Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[SPOILERS for those not caught up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ahead.]

–

Back when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. first began, the show built up The Cavalry persona that Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) had around the organization. Countless and growingly incredible stories were told about how she came to get that nickname, but the story that was told in season two was far from the tales of greatness. Instead of May single handily taking down an entire army, the true event had May watch a young girl kill all of them as a result of her newfound Inhuman abilities. This was a day that has haunted her ever since, and will soon be explored again.

The winter break for the show left May in a closet with a Life Model Decoy version of herself taking her place as part of Aida's mysterious and evil plot. She will not be staying in that state much longer. The synopsis for an upcoming episode teases May's discovery of what happened to her, bringing back the young Inhuman girl in an unknown capacity.

ABC (via Spoiler TV) revealed the synopsis for the 11th episode of this season, titled 'Wake Up' - "May works to uncover the truth about what happened to her; Aida's next move puts everyone's life at risk." Among the guest stars for the episode are Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Yo-Yo, Jason O'Mara as Jeffrey Mace, Mallory Jansen as Aida, Parminder Nagra as Senator Nadeer, Adrian Pasdar as Glenn Talbot, and surprisingly lists Ava Acres.

 

 

Agents of Shield - Agent Melinda May

Acres reappearing should be an indicator that she will be reprising her role as Katya Belyakov and her appearance could be caused by May's adjusting to being alive again. Whether she appears in as a hallucination or May dreams of the events unfolding differently while she is in her unconscious state, it should be interesting to see what role exactly Acres will play.

Outside of the chance to revisit May's past, it should be good news to viewers that the LMD version of May will not continue to be the only version of May on screen for too long. It should be noted that just because this appears to be the episode where May wakes up from whatever Aida has done to her, it does not necessarily mean that she is free from her clutches. Aida killed the last S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to search her lab and could very well still hold May as prisoner even once she is awake. Hopefully, the real May will return to her fellow agents sooner rather than later, but at least the show is taking this opportunity to further explore her past.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns with ‘Broken Promises’ January 10th at 10pm on ABC.

Source: ABC [via Spoiler TV]