The episode starts with the Quinjets surrounding the Bus departing with Ward, Skye and Raina. I guess the Hydra pilots didn’t get Agent 33’s message to shoot the Bus down? Or maybe we’re starting off a minute or two before the end of the last episode? May orders Trip to find some cloud cover. I think she knows what’s coming. One of the Koenigs wants to cloak, maybe they both do, they both dress alike and I can’t tell who is who. May shoots down that idea. Sorry, poor choice of words. The Quinjets are in pursuit as May takes the the Bus into a deep dive. She dumps some hot cargo and cloaks just as Hydra fires on them. Hydra thinks they’ve blown the plane out of the sky. Speaking of Skye, May tells Trip to take them to San Juan. Coulson needs to know about Ward taking Skye.
Outside of San Juan, Coulson and May’s teams reunite. Coulson’s #1 priority is preventing Hydra from accessing those crazy tunnels from last week. Rescusing Mac is sadly lower on the list. Bobbie isn’t happy about it, but she understand. One of the Koenigs is talking to Trip. They’re going over their new plan for the secret city. It involves collapsing itself on itself with some heavy explosives. As a bit of fan service, the Koenig tells Trip, “Dum Dum Dugan would be proud.” In the comics, Dum Dum Dugan is Nick Fury’s right hand man and one of the main Agents of SHIELD.
FitzSimmons are trying to figure out the city mysterious powers, and whether or not Mac is alive. It’s not looking good for Mac’s prospects, as he was infected by the city and kicked 100 feet down a hole. Fitz thinks the city was reacting in self-defense to Mac’s presence. They compare the city’s effect on Mac to zombie ants. For those of us not familiar with zombie ants, FitzSimmons explains it. Basically a fungus takes over the ant and the ant acts in the fungus’s interest instead of the ant’s.
Hunter walks in on Bobbie going through Mac’s things in his garage. Hunter doesn’t see her finger a thumb drive. Bobbie thinks Mac is dead, mainly because of the whole falling down the hundred foot hole thing. Good point, Bobbie. Hunter and Bobbie both really like Mac. Sorry Skye/Ward and FitzSimmons, but these two are becoming the cutest couple on the show. Bobbie gets a text from Diego, who you might remember from such roles as their contact in San Juan. She suggest Hunter be her back up when she rendezvouses with Diego. Hunter agrees to go, but calls her out on the thumb drive she just pocketed. He feels that when she hides things from him, he can’t trust her completely, but chooses to trust her anyway.
May and Coulson are going over the standoff with Ward on the Bus at the end of the last episode. May wishes she shot Ward in the head. Coulson counters that if she did, she, Skye and everyone else would have been shot out of the sky. Six agents are alive because of her actions; Coulson thinks she did the right thing.
Ward is leading a handcuffed Skye through a Hydra house. Ward reunites Skye and her dad, TV’s Kyle McLaughlin. Skye is shocked into silence. That would be my reaction too if I found out that guy who “Alrighty” proposed to Charlotte was my dad too. Kyle is the most awkward super powered psychotic father ever. He almost breaks down in tears. His name is Cal…or is it Kal?!? Wait, is he Superman?!? He thanks Skye for meeting with him. She points out that she was kidnapped at gunpoint.
Father Cal says to her, “I don’t know what you know about me.” Skye’s response is, “You’re a monster, a murderer. You leave a trail of death wherever you go.” And here I thought my family get-togethers could be awkward at times. Cal, quick tip, yelling every third word doesn’t break the tension…or make you look sane. Cal starts to tell Skye about himself and her mother, but just trails off. He says he wishes he could have taught her about the stars. I don’t think he means elementary school science. I think he’s talking about the Kree.
Hunter and Bobbie are about to meet up with Diego, when Bobbie pulls Hunter back and says, “This is bad. Diego is early and he’s wearing a suit.” When Hunter doesn’t understand what’s bad about that, Bobbie explains that Diego is never early and he never wears a suit. Two Hydra goons show up, shake Diego’s hand and all three of them walk directly in Bobbie and Hunter’s direction. Hunter and Bobbie can’t figure out if Diego is selling them out or selling Hydra out. To avoid the Hydra goons spotting them, Bobbie starts making out with Hunter. How does this work? WheneverI see people making out in public, they’re the least conspicuous people around. But the Hydra guys walk right on by and Diego slips Bobbie a note while she’s slipping Hunter her tongue. I was really hoping one of the Hyrdra guys would have paused, made a lewd gesture and told them to get a room.
Skye wants out. She opens the door, but there are two Hydra agents guarding it. Cal tells them not to be alarmed and shuts the door. He tells Skye that the Hydra agents don’t matter, and that after today, none of them will matter. Skye says they do matter, that he works for Whitehall and Hydra. They’re bad guys, she says, making him a bad guy. Cal goes a little bit crazy, saying he could never work for Whitehall. Cal, you really need to work on the going crazy while explaining things. It doesn’t help get your point across. He tells Skye that he used Whitehall to find her. Cal explains to Skye that her mother came from a line of gifted people (mutants? Haha, maybe is this was 1994, not 2014. That word verboten in Marvel Studios!). He brought Skye here so that she could receive her gift. He describes a transformation that she’s going to go through. Wait, is he talking about Terrigan Mists?!? He must be. In the comics, the Terrigan Mists are what give the Inhumans their powers. The mists affect each Inhuman differently, kind of like the way the x-gene expresses itself differently in each mutant. There I go using the m-word again. Sorry.
Skye interrupts Cal, wanting to know what happened to her mom. Cal tells her that people claiming to be SHIELD took her. Cal tracked them,but by the time he caught up with them, it was too late. Whitehall had cut her mom to pieces. Whitehall took her organs and blood and dumped her in a ditch. After Cal finishes, he apologizes and starts humming. This scene could not be any weirder. Skye recognizes the tune he’s humming. It’s the song Skye’s mom sang to her as a baby. A Hydra guy shows up saying that Whitehall wants Cal. Cal waves him off, so that he could finish humming. After the Hydra guy leaves, Cal says he’s off to kill Whitehall, and calls it the best day ever. Skye looks shocked. That’s fair. Shouldn’t her birth and the day he met her mom make the top 2. Killing Whitehall might be the third best day, if that.
Coulson’s team is on the bus, en route to San Juan. Trip asks Sam where Billy is. Sam says that the stress over fried Sam’s circuits and he’s recharging. Oh, an LMD joke! Trip doesn’t laugh. I do. Coulson tells Sam that he wants him and his brother Billy to head back to base. If things go south, he needs them to initiate the Theta Protocols. Going by the look on Sam’s face, this is some heavy stuff.
Bobbie calls with Hydra’s location. They’re practically on top of the city. This changes Coulson’s plans. He and May need to head out and back up Bobbie and Hunter now before Hydra can plasma drill their way to the secret city. Raina is overseeing the plasma drill. A Hydra guy gets her and brings her to Ward, Cal and Whitehall. Whitehall wants to know why Skye is here. He has a theory. Agent 33 pulls out the obelisk. Whitehall wants Skye to pick up the obelisk. She responds, “You first.” Guns are drawn. Cal nods at her. He has a scalpel in his hand with Whitehall’s name on it. Not really with Whitehall’s name on it. But I’m getting the feeling it will soon really have Whitehall’s blood on it. Skye picks up what Cal is putting down. She grabs the obelisk. It glows. She immediately dies.
Just kidding! It doesn’t do anything to her, it just lights up. She plunges it into the neck of a Hydra goon. He dies. For real, this time. Cal stabs another one. Ward draws his gun on other Hydra agents, but good guys are still outnumbered. Maybe good guys isn’t the best term with this crew. More like the team we’re rooting for is still outnumbered. Or the not-as-bad-as-Whitehall-and-Hydra guys are still outnumbered. The other Hydra goons and Agent 33 have their guns drawn on them. Whitehall approaches Skye and says, “I hope you’re as special as your mother.” So Whitehall knew who Cal was all this time? He was playing the guy playing him? Ooooo.
Whitehall is trying to figure out how Ward figures into all this here. Raina calls Ward out, saying that Ward loves Skye. A Hydra guy clocks Cal, knocking him out. They lead Skye and Ward away.
The Bus, still cloaked, lands on the roof of the building Skye is in. Bobbie and Hunter increase their cuteness quotient when it’s revealed that say to each other “Don’t die out there” before every mission, because as Hunter puts it, “Who doesn’t like to hear it?”
In the cave, Trip and FitzSimmons are all dressed in hazmat suits and are heading down into the hole with a bunch of detonators. Trip is ready to take out Mac if he’s still alive. Mac’s body isn’t at the bottom. That most likely means Mac is still alive, and probably still very zombie ant.
Ward wants to know why Agent 33 looks like May. I want to know if Ming-Na Wen get paid double for these Agent 33 episodes? Cal wakes up. He jumps at Whitehall, but Whitehall has placed some device on him that knocks Cal immobile. Whitehall wants to know what Skye’s gift is. Whitehall tells Call that he killed his wife, and before he kills him, will show Cal what he does to his daughter, you know, just to drive home that he’s the really bad guy here.
TripFitzSimmons (that’s their new name says I) are heading through corridors in the secret city. They get two detonators in place, and have two left. Fitz breaks off from the other two, because they don’t have time to not split up. This kind of thing never ends well. And Fitz doesn’t have the best track record with coming out of these kinds of things unscathed.
Ward gets into the head of the Hydra agent who is guarding him. He distracts him long enough for Cal to break the agent’s neck. Cal heads off to kill Whitehall, leaving Ward and Skye still tied up. When Cal finds Whitehall, Whitehall smiles and raises a gun. Coulson appears and shoots Whitehall in the back. Cal is pissed. Coulson tells him, “You’re welcome?” Coulson you better run, Cal is really pissed!
Whitehall is dead. Cal is yelling at Coulson, that Coulson had no right to kill Whitehall, Whitehall was his! Coulson says Cal is next if he moves. He’s not letting Cal take Skye into those tunnels to trigger whatever armageddon Cal thinks will happen. Cal steps towards Coulson, but before Coulson can shoot him, Agent 33 is shooting both of them. They run off, leaving 33 with Whitehall’s body.
Cal assaults Coulson. Coulson tries calming Cal down saying, “We both want to help your daughter.” Cal says she doesn’t need Coulson and proceeds to pummel him.
Ward frees himself and frees Skye. He’s rewarded by Skye shooting him a bunch of times in the gut.
The Cal vs. Coulson fight is decidedly one sided. Coulson is being beaten to death. Skye stops Cal from killing him by drawing a gun on Cal. She’s not going down the tunnel. And Ca’s leaving, or she’s going to kill him. He agrees to leave, but tells her that after she changes, no one else will understand but him. He calls her Daisy! Daisy! Oh man! Skye is really Daisy Johnson aka Quake! This is huge. Skye tells Coulson she’s going to stop the drill and find the obelisk.
A little on Daisy Johnson. In the comics, she’s a protege of Nick Fury. Her father in the comics, is the villainous Mr. Hyde. Hmm, this is explaining Kyle MacLachlan’s portrayal of his character much better. You might have guessed her powers by her code name Quake. She has the power to cause seismic shifts and earthquakes.
Agent 33 finds Ward. With Whitehall dead, her whole world is shattered. She’s afraid. She doesn’t know what to do. Ward convinces her to help him up, and that he’ll get her out of there. Coming next January, Ward and not Not-May on the road together, living the outlaw life!
Bobbie, Hunter and May kill more Hydra goons.
Skye finds the tunnel entrance. The obelisk is nowhere to to be found. That’s because Raina took it. She’s already down the tunnel. Raina comes across zombie ant Mac. He’s standing still. She tells him, “Take me there.” He leads her forward. Mac’s eyes are completely glazed over.
Coulson and May get to the hole. Where’s Skye? Coulson wants to follow her down. May points out all the bombs their team planted. Coulson isn’t leaving Skye. He tells May that her job is get everyone out if he and Skye aren’t back in time before the bombs go off.
TripFitzSimmons emerge from their hole. May tells them at that Skye and Coulson are down below. Tripp heads back down the hole sans hazmat suit. Trip, what the hell man? Don’t zombie ant yourself!
Mac takes Raina a room with a stone pillar bathed in light. Trip is running Indiana Jones style, not transformed into a zombie ant man like Mac. Trip defuses a bomb. Coulson and Skye are running around too, though not together. May tells Bobbie and Hunter to clear this place. Skye finds Mac. She tries to get him to respond. He’s catatonic. Aw man, I like Mac. Skye finds the room with the pillar. Raina is singing. I think she’s singing Cal’s song. How does she know that? She’s about to put the obelisk down on the pillar. Trip defuses the third bomb. Skye finds Raina. They have a weird Mexican standoff, Skye with a gun, Raina with the obelisk. The obelisk glows and floats from Raina’s hand on its own to the pillar. Trip defuses the last bomb just in time. The walls close in and Raina and Skye are trapped with the obelisk. Mac attacks Coulson, who gets the better of him. Hypno-Mac isn’t the fastest. Trip makes it into the room just as the walls close. Coulson arrives just too late. The obelisk opens. There are crystals inside it, wait is this Superman? Are we in the Fortress of Solitude? I mean, dude named Kal, alien crystals…
Mac has found Coulson. Coulson is not having a good day; he’s about to get beat again. In the room, the crystals glow and Skye, Trip and Raina are all bathed in smoke…or mist, Terrigan Mist! As soon as that happens, Mac drops to his knees. Skye and Raina are both covered in this weird black gel. Tip roundhouse kicks the crystals. They shatter in a wave of more smoke. Skye and Raina look like the victims of Pompeii. Trip screams “No!” Then the black gel starts to cover Trip. Skye starts to crack, or rather the casing around her does. As does Raina’s . Raina looks like she might have porcupine quills on her face now and orange eyes. The covering explodes off Skye. Hello, Quake! She causes a minor cave in with this new earthquake power. Wait,not minor. The whole place is coming down, even the house above the hole. Trip’s casing cracks. No, wait, Trip cracks. He falls apart. Trip is dead!!!!!! No!!!!!!
Someplace else, in some house, a box lights up. A man pulls out another obelisk! He makes a call. “Are you seeing this? There is someone new. Tell the others I’m on it.” The camera pulls back to reveal the man’s face. He has no eyes…or eye sockets even. Ahhhhh!
Agents of SHIELD isn’t back until January. Hopefully that’s enough time to process Trip’s death. Man, I can’t believe Trip is dead. I’m bummed. 🙁
