Welcome back, True Believers! When last we left the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., most of the crew had been kidnapped and placed into the “Framework.” The Framework was originally supposed to be used as a training device for the organization, but in the hands of Dr. Radcliffe and the villainous Life Model Decoy, Aida, it’s been turned into something straight out of the Matrix. Now, Daisy and Simmons have jumped into the Framework themselves, only to find their friends living in a world where each has fallen under the sway of Hydra in their own unique ways. Fitz has turned into the Joseph Goebbels of the antagonistic cadre alongside Agent May who acts in the same capacity she did for S.H.I.E.L.D., only now with a penchant for ruthlessly efficient evil. Agent Ward is now back, dating none other than Skye. The pair are also agents of Hydra, hunting for Inhumans. Coulson is a school teacher and as for Simmons, she’s well, dead. Needless to say, it’s an interesting world to delve into and quite the departure from the previous season’s focus on Ghost Rider and LMDs.

Obviously, this episode doesn’t necessarily focus on a ton of character work, but rather on establishing the new world that we find ourselves in. The world according to Hydra is a terrifying one in that it’s very similar to our own. You can still go out and buy a cup of coffee, you can still listen to music and have discussions that challenge authority in the classroom, but a dark cloud hovers silently above the populace. Checkpoints to verify whether drivers are Inhumans, or just enemies of Hydra, children pulled from their classrooms to parts unknown, the general populace moving in lock and step with one another expressing only rage and suspicion as their emotions; it makes for a bleak portrayal of the world when an organization like Hydra calls the shots, and the episode does a good job of giving audiences the lay of the land in the time we have before hitting the throttle with our characters.

Brett Dalton has, of course, found a way back into the fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. here as an agent of Hydra. Agent Ward is of course dead in the real world, as (formerly) an undercover member of Hydra in the ranks of our heroes, until venturing off on his own and meeting his fate as the alien Hive in Season 3. Here, Skye and Ward are an item on the rocks, with Ward afraid to commit and Skye completely out of sorts as she tries to figure out what the heck is going in on her new world that she’s dropped into. It makes for a fun excursion, with Ward attempting to figure out what is wrong with his beau while being scared by the darkly grim Fitz and May. Ultimately, the best twist of the episode is that Ward is actually a double agent for S.H.I.E.L.D., twisting his allegiances in the exact opposite direction from what is true in reality. It will be interesting to see how/if they continue to incorporate Ward into the mix when it comes to future seasons, if the series is renewed.

The most interesting character of the night is Jemma Simmons, who finds herself literally crawling out of her own grave, as she was actually shot and killed within the Framework’s simulation. Needless to say, digging out of a mass grave and wandering into the general population is quite a shock to the system, but we’re given a full on view of how the world has been affected by Hydra from the ground level. Jemma runs into trouble first with a checkpoint, then bumps into some Hydra agents before managing to subdue them and finding the best route to her friends, the first being Phil Coulson. Coulson of course is in a sticky situation himself as a public high school teacher, attempting to mold young minds into loyalists of Hydra.

Coulson’s side of the story also offers a nice side of the world, as Phil here isn’t malevolent, rather, he is simply an ideologist, genuinely believing that Hydra is the best thing that could happen to the world. When one of his children is snatched up for potentially being an Inhuman, Coulson doesn’t come to his aid, he simply makes sure that his student has all of his belongings with him as he leaves. Ultimately, Coulson’s psyche attempts to wake him up, and manages to in fact do so in the tail end of the episode, but it's another interesting ride seeing how Phil handles himself as a school teacher rather than a leader of spies. Of course, the scariest personality comes from Agent Fitz, now the second in command of Hydra, who focuses on experiments on Inhumans to try to discover the secret of their powers. The big reveal for  Fitz is that he is the lover of Madame Hydra, who in this world is none other than Aida. Whether Aida knows exactly who she is or whether or not she’s a creation of the Framework itself is yet to be seen.

“Agents of Hydra” continues to build on the goodwill created by Season 4 of S.H.I.E.L.D. presenting an interesting concept and world to be explored. I do hope they are able to continue to find interesting ways to mine the new locale as the season reaches its home stretch, but this made for a very good start. Interesting character work, some twists on the way, and solid storytelling continue to prove that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a better show than some folks give it credit for!

Rating: ★★★★ Very good

Agents of M.I.S.C.E.L.L.A.N.E.A.

- Madame Hydra is a staple in the comics, usually running the organization from the shadows and butting heads with Captain America (heck, she even married Wolverine once!) Seeing Aida as her was a nice twist in this episode.

- Poor Jemma. She had a rough go of it this episode, that’s for sure.

- Interesting to see how everything changed based on Agent May’s past actions, should be fun to see how that came about.

- Ok, now would actually be a good time to have a variation of the Avengers show up in the series. You don’t need the original actors because they would be “Hydrafied” and it would make for a neat addition.

- Ward: “Get dressed weirdo.”

- Simmons: “Not one smartphone.”

- Simmons: “It’s a magical place!”

- Simmons: “You’re not even real you piece of code!”

- Kid: “Are Hydra all Nazis?”

Simmons: “Every last one of them.”

- Skye: “She’s like number three in Hydra. Way more damaged than the real world.”

- Simmons: “Always the double agent. This isn’t the Framework, this is hell!”