"Chaos Theory" is the seventh episode of the third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
As Daisy and the team fight to protect Inhumans, S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers the shocking truth about one of their foes; Fitz helps Simmons recover information that could lead them back through the portal.
Plot[]
Six months ago, Andrew comes back home from his vacation in Hawaii with his ex-wife. S.H.I.E.L.D. has already moved many of Jiaying's materials to his house for him to look over. When he opens one of Jiaying's books, he accidentally releases Terrigen mists trapped between the pages. Dr. Garner breathes in the mists, and he undergoes Terrigenesis.
In the present day, Coulson lets Daisy know that he's going to a meeting of world leaders in Colorado with Rosalind. The international community has taken notice of the increased number of Enhanced people, and Coulson is going to speak on behalf of the ATCU as a consultant. Meanwhile, Agents May and Morse make their way back at the Playground from their mission in Portugal. May can't get Werner von Strucker's final words out of her head. Once she's at the Playground, May looks into her ex-husband's flight records, and finds that he's been close to five Inhuman deaths. Daisy tells her he's currently evaluating Joey at a S.H.I.E.L.D. training facility, the Cocoon. On Zephyr One, Coulson and Daisy pick up Rosalind and the ATCU on their way to Colorado. Back at the Playground, Fitz fixes the SIM card in Simmons' phone, he see the pictures on the alien planet one of her and Will he also heard her recordings.
In a therapy session at the Cocoon, Joey tells Andrew how he now has better control over his powers since the last time they had met. Joey said he can now be part of the team Daisy is putting together. Andrew compared him to a weapon, which he said was that worried him. Just when Andrew is about to attack Joey, a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stormed into the room with May. Andrew tell them they are interrupts their session. May tells the agents to take Mr. Gutierrez back to his room and leave her alone with Garner. Elsewhere, Lincoln met up with Mack. He explained to him that Lash is part of S.H.I.E.L.D. noting that he could prove it with his help.
Back on Zephyr One, Daisy shows Rosalind their containment unit, Daisy confronts Rosalind on the ATCU's policy towards Inhumans. When Daisy asks if she's afraid of Inhumans, Rosalind says she absolutely is; that people who are their own weapons are inherently dangerous, and that for every Daisy Johnson there's a Lash. At the Cocoon, May confronts Andrew, she revealed that she know he had been near all the Inhumans who had been killed by Lash and he deleted his blood work. She then revealed that Werner von Strucker had survived the explosion and had told her how he had witnessed him transforming into Lash. Andrew goes into a rage shoots May with an ICER.
At the Playground, Fitz watching the recordings Simmons while crying. Meanwhile, Andrew has May chained up in an abandoned administrative building at Culver University. When she comes to, he tells her what happened to him, Jiaying's had trap terrigen mist in a book he was go over that caused him to go through Terrigenesis and how he has a "craving" that can only be sated by killing other Inhumans. He told her he left her because he was a coward, but he loved her regardless. Meanwhile, Mack arrives on the plane with Lincoln, who reveals that he knows Lash is inside S.H.I.E.L.D. He recognized Lash's targets follow from Jiaying's genealogical record of Inhumans, and Mack knows the only person who had access to that record is Dr. Garner. Lincoln also says that Dr. Garner is still undergoing his transformation, and will eventually only be Lash. Coulson calls off his meeting with the President to apprehend Andrew.
At the abandoned building, May asked if Andrew was planning on killing Joey Gutierrez, but he insisted he would not and had no intention of harming Daisy either, although he defended attacking Lincoln as he claimed Campbell had a dark side. Andrew defended his actions by comparing his killings to how May had killed Katya Belyakov in Bahrain because of the danger she possessed. He and May discussed the early days of their relationship and he promised he was still the man she had fallen in love with. They kiss but Coulson interrupts them. He tries to have Dr. Garner peacefully surrender, but places Daisy, Mack, Lincoln, and Rosalind's men throughout the building to be ready to stop him. Andrew, however, he has a moral obligation to kill the Inhumans who deserve to die by being unworthy of their powers. As Andrew nears his limit, Lincoln goes off-script and attacks him. Andrew turns into Lash, and he chases Lincoln throughout the building's hallways. Mack distracts Lash away from Lincoln, only to himself be saved by the ATCU. Lash tears through Rosalind's men, but Rosalind herself fires on him. Lash grabs her by the neck and throws her through an empty window. Fortunately for her, Daisy is on the ground and uses her powers to slow Rosalind's fall. Lincoln draws Lash closer to the plane. As they fight, Agent May intervenes and tries to calm down her ex-husband. Lash turns back into Andrew, but May betrays him and shoots him, sending him flying into the containment unit. When Coulson asks May how she knew that wouldn't kill him, she says she didn't. Rosalind offers May to put Andrew in stasis to slow his transformation. She asks Daisy for advice, and when she says it could be a temporary solution, May takes Rosalind's offer.
Back at the Playground, Fitz notices the logo of the organization that sent Will through the portal looks a lot like one of the symbols on the English castle were they destroyed the Monolith. Later, Fitz asks Simmons if she was delirious at all when she recorded those videos on her phone, but she says her mind was as clear as ever. Rather than keep asking questions, the two of them just watch the sunrise.
Elsewhere, Grant Ward meets with Gideon Malick. Ward tells him about his plan to cut off the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., that without Coulson, S.H.I.E.L.D. falls apart. Malick excuses himself to take a call. After spending the night with Coulson, Rosalind apologizes to Malick for missing their meeting in Colorado.
Cast[]
- Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
- Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
- Brett Dalton as Grant Ward
- Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson/Quake
- Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
- Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
- Nick Blood as Lance Hunter
- Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse
- Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie
- Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell
- Constance Zimmer as Rosalind Price
Continuity and References to the Marvel Cinematic Universe[]
- Will Daniels is mentioned.
Trivia[]
To be added