Agents of HYDRA - All the Madame's Men

Life in the framework gets a bit easier for Daisy (Chloe Bennet) now that May (Ming-Na Wen) has turned her back on Hydra and used a Terrigen crystal to restore Quake's powers. Despite Melinda not remembering the real world, her actions help bring the team closer together, although one member has fallen and another is still leading the enemy against them. It's good to see Daisy and May on the same side again kicking some ass together, and Daisy has her own star moment quaking Aida (Mallory Jansen) through a sky-rise window, but the real stand-out here is Coulson (Clark Gregg) who steps up in a big way to fill the void left with the Patriot's death.

Set off on her own mission with Trip (B.J. Britt), Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) gets the part of the episode focused heavily on plot and laying the groundwork for the continuation of the arc as she discovers just what Aida is building. Turns out little miss android isn't satisfied being a real woman in a fake reality and wants to be a real girl in the real world. With the help of Fitz's designs and the Framework's near limitless resources she may have achieved just that. And, if she has... what's next? After achieving her end goal would she have any reason to still confront S.H.I.E.L.D. at all? And how exactly is she going to bring Fitz with her when he already exists in the real world?

Along with Skye and May kicking butt and Coulson stepping up to deliver the leadership the team needs and the rousing words to inspire the populace (even if it is a computer-generated populace created and controlled by Aida... so why would his words stir them?), "All the Madame's Men" also offers a nice moment between Daisy and Ward (Brett Dalton) which would work fine as a coda to his exit from the show (again). However, knowing how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. loves to overplay its hand and beat a dead horse into a bloody stain in the ground, I'm guessing we'll see more of him next week. And despite the Patriot's death, the episode still is fighting the disconnect of all the events in this world not really mattering (particularly when we see Aida disconnect from the framework with no ill effects). Sure, we're told virtual reality puts someone's real life in danger, but the logic behind that old sci-fi trope isn't explained and doesn't really hold up which undercuts much of the tension.