Welcome to the season of LMD paranoia! Any of the people you know and love could actually be a robot duplicate… even I might be an LMD, if it would make a good plot twist. But for now, let’s put those squishy human brains to work and analyze this latest episode.
1. May’s Great Escape
Last week, as readers might recall, I correctly surmised that a portion of this week’s episode would feature what appears to be May escaping her captivity, only for it to be part of the simulation she’s been placed into. Well, I can’t exactly take credit for calling something so obvious (though that’s never stopped me before), but I will give credit for a few things.
Showing us how May’s original simulation went was fine; a constant loop that reset every time she left the spa (which, given Melinda May, took about five seconds each time). But the interesting thing about the “conflict” loop was Aida’s comment about how May constantly got farther each time; having May subconsciously improve with each iteration, even without her memory of it, does well to show her strength of character, and she rightly pointed out that it means she’ll eventually break the loop.
So they compensate for that with a simulation I actually didn’t see coming, because it called back to much earlier episodes. Of course, it does mean there’s going to be hell to pay when she breaks free, but now I’m actually interested in seeing her escape this simulation.
2. Everyone’s a Cylon
During the course of this episode, I was suddenly reminded of the Robot Chicken sketch where the Battlestar Galactica writers throw darts at a sheet of characters to decide who’s actually a Cylon. After all, we’re dealing with robots that look just like humans, and are often unaware that they are robots until activated, so it’s supposed to be some sort of twist when their robotic identity is revealed.
In this case, we get an offhand comment from Radcliffe about a second LMD. Immediately it raised some questions – who could it possibly be? Mack, with his mysterious absence from the episode? Fitz and his obsession with fixing the decapitated Aida? Who could have possibly been replaced with a robot double without our knowing?
It was Radcliffe. Of course the creator of LMDs made one of himself, that scarcely qualifies as a surprise. Although I suppose it could always be that this was a misdirection, and there really is another LMD substitute.
Either way, we’ve finally reached the point where you think someone’s getting killed, but it’s a Doombot. Sorry, I mean Life Model Decoy. If Nick Fury ever appeared on this show outside of a cameo a season, he’d already have a warehouse full of them.
However, the most interesting thing is that he had a LMD of May prepared and ready to go the moment she went out to get Aida. He even had a protocol ready for just that. So how long was he planning this? How many people did he make LMDs of? And this would mean he was planning on betraying SHIELD even before looking at the Darkhold. Hopefully we’ll get more on that soon.
3. Relationship Issues
I have to imagine that this episode is trying to build up for a Valentine’s Day episode next month where all the relationship issues get addressed, because boy did this episode build up plenty of them. Mack and Yo-Yo are finally sealing the deal, except surprise, he’s got luggage that he doesn’t talk about (and it is tragic, sure, I can’t exactly make jokes about this subject matter). Fitz and Simmons are arguing over not communicating and Fitz’s secret project on the Aida head, and now everyone’s commenting on the obvious romantic tension between Coulson and May.
Too bad the May he’s been hitting on is a robot double, but it seems she’s been programmed to feel this emotion humans call “a crush.” (That said, I wouldn’t mind if Coulson and the real May do get together, but I may just be saying that because my girlfriend and I cosplay the two.)
Continued belowI’m pretty sure there’s still a story about super-powered people and robot doubles between all the relationship drama in this episode.
4. Your Tax Dollars at Work
So what’s Daisy doing while everyone else is busy looking into the LMDs or working out their personal issues? Getting put before a big ol’ government panel to talk about her signing the Sokovia Accords, led by everyone’s favorite Senator Nadeer.
Yep, apparently several SHIELD agents confirming that she was working with the Watchdogs is not enough to even make her place on the panel a potential conflict of interest. Though it did lead into a nice little conflict where her men intercept Coulson and Yo-Yo as they attempt to bug her office, putting SHIELD in hot water and revealing a traitor in their midsts.
5. Betrayal. Sudden and inevitable. We get it.
So who could this unknown traitor possibly be? Oh, we all know it’s Radcliffe; no surprises there either. He’s sold SHIELD out to Nadeer for his own protection, though this doesn’t exactly get him closer to the Darkhold. It would have been something of a twist if someone else was the traitor and Radcliffe was a red herring because of his own LMD ploys, but they’ve only got so many disposable characters to use for that.
Still, Radcliffe has been an amusing character so far, so we’ll see where this character arc takes him. As long as he keeps saying “Don’t kill anyone” he has a chance for redemption, but that will not likely last at this rate.
