Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Debrief Season 4, Episode 9: “Broken Promises”
Spoilers. It’s a recap, what do you expect? Metaphors?
Welcome back, Agents. I trust that your winter break went okay? (What do spies even do for winter break? Do they even get one? What does vacation as a spy even look like?) Anyway.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is back, and this latest episode, “Broken Promises,” sets up the brand new arc we’ll be following for this latter half of the season. With the Ghost Rider arc (mostly) squared away, everything is set for the Darkhold and Aida, the Life Model Decoy, to take center stage.
Let’s begin, then, shall we?
We open right where the last half of the season closed: back at Radcliffe’s place with Aida and an unconscious Agent May. It’s revealed that Aida’s replaced May, but only for a very specific purpose. She apparently doesn’t want to hold May prisoner for longer than is necessary. It’s kind of creepy watching Aida look over and tend to an incapacitated May like she’s a pet, when it’s May who usually ends up cutting such an imposing, intimidating figure amongst the other agents. It’s very unsettling indeed.
We’re offered the opportunity to guess at what the replacement May’s mission is as we cut right to a mission briefing at headquarters. Director Mace explains to May, Mack, Radcliffe, Fitz, and Coulson that they need to dispose of the Darkhold, the cursed spellbook… thing that served as the MacGuffin for the first half of this season. Remember that Agent May (real or LMD, not sure yet) stashed the Darkhold away, hiding it from Mace and S.H.I.E.L.D. because trust had broken down amongst the agents.
Since then, it’s been held elsewhere, and thanks to some television editing and close-ups, we’re led to believe that the Darkhold is exactly what Aida is after—lest we forget, Aida read the Darkhold in order to save Fitz and Coulson from being trapped in a parallel dimension. It was after that was resolved that Aida was first shown as having signs of being evil, as the post-credits scene of that episode showed her building a brain with her newfound skills. I’m going to guess that it’s the brain for the LMD May, but who knows, really.
Anyway, since Aida read the Darkhold, Mace doesn’t want to take any chances and he wants Radcliffe to replace her hard drive. He doesn’t want to risk any part of the Darkhold getting out anywhere else. Mack agrees completely, citing some ahem very familiar-sounding theories about robot overlords. Again, with LMD May in the room, his plan, and Mack’s feelings, are as good as spoiled to Aida—spies spying on spies, and all.
After the really cool new title sequence (all roboticized because this is the “Life Model Decoy” arc), we’re shown an older Indian woman standing before two figures in what looks like an apartment. The tranquil scene’s cut short by a big explosion that engulfs the room, and it’s revealed to be a dream. The dreamer is the person who was freed from a Terrigenesis cocoon thanks to Simmons. He goes wandering through a weird palatial estate to find Senator Ellen Nadeer standing outside… making brunch?
They chat, and we learn that they’re siblings. What’s more, the old Indian woman from the dream was their mother, and the explosion that claimed her life happened as a result of the Chitauri invasion of New York (in the first Avengers movie). Suddenly Senator Nadeer’s dislike and mistrust of Inhumans is beginning to become more clear and understandable. Of course, now that her brother is an Inhuman, who knows how that’s going to go.
After a nice sisterly chat between Simmons and Daisy about how it’s nice having Daisy back with the agency, Daisy’s pulled into a meeting with Mace. At first, Mace is a bit confrontational, saying he basically saved Daisy’s life by claiming her as a deep undercover agent following the events of the last episode, where her involvement with the case became public knowledge. After being considered a vigilante and a criminal, Daisy finds that her reputation has taken a 180, and she’s being hailed as a hero.
Mace softens up a bit, saying that the ensuing argument was “not how [he] wanted things to go.” He wants to work with Daisy, especially given the fact that they’re both Inhumans. They bond over their somewhat shared experiences a little bit, and Mace being Mace, he tries to make a joke about Daisy being “new around here” that just falls flat on its face. Daisy’s reaction is priceless.
They chat about what their priorities are, with Daisy doubling down on her mission to stop the Watchdogs. Mace wants to go for something a little bigger than that: Senator Nadeer, who he knows has “someone in captivity” (read: her brother, Vijay Nadeer, aka cocoon dude). Daisy reveals what she learned with Simmons, who positively identified him not minutes before. Together, they set out along with Simmons to go and rescue him.
At Radcliffe’s, Aida’s standing by as Fitz and Radcliffe come home, along with two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Real quick, one gripe: you usually know when shit is about to go down on AoS because if a couple of people who look like they could be from the stunt team show up, it tips you off real early. These two imposing figures? Total giveaways as to what happens next. Radcliffe attempts to shut Aida down, and she plays along for a minute before waking herself up.
Aida knocks Radcliffe out with the quickness, and makes short work of the other two agents. Confronting Fitz, she asks, “Why would you want to hurt me, Leopold? I was your shield.”
Then she throws him through the glass door into the workshop, where he lands on the floor hard—right next to the other agent she killed from the last episode, Mace’s aide, Nathanson, who was originally sent to gather Radcliffe’s research (including Aida).
Back at the Nadeer mansion, Vijay is chatting with his sister, the Senator. They get to talking about S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Senator still has the same anti-agency feelings she’s had all season. Vijay, on the other hand, says it might not be so bad that they’re back—he was, after all, saved by Simmons, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. The Senator vehemently disagrees, but instead of arguing, she suggests they “go for a walk.”
This is apparently a code phrase, as Watchdogs are listening in nearby, getting ready to ambush Vijay. The fact that the Senator would set up an ambush against her own brother is, well, chilling. She’s cold, and if there were any doubts as to how evil she might be, those are put quietly to rest right here.
At HQ, Coulson, May, and Mack take up pursuit of Aida, with Mack loading up his shotgun-axe (seriously can’t believe that’s still a thing), his feelings about violent robotic uprisings having been essentially validated. Radcliffe and Fitz join them, and they discuss what Aida could possibly be after. To Radcliffe, the answer is merely a matter of fact: “She wants to live.”
En route to trying to find the Senator, Simmons begins apologizing for what’s going on with the Aida issue. She’s carrying quite a bit of guilt about it, seeing as how she knew about her but didn’t reveal anything to Mace, all because she didn’t trust him. She apologizes for this, and Mace, after responding with a cold brush off, turns around and apologizes for “putting the bag on her head,” referring to the shady cloak and dagger mission he sent her on to save the Senator’s brother.
Again, Daisy lands the best reaction and cuts right to brass tacks.
Mace wants to take the covert approach, and defers to the two covert agents present: Daisy and Simmons, of course. They arrive in D.C., and Simmons, sporting a really… extra southern accent, ends up scoring a call with Senator Nadeer.
Mace and Daisy are monitoring, and Mace makes a comment about how he’s surprised by how tough Simmons is. Daisy says that “Being in S.H.I.E.L.D. will do that to you. I think Simmons has been kidnapped like, three times since I’ve known her.” Mace responds with a, “Really?” to which Daisy oh-so-nonchalantly replies, “Yeah, well, only twice on this planet.”
As it turns out, Simmons’ cover was blown long ago, as Nadeer’s aide (who she was talking with in D.C.), is a Watchdog, and recognized her as an agent. The aide gets orders to “take care” of her, and after a brief scuffle, Simmons knocks the guy out with a glass pitcher. She takes the cell phone he was using to contact the Watchdogs, and now they’ve got everything they need to track location.
The Watchdogs, by the way, are en route to ambush Vijay. They confront him and the Senator on the trail, and hold him at gunpoint. The Senator says that they made a promise that if they ever “got infected” by the Inhuman “virus,” they’d “do the right thing” for each other. Vijay pleads with his sister, saying that he was able to resist being turned into an Inhuman.
She believes him, and after quashing some resistance from the Watchdogs, she has them release him.
Back at HQ, things get a little sketchy as it’s revealed that Aida can read her GPS tracker, which leads her right back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. As if on cue, she invades the HQ, taking over the entire network. Mack (who brilliantly points out that “this is exactly how the Lawnmower Man ends”) goes to get Yo-Yo, and together they’re tasked with stopping Aida, along with Coulson and LMD May.
Yo-Yo, who is really glad to see Mack, shows just how good a pair they are by totally wondering out loud whether anybody at S.H.I.E.L.D. watched any 90s action movies, just like Mack does. “Smart people are stupid,” she says, as they head out in search of Aida. Coulson and May find her first, and after knocking Coulson out cold, she shuts down the LMD May, but not before harming her first—Coulson needs to buy that there was at least a small fight.
They’re locked up together, and after some chatting, May asks Coulson where the Darkhold is. Coulson reveals that the Darkhold is cloaked in Director Mace’s office. Of course Aida’s listening in, and she proceeds to go pick it up. Meanwhile, Yo-Yo and Mack are ambushed by an Aida-controlled quinjet, which has gone “all Maximum Overdrive” on them. They’re pinned down until Fitz and Radcliffe can reboot the entire network.
Those two, by the way, are deep in the bowels of HQ, reinstalling what look like hard drives in each of the server towers. After some finagling with some… really old Macintosh computers, they take the system back, freeing Coulson and May. They link up with Radcliffe and Fitz, who are already confronting Aida, who has the book and is preparing to leave. She’s trapped, though, as she’s locked out of the system. She launches into a solid monologue, talking about how the Darkhold gifted her with regret, desire, all kinds of human emotion. Just as she says that she was “trying to help” them, the door opens, and Mack swings his shotgun-axe, killing Aida.
At the Nadeer mansion, Director Mace, Daisy, and Simmons square off against the Senator, who threatens them with some legal action if they don’t leave immediately (seeing as how they don’t have UN orders to be there). Just as they’re leaving, though, a gunshot is heard, with Mace, Simmons, and Daisy fighting their way back in afterward. As it turns out, the Watchdogs went a bit rogue (don’t they always), and consulted with “the superior,” who ordered them to kill Vijay.
As they try to do so, Vijay finds out what his Inhuman powers are: super speed. And it’s not super speed like Yo-Yo’s super speed, it’s full-on The Flash/speedster super speed. He makes short work of the Watchdogs, and is about to escape before Mace and Simmons find him. They try to get him to go with them to join S.H.I.E.L.D., but their pitch is interrupted by the Senator, who plays the “We’re Family” card. Vijay, as confused as ever, follows his sister.
Together they escape via helicopter with a few more Watchdogs. After they’ve taken off, though, Vijay and his sister have a talk, where she apologizes. As Vijay wonders what she’s apologizing for, she shoots him in the stomach, killing him. That’s a real shame, too, by the way, because I actually really enjoy Manish Dayal’s work (previously seen on Halt and Catch Fire), and was getting excited about possibly seeing him stick around longer here on Agents. Alas.
At HQ, Coulson promises to take care of the Darkhold, and May offers to pilot and tag along (again, LMD). He says it’s more of a solo mission, and judging by the look of confusion on his face after recovering the book from Aida, I’m not so sure that he completely trusts (this) May.
Radcliffe, meanwhile, toasts Aida… with another Aida. It turns out he was the one who wanted the Darkhold, and the quick glimpse he got a few episodes back was enough to get him stuck with some Darkhold fever. So, he sent in another Aida model to make a play for it, and the Aida he’s drinking with here is a new iteration.
Radcliffe’s back on the “evil” side of things, it seems, and I’m kind of disappointed in that, personally speaking. Ah, well. Now he’s just counting on LMD May to get the Darkhold for him.
In the post-credits scene, we see Vijay’s body get dumped from the helicopter. When he hits the bottom, though, something happens: he goes back into what looks like another Terrigenesis cocoon. Maybe my regrets at not seeing him around more were a bit too hasty, hmm?
Quick Takeaways:
- LMD May is really laying it on thick with Coulson. While I’ve long wanted the Coulson/May ship to set sail, I don’t think this is how I wanted it to happen.
- Again, I became a fan of Manish Dayal’s work after seeing him on Halt and Catch Fire. His character’s storyline on the show was a strange one, and one that ended in quite a bit of a shocker. I’m hoping that the same doesn’t happen here—at least, not for a while.
- Once again, Yo-Yo and Mack are an adorable-as-hell couple, and them bonding over robot action movies is straight up cute as hell. There was a moment I thought Yo-Yo might buy the farm in this episode (since I caught a spoiler that someone was going to die), but I’m glad that turned out to not be true.
- Wow, Senator Nadeer. You are cold.
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