It was supposed to be a new beginning for Daisy Johnson, leading a special group of Inhumans who would be an important part of SHIELD.

It is still a new beginning for her, but something that’s a lot worse.

SPOILERS BELOW! 

When viewers realized that it was Daisy who is now under the sway of HIVE/Ward, it reminded me of how Angel, the good-guy vampire with a soul turned evil and soulless when he achieved happiness with Buffy when they made love on her 17th birthday. Daisy must have felt happiness, too, when she got Joey Gutierrez (Juan Pablo Raba) and Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez (Natalie Cordova-Buckley) with Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) together to create the Secret Warriors. She successfully led them on a mission to rescue the other agents and capture Malick (Powers Boothe). This is a moment of happiness for her. Once HIVE/Ward told Giyera (Mark Dacascos) they have someone on the inside, we found out an Inhuman had lost his or her soul to him.

We just never thought it would be Daisy. She was the leader, the civilian who rose in the ranks to become an important part of SHIELD.

Then again, it would have made perfect sense to make Daisy the traitor just for those reasons…and that she is reunited with her first crush, Grant Ward, now HIVE, the Devil of Maveth.

Up until that point, it’s interesting to see how the Secret Warriors interact. They work quite well, but they don’t leave unscathed. Gutierrez is still stunned he had to kill Lucio (aka the guy with the death stare) (Gabriel Salvador) while Yo-Yo didn’t realize she was wounded because she moves so quickly. She does seem to have some interest with Mac, especially when they talk SHIELD history in her language.

That goodwill ends when Coulson discusses HIVE/Ward with Malick. They both agree their desires brought him back. Malick thought bringing HIVE (aka Alveus) to Earth would change the world. It was the faith he embraced as being part of HYDRA. He never thought it would cost him his brother and his daughter. Coulson, though, admits his desire to avenge the death of Rosalind Price by killing Ward in Maveth, was the sin that gave Ward new life as HIVE.

Malick tells Coulson that HIVE can get other Inhumans to do his bidding. Actually, that sounds a lot like the next X-Men movie, where a mutant named Apocalypse will get other mutants to help him destroy the Earth. Does this mean HIVE/Ward will start his apocalypse with the Secret Warriors as his Four Horsemen?

Coulson thinks it’s possible, which is why he tries to lock down the base and keep the SW’s in one place. All that does is break the trust they have towards SHIELD, and later each other. It isn’t long before Lincoln loses control and Daisy has to stop him from making things worse. He is suspected most of all because he knew where to find that Kree orb that was used to stop Alveus (HIVE/Ward’s old name) when he tried to take over Earth thousands of years ago. Then again, Lincoln had more experience with other Inhumans.

Not only that, the Kree Orb may remind people of another orb, once that was used as a paperweight.

Simmons does find out by looking at Lucio’s brain that he was infected by HIVE/Ward. It’s too bad there’s no test to see if the other Secret Warriors were infected, too.

It would come in handy, because a short time later someone stole a bomb, and killed Malick (or, at least, used it to hide how he really died). Eventually, Lincoln proves he’s not under HIVE/Ward’s control–by figuring out it’s really Daisy. She was the one who HIVE/Ward turned, and killed Malick. H/W was able to not only infect her, but also fill her with a new purpose. She wants Lincoln to join her, but he’d rather be locked up than do that. Seeing her use her kinetic powers to wreck the HYDRA facility and the quinjet is chilling. It’s always difficult to see a heroine we all admire turn bad thanks to an evil god that looks like her first spy crush.

There was also a nice moment between Fitz and Simmons, as she talked about going in space to see something magnificent. Until we saw what Daisy had really become, some suspected that would be a hint that Simmons would be the SHIELD agent who would die in that spaceship. Now, it could be her…or someone else.

So, aside from trying to defeat HIVE/Ward (which may mean having to use Lash), SHIELD has to decide if Daisy’s soul can be restored, and then saved. Judging from what happened to another guy who lost his soul, it doesn’t look good. It’s not like Captain America trying to save his buddy Bucky Barnes, who eventually was turned into the Winter Solider. It’s still not certain if he can atone, because Civil War hasn’t been released yet.

Until then, the agents now have the difficult job of finding Ward, who’ll apparently be busy spending Malick’s money, but also deciding whether Daisy can be saved…or must be killed, too. To fans of a certain show about a certain Slayer, it’s a very familiar problem.

By the way, Entertainment Weekly has an interview with Chloe Bennet about the big twist, and what is ahead for the reunited Daisy/HIVE. We can say she thinks Daisy can be saved from what she has become, but it’s too soon to say if she can.