S4:E15 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Self Control."

Picking up where we left off, the team have all nearly been replaced by LMDs, and viewers and Fitz and Simmons are *freaking out* about it. This is a pretty dark/horror-y episode, and as Jess observed, this is a Jed Whedon joint, and he's said he loves Ward the most, so maybe he's a kind of a dark dude deep down. AIDA kills Radcliffe's human body, leaving his mind trapped in the Framework, Jemma and Fitz have a very standard "who's the robot" type exchange where Robo-Fitz is ‪exposed and Jemma and Daisy (who's just found a room of Daisy LMD's) are *pretty much* the last real humans running around free in S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D., and Daisy is able to take out the LMD S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. team to escape with the help of Robo-May, the most real and human of all the LMDs, who loves the real Coulson, not the LMD Coulson, breaking our collective heart something crazy. And shoutout to Jeff Steck and Ian Beavers, may they Rest in Peace in the Framework.

Now recorded fully into the COVID-19 self-isolation/shelter-in-place era, we have another pre-episode mini rant, this time on Zoom meetings just not working sometimes, and the weird third-of-season format S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. developed alongside the emerging streaming culture, plus, the S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. cast was online to ask ABC to drop the new season all at once, and for folks to stop being stupid and racist!

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

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S4:E14 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “The Man Behind the Shield."

Fitz explains the Framework as a VR training program, and he and Jemma plan to use it to locate the real May as the rest of the S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. team searches for Mace and the Russian. We learn that people can get brain damage, or even die, in the Framework, and the stakes are just as high in their virtual world‪. Throughout the episode we see flashbacks to the beginning of May and Coulson's relationship, and it's heartbreaking. While Gemma and Fitz are unsuccessful in locating Radcliffe's other Framework, the team is able to save Mace and Daisy overpowers the Russian, and they return to the base. The episode concludes with Jemma and Fitz discovering that four of their friends had been replaced with LMDs, including Coulson, who boots up Robo-May.

And we begin our discussion by going down a weird rabbit hole of references to Legends of the Hidden Temple, Guts, All That! and Ross Perot, before we ever get to the episode with one of our weirdest asides ever, brought to you by Nickelodeon™! Does Jared go through some emotions over his relationship with Chris Pratt films/shows? Yes! And do we rant a little about our Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Scarlet Johansson hate? You bet!

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S4:E13 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “BOOM."

The S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. crew splits up to find Radcliffe's secret origin/lost love Agnes Kitsworth (AIDA's spitting image/model), and deal with the Watchdog-turned-exploding-man/self-hating ‪‪Inhuman, Shockley. Mack and Coulson meet Agnes and try to convince her to help S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. take down Radcliffe and AIDA, while Ivanov's plan to prove Senator Nadeer was an Inhuman like her brother backfired, revealing his righthand man Shockley, unbeknownst to everyone, was in fact an Inhuman, and Nadeer was a human casualty of the ploy. Fitz figures out how Daisy's powers can stop the exploding man's explosions and the team saves the day, but Coulson and Mack weren't able to get Agnes on board with their plan before Radcliffe convinced her to come with him.

We started this one off with a tangent about how being "sibling cowriters" in Hollywood might work, then included a little bit about Mallory Jansen's time in Galavant, and a lot about how great she is in this episode as both the synthetic, robotic AIDA, and the very human Agnes. And Shockley's shocking (sorry) revelation shakes his sense of identity, and led to a discussion of Patty Jenkins's ‪‪I Am the Night mini-series with Chris Pine about the true story of Fauna Hodel. Jess asks "Who can tell what a robot is thinking?," and we ponder "are submarines meant to be really fast?," and "would *you* download yourself into a robot?"

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S4:E12 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Hot Potato Soup."

This episode marks the return of Patton Oswalt's Koenig brothers as Radcliffe and Aida search for the Darkhold. Mack emphasizes his hatred of robots, and Robo-May makes moves to further her relationship with Coulson. Robo-Radcliffe gets under Fitz's skin when he brings up his daddy issues (who knew?), and tips off the team to Robo-May's existence just in time to stop her from absconding with the Darkhold and tearfully killing Coulson! We get a lot of great stuff with the Koenig brothers, and get to meet the original S.H.I.E.L.D. Koenig that brought the rest of them in, their sister, L.T., who puts all her siblings to shame, and their brother, Thurston, who shames their family as an anti-S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. conspiracy-spouting standup comedian.

The real Radcliffe and the Watchdogs flee with the Darkhold and Robo-Radcliffe and first Aida are destroyed. It ends with Radcliffe getting the straight dope on the Watchdogs from the Russian as reveals his hate-on for Coulson! Jared recalls the robot who started his love of artificial beings with Johnny 5 and then rants about the rampant racism of Short Circuit and has a revelation about his personal connection to fictional automatons. We talk a bit about Parasite and Snowpiercer, hypothesize the best way to fight Patton Oswalt, and which one of us coins the nickname "Quaisy Daisy?" You'll have to listen to find out! 

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S4:E11 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Wake Up."

The show becomes a game of "who's the robot?" with constant hints, and clues, and red herrings dropped all over the place. Plus sexy times for Yo-Yo & Mack? A choice Talbot appearances brightened our day and had our heads shaking, and Coulson's plan to spy on Nadeer blows up in his face during their Senate hearing. Fitz reveals to Jemma what he's *really* been up to! Robo-May confronts Radcliffe and breaks our hearts over and over. We compare Coulson and Cap. And we find Fitz being played like a Scottish fiddle by Radcliffe right up until Fitz figured him as...the other robot! 

All this and more, including May fighting for her freedom until she ends up trapped in a tragic moment from her past rewritten. And...the Hudsucker Proxy, WandaVision, and demon-baby hands!?!? Also, somehow we get to horny teenage Coulson in a beer commercial.

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S4:E10 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “The Patriot."

It’s our “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Friendiversary” episode, and we finally learn Mace’s big secret and start to appreciate our unrealistically earnest government yes man. Dark Aida keeps growing in power, and an MCU spiderweb of connections comes from a magic bullet.

We analyze how both Mace and Radcliffe work and who they really are, getting deep into their characters, and as always, we appreciate the hell out of Talbot's buffoonery. And we ask, does S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. do the classic Marvel style of sympathetic villains better than the MCU?

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S4:E09 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “Broken Promises," or, as Jess and Mack would call it, "The Robot Uprising!" The second third of season 4 kicks into high gear as Senator Nadeer betrays her brother to keep her anti-Inhuman rhetoric, and Radcliffe and Aida's slow-building secret android revolution of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D. begins!

We speculate who might be on the MCU/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s version of Dancing With the Stars XD. Also, we ask the age-old question: is a robot fueled by infernal magics *really* A.‪‪I., or just a demon yelling at people through a robot?

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Ep 77 - Robbie Reyes: Ghost Rider Bonus Episode - In this special episode Jess and Jared are ecstatic to welcome Kate Sánchez, founder/EiC of our podcast home, the But Why Tho Podcast Community, and host of the But Why Tho Podcast, to discuss our favorite spirit of vengeance, Robbie Reyes, and his time on Agents of S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D., in comics, and his importance as Marvel's most prominent Chicano hero!

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S4:E08 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss “The Laws of Inferno Dynamics." Robbie sacrifices himself to help Aida as she uses the Darkhold to defeat Morrow and save the world. Radcliffe stays on to continue developing the LMD program and Mace helps Daisy redeem himself in the eyes of the public! All this, and a hell of a May roboppelgänger cliffhanger!

And we note that one of our favorite S.H.I.E.L.D. authors, Paul Z, was a writer on LOST during their time travel stuff, which we'll have to keep watching for in S.H.‪‪I.E.L.D.'s future (get it, future 🤪), and we figure out we can blame him for all the star crossed lover stuff in this show! And the hosts realize their impending third "friend-iversary" is around the corner at the time of recording by way of the original episode air date. And we learn about the history of the balaclava, because of course we do! Plus, a *little* Watchmen talk. And, a political rant, because the Primaries are happening!

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

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S4:E07 - Jess and Jared recap and discuss "Deals with Our Devils." We start with a brief aside about Jess’s dad’s time in Vietnam, and catch up with the team fighting against a Darkhold empowered, godlike Eli. And this is while is going on and Coulson, Fitz, and Robbie are presumed dead, we find that they're not dead at all, but in a ghost-like state, trapped out of sync with reality. The ongoing separation of Fitz and Simmons has manifested physically, and we begin to see how the same tragically star-crossed love story is echoed with May and Coulson.

Oh yeah, and the Ghost Rider can't be trapped in the other dimension, so he takes Mack for a joyride, and Mack takes his motorcycle for revenge, and Daisy tries to contain things and help free him from the Rider's control while the crew in the other dimensions tries to communicate. Jemma assists the Inhuman in completing Terrigenesis for Senator Nadeer, and Aida receives a Darkhold-derived upgrade she uses to bring Coulson, Robbie and Fitz back.

Also, some Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles talk, because of *course* there is. Plus--we don't like ScarJo or Paltrow.

We’re a proud part of the But Why Tho Podcast Community! Be sure to follow them on Twitter @ButWhyThoPC and www.butwhythopodcast.com to check out all their great content.

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