Agents Of Shield Season 4 Episode 21: The Return Recap With Spoilers

05/09/2017 11:00 pm EDT

At the base hidden beneath the Superior's oil platform, the Superior reads the Darkhold. He sees the Aida disappear. May and Coulson figure that Aida, in the Framework, must have studied the Inhumans captured by Hydra and given her human body their powers. The Superior attacks and, discovering he's a robot when he ignores bullet wounds, Coulson materializes his hard light shield inside the Superior's robotic skull, disabling him. Several more Superior robots are waiting for them in the hall. Coulson catches May up on what has transpired while she was in the Framework.

The Zephyr One is still under assault. The SHIELD team manages to get the Zephyr's weapons back online just in time to blast the enemy out of the sky before it makes a kamikaze run.

Aida experiences the feelings of being human for the first time by bringing Fitz to a beach. Aida tries to justify her actions in the Framework by saying that she was enslaved by her programming and that Fitz made his own choices. Aida made it so she met Fitz during his first day of class at the Academy in the Framework. She teleports them away.

Daisy and Yo-Yo argue over Fitz. Daisy explains about Hope. Yo-Yo want to go back into the Framework and get Mack, but Daisy tells her it is more important they find Mack in the real world and protect him there.

Coulson and May try to piece together their situation and touch on the awkward subject of what transpired between Coulson and May's LMD. Coulson lies and tells her that the LMD tried to kill him.

The SHIELD agents on the Zephyr inform Daisy and Simmons about what is happening on the ground. Talbot has labeled SHIELD as terrorists responsible for the explosion at the base.

Fitz asks Aida if she has empathy. Aida explains that she was programmed to make Fitz and everyone else happy. She then remembers the Superior and becomes worried.

Two superiors attack and are met by May, who took a dose of epinephrine. Coulson baits one of them into stepping into a puddle and then drops an open electrical wire on the water short the robot out. May beats the otherwise to death with a hammer before nearly passing out. They wonder why the robots didn't just flood the base. The Superior and his men, meanwhile, are escaping and fire torpedoes at the base when they leave. Water begins flooding the base. Coulson plans to bring May back to the surface and return for Mack.

Aida struggles to analyze the situation. She realizes she's afraid to die. Fitz tells her that if she's really free to make her own choices now that she needs to do the right thing. Aida teleports back to the base and tries to plead with the Superior. When pleading doesn't work, she threatens to kill him. He says she'll just destroy his body, which was "designed only for killing."

Aida teleports away and retrieves Fitz and teleports again. The Zephyr arrives just in time to find Coulson and May arriving on the surface. There's an explosion that destroys the stairs and the elevator. Yo-Yo refuses to leave without Mack. Just then, Aida teleports onto the Zephyr with Mack and Fitz. She experiences joy for a moment before Simmons stuns both Fitz and Aida with an ICER.

The Zephyr returns to what is left of SHIELD HQ. Aida and Fitz are placed in a containment unit, which can stop Aida's teleportation. They debate what to do about Aida now that she's real. They also discuss what to do about Fitz.

Fitz wakes up and finds Aida watching the simulated view in the containment unit. They discuss their situation while Simmons watches on a monitor. Fitz comes to the conclusion that he's just like Ward and that Simmons can never look at her the same way. Aida thinks that she and Fitz are having a romantic moment when Fitz breaks it to her that he only has room in his heart for Simmons. She becomes furious and manic. Simmons moves to extract Fitz, but Talbot shows up with armed soldiers and holds them up. Aida tries to teleport away. When that fails, Aida attacks him physically. He slips away and is extracted from the room. Aida uses another power, electricity generation, to short out the containment unit and teleport away.

Talbot says he found the base in flames and the robots and several dead or injured SHIELD agent. Then Mace's body was found on a beach, bones turned to powder. It was the Superior's doing, but he believes it was Daisy's quakes.

Fitz' group of agents encounter some of Talbot's soldiers. Aida teleports behind one, takes a gun, and shoots one in the head. Aida corner Fitz. Agent Davis shoots Aida down while Piper escapes with Fitz. Fitz tries to warn the others that they have to get away. Talbot pulls his forces back off of the Zephyr before it takes off.

Simmons finds Fitz and holds him while he cries.

Daisy and Coulson find that Yo-Yo has entered the Framework.

Aida returns to the Superior. The Superior plans to rebuild the world of the Framework in reality. She says she wants them to suffer. She then makes like she's going to make love to the Superior, but only shatters his skull instead while another Superior watches.

Talbot's men report that they lost three people. He leaves with his forces. When they're gone, a portal opens and Ghost Rider walks through.

Yo-Yo wakes up strapped to table in the Framework.

MORE: Will FitzSimmons Get Married? / Ghost Rider Confirmed For Season Finale / Agents Of SHIELD EP Comments On Ward's Return Theory / Aida Experiences Humanity In Agents Of SHIELD Clip

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.