‘THE SINGULARITY’ PLOT SUMMARY:
While Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and Hive (Brett Dalton) recruit more Inhumans to their cause, S.H.I.E.L.D. searches for a potential cure for his parasitic hold over her, and as it so happens, the work of a particular scientist (John Hannah) might just do the trick.
Daisy turning to the dark side puts her in an awkward position. Daisy had a budding romance with Ward right before he revealed himself to be Hydra, so it’s hard for her to adjust serving a master who has her former flame’s body. It’s been awhile since she’s seen Ward too. In fact, the last time was when she was still going by Skye, something that comes up. Not only does this add a nice little touch of continuity, it reminds us how far both she and Ward/his possessed body have come. Hive provides her with a home she’s never fully had; the Secret Warriors’ place in S.H.I.E.L.D. is complicated. I’m not sure Hive really has true feelings for her, but she clearly already has feelings for him.
Daisy’s betrayal also gives us more insight to Coulson’s (Clark Gregg) relationship with her and S.H.I.E.L.D. We learned way back in Season 1 that he once had a chance at having a real family that didn’t pan out because of his death. Afterwards, S.H.I.E.L.D. became his family, and as he points out, Daisy became his surrogate daughter. You can see that Coulson plays favorites; he’s willing to sacrifice so much for Daisy but tells Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) that he’ll kill him if goes rogue too. The father-daughter dynamic is an easy comparison, since he recruited her, punished her on occassion, saved her life, and watched her grow as an agent. You can even think of her transformation into Quake as a sort of puberty, in which she rebelled in an attempt to find herself. And now she’s run away again. Seriously, I could go on and on, like how Lincoln is the boyfriend he doesn’t like and May (Ming-Na Wen) is her substitute mom. It just goes to show how good a choice it was to have Daisy be Hive’s double agent. In life Ward took Rosalind from Coulson and now in death he’s taken Daisy.
Speaking of people that Hive has taken, remember Will, Simmons’ (Elizabeth Henstridge) beau on the alien planet Maveth? Well, he’s back, sort of. Hive has the dead astronaut’s memories, which he displays in front of Simmons. The question is why. At first it appears that he’s trying to bring her over to his side, but as their conversation goes on, it seems like Will’s personality is controlling Hive. He even tells her to let him go. If it were purely Hive talking, you would think he would not want her to let go of Will. Maybe it’s an attempt at reverse psychology. Either way, it doesn’t work because Simmons is too smart for that, leading to her awesomely shooting Hive at point blank range. Hive, of course, doesn’t die; the dude took several shots on Maveth, if I recall.
The bigger story for Simmons is her time with Fitz (Iain De Caestecker). I’m sure the shippers (people who obsess over fictional romances) are going nuts right now. Not only do Fitz and Simmons essentially go on their first date (both looking good, by the way), they take relationship to the next level. I just hope that the series can handle their courtship well; things can go awry after a “Will they/won’t they?” couple gets together, especially after they’ve slept together for the first time. Of course, if one of them dies in the season finale, we’ll avoid that problem. But like I said before, get ready to see pitchforks and torches if that’s the case. That’s even truer now. I’m still pretty undecided on who’s going to die, but I can say that unless it’s someone from the original team, it’s not going to be a huge deal.
This episode could have been a disaster if it pulled a bait-and-switch with the whole “Fallen Agent” storyline, curing Daisy so soon, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, we have another fine installment that not only entertains, such as with Hive’s new recruits, but also develops a handful of characters quite a bit.
Oh, yeah, and Hydra is gone, for now. “Cut off one head….” You know the rest.
RATING: 8 OUT OF 10 (GREAT)
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Aaron Sarnecky is Pop-Break’s television editor and covers Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, among other things. He is a graduate of Rowan University with a degree in television and film. He probably remembers that show you forgot existed. Follow him on Twitter: @AaronSarnecky
