AGENTS OF SHIELD SEASON 4 EPISODE 10, "THE PATRIOT," SPOILERS AHEAD:
Something has been off about SHIELD Director Jeffrey Mace ever since the first episode of the season. Coulson never trusted him, and Jemma soon learned there was more to his story than he let on. At first, Mace appeared to be a Captain America’s protege in inhuman form. When Coulson resigned, he wanted Steve Rogers to fill in. That wasn’t possible, so General Talbot and he decided on the next best thing: The Patriot.
Unbeknownst to Coulson, The Patriot isn’t actually an inhuman, or any kind of ‘super’ for that matter. His powers stem from a redesigned strain of Daisy’s father’s deadly superhuman serum from Season 3. Coulson and Mack caught onto Mace’s ruse when stranded in the middle of the woods after the Zephyr crashed. Burrows, Mace’s supposed security guard, didn’t survive the crash. Even though the best plan would have been to find a way to call for help, Mace was dead set on finding Burrows’ body. It took Coulson and Mack all episode to realize why Mace really wanted to find Burrows: because the briefcase holding the serum was still locked to his hand.
Back at the base, Jemma finds this whole thing suspicious. She looks into Mace’s file and finds something called ‘Project Patriot.’ As it turns out, Talbot offered Mace the injections upon agreeing to take the job as SHIELD Director. There were no enhanced candidates up to the task, so Talbot decided to make one. Mace, now feeling absolutely pathetic, tells Coulson he’ll step down. But Coulson insists Mace stay and handle the political duties of directorship while he runs the missions.
After ten episodes, we finally know Mace’s story. While the reveal itself is kind of shallow, the Mace mystery did spice up the first half of the season. What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!
Agents of SHIELD airs Tuesdays on ABC at 10 p.m.
