The stories of ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. got pretty crazy over the first few seasons, but the final third of Season 4 might deserve the prize for the craziest. The agents are currently stuck inside a framework reality controlled by a rogue android, originally called A.I.D.A. and now going by Madame Hydra. The framework is a digital world in which anybody alive or dead can appear, and we now know of one former villain who will turn up in the not-too-distant future: Sunil Bakshi. Check him out!
The real Sunil Bakshi was a key player back in Season 2, when he first served the interests of Hydra and was then brainwashed into serving Ward. Fans will undoubtedly remember how he met his end; Simmons, in a desperate attempt to kill Ward, inadvertently hit Bakshi with a splinter bomb and killed him. Now, images from the upcoming "All The Madame's Men" indicate that Madame Hydra has created a digital version of Bakshi for her framework.
Unfortunately for those of us who are dying for details, ABC hasn't released any about what Bakshi will be doing back in the thick of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. action. That said, another photo from "All The Madame's Men" gives a clue about Bakshi's role in the framework reality, and it's pretty unexpected. Take a look!
It appears that Sunil Bakshi of the framework will be a news anchor of some sort. Considering the level of control Madame Hydra maintains over the entire framework, we can bet that he's reporting on what she wants reported. Sure, we've seen that there's an underground resistance against her control, but something tells me that the man in the crisp suit and tie in an immaculate TV studio isn't exactly broadcasting on the run.
Interestingly, the official description for "All The Madame's Men" doesn't mention Bakshi or even list actor Simon Kassianides as a guest star. My guess is that he's either popping in for a fun framework cameo for longtime fans or such a major part of the episode that ABC didn't want to spoil it ahead of time. The description does reveal that Daisy will need to partner with an unlikely ally, so maybe news anchor Bakshi will help Daisy out in the episode. We'll have to wait and see.
It's not unfathomable that Bakshi could be a good guy in the framework reality. The Grant Ward of the framework is still a double agent and traitor, but he's fighting against Hydra this time. There's a decent chance that Bakshi's loyalties are also very different in the framework than they were in the real world before his death.
Tune in to ABC on Tuesday, April 25 at 10 p.m. ET to catch the "All The Madame's Men" episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and don't forget to stop by our midseason TV premiere guide and our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your other viewing options. The ratings for S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4 haven't been great, but we've come up with some big reasons why we shouldn't count the series out just yet.
