Agents of SHIELD 'All the Madame's Men' Clip

A new clip from the upcoming Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode, 'All the Madame's Men', features Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) discussing their personal histories within the Framework. The current fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been split into three distinctive story pods - the first introducing Ghost Rider, the second following Dr. Holden Radcliffe's (John Hannah) Life-Model Decoys, and the third set within the virtual reality known as the Framework. Within this digital prison, history has been majorly altered because the LMD Aida (Mallory Jansen) set about "fixing" each of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' biggest regrets.

As a result, Hydra was able to defeat S.H.I.E.L.D. and take power over the United States, fostering a society built on fear in which Inhumans are the enemy of humanity. On a more individual level, each of the agents' lives are much different than they are in reality because of all the changes Aida made to their shared and individual histories. Though viewers know what happened to certain characters to set them on their paths within the Framework, others have remained somewhat of a mystery. Now, a clip from 'All the Madame's Men' reveals new insight into both Coulson and Ward.

The clip, which can be viewed above, features Coulson and Ward discussing whether to infiltrate Hydra HQ in an attempt to save Skye/Daisy (Chloe Bennet). Through their argument, we see hints of the Coulson fans know and love - the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who has become a compassionate and capable director - even as he reveals he never joined S.H.I.E.L.D. within the Framework's history. As for Ward, his history includes season 1 character Victoria Hand (Saffron Burrows), who he says gave him purpose. Of course, in reality Ward killed Hand when Hydra made their move against S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of the Captain America: The Winter Soldier tie-in episode.

In addition to featuring this interaction between Coulson and Ward, 'All the Madame's Men' will continue to story of Daisy and May. Last fans left the two, Daisy was being held by Hydra when May betrayed the organization by breaking a Terrigen crystal and allowing Daisy to undergo Terrigenesis to receive her powers as an Inhuman. Previewing their dynamic in the upcoming episode, Bennet told EW:

“We really see May and Daisy working together again. It feels kind of old-school because the aesthetic is definitely something of the first season because of the hair, but we have May finally realizing that there’s something bigger than the Framework and having that gut intuition. It’s a really fun May-Skye reunion, save-the-day episode, which was really fun for us to shoot because we haven’t done that in a while. Obviously, it’s not as easy as that seems, but it’s going to be an interesting little fun episode for fans who’ve been loyal since season 1.”

Of course, much of the Framework storyline in season 4 has rewarded fans that have stuck with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. since the first season - with Ward's reference to Victoria Hand as just one of many aspects incorporated into the Framework that reference previous seasons of the series. In fact, in the most recent episode, Antoine Triplett (B.J. Britt) returned to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. within the Framework storyline - and there are more returns in store. Still, with only a handful of episodes left before the season finale, the show will likely start wrapping up the Framework storyline. But, this clip and Bennet's comments promise another compelling episode before Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. closes out season 4.