mace and Simmons find him. Nadeer also finds them. Simmons tries to get him to come with her, promising him that the other Inhumans chose to be Agents – he wouldn’t have to, but he’d be safe. Nadeer convinces him to go with her – they’re family. Simmons wants to go after him, but Mace tells her that she did everything she could, and she tells Mace that he did too. She’s clearly come to trust him – at least a bit more.

Simmons was right to be concerned. Nadeer tells Vijay she’s sorry, right before she shoots him and seems to kill him! They made a promise to each other and now that she knows he’s an Inhuman, she’s honored that promise! She tasks Shockley with getting rid of the body. The final scene of the episode shows Vijay’s body sinking to the bottom of the ocean and then re-cocooning!

Yo-Yo and Mack continue the robot movie love as Yo-Yo insists that Radcliffe be forced to watch all the Terminator movies – even Salvation (the bad one!!)! When Aida takes control of the quinjet, Mack remarks, “She did not just go all Maximum Overdrive on us!” True confessions – I love Maximum Overdrive! As the two are pinned down, Mack confides that he was always worried about robots growing up – he’s even got a special “death by robot” clause in his life insurance!

Fitz gets control of the base again, and Fitz and Radcliffe catch Aida just as she’s about to leave. Fitz tries to tell her that everything’s going to be alright – but of course, she doesn’t believe them. May-bot and Coulson also arrive. Aida points out that she never killed anyone – and that was intentional. She insists that she only wanted to help them. Mack puts an end to the conversation by coming through the door behind her and simply taking Aida’s head off with the ax part of his shotgun-ax! Maybe that was the point of the ax all along??! Mack’s only remark? “Roll credits.” The movie’s over and the good guys won – or so it seems.

Fitz kneels by Aida and apologizes to her. Radcliffe seems somewhat emotion-less – stunned? Coulson picks up the Darkhold and looks troubled. He has to be wondering how Aida knew where to get the book.

Back in the ready room of the base, Yo-Yo and Mack trade move movie titles. Fitz is working on Aida’s head and tells Mack that Radcliffe was devastated by Aida’s loss – she was like a child to him. Coulson is taking the Darkhold and May-bot asks if he’ll need a pilot. Coulson tells her it’s more of a solo mission and then fills her in that it’s been Nadeer organizing the Watchdogs. May-bot remarks it’s good that they know who their real enemy is now.

And then we do find out who the real enemy is! Radcliffe was behind the whole thing – and there is a new Aida!! Radcliffe wants to live forever – and this is great story-telling. This was Radcliffe’s goal when we first met him. It’s pretty clear that Radcliffe is now relying on May-bot to get the book.

I thought this episode had the terrific mix of humor, action, and effects that make this such a fun show. I also loved how many references we got to the backstories we’ve been watching over the last four seasons. This was also a great re-boot of the season. Who is the Superior that Shockley referenced? And re-establishing Radcliffe as a bad guy was also terrific. Is it just the Darkhold’s influence on him? He did look at it briefly before closing it remember. And if it is just the book’s influence, can he be saved? Does Coulson suspect May-bot? I think he does. What did you think of the episode? Are you excited about where the show is heading in this second half of the season? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!