Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 4, Episode 16 Review

"What If..." marks the first installment of Agents of Hydra, the third 'pod' in Agents of SHIELD season 4, with the entire cast trapped in Radcliffe's Framework. Anyone who read my last review of Agents of SHIELD would know that I absolutely loved the last episode, and as much as I was fascinated to see where the season would go next, I decided to wait a few weeks to binge through a few episodes at a time, and I was amazed at how strong an opener this episode was.
While Mack and Radcliffe remained absent throughout this episode, we got to explore an alternate Daisy, back to being called Skye in this reality, who works together with Grant Ward (a not-so-surprise return from Brett Dalton) in Hydra. Skye and Ward's relationship has always seemed to work against the show, not entirely clicking with either character, but here that prior establishment makes their new dynamic much more interesting. Ward is now a Hydra agent who actually works for SHIELD, as opposed to the other way around. It's cracking stuff, and Brett Dalton slips back into the role - albeit not the same as he left it - easily. All of their stuff, interacting with Hydra head Agent May in the Hydra version of the Triskellion was all great. The production values allowed us to see Hydra in full force in this reality, and the Anti-Inhuman posters helped to build up this world.
The entire episode, and no doubt the entire pod, has a wonderful post-apocalyptic look to it all, highlighted especially with Simmons rises from her own grave to find Daisy/Skye in this new reality. That being said, Simmons' scenes babbling about how fake the world was felt a bit contrived in my opinion. She knows that no one will believe her and still talks about it for no reason other than to attract attention. In fact, it's the same with Daisy's over-reactions to everything. They're spies, they should know how to blend in properly! I understand it's partially for the audience, but they push it so far that it's unnecessary. Saying this though, the episode retains an eerie atmosphere throughout, exploring this new world that isn't all it seems. There's also a cracking car chase when Ward saves Skye and Simmons from Hydra agents.
Overall, "What If" is just a cracking episode of the series, continuing the established momentum but allowing us to slowly explore this new Hydra-dominated world, and I love the new Agents of Hydra title-cards.

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