The upshot of Captain America: Civil War is that the Sokovia Accords (and the absolute mess that resulted thanks to the philosophical disagreement between Steve and Tony over the Accords) has forced the Inhumans and SHIELD back into the limelight.  At the very least, the fact that the existence of an entire population of metahumans requires a response thanks to the Accords makes it very hard to manage Hive quietly.

 

 

In particular, Coulson is not at all pleased with having the decision of how to disposition his Secret Warriors team and the Inhumans as a whole taken out of his hands.  And one can see his point, which aligns strongly with Steve’s issue: what authority exists that can be trusted to assess and judge how metahumans act?  Of course, within the episode itself, there is a laundry list of reasons why metahumans themselves (and their SHIELD allies) might not do particularly well in handling the situation.

 

Let’s face it: SHIELD, Hydra, the Inhumans, and plenty of associated metahuman activities have been responsible for a pretty high death toll.  In fact, while the numbers are high in terms of New York, Sovokia, and DC, it’s possible that the body count is higher on Agents of SHIELD when all is said and done.  That said, it’s the impending loss of a team member by the end of the season that is the highest concern for Team Coulson.

 

 

There are a lot of indications that Mack is going to be the one in the crosshairs in the finale, but it shouldn’t be overlooked that the team has been suffering losses all season long.  Bobbie and Hunter may still be alive, but they are lost to the team nonetheless.  This episode marks the death of Andrew/Lash, which was a sacrifice necessary to get Daisy away from Hive (and none too soon).  One way or another, this has been a deadly season.

 

One unfortunate side effect is that Andrew’s final demise has really been an individual death-by-degrees, starting with the slow but steady transformation into Lash.  And throughout, that has been something weighing on Agent May, though not prominently enough from the standpoint of her character development.  With only a couple episodes left this season, will the writers really have the time to explore how Andrew’s death affects May?  I doubt they will, which is unfortunate.

 

 

Considering that Lash was a threat because he felt he had the right to determine which Inhumans were worthy of the name, he was the perfect person to oppose Hive’s plan to grant Inhuman abilities to a wide (and untested) population.  So it’s interesting that some part of him was still “Andrew” enough to make the choice between stopping Hive and saving Daisy.  From a certain point of view, saving Daisy could end up killing millions of people.  If that were to happen, wouldn’t that be an interesting point of debate in the whole “oversight” question?

 

Agents of SHIELD is potentially in a better position than Civil War to tackle the philosophical question presented by the Sokovia Accords, and has been for quite some time.  Are Inhumans a threat to be addressed by a government agency, are they a population that needs protection, or a little of both with factors that don’t fit into either box?  SHIELD may work in the shadows, but how much risk should they be allowed to assume if failure could mean the mass destruction and death?  Good questions with few easy answers.