We move back to Coulson killing Ward on Maveth. While Ward
is left for dead, an eerie tentacle wraps around his view flashing back through
Ward’s life before finally returning to the present. The creature stares at a
multitude of screenings contemplating the character of Grant Ward, believing
that he would have been an interesting man to have met in life. Gideon Malick
reappears stating that he has a new plan to refresh the Inhuman supply and
brings Lucio, the Inhuman with medusa-eyes, as an example. The creature asks to
see his eyes, and Lucio freezes everyone in the room. The creature then moves
out of an imprint made of dust that it causes to fly into Lucio.
General Talbot sees his wife Carla leave him off on a plane who
blames him for choosing work over family and paying the price. Coulson arrives
to see the act but states that he just wants to talk about the ATCU, claiming
that technically he’s Talbot’s boss by order of the president. Talbot doesn’t
take that claim well and insists that Coulson will never be his boss and they
will never be partners.
Back at the base, the team prepare to follow Coulson with
Hunter eager to grab a weapon out of the Inhuman threat. Fitz says that’s what
they have Daisy and Lincoln for, but Hunter’s less convinced. He asks to see
Fitz’s new invention, but Fitz says it simply makes gloves. Bobbi and Daisy
comment on the gathering at the symposium with Daisy being less enthusiastic
about people being negative towards Inhumans. She states that terrigenesis is
not a disease but an awakening that caused her to become who she was meant to
be and that she uses her abilities to do good things and stop bad people. Bobbi
points out that some of those bad people are Inhumans, but Daisy comments that
humans do bad things as well yet no one holds a symposium for that. Bobbi
simply states that Inhumans are unchartered territory and asks about Lincoln’s
first cov-ops mission.
Lincoln is at the airport tracking Talbot and Coulson under
the watchful eye of May who’s trying to teach Lincoln not to rush in and use
his powers. Talbot complains that the symposium will be a waste of time, but
Coulson says that they need to figure out if any of the ambassadors would be possibly
harboring Inhumans or secretly working for Malick. Meanwhile, Coulson also
hopes that Talbot can work things out with Carla at least for the sake of their
son. Before the two leave, Carl Creel, the Absorbing Man appears to them,
causing Lincoln and May to attack. Creel first gets the upper hand by absorbing
the rubber off a tire to block from Lincoln’s powers, but May hits him with a
metal pole causing him to conduct the electricity. Before Lincoln can deliver a
fatal blow, Coulson orders him to stand down while Talbot reemerges. To their
surprise, Talbot states that Creel is actually his bodyguard.
The team transfer Creel back to the base where he is locked
in a containment unit. Simmons begins to question him despite the bad blood
between him and the team. He states he got his powers from an experiment, but
Simmons also questions how he survived contact with the Obelisk. Creel says he
doesn’t know, only that it hurt. Hunter is also furious that Talbot is working
with Hartley’s killer, but Talbot states that he was only brainwashed by Hydra
and has since reformed. Since Talbot refuses to go without Creel and bringing
in their own Inhumans would ruin the symposium, Coulson agrees to take Creel
and, even further, bans Daisy and any other weapons from going to the event.
Malick observes the creature, noting that Ward’s body is not
the best shape. The creature states that the host must be dead, and that he
cannot inhabit Inhumans as “we do not feed on our own kind.” Instead, he says
that Grant Ward will suffice his needs.
May, Bobbi, Hunter, and Creel prepare to go on the mission
with Hunter tempted to throw Creel off the plane. May states that he needs to
focus on the mission, but Hunter doesn’t trust a guy who killed his friends.
May throws back that the only reason Hunter is here is because of Bobbi, and
that he couldn’t care about the mission otherwise. Hunter says he’s only trying
to watch May’s back, but May states that they’re not friends.
Coulson states out their mission which includes five other
delegates from separate countries. Coulson and Talbot believe that one of them
is really connected to Malick and sends the team to gather intel on who it
could be. Coulson will be attending the event as a CDC doctor while Talbot will
be attending as himself, the president’s representative, wearing a traditional
Taiwan outfit, which looks like a dress. Using Fitz’s technology and his new
hand, Coulson gathers the fingerprints of the delegates for Bobbi, Hunter, and
May to sneak into rooms. Talbot accuses many members of the symposium with
being the inside man but eventually narrows it down to everyone. Back at Hydra,
the creature requests Giyera and Lucio to find five humans alive.
With a break from the mission, Daisy invites Lincoln to
train with her to prepare for an agent assessment test without powers. While
Lincoln’s not excited to fight, Daisy’s impressed with how much better he’s
doing in the field. Of course, he’s still not a match for Daisy and states that
the field’s not really his thing. Simmons interrupts their sparring practice by
requesting Lincoln’s opinion on a finding.
Talbot and Coulson begin the discussion by talking about the
new “alien” threat. Coulson clarifies that the “aliens” are actually Inhumans
who just want to find a place in the world. Rather than being a disease, the
Inhumans contain a genetic anomaly that is not transferrable and only affects a
small population. While some of the delegates are hostile or paranoid to
concept of Inhumans, the Russian delegate Petrov is willing to create a
sanctuary city within his country. Bobbi, however, does not trust the idea of
all the Inhumans in one place where Malick’s involved. Hunter then becomes
preoccupied when he notices Creel leaving his post.
Simmons demonstrates to Fitz and Lincoln a new reaction she
observed using Creel’s blood. With a sample of Daisy’s blood from two years
ago, she doses the sample with terrigen to cause terrigenesis. However, once
she dabs the sample with Creel’s blood, the process reverses. In theory,
Simmons finds she can create a vaccine for Inhumans to prevent them from going
through terrigenesis, maybe even reverse the process in general. While Lincoln
appears interested, Daisy is appalled.
Eventually, the rest of the delegates begin agreeing on the
idea of a sanctuary city. While gathering intel, May intercepts a message meant
for the Australian delegate Ellen King, leading Bobbi to break into her room.
There, she finds evidence that King is keeping an Inhuman, Eden Fesi, under
containment for military experimentation but has no connection to Malick.
Hunter tails Creel to the back of a truck where he finds Talbot’s son in a
stasis cube. After seeing the evidence, Creel knocks Hunter unconscious.
After the official vote, Talbot then calls out a traitor in
the group: Coulson. Using the team’s surveillance, he proves to the delegates
that Coulson has been spying on them, only to have Malick appear to group
stating that Coulson is, in fact, the director of Hydra.
May and Bobbi rescue Hunter who explains that Hydra is
keeping Talbot’s son in captivity. The group deduces that Malick is
blackmailing Talbot to betray Coulson at the symposium, and that the building
is actually surrounded by Hydra agents, leaving them with no weapons. Hunter,
however, shows that he secretly smuggled in a plate of weapons along with Bobbi’s
batons, so the fight is back on for SHIELD. Bobbi and Hunter search for Coulson
and Talbot while May looks for Talbot’s son.
"I love you."-Bobbi "I don't hate you quite as much."-May
Lincoln then argues with Daisy that the vaccine could be
protection for people who don’t want to change or shouldn’t change, like Daisy’s
mother wanted. Daisy points out that her mother was crazy and that he sounds
like one of the Watchdogs on the Internet. Lincoln insists that there needs to
be a balance, and the vaccine maintains a choice. However, Daisy states that
the condition is a birthright, and if the government got their hands on a
vaccine, it would no longer be a choice. Lincoln argues medically, their
condition is actually a disease, but Daisy interrupts saying that just because
he went to medical school doesn’t mean he’s the final judge. Lincoln fires back
that he wasn’t hacking his way through life like Daisy was, causing small jolts
of sparks to fly from his hands.
Malick states that while the symposium knows about his
dedication to the World Security Council, little is known about Coulson.
Through photo evidence of Hydra’s technology, Malick claims that Coulson wants
to gather the Inhumans in one location to destroy them. Coulson, however,
deduces that Malick must have something on Talbot to cause this and beseeches
him to come clean as he is dragged out of the room.
Giyera and Lucio gather five humans for the creature and
freeze them in place surrounding it. Giyera asks if one of them will be its new
host, but the creature says that it has other plans for them. When the two
leave the room, the creature spreads its dust around the room, leading to
painful screams behind a closed door.
Hydra agents lock Coulson in a basement and disarm him
(literally). Malick then betrays Talbot as well by handcuffing him to Coulson
and locking him up as well. Coulson questions why Malick is doing this, but
Malick responds that he’s building an army. Coulson states that there’s no way
he can convert them all, but Malick’s not interested. While Coulson and Talbot
are about to face death, Creel comes to their rescue, taking on a metal coating
and beating the guards. While Creel has located Talbot’s son, he says he lost
him trying to keep his cover in knocking out Hunter. He then helps the men
escape while Talbot takes Coulson’s hand.
"Give me a hand!"-Coulson "Got it!"-Talbot
Talbot admits that Malick took his son when he became the
head of ATCU with Carla leaving him because of that reason. Bobbi and Hunter
take on the rest of the guards. Just as one is about to shoot Hunter, Creel
snaps the guard’s neck, though Hunter says they still aren’t even. Fortunately,
the group escapes when May pulls the van with Talbot’s son and an unconscious guard
ready to go.
Daisy goes to apologize to Lincoln for acting militant
against the vaccine. Lincoln admits he’s envious of Daisy’s natural zen with
her powers under pressure. When Daisy points out that he seemed in control at
Afterlife, he states that it’s different being out in the field. Now he can’t
seem to help himself. Daisy says that perhaps it’s good to lose control once in
a while, and the two consummate their relationship.
The team recover Talbot’s son whom Coulson says will make a
full recover, something that may interest Talbot’s wife. After the adventure,
Talbot finally agrees to be partners with Coulson who can call him
Glenn…occasionally. While they’ve succeeded in teaming with Talbot and rescuing
another Inhuman in stasis, Coulson can’t help but feel as though Malick is
reporting to someone else. In the midst of this, the creature emerges
surrounded by the burnt remains of the five humans and slime. Ward’s body is
now healed.
In the final tag, Malick has a toast with the Russian
ambassador. After revealing the “director of Hydra,” Malick reassures the man
that he will try to create the Inhuman sanctuary. Unbeknownst to them, Hunter
and Bobbi have stored themselves inside the plane, listening to everything.
Interesting Notes
- Eden Fesi is actually the name behind Manifold, a member of the Secret Warriors from Austraila who has the ability to teleport. If you notice in the report for Eden, the military states that witnesses have seen him dematerialize.
- Mack is not present in this episode.
- The Watchdogs is actually a group that was known to work against Captain America in the late 80's comics. Look out for more of them in future episodes.
- While Carl Creel was something of a Secret Warrior in this episode, his son, Jerry Sledge/Stonewall, was actually the real Secret Warrior in the comics. Lots of potential in this episode!
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