A new Inhuman is discovered with the ability to share visions of the future — but only ones that involve someone dying. A refreshed Hive begins to make moves.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: For the first time in a while, Coulson slips and calls Daisy by her old name, "Skye," when he genuinely worries something bad is going to happen to her on a mission.
- Almost Dead Guy: Absurdly. Charles gets his throat crushed by Malick, which kills him, but not before having a really long conversation, through his crushed throat, with Daisy.
- And Then What?: Averted. Hive asks what Malick wants from him, considering he's incredibly wealthy and influential. Malick seems confused by the question, but Hive reveals that he was playing coy with not explicitly saying he wants "true" power: superhuman abilities.
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Hive orders Giyera to only kill human S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, not Inhuman ones. Later, Hive stops him from finishing off Lincoln.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Coulson's orders to prevent Daisy's vision from coming true — May goes on the mission alone to prevent Daisy and anyone else from being there, Coulson won't touch a gun until it blows over, and Fitz and Simmons will stay out of the damn snow.
- Badass Longcoat: Hive dons an impressive-looking black duster.
- Because Destiny Says So: Played for Laughs. The only reason Fitz and Simmons hold hands is because Daisy saw it in her vision.
- Blessed with Suck: Charles' powers suck. They really, REALLY suck.
- Board to Death: After getting the CEO of the Transia Corporation to sign over his holdings to Malick, Hive kills the entire board sans the CEO. Malick finishes the job on Hive's order.
- Body Horror:
- We get to see Hive devouring people.
- The CEO getting his head crushed by Malick is shown in vivid detail.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Despite having her completely at his mercy, Malick doesn't finish off Daisy immediately, but decides to torture her some more. He's too busy enjoying "true power" to think pragmatically and so instead he's acting villainous.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: After trying to avoid the visions by sending in May, the one member of the team who didn't appear in them, Andrew happens to show up and Coulson insists she stay behind to say her goodbyes. Then everyone else has to join in when they see Hive on the security feed.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: The wooden robin. It gets fired 3 more times, once at the end of the season, and 2 more times in Season 5.
- Variant in Chekhov's Family: Charles talks about the wife and daughter he left behind. We meet them at the end of this season, and again in Season 5.
- Chekhov's Gun: Charles Hinton's inhuman power, while triggered by terregenesis, is genetic. See Season 5.
- Clothes Make the Superman: Malick is merely an ordinary old man until he puts on an exoskeleton that gives him Super-Strength and leads him to get Drunk on the Dark Side. When it gets destroyed, he is Brought Down to Normal.
- Continuity Nod: When discussing the possibility of seeing the future, Lincoln references Raina's ability of Dreaming of Things to Come as evidence that the future can be predicted, and also how you can change the future.
- Creator Thumbprint: Director Kevin Tancharoen's preference for badass and carefully choreographed fight scenes makes another appearance, as in previous episodes he directed. May's vision-based rehearsal places a nice lampshade on it as well, as Coulson wryly notes he wishes they could plan out all their missions like that.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Malick hands one out to Daisy in his exoskeleton.
- Demoted to Dragon: Malick is now the one taking orders from Hive, and Giyera outright disobeys him.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The characters discuss You Can't Fight Fate, and Fitz uses math to prove it. Coulson complains that they are all part of a plan, but don't know what kind of plan. Lincoln contrasts that Inhumans are designed with a plan. So, they were basically discussing Intelligent Design, without naming the concept.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: Hive is actively encouraging this on Malick's part by giving him an exo-skeleton and telling him to kill with his own hands.
- Eviler than Thou: It's subtle, but Hive is usurping control of HYDRA from Malick. The latter had no idea that the former used Giyera to provide the materials for his restoration to full form.
- Evil Wears Black: Now that he's at full strength, Hive dons a snazzy all-black suit with long coat.
- Exact Words: When the board chairman refuses to sign over his company, Hive says he'll show him "what will happen", and has Charles show him a vision of Hive devouring the board. After the chairman does what Malick wants, Hive devours them, since that was what was going to happen anyway.
- Flipping the Table: Malick tests the exoskeleton's strength by flipping the rather large table in the center of the boardroom.
- Foreshadowing: Andrew turns himself in to S.H.I.E.L.D. partially because he has a feeling that they're going to need Lash. Now why would S.H.I.E.L.D. need a nigh-unstoppable Inhuman who has the instinct to kill other Inhumans when they're just about to realize they're now facing a very powerful Inhuman who is trying to take over the world?
- Good Is Not Soft: Daisy once again demonstrates this by killing a room full of HYDRA mooks, including shooting two who have already been knocked out, just for safety. Possibly emphasized by the fact that she spends a good part of the episode overseeing a rehearsal of said encounter in anticipation of May having to do it before she realizes she has to do so herself. At no point does she express any qualms about having to kill a bunch of men.
- Hope Spot: May hooks Andrew up to an IV of Simmons' vaccine, since it has a remote chance of preventing his final transformation. They have a good long conversation before he turns into Lash anyway.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: Hive has Malick don a suit of Powered Armor and kill a man, just to show him what true power is. Malick is hesitant at first, but he really gets into it.
- I'll Kill You!: Lincoln says that he would kill Coulson if he shot Daisy.
- Internal Reveal:
- S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers that "Ward" is alive, though Fitz points out it is likely the ancient Inhuman.
- Daisy touches Charles a second time, and sees the explosion shown in the midseason premiere, implying she is inside the ship with someone else.
- Malick begins to realize that Hive is subverting his organization when Giyera refuses to continue serving as Mallick's personal security in favor of serving Hive.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The cameras catch a brief glimpse of "Ward" just before they're cut off, in front of most of the team.
- Mythology Gag: Transia, here the name of a corporation, is the name of a small Eastern European nation in the main Marvel universe (which has largely been replaced by Sokovia in the MCU).
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Defied. Andrew surrenders himself to S.H.I.E.L.D. so he can say goodbye to May, before Lash takes over.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Malick's "battle" against Daisy is brutal.
- Not So Stoic: Malick's confidence finally cracks after the unrevealed vision he has. Giyera has never heard him sound afraid before.
- The Oner: Daisy again gets to kick ass in one in the Transia security office.
- Pet the Dog: Hive refuses to let HYDRA kill any Inhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (see Ape Shall Never Kill Ape above).
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Lincoln, it turns out, has never seen The Terminator. Coulson jokingly removes him from The Team upon learning this.
- Powered Armor: The exoskeleton Malick dons increases his strength, allowing him to crush a man's head. It's destroyed by the end of the episode.
- Power Incontinence: Every time Charles touches someone, he and the other person both have a vision of an unpreventable death in the near future which the one he touched will be personally witness to. The inability to touch his wife and daughter without giving them terrible visions drove him away from his family and into homelessness.
- Prescience by Analysis: Fitz proved with maths that it is possible to predict the future.
- Prophecy Twist:
- Amongst Daisy's visions, she has one where Coulson is shooting her. When the moment actually happens, it turns out she saw Coulson in a one-way mirror before he shoots the guard standing behind it.
- Fitz-Simmons weren't standing in the snow, they were standing in falling ash.
- Daisy thinks that the vision means that she's destined to save Charles, and Lincoln backs her up in that there's a reason things happen with Inhumans and that her having the vision means she could be destined to do it. They were wrong: Charles was the one destined to make a difference by saving Daisy.
- Charles wasn't saying "I was hoping you could help" as an accusation of Daisy's failure, but when he's asking her to look after his daughter.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: Hive encourages Malick to embrace power by killing someone — not just by having someone shot, but by squeezing the life out of them personally.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The more that a vision Charles and whoever touches him see directly involves one of them, the more likely they are to react to it in ways that will actually make it happen, whether that be embracing the details in a Freak Out or trying their hardest to avert it. It certainly supports Fitz and Lincoln's account of things.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Daisy spends hours training May to fight her way through the guard room fast enough that the guards do not have time to raise the alarm. When it's time to do it for real, May doesn't go due to Andrew showing up. Daisy does the fighting instead and does better than May did in training. Then the alarm sounds anyway because there was another guard hidden behind a one-way mirror.
- Shout-Out:
- Gideon Malick notes that the last time he saw Hive, he looked like an extra from Dawn Of The Dead.
- Coulson references the Stable Time Loop of The Terminator when trying to wrap his head around the possibility of seeing the future. And then he declares Lincoln is off the team when he admits he never saw the film.
- Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: Discussed. Fitz believes in Fate, considering time the fourth dimension, and using a technobabble analogy to try to explain how everything is predetermined. Daisy, in contrast, says "Screw Destiny"... and fails. Lincoln doesn't believe in Fate to the same extent Fitz does, but he does believe that the prophetic visions were sent with a purpose to guide people on a predetermined path.
- Split Personality Take Over: Andrew is gone and Lash is officially in control.
- Stunned Silence: When Hive appears on the hacked security camera for a second just before it goes blank, Coulson stops in the middle of a sentence and he, Simmons, Fitz and Lincoln simply stare at screen in silence for an extended period.Lincoln: Was that Ward?
Fitz: Unfortunately, I think that's something else. - Tempting Fate: After Andrew shows up, Coulson says that the day can't get any weirder. Then, the team learns about the existence of Hive in Grant Ward's corpse. Coulson later lampshades to Daisy that the "day got weirder".
- Tragic Keepsake: Charles' wooden robin; Robin is the name of his daughter. Holding that toy was the closest he could get to touching her without inflicting traumatizing visions on her.
- The Unreveal: Malick's vision is never shown, but whatever it was rattled him big time.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity:
- Malick really gets into it when equipped with a high-tech exoskeleton.
- Garner returns to say goodbye to May, before Lash takes over in body and mind.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Every attempt to counter the visions Daisy gets from Charles ends up ineffective and the vision plays out exactly as she saw it.
