“Self Control” is episode fifteen of season four of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the previous episode, “The Man Behind the Shield”, S.H.I.E.L.D. had apparently managed to successfully rescue Director Mace, burying Ivanov under a pile of rubble in the process, if not Agent May. However, Fitz and Simmons had discovered that Coulson had disabled some of the scanners on their return to base, hiding the fact that several Life Model Decoys had been detected – four of them in fact, Coulson, Daisy, Mack and Mace. So there are another four LMDs inside S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fake Coulson has reactivated Fake May.
This didn’t really seem like it was Ivanov’s plan, especially considering Aida’s reaction. Which would therefore suggest that this is all a setup by Dr Radcliffe. Radcliffe, though, seems to have a level of addition to the framework, spending most of his time in it. He says that Aida is his voice and proxy, but is Radcliffe really in control any longer?
This episode opens with a shot of Coulson, and some of the others, wired into the framework. A badly injured Ivanov comes to with Aida standing over him. Aida says she’s going to heal him, but Ivanov says he doesn’t want uploading into a machine. Aida is apparently not going to do that, but what she is going to do involves using an electric saw on him whilst he is still conscious.
Fitz and Simmons have decided to act normal so that the replacements don’t know that they’ve been rumbled. Fake Coulson wants to know if Ivanov’s sub has missile capabilities, and to bring the Inhumans into the base for their own protection.
The LMDs are going to replace the agents they don’t already have, and kill the Inhumans as they arrive. Something to help with this has already been brought onto the base. Fitz and Simmons are keeping together, so that they won’t be separated and replaced, but an LMD detector reveals one of them already has been. As it turns out, it’s Fitz. Radcliffe had stated in “Wake Up” that there was a second android already in S.H.I.E.L.D.; it really didn’t seem like Fake Radcliffe was the one he was talking about, but no further mention was made. Perhaps it was Fitz.
It also seems Daisy has not been replaced either, so Coulson and the others are looking for both her and Simmons. Daisy and Simmons have to operate in a base where all the other agents are being told that they are the LMDs – and they don’t know that they can even trust each other to start with.
Fake Coulson has revealed to Fake May that he, too, is an LMD. May doesn’t seem pleased about this; she may not take it well.
Lots of running around the base with those agents who aren’t LMDs being pursued – or, for the lesser agents, duped or killed – by those that are, or those acting on their behalf, albeit unknowingly. Radcliffe’s instructions have also caused logic problems for Aida.