"The Singularity" is the eighteenth episode of the third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
The team reels from their losses as Hive continues to draw Inhumans to his side; Agents Fitz and Simmons get a lead that could stop the maniacal Inhuman forever.
Plot[]
S.H.I.E.L.D. reels from Daisy's "betrayal" for the Hive. Coulson know that because of Hive's abilities Daisy is really his hostage, but without a cure for the ancient Inhuman's parasites S.H.I.E.L.D. fears they may have to kill her and any other Inhumans Hive has under his control. Despite the hangar doors only being able to open halfway, Coulson gathers his agents on the Zephyr and takes to the sky to save Daisy and put an end to the Hive's plans. Mack and FitzSimmons are off to Romania to find Dr. Holden Radcliffe, one of Transia's scientists who conducted research on invasive species, but was dismissed before Hydra took over Transia's assets for conducting unethical experiments. FitzSimmons believe Dr. Radcliffe might know how to free Daisy from the Hive's parasites. Before they leave, May gives Simmons a gun just in case the worst happens on their mission. The rest of the team are off to find Alisha before Hive can make her one of his Inhuman soldiers. Daisy, meanwhile, meets with Hive on the outskirts of Los Angeles. He reveals to her his vision for the world a home for Inhumans where they are all one "organism" under his control.
FitzSimmons track Dr. Radcliffe to a secret club in Bucharest. Transhumanists, people who believe they can surpass humanity's biological limitations through science and technology, have converted the club into a Black Market of sorts for illegal cybernetics. FitzSimmons go undercover in the club disguised as potential sellers of bionic eyes while Mack stays behind at their rendezvous point a hotel room to support the two of them from a distance. Back on the plane, Coulson allows Lincoln to go on the mission to rescue Alisha only if he wears an explosive vest in case Hive brainwashes him. Lincoln finds Alisha in a parking garage walking to her car, but Hive got to her first. Lincoln sees one of Alisha's doubles pointing a gun at him and attacks both of them. Agent May comes to his aid and distracts one of the Alishas. Lincoln grabs hold of another double, but Alisha doesn't hesitate to shoot her in the head. Coulson kills the other Alisha, but that, too was just one of her doubles. Coulson decides to take Lincoln out of the field until S.H.I.E.L.D. can find a way to reverse the Hive's sway over Inhumans.
Hive, Daisy and Alisha go to South Dakota to get the rest of the Kree artifact from James. The orb he gave S.H.I.E.L.D. was only a part of a larger machine. They force James to undergo Terrigenesis. He violently emerges from the husk with his newly-gained pyrokinetic abilities. Hive uses his parasites on James, and he reveals the rest of the Kree artifact is buried under his trailer. Daisy uses her powers to unearth the device, which Hive says is the only thing that can destroy him. In Romania, FitzSimmons have arranged a meeting with Dr. Radcliffe through one of his associates. While they wait to see him, they cut off their communications with Mack so they can privately talk about their relationship. With little else to go on, Fitz compares the two of them having sex to a singularity, to the moment they cross the event horizon of a black hole. Dr. Radcliffe's associate gets them before their conversation can go any further. She takes FitzSimmons to a secret backroom where they find a man with bandages over his face in an operating chair. Radcliffe wants to test the value of their cybernetic eye on a living person before he'll see them. They agree to perform the surgery after talking it over, but Simmons only stabs the patient in his eye with a syringe. She realized the patient was Dr. Radcliffe himself after recognizing the eye as another prosthetic.
Dr. Radcliffe recognizes they eyes FitzSimmons brought his as Cybertek's work. Cybertek was revealed to be Hydra, however, and FitzSimmons don't help matters when they reveal themselves to be S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Radcliffe's associate has his guards remove them since the doctor believes them to be with Hydra. The guards drag Simmons away, but Fitz fights them off and forces Dr. Radcliffe to hear him out. Fitz tells him about everything Inhumans, Hive, and Maveth and that he might be the only person who can save his friend under the Hive's control. Just then, Daisy bursts down the doors to the operating room with her powers. She throws Fitz against the wall and has Alisha take Dr. Radcliffe prisoner. Daisy uses her powers to violently pin Fitz to the wall. As her powers choke him, Daisy warns Fitz about her vision of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's death. If he doesn't stay away from her and her family, Daisy promises to crush Fitz's neck. In the club's main room, Mack arrives with his gun drawn after he received FitzSimmons emergency message. He fights James, who uses his powers to devastate the bar. Elsewhere in the club, the guard dragging Simmons away is devoured by Hive. The ancient Inhuman corners Simmons and begins speaking to her as Will. Although she's disarmed by this at first, Simmons sees through Hive's game and shoots him in Ward's stomach.
Coulson and May investigate James' trailer. They knew Daisy went there after S.H.I.E.L.D. picked up signs of unusual seismic activity in South Dakota. The trailer is rigged to explode, and Coulson protects himself and Agent May by jumping in the hole the Inhumans found the Kree artifact. Coulson shields them from the blast with an energy shield he had built into his prosthetic hand. When they go back to the Playground, Coulson and May watch the video feed from Talbot's soldiers as they take down HYDRA's remaining infrastructure with the information Gideon Malick gave them. Malick gave up "everything" to S.H.I.E.L.D., one last act of defiance to avenge his daughter's death. In Romania, Mack and Simmons get back to the rendezvous before Fitz. Mack reveals he knows what's going on between the two of them, as Bobbi and Hunter pulled off the coms-suddenly-go-down trick on him numerous times in the past. Some time later, Fitz returns to the rendezvous point while Mack is busy loading the equipment onto the quinjet. FitzSimmons take their time alone to finally get intimate.
Elsewhere, Hive has gathered his Inhuman family and Dr. Radcliffe. Hive tells his prisoner that humanity has nearly reached the same level of technological advancement the Kree were when they created the first Inhumans. The ancient Inhuman plans for Dr. Radcliffe to recreate the Kree experiment that created him.
Cast[]
- Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
- Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
- Brett Dalton as Hive
- Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson/Quake
- Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
- Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
- Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie
- Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell
- Axle Whitehead as J.T. James/Hellfire
- John Hannah as Holden Radcliffe
- Alicia Vela-Bailey as Alisha Whitley
- Adrian Pasdar as Glenn Talbot
- Alexander Wraith as Agent Anderson
- Camille De Pazzis as Anon
- Ruby Dobrev as Bartender
Continuity and References to the Marvel Cinematic Universe[]
- Holden Radcliffe is introduced.
- Glenn Talbot appears.
- Alisha Whitley appears.
- J.T. James appears.
- Elena Rodriguez is mentioned.
- Joey Gutierrez is mentioned.
- Grant Ward is mentioned.
- Calvin Zabo is mentioned.
- Jiaying is mentioned.
- Gideon Malick is mentioned.
- Andrew Garner is mentioned.
- Lucio is mentioned.
- Deathlok is mentioned.
- Will Daniels is mentioned.
- Bobbie Morse is mentioned.
- Lance Hunter is mentioned.
- Scorch is mentioned.
- Cocoon is mentioned.
- Skye's Van is mentioned.
- Cybertek is mentioned.
- Kree are mentioned.
- HYDRA are mentioned.
Trivia[]
- Hellfire states that he considered "Firestarter" as an alias, but decided against it because it felt "a little 90s". This is a reference to the song "Firestarter" by The Prodigy. He also considered "Inferno" and "Scorch", both of which are common codenames for pyrokinetic individuals in the comics.
Gallery[]
