Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 10, "The Patriot" EXPECTATIONS

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues tonight with “The Patriot” (4x10) at 10:00 PM Eastern/Pacific.  What do we expect from tonight's episode?

What happened in the last episode, “Broken Promises”?

S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered that AIDA was “self-aware” and attempting to steal the Darkhold, but stopped her before she could escape with it.  However, it turns out that Radcliffe was actually using AIDA to steal the book for his own purposes.  Meanwhile, Mace, Simmons, and Daisy all team up to rescue the new Inhuman that Simmons helped in the first half of the season, whom she was able to identify as Vijay Nadeer, Senator Nadeer’s brother.  The Watchdogs attempt to kill Vijay, but he convinces the Senator that he had not been changed by Terrigenesis.  When the Watchdogs attack again, he displays super-speed and super-reflexes in defeating them, which prompts the Senator to shoot him and have him dropped out of a helicopter into a lake.  When he reaches the bottom of the lake, however, a second cocoon forms around the body.

Episode Synopsis for “The Patriot”:

“Coulson and Mack discover a shocking secret about Mace, which leaves all of S.H.I.E.L.D. in a dangerous position”

Continuing plot points:

• Coulson is not Director anymore; he and Mack have a “buddy cop” routine going
• Who is the new Director as a person?  Where do his loyalties lie?  Is he a puppet (with Coulson more or less in control behind-the-scenes, as with him and Talbot last season)?  Is he another Nick Fury?  Is he working for someone else?
• May training new recruits—including Inhumans?
• Life-Model Decoys—what do they mean for S.H.I.E.L.D.?
• The aftermath of the Sokovia Accords/Superhuman Civil War
• Magic and the MCU

What I am looking for tonight:

• I expect a flashback episode:  there will be a present-day plot involving Coulson and Mack, but there will also be an equally-important plot taking place last year at the signing of the Sokovia Accords
• I do not expect Mace to be a villain or even particularly bad; I expect the “secret” to be something along the lines of cowardice.  That would explain his embarrassment over the notoriety Vienna has gotten him while preserving his “good guy” characterization.
• The “dangerous position” S.H.I.E.L.D. is in will not be physical danger but political danger
• We may get some further development on the Vijay side, but that’s not definite; he could actually stay in that second cocoon until this arc is complete and then emerge as the central character of the third arc
• Radcliffe’s LMDs will make a second attempt to steal the Darkhold using the intel from LMD-May

What would be awesome but probably won’t happen:

I expect the flashbacks to place Mace at the signing of the Sokovia Accords.  However, what would be really awesome is if one or more (major) characters from the movie appears in those scenes with him, such as Black Widow or Black Panther.  The easiest movie character to work in would probably be Everett Ross, played by Martin Freeman, assuming that he’s not busy filming at the moment.

So what are you looking for in tonight’s episode?  What is there that you really want to see but may not see at all?

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