Laws of Nature

Laws of Nature is the first episode of the third season of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  and the forty-fifth episode overall.

Synopsis
When a new Inhuman is discovered, Coulson and the team have an encounter with another organization seeking powered people; Fitz goes to extreme measures to determine how to get Simmons back.

Plot
In the months that had passed since Nature Max Supplements Fish Oil pills were distributed, S.H.I.E.L.D. had pulled the product from the shelves of stores, but could not recall those used by customers. Joey Gutierrez in Seattle, Washington is one such customer; he developed the ability to melt metal near his vicinity when he becomes scared or nervous, causing accidents and explosions. The Advanced Threat Containment Unit goes to apprehend Gutierrez, but Daisy Johnson, Lance Hunter, and Alphonso Mackenzie collect him first and transport him to the Playground where he is told of his heritage. Phil Coulson researches the leader of the ATCU, Rosalind Price, and takes Hunter with him to Washington, D.C. to confront her and to learn why Inhumans are disappearing just as her organization becomes prominent. In the subway, Coulson and Hunter are surrounded by Price's soldiers as they exchange quips and knowledge of each other's pasts. However, when they begin to actually talk, they learn that neither organization is killing Inhumans, as Price believed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was killing the newly-transformed. Meanwhile, Johnson and Mackenzie go to the hospital where Lincoln Campbell works; they want to recruit him to be the transitioner of Gutierrez. Campbell refuses, but, as he argues with Mackenzie, a monstrous being enters the hospital, killing a security guard and seeking Campbell. The three fight the monster; they would have been overwhelmed, if Johnson had not destroyed the floor under his feet. He runs off. The agents ask Campbell to accompany them, but he chooses to go on his own, with his life as an ordinary doctor now in ruins.

Simultaneously, Coulson and Price receive phone calls concerning the incident; as Price goes to another subway car to take her call, Coulson and Hunter use that opportunity to escape.

In Morocco, Leo Fitz barely escapes with his life as he goes there to exchange Splinter Bombs with the terrorist Yusef Hadad to get a scroll with the secret of the Monolith inscribed on it; Jemma Simmons has been gone for months since swallowed by the Kree artifact. Fitz gets the scroll and returns to the Playground where he opens it in front of Coulson, who tires of Fitz's absence from his duties, but sympathizes with the love that Fitz has for Simmons. Fitz reads the scroll; "Death" is the only word on it. Fitz then takes a shotgun, blasts the lock off the container, and enters where the Monolith is housed. He beats and screams at the rock to swallow him; it stays dormant.

Morse and Hunter decide that they will be avenged for the harm Grant Ward caused them. The President of the United States has a press conference officially announcing the Advanced Threat Containment Unit as replacing S.H.I.E.L.D. in apprehending super-powered threats.

Elsewhere, Jemma Simmons runs for her life; she peeks from behind a boulder to see how close her pursuer is. Two moons are in the sky.

Cast
Main Cast:
 * Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
 * Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May (credit only)
 * Brett Dalton as Grant Ward (credit only)
 * Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson
 * 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 Mackenzie
 * Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell

Guest Stars:
 * William Sadler as President Matthew Ellis
 * Constance Zimmer as Rosalind Price
 * Andrew Howard as Banks
 * Matthew Willig as Lash
 * Juan Pablo Raba as Joey Gutierrez
 * Ido Mor as Yusef Hadad
 * Jude B. Lanston as Soldier #1
 * Daniel Messier as Heavy
 * Katie Hilliard as Tina Adams
 * Robert Glen Decker as Seattle Street Victim
 * Justin Gant as Guard
 * Roman Mitichyan as Heavy
 * Mike C. Nelson as Witness

Locations

 * Playground
 * Advanced Threat Containment Unit Facility
 * Seattle, Washington
 * Tangier, Morocco
 * Washington, D.C.
 * Sokovia (mentioned)
 * Langley, Virginia (mentioned)
 * Kandahar, Afghanistan (mentioned)
 * Amman, Jordan (mentioned)
 * Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (mentioned)
 * Tripoli, Libya (mentioned)
 * Peru (mentioned)
 * Atlanta, Georgia (mentioned)
 * Yucatan, Mexico (mentioned)
 * Mosul, Iraq (mentioned)
 * Tahiti (mentioned)
 * New York City, New York (mentioned)
 * London, England (mentioned)
 * Sheffield, England (mentioned)

Events

 * Attack on the United Nations (mentioned)
 * Battle of New York (mentioned)
 * Battle of Greenwich (mentioned)
 * Battle of Sokovia (mentioned)
 * Battle at the Triskelion (mentioned)
 * Infiltration at Pym Technologies (mentioned)

Items

 * Nature Max Supplements Fish Oil
 * Phil Coulson's Prosthetic Hand
 * Monolith
 * Terrigen Crystals
 * Splinter Bomb (modified)

Vehicles

 * Zephyr One
 * Escape Module
 * Quinjet
 * Bus (mentioned)
 * Iliad (mentioned)
 * Helicarrier (mentioned)

Sentient Species

 * Humans
 * Inhumans

Organizations

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Advanced Threat Containment Unit
 * WHiH World News
 * HYDRA (mentioned)
 * CIA (mentioned)
 * (mentioned)
 * MI6 (mentioned)
 * (mentioned)
 * (mentioned)
 * United Nations (mentioned)
 * NASA (mentioned)
 * United States Department of Defense (mentioned)
 * KGB (mentioned)
 * Pym Technologies (mentioned)

Mentioned

 * Sunil Bakshi
 * Grant Ward
 * Melinda May

Trivia

 * This was the first episode in which Ming-Na Wen did not appear in as Melinda May.
 * This is also the first premiere episode in which the entire main cast do not appear.