Tonight’s episode is told in two time periods. We have the ongoing conflict between Coulson’s SHIELD and “Real” SHIELD in the present, and in the past, we see where Bobbie, Mac and Gonzalez were during the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
We open in the past. Mac is bloodied, on his knees with his hands on his head. Other agents are too. We’re in the middle of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Bobbie breaks in and is a one woman wrecking crew. She takes almost everyone out. Lucy Lawless gets the last guy. Remember when Lucy Lawless was on one episode of SHIELD this season and then died? Well, she’s back! Probably just for this episode, but still, she’s back! This scene is shot in a weird blue light, as if to yell, “Hey! This is the past!”
The lighting gets normal and we jump to the present. Bobbie returns to Coulson’s base. She’s up to something. She installs some hardware int he server room. While she’s doing that, Coulson is letting Mac work on Lola, supervised of course. Coulson confronts Mac. He asks Mac who he works for. Mac, not lying, says SHIELD. But Coulson thinks he’s being difficult.
Skye and Simmons are getting in the FaceTime session planned last episode. Simmons explains how the gloves work, but doesn’t mention any side effects, which is weird, because Coulson said last episode that the glove would have side effects and that Simmons would explain them to Skye.
Bobbie laser drills into where Coulson is hiding Fury’s toolbox. She steals the toolbox. May catches her in the act. They fight, and I have to admit, as soon as May walked in, I was looking forward to this fight, as both characters have been in some of the most athletic fights on the show. This fight was a bit of a letdown as Bobbie quickly flees. When May catches up to her, she sets off an EMP, which gives her and Mac the opportunity to escape.
In the past, Bobbie and Mac are on an aircraft carrier. The pace is in shambles. They find Gonzalez. His leg is badly messed up.
In the present, Bobbie reports in to Gonzalez. Gonzalez wants Skye. Why?
At her cabin, Skye tries on her power dampening gloves. The gloves are making her woozy. She calls Simmons, but gets her voice mail. Skye notices a blue wire under her desk and follows it to the wall. It’s a hollow panel, which she pries off. Under the wooden panel is reinforced metal that looks like the wall of her cell on The Bus. There’s a giant fist print in the wall. Did The Hulk stay here?
Skye is startled by something outside. She’s freaked out. If I was alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, I’d be freaked out too. Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door. Skye and I divert over how to handle this. She answer the door. I would have ran and hid under my bed. Gordon, the blind teleporter, is at the door. Well, he’s not really blind. He can kind of see. I’m guessing he has a radar sense similar to Daredevil. He and Skye debate about the nature of her powers and why she should join him and his group. She’s not interested. He eventually takes the hint and leaves.
Back at the base, Bobbie runs into Simmons, who doesn’t know what’s going on. Simmons thinks she can fix the power outage. She just needs to find the right tool in her bag. She hands Bobbie a bunch of stuff, one of which stuns Bobbie. She basically takes Bobbie out in the cutest way possible, and then draws her gun on Bobbie. It reminded me of Hooks from Police Academy. Well played, Simmons! Her espionage game has grown so much since she awkwardly infiltrated Hydra at the start of the season. Coulson retrieves the toolbox from Bobbie. May searches her locker and finds a gas mask. Ruh-roh.
In the past, Bobbie and Mac need to move Gonzalez. Mac distracts Gonzalez with a story about his childhood coin collection so that another agent can pop Gonzalez’s leg into place. This aircraft carrier has too many secrets on it to fall into Hydra hands. Fury ordered Bobbie to sink it. Bobbie tells everyone to escape. Gonzalez argues that somehow them joining her will mean she’s be able to get out faster. Not sure how a severely injured old man isn’t going to slow things down, but I only have Level 7 clearance.
Fitz finds Bobbie’s device in the server room. Mac finds Fitz. Mac tells Fitz he isn’t going to hurt him. Fitz, rightly so, doesn’t trust Mac. gas starts filling the entire base. Mac pleads with Fitz to move away from the wall. Mac jumps on Fitz, saving him as the wall explodes. Gonzalez, Weaver and that shaved head guy who only plays jerks in movies burst in in gas masks.
In the past, Lucy Lawless goes all Xena on a bunch of Hydra agents.
In the present, everyone on Coulson’s team, save May, is captured. Gonzalez sends the shaved head jerk and a bunch of agents to “the house that Banner built” to retrieve Skye. Bobbie insists on going. It’s clear that she doesn’t trust these guys to not kill Skye.
Speaking of Skye, she decides to take the gloves off. She washes her hands and unitentionally makes the water spiral out of the faucet. It’s a cool effect.
At the base, FitzSimmons silently reconcile. This is broken up by Agent Weaver. You might remember her as the former head of the Academy, aka SHIELD Hogwarts, aka SHIELDwarts. She lets them know what went down at SHIELDwarts during Winter Soldier. They don’t show anything, but I’m guessing it’s similar to the Death Eaters’ invasion of Hogwarts in Harry Potter 6.
Gonzalez is meeting with Coulson in Coulson’s office, now Gonzalez’s office. Coulson gets the best line of the episode when telling Gonzalez he has good taste in offices and “you haven’t even dived into the record collection.” Gonzalez doesn’t plan on staying. He has the toolbox. He wants Coulson to show him how to use it so that he can hunt down superhumans. Coulson, unsurprisingly, refuses.
May gets to a comm and warns Skye that SHIELD is coming for her. She tells Skye how to escape the cabin’s security features. Bobbie and company show up at this time. Bobbie orders icers only, but shaved head jerkface definitely cocks a gun right after she says that. I’m pretty sure you don’t cock a night-night gun.
In the past, Mac wants to save the ship. They’re successfully fighting back, even if Hydra has them severely outnumbered. Gonzalez says they need to follow orders and blow the ship. Bobbie chooses to save the ship. Gonzalez says, “I hope we don’t live to regret this.” Xena says, “Let’s just hope we live.” Sorry, Xena…
In the present, Gonzalez really lays into Coulson, practically accusing Phil of being Fury’s Frankenstein Monster. Gonzalez thinks Fury had too many secrets. Phil responds with “Fury’s secrets didn’t bring down SHIELD, Hydra did.” May ends the debate by icing Gonzalez and his guards. May helps Phils escape the base and immediately surrenders. She’s staying behind to make sure nothing happens to the team.
Skye and a “Real” SHIELD agent fight. He fires on her. Definitely not an icer! Bobbie and the shaved head jerk find Skye. Shaved head jerk then shoots at Skye, despite Bobbie saying not to. In an act of self defense, Skye unleashes her vibration powers on the bullet…and on the surrounding area. She destroys the area. Trees are powdered. I have no idea what her power is doing to Bobbie and shaved head guy’s insides. I think they might be dead. Skye looks like she’s worried they’re dead too. She whispers, “Gordon, help.” Amazingly, Gordon immediately appears. How did he hear that? He ports her out. Bobbie gets up. She’s okay, but looks shocked by the devastation Skye caused.
In the final scene, Coulson is at a tiki bar on the beach. There are palm trees in the background. Hunter joins him. They’re officially a team. Phil and Hunter vs. Real SHIELD. I can’t wait.
