While separated from the team, Coulson and Mack discover a secret about Mace which could cause a lot of problems for SHIELD. What else happens this week’s episode The Patriot? Read on and find out!

Important Things to Know Going Into This Week’s Episode

There are quite a few things that were revealed at the end of the midseason premiere last week. They leave us with some questions coming into this episode. Is Vijay Nadeer potentially still alive? Will the team learn that Radcliffe is behind Aida’s attack? How long will it take to learn that May is not actually May? Hopefully, we get some answers this week.

The Biggest Moments in This Week’s Episode (SPOILERS!)

1. Assassination Attempts:

It’s strange to think that SHIELD may have another enemy to deal with now. They’re already going to have to balance their fight against The Watchdogs and Radcliffe & Aida. Having another battle to fight would be strange territory for the team. However, the first part of The Patriot definitely sets it up to appear that may be the case.

2. Project Patriot:

Much of this episode revolves around the idea that Mace is always near the briefcase held by Agent Burrows. At SHIELD HQ, it drives the story of Fitz and Simmons trying to find answers from Talbot, and at the Quinjet crash site, Mace desperately seeks after Burrows’ body to find the briefcase. It turns out that the briefcase actually holds a serum that gives Mace his powers. This creates a lot of issues in the long-term and short-term. We’ll focus on the short-term for now. Mace can’t help Mack and Coulson. His serum is gone, and he doesn’t have powers. Meanwhile, Daisy and (fake) May are desperately trying to find them, and the team at HQ has to do all they can to get answers from the would-be assassin.

3. Fitz and Aida:

There are a lot of things that happen at the end of this episode, but this was very significant. If Fitz is lured into the idea of “solving” Aida, it could lead to him figuring out that Radcliffe is behind the whole thing. It will be hard for him to try to work on the Aida puzzle with Simmons not happy about it, but maybe we can see him do his own thing the rest of the season.

Ryan’s Speculation of the week:

There has been some speculation that Chris Evans is no longer “Captain America” after the events of Civil War. He still has one movie left on his contract though, and has discussed the idea of still remaining involved in the MCU, albeit at a lower level. With the fate of Agents of SHIELD potentially in jeopardy (the viewership numbers are low, and the new inhumans series will play on a lot of the stories that SHIELD currently covers), I could see a scenario where Evans becomes the new director of SHIELD, and plays a role similar to Samuel L. Jackson in the earlier movies. Or, I could be completely wrong and the revelation of Mace not actually being “powered” could have very little long-term implications.

Agents of SHIELD airs on ABC on Tuesdays. Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this episode.