The devils in this episode seem to be the new element, ATC – the ambiguous, shadowy government association. Coulson has made a deal with them involving inter department cooperation. But Skye/Daisy seems to truly view them as devils and won’t trust them.
After a recruitment mission gone wrong, SHIELD comes across two dead Inhumans that were killed by the weird beast man from two episodes ago. Mack and Skye/Daisy go after the killer by themselves because that went so well last time. They run into Rosalind’s ATC unit who are on the same mission to find whatever is killing other Inhumans and contain it.
While Coulson has agreed to cooperate with this new agency, he still doesn’t totally trust them, even though it’s clear he is quite obviously attracted to Rosalind. Skye/Daisy does not seem to be cool with her dad dating at the moment.
Hunter is moving up the food chain of Hydra quite easily. For a smart agent such as Ward, he seems to be letting in interlopers very easily, even if Hunter is supplying him guns. It seems that Ward’s main endgame is to take down SHIELD, though that isn’t exactly a revolutionary plan. A more interesting angle would be Hunter being seduced by Hydra on his way to kill Ward. His main motivation is revenge, not to bring down Hydra at all. Alas, it does not seem the show is willing to go in any interesting direction.
SHIELD discovers the person behind tracking the dead Inhumans, a former employee of the Social Security Administration, Dwight Frye.
Meanwhile, May miraculously and unceremoniously returns to the base! She tells Coulson everything about Hunter’s plan. She wants to give him backup on his mission to infiltrate Hydra. Hunter is officially emotionally compromised. It’s true what they say about revenge. Andrew and May uncomfortably skirt around the reason that they broke up, making it awkward for everyone. That’s why you never have interoffice romances! Andrew leaving May did not need to be embellished upon but apparently he has some sort of weird secret. Him and everyone else on this show.
Skye/Daisy thinks the ATC is the one controlling the beast man monster. SHIELD and Rosalind team up again. They storm Frye’s building and find him cowering in the corner. They jump to the conclusion that he’s allergic to Inhumans rather quickly, but they don’t seem to be wrong. He is an Inhuman but gets migraines and a rash whenever other Inhumans are near. Worst power ever.
Beast Man has a name! Dwight reveals that he knows the killer and his name is Lash. He gives Dwight Frye the names of the Inhuman targets and Frye tracks them down for him. While transporting Frye, Lash attacks the van. Lash kills Frye but leaves everyone else alive. Skye/Daisy sees that Lash can transform back into what would appear to be a human form. This causes her to be even more suspicious and paranoid that there is a conspiracy surrounding the new agency. He could be anyone… Though it’s probably not Rosalind since he seems pretty male.
After smuggling Hunter in the trunk of a car, he is allowed to enter the inner sanctum and comes face to face with Ward which immediately results into a gun fight. This escalated so quickly and to no one’s real satisfaction. This season seems to be very easy. Simmons gets found in three episodes. Hunter takes no time at all in infiltrating Ward’s company. Bobbi thinks Hunter’s in trouble through some sort of spidey sense. Luckily, May comes just in time to save Hunter. And he needed it. Ward wasn’t wrong when he said if Bobbi had come instead that it would have been more of a fair fight. True, that fight scene last season was way more interesting.
Ward seems to have a subplot of wanting revenge against May since she killed his girlfriend last season. A girlfriend he had for approximately three episodes, but a girlfriend nonetheless, apparently. As plot devices go, it’s not very inventive. Nontheless, Ward wants his revenge and will kill Andrew if May doesn’t let him go.
May can’t bear to see Andrew die but Hunter doesn’t listen and goes straight for Ward. He’s wounded, but gets away. Hunter couldn’t do what he started and May isn’t going to forgive him very easily. All things considered, the stakes in this episode weren’t very high. It was a lot of exposition and things happening that you were waiting for. But Jemma is determined to revisit the scary planet and needs Fitz’s help to do so.
For characters who get the shortest amount of screen time, they have the most interesting and emotional story.