The Best Part of the SHIELD Finale was the Last Ten Minutes

In Agents of Shields first three seasons, the epic two hour conclusion of the seasonal arc has always been satisfying, and indeed last season’s felt very difficult to top. The finale did not meet the lofty expectations I set for it (especially with the deadly, and irritating, game of hot potato the writers played), however the last ten minutes made me completely forget the finale and got me wildly speculating about what it means. Spoilers from the finale will follow.

What is Daisy Doing?

The last few minutes fast forward six months, and we see Coulson and Mack staking out a street from a hotel room. Scattered across the wall is a series of newspaper clippings which appear to show that Daisy has gone rogue. One of them even implied that she robbed a bank. In the end, we see she’s here to meet the family of the homeless man who gave her the visions. She’s been sending them money. This is obviously to lead us to question why? Here are my theories.

1. Grief: She became so distraught by Lincoln and Hive’s death, and the fact that all she could do was watch, compounded with her own responsibility in their deaths, that she snaps, drops out of SHIELD, and does what she does best; goes underground.

   

   She’s Team Cap: We’ve yet to really see any repercussions from Civil War, but it’s likely that the ramifications from the Sokovia Accords, and the burgeoning Inhuman populations will color the backdrop of next season. No doubt her involvement with Hive and HYDRA will not be looked upon with kind eyes, or easily forgiven as when Coulson was still in charge (I’ll get to that in a moment). As a result she probably would be sent to the raft, like Team Cap was in Civil War. Instead of being held captive for the rest of her life, she decided to go rogue and help people outside of SHIELD.

Who’s the New Director? And Director of What?

Very briefly after the chase, Quake/Skye/Daisy escapes, and Coulson makes an offhand mention about having to inform the director. This immediately made me pause and my mind began to turn. None of the agents in the scene, nor any of the vehicles bore the SHIELD logo, even though they used the same gear. So then, what are our options?

1. Coulson is still director of SHIELD, and he was working in conjunction with an ATCU team. This assumes that the ATCU is still the acting agency dealing with the Inhumans, and that Coulson and SHIELD are still working in the shadows and directly controlling the ATCU. If you remember, the arrangement was in public General Talbot is the director of the ATCU.
2. Well, SHIELD was pretty much annihilated by the Alpha Primitives during the finale, so it’s possible that SHIELD was disbanded and rolled into ATCU operations with Talbot actually being in control after the Sokovia accords.
3. Most likely the expanding Inhuman population, and the need for a new international organization to enforce the Sokovia accords, has demanded the recreation of SHIELD or something like it (say, HAMMER), and the head of that is either Nick Fury (unlikely), or Gen. Talbot (under the direct command of Thunderbolt Ross). Now, it would make sense for Fury or Maria Hill to actually be running it, but since they were wrapped up in releasing every secret known to man, then the UN would never let them near another secret again. My bet is on Talbot (especially because Adrian Pasdar is affordable on a TV budget).

Now the Bombshell

LMD. Also know as a Life Model Decoy. This has something that has batted around on the periphery of the MCU for a long time (mainly sense The Avengers when Tony Stark makes an offhand comment about them). In addition we have the Agents Koenig (who regardless of how much they insist they’re brothers, they have to be LMDs). For those of you unaware, and LMD is a robot that can perfectly imitate a human being. In the comics Fury uses them a lot when he needs to be in a dangerous situation, but doesn’t want to actually be in danger. There is one big glaring problem with this.

These ones have been made by a mad scientist. Seriously! He’s an actual mad scientist! He created the Alpha Primitives! So I think this will lead into their own version of Secret Invasion. To be more accurate it’ll be an adaptation of Nick Fury vs SHIELD, where the spy organization had become riddled with self aware LMDs created by HYDRA. Now I don’t think that HYDRA will be involved, mainly because we’ve beaten that horse to death. However, I think there’s another anagram organization that’ll fit the bill.

A.I.M.

You’ll remember them as the bad guys of Iron Man 3, you know, the crazy scientists. That’s kind of their thing. Let’s just say I feel Holden Radcliffe is a perfect fit for their organization.

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James Nelson

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