The Singularity

"The Singularity" is the eighteenth episode of the third season of ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the sixty-second episode of the series overall. It aired on April 26, 2016. It was written by Lauren LeFranc and directed by Garry A. Brown.

Plot
S.H.I.E.L.D. scrambles to repair the damage Daisy did to the base, while Coulson, who sustained a leg injury, resolves to defeat Hive and save Daisy. Fitz, Simmons and Lincoln determine that the effect of Hive's infection will prevent those Inhumans he controls from being sedated. Realizing Alisha would be a powerful asset to Hive, Coulson, May and Lincoln visit her, only to find she has already been infected and has gone with Hive, leaving duplicates to attack them. After the duplicates are killed, Coulson orders Lincoln to stay out of the field until they have a cure for Hive's infection.

Hive and Daisy approach James, revealing they know he has another Kree artifact connected to the orb, which Hive describes as the only thing that can destroy him. They induce his Terrigenesis, giving him the ability to explosively charge objects (in a similar manner to an Extremis combustion), and Hive enthrals him, learning he buried the companion artifact beneath his home. Daisy's use of her seismokinetic powers to unearth the artefact attract the attention of SHIELD, and Coulson and May arrive to find the Inhumans already gone, along with the artefact. The hut is destroyed by a bomb, but Coulson protects himself and May with an energy shield projected from his robotic hand.

Meanwhile, Fitz, Simmons and Mack decide to seek out Holden Radcliffe, who was in charge of Transia's work against invasive organisms, before he was fired for his transhumanist beliefs. While continuing to discuss how to proceed with their relationship, Fitz and Simmons infiltrate a transhumanist social club to find Radcliffe, under the guise of geneticists wanting to sell him eye prosthetic technology based on those used for Project Deathlok. Upon meeting Radcliffe they reveal their true intentions and ask for his help to devise a cure for Hive's infection, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Hive and his Inhuman allies. Alisha abducts Radcliffe, while Daisy subdues Fitz with her powers and warns him of her vision of an agent's death, wanting S.H.I.E.L.D. to stop trying to combat Hive, and avoid that future from coming to pass. Mack narrowly escapes James, and Hive approaches Simmons, speaking to her as Will, using his memories, only for her to shoot him and escape, after deriding him for trying to be someone he murdered. The three agents reconvene at a hotel, where Fitz and Simmons finally consummate their relationship.

Under Coulson's direction, Talbot and the ATCU use information Malick provided before his death to neutralize what is left of Hydra, with the exception of the forces commanded by Hive. In an end tag, Hive brings Daisy, Radcliffe, Alisha, and James (who has chosen the moniker 'Hellfire') to a town he bought with Malick's money. Seeking to make Earth 'the home Inhumans deserve', he reveals his intention to recreate the original Kree experiments and convert the entire human race into Inhumans, with Radcliffe's help.

Starring

 * Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
 * Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
 * Brett Dalton as Hive
 * Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson / Quake
 * Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
 * Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
 * Nick Blood as Lance Hunter
 * Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse
 * Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" MacKenzie
 * Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell

Guest Starring

 * John Hannah as Holden Radcliffe
 * Axle Whitehead as James/Hellfire
 * Camille De Pazzis as Anon
 * Adrian Pasdar as Glenn Talbot
 * Alicia Vela-Bailey as Alisha Whitley