Courtesy of ABC
Warning: Spoiler Alert
A very cheesy military wedding reception goes terribly bad when the best man gives his toast. I know I could stop there, but this is Agents of SHIELD. It would take more than an awkward toast to make the cold open. Then everyone who drank the champagne, instantly had their mouth turn to stone.
In Coulson’s office there are more questions than answers. Not only that, but Phil is much shorter with his responses. Even goes above and beyond what would be considered reasonable when Skye follows up one question with “why not”.
Raina appears unannounced to the person we have been lead to believe is Skye’s father. Also the current possessor of the Obelisk. She informs him that she needs to get it back temporarily. I am skeptical to speculate on the extremely awesome. But just for the fun of it, and no I don’t actually believe this will happen. But if it did it would be one hell of a twist on the character. And one that would cause a huge problem for the Cinematic Marvel Universe.
We’ll refer to him as simply “Skye’s father”. Skye’s father is performing surgery in a dark dingy place with no windows. Very ‘under the radar’. When Raina first gave him the picture of Skye, he sat quietly in a seated position of meditation. Now that Raina has given him information that he doesn’t like, he begins to get very visibly angry. She mentions that he doesn’t want her to see him ‘like this’. He then looks in a mirror on the wall so he could see his own reflection. As if he’s checking to see how far along the transformation is. And then the big one. There is very little light in the room. The light that is there is emerald green. Are you picking up what I’m putting down? It feels like they are implying that Skye’s father is the Hulk or another Hulk. I don’t believe that to be accurate, but I did nerd out a little at the thought of it. I don’t think it’s Bruce Banner. But maybe, it is another Hulk. A different Hulk. If that were true (which it’s probably not), it would create the realistic fear of why Coulson can never tell Skye where she comes from. Or what she really is.
Mr. Whitehall, the guy with the weird round glasses that looks like if Hitler’s dream and passion had a baby it would grow up to look like Whitehall, calls a meeting of Hydra scientists. There he lays out his plan to utilize alien technology. He even calls on Simmons directly. Simmons answers his questions well without tipping her hand to her cover.
Ok, I’m fine with Fitz manifesting the image of Simmons to represent his own subconscious. I’m fine with him accepting that she’s not real. I’m even very pleased with him making friends, Mack, Hunter, Tripp. What I’m not OK with is Fitz’ subconscious Simmons suggesting that Simmons left and moved on and maybe he should do the same. There is only one logical ending here. They are setting up Fitz for a long term and somewhat painful acceptance that Simmons left because of him and that he will get over it. And the moment that he is officially over it/her, that’s when she will return to show that the premise that she left because of him was garbage to begin with. At least that’s the only logical end I will accept.
Upon Hunter’s suggestion, Skye goes downstairs to ask Ward about the alien scribble. Ward thinks she’s there about her father. Skye isn’t buying it, even though she should. She quickly changes the conversation to the alien writing. What he says is not new information. But he did paint a picture of what Garrett became which did not sound that terribly different than Coulson (minus all the completely crazy parts). He even said, “whatever he became, wasn’t meant to survive”.
Skye storms into Coulson’s office claiming he won’t name the source because he is the source. Don’t spend too much time on that part. What is critically important is the admission we’ve been waiting for since episode two of season one. Skye’s identity. We’ve always known that they knew something they weren’t telling. And now we have a little insight. Skye may potentially be at least part alien.
Hydra was able to intercept one of Simmons’ messages to SHIELD and intended to flip the offices until they found evidence. Evidence Jemma had in her possession. She somehow was able to move the evidence into her supervisor’s desk undetected to save her cover.
Raina meets with Coulson in a public place. She is there to tip the scales. She is aware that Hydra is trying to flush out a mole. She turns her phone and implies that she could give Hydra proof that the mole is Jemma Simmons. If they don’t hand over Skye. The play is to turn over Skye or an incriminating picture of Simmons gets sent out to every Hydra agent. Coulson doesn’t blink. But that also exposes Simmons.
Well played Whedon, well played. I looked like Coulson sold Jemma out. But in actuality, Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird) played by Adrianne Palicki appeared to be a sincere agent of Hydra out to find the mole. As it turns out she was the ace up Coulson’s sleeve. In addition to that, Hunter ‘tagged’ Raina with a tiny tracking device and sent her on her way. Essentially turning her into the worm on the hook when fishing for Whitehall. All has gone to plan, but Skye is missing. One guess as to where.
Skye gets to the location Raina spoke about. She searches every corner and finds nothing except an old picture of him holding a baby. Then there is a hand on her arm. It’s Coulson. Whose only response is, “You’re having a heck of a day”.
Hunter: Must’ve left in a hurry. Place is cleared out. Agent May is checking the back room.
Skye: Have you been drinking?
Hunter: I was working. I had to maintain my cover.
Skye: Your cover as what? Ron Burgundy?
Okay. In all seriousness. It’s 12:15am local time and this is not the only recap I plan to do tonight. But I cannot proceed without trying to articulate my excitement level right now. For me, personally, Hydra, Skye’s father, Coulson losing it slowly, the alien writing all take a back seat to the Fitz/Simmons situation. And she is currently walking down a dark corridor to the warm sounds of people welcoming her back. Somewhere on the other side of this corridor is Fitz. There is about 8 minutes left. If they don’t give me a Fitz and Simmons reunion I’m happy with my long night may just become longer.
Yep. Long night on the horizon. To say the reunion was disappointing is a dramatic understatement. I wanted her to run into his arms. Overjoyed by seeing him and displaying a level of emotion that would clearly and beyond a shadow of a doubt confirm that all of Fitz’ thoughts about why Simmons left were wrong. It was much more awkward than that and much less than overjoyed.
Upstairs Skye informs Coulson that she just doesn’t care anymore about finding her father after what she saw. Whatever takes him down. And that she will not tolerate deception anymore. So Coulson brings her in. Literally in that moment. He reveals the wall mural sized alien language piece he carved yesterday. He doesn’t know what it means. But Skye does.
Skye: It’s a map.
Another little tidbit that should be noted. Bobbi Morse (aka Mockingbird-played by Adrianne Palicki) and the devil alien ex wife of Hunter’s are one in the same.
Skye’s father then just walks into the Hydra facility while it is being moved and simply hands over the Obelisk to Whitehall as a show of good faith to breed a partnership to take down SHIELD.
