The Agents of SHIELD cast had varying reactions to Director Jeffrey Mace actually being an inhuman we know as The Patriot (though this hasn’t been explicitly said on the series). While an inhuman as director is probably a good thing as far as inhuman-human relations go in the agency, he’s surprisingly a very stern leader. He plays by the rules, and team Coulson is not used to that. When we asked Clark Gregg about Mace’s leadership so far at New York Comic Con, the actor said their relationship is “not too good.”
“‘The team that trusts is the team that triumphs,’ the director says. So far I don't think [Mace] feels a lot of trust between he and Coulson,” Gregg explained. “I think that’s only going to get worse. He’s finding it difficult to follow orders from someone who doesn't know nearly as much about SHIELD as he does.”
Before Robbie, Coulson and Fitz disappeared because of the momentum machine in Season 4 episode 6, “The Good Samaritan,” Mace came after fugitives Quake and Ghost Rider for working with Agent Coulson’s team. Mace ended up getting his ass whooped by Ghost Rider, and pretty much had no choice but to agree to Coulson’s plan. This could come back to bite Team Coulson in the ass unless they can find common ground with Mace .
“The one thing I really like is this guy who has powers and is the new head of SHIELD and is an inhuman -- it doesn't just happen to heroic, perfect people. It seems to have happened to a guy who is kind of a Madison Avenue putz in a way,” Gregg said. “He seems to have more heroism going than that, but he’s got focus groups and seems to make a lot of decisions by committee. Coulson is very skeptical of that.”
The one secret weapon Team Coulson has on their side is Jemma, who's dug up some pretty serious dirt on Mace. Jemma caught Mace in a lie after helping him during a TV interview about inhuman relations. Turns out, Mace wasn’t telling the whole truth about his involvement in the Vienna incident and he definitely wants to keep it hush hush; he cancelled all of Jemma’s lie detector tests so the secret won't get out. Mace clearly has an identity he doesn’t want people to know about, and it could have something to do with why Coulson really doesn’t like the guy.
Any ideas on what Mace could be hiding? Let us know in the comments below! Agents of SHIELD returns to ABC on Nov. 29.
