The Inside Man

"The Inside Man" is the twelfth episode of the third season of ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the fifty-sixth episode of the series overall. It aired on March 15, 2016. It was written by Craig Titley and directed by John Terlesky.

Plot
Coulson approaches Talbot, who has been ignoring his efforts to contact him, to prepare for an international symposium in Taipei, to discuss how to deal with the Inhumans. Keeping an eye on them, May and Lincoln intervene when Carl Creel unexpectedly appears, overpowering him, but Talbot reveals that Creel's Hydra brainwashing has been undone, and he is now Talbot's bodyguard. Simmons tests Creel's blood and discovers that mixing it with that of an inactive Inhuman prevents Terrigen from affecting the blood, meaning that Creel's blood could be used to synthesise a 'vaccine' to remove the alien gene from dormant Inhumans. This causes an argument between Lincoln, who supports the idea of the vaccine, and Daisy, who believes Terrigenesis is the birthright of all Inhumans, good or evil. Daisy and Lincoln later reconcile and have sex.

Despite Hunter's vociferous protests, Coulson agrees to let Creel accompany him and Talbot to the symposium the next day, with Coulson acting as an expert in Inhuman biology. May, Hunter and Morse, will be working to find out if any of the other delegates are working with Malick by going into their separate suites, as Coulson suspects. Russian delegate Anton Petrov suggests setting up a sanctuary state for Inhumans, an idea that most of the delegates support, though some fear that the Inhumans could unite against the human race, while Coulson suspects Malick could collect Inhumans from the proposed sanctuary to rebuild his army. Breaking into the Australian delegate's room, Morse learns that she has a captive Inhuman named Eden Fesi. Hunter notices Creel leaving his guard post outside and follows him to a truck, where he discovers armed Hydra agents guarding an ATCU stasis chamber, which contains Talbot's son, George. It is revealed that Malick had kidnapped George to blackmail Talbot, who interrupts the symposium to accuse Coulson of being a Hydra infiltrator and convince the delegates. Malick manages to convince the delegates to believe in his deeds with his past reputation, and double-crosses Talbot and tries to have him and Coulson killed, but Creel rescues them, while Hunter, May and Morse defeat the Hydra agents. May rescues George, to Talbot's relief, while other agents retrieve Fesi from Australian custody, and Hunter and Morse are sent to pursue Malick.

The ancient Inhuman ensures that Giyera and Lucio are loyal to him, and sends them to abduct five humans, whom he kills gruesomely, absorbing their life force to restore Ward's body to full strength. In an end tag, Hunter and Morse stow away on Malick's private jet as he leaves with Petrov.

Starring

 * Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
 * Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
 * Brett Dalton as Grant Ward
 * 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 (credit only)
 * Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell

Guest Starring

 * Powers Boothe as Gideon Malick
 * Brian Patrick Wade as Carl Creel
 * Mark Dacascos as Giyera
 * Gabriel Salvador as Lucio
 * Ravil Isyanov as Anton Petrov
 * Adrian Pasdar as Glenn Talbot

Trivia

 * This episode scored 2.94 million viewers upon its initial airing.