TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Agents Of Shield Season 04 Episode 12: Wake Up

And THAT children is why you must ALWAYS be on the lookout for LMD’s! THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!!!!

In fact, “Wake Up” proved why LMD’s are such a dangerous think in both the comics and in the show, because they’re so lifelike, you can’t tell what’s fake, and what’s real. Unless you know what you’re looking for.

This was a complicated episode, especially since the previews were all about “A Traitor Gets Exposed!”, which in turn spoiled the “trap” that Nadeer set for the team. On the one hand, having Radcliffe be an LMD was an EPIC twist, especially since we found ou the pulled a Fury and had been an LMD for quite some time. But, on the other, because we knew the trap and traitor plot were coming, it made a lot of the rest of the episode feel hollow in some ways.

Now to be fair, I LOVED the banter between Coulson, Talbot, Mace, and Daisy, especially now that Mace has been exposed as a fraud. It adds a whole new level to their relationships. But, again, the trap failing, Nadeer getting her way, it just felt hollow. Especially since it didn’t seem to both many of them after the traitor became obvious, and then it was brushed away until Fitz did that final shot reveal. I might be overthinking it, but it still felt weird.

Which of course brings me to Mack and Slingshot. While I dig their relationship, having it be a focus in the episode was…wait for it…hollow. Or weird. Or odd. Take your pick. And for all that talk of “cliches”, Mack’s reveal kind of was a cliche. For he “wanted to tell her about Hope for a while”, and then the ex leading to a secret lost daughter, it was cliche, I’m sorry. They didn’t need this to make their relationship more real, they already went through that with the whole “are we a couple or aren’t we?”

Thankfully, it was May who saved the day in many ways. I liked how we got to see the simulation that she was in, and realize that she was getting better at beating it, knowing that she would likely get out…only to find out that they rejiggered it so that she’d be back in Bahrain! MONSTROUS! BRILLIANT!!! EVIL!!!! MAY WILL BE MAD WHEN SHE WAKES UP!!!!!

In the end, “Wake Up” wasn’t bad, but, it did have some hit or miss moments that made you wonder why they put them in.