Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 14 ("Valentine's Day Episode") "The Man Behind the Shield" EXPECTATIONS

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues tonight with “The Man Behind the Shield” (4x14) at 10:00 PM Eastern/Pacific.  If you don’t have a date for tonight, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is waiting for you.  If you do have a date for tonight, invite her over to watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with you!  If she refuses, she probably wasn’t right for you, anyways… What do we expect from tonight's episode?

What happened in the last episode, “BOOM”?

The Watchdog leader, Travis Shockley, became the Inhuman version of Nitro.  Mace was captured by Ivanov while holding the Watchdogs back to cover the rest of the team’s escape.  Coulson and Mack found the original inspiration for AIDA (Agnes) and used her to lure Radcliffe out.  However, she went with Radcliffe and was willingly added to Radcliffe’s Matrix-type program (right before she died of brain cancer).

Episode Synopsis for “The Man Behind the Shield”:

Mace fights for his life while Coulson and team find themselves in a deadly cat-and-mouse game as they attempt his rescue

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?
• 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:

• Well, it is Valentine’s Day, so my guess is that there will be a whole bunch of romantic drama (for the record, by preference would be as little of this as possible!).  If this series aired on a network like the CW, I would expect the fact that it's Valentine's Day to mean more.  As it is, I expect little more than a nod to the date.
• Related to the previous, I think May gets rescued and she and Coulson have that kiss.  Of course, Coulson could also get captured and brought to May.
• During his torture by Ivanov, Mace will actually show himself to be much tougher than we have assumed
• By the end of the episode we will have a slightly-clearer idea of what the final arc of the season will be
• I expect S.H.I.E.L.D. to find some way to use Shockley against Ivanov

What would be awesome but probably won’t happen:

Ivanov reveals himself to be a legitimate Super Soldier (making him the better version of Mace)

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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