Courtesy of ABC
Warning: Spoiler Alert
Tonight we begin with Woodhaul back in the 1940s forcing people of different backgrounds and genders to touch the Diviner. Naturally, the results are horrible. Until a young Asian woman is forced. Instead of turning her to stone, it reveals symbols similar to those that Coulson is compelled to carve.
Whitehaul, frustrated with a lack of real results, brings in Skye’s father. He then takes a few moments to point out how short minded Whitehaul is for thinking it’s just a weapon. Apparently if one of the ‘worthy’ people were to carry the Diviner (i.e. Obelisk) to a special place, it would do much more than kill people.
Bobbi has Bakshi in the bus’ holding cell for interrogation purposes. Which is not going all that well. She employs the typical approaches. Question the leader he is so loyal to. Question why follow when you can lead? Every time she pushes, he pushes back harder from a different direction. When Bobbi leaves the interrogation, she starts questioning the tense of what Bakshi said. The hypothesis of which is that there is a connection between Whitehaul and Red Skull. While they are doing the math on how that’s not possible, anyone who’s been paying attention should know that not only is it possible, it’s the way. Whitehaul has been around that long.
Senator Ward’s car travels though a wooded back road and pulls up at the front of a summer home his parent’s had. Danger! There is a crash at his passenger window. It’s Grant Ward.
We have an Agent Carter sighting. In a flashback sequence we find Agent Carter walk into a holding cell where Whitehaul sits. Only his name wasn’t Whitehaul then. It was Verner Reinhart, which is the name of interest in one of the documents Simmons has unearthed. Reinhart tells a myth of a star that fell from the heavens, angels came bearing a gift for all mankind, to save the world. According to Reinhart, they didn’t come to ‘save’ the world, they came to conquer it.
We immediately find ‘The Doctor’ (Skye’s father) correcting the previous idea. The line was “to end mankind” not to save it. To leave a handful of those the star (or Obelisk) found worthy. Which is why it kills most who touch it. Then the Diviner (Obelisk) would find certain people worthy and they would inherit the earth.
At the Ward compound, Grant has handcuffed his brother and is forcing him to walk with little promise of what’s to come. The majority of this scene is to see the respective ‘wheels’ turning in each Ward’s head. Which angle of manipulation will win the day.
Coulson believes there is something in the Australian outback that can help them understand the map. In the meantime, Fitz has to practice installing a transceiver in under 6 minutes.
May knows that there is more locked up by Agent Carter from 50 years ago somewhere in the SSR turned SHIELD bunker. They find it. Tons of files and cases locked away. Then Hunter finds it. The Reinhart file. Inside, among other things, is a picture of Verner Reinhart. Simmons picks up on it immediately. Verner Reinhart is Daniel Whitehaul. They are one in the same.
We are thrust into another Agent Carter flashback. Not that I’m complaining. I may be the only Marvel fan that would throw down money to watch an Agent Carter feature film (or two). We see Reinhart sitting in a jail cell and watching the evidence to time changing until we find a very old and grey Reinhart.
An agent puts him in a wheel chair and says, “hail hydra”. The agent and Reinhart enter an old building (Caption reads Austria 1989). Then a number of Asian people enter the room. All look to be at least 50. Except one. The woman from earlier who did not turn to stone when touching the Obelisk. She looks like she literally has not aged a day.
Hunter takes the Reinhart file and gives it to Bobbi so that Bobbi can use it in the interrogation. All seems right when she is able to flip it on Bakshi and insinuate that he gave them all they need to take down Whitehaul. Then Bobbi does something stupid. Asks what kind of man Bakshi is. Which prompts him to say, “a loyal one”. Then he leans his head back, turns every so slightly then thrusts his face into the metal table. Thus breaking the cyanide capsule embedded in this cheek bone.
The Wards finally reach a destination. The conversation now has shifted completely to the ‘well’ incident. Senator Ward keeps maintaining that Grant Ward did it on his own but cannot reconcile his actions. Grant maintains that his brother the Senator is manipulative and found a way for force Grant to do it. Grant is standing over the Senator while he digs up what Grant believes is the well, buried. In a last-ditch effort to escape, the Senator swings the shovel and hits Grant in the abdomen. It doesn’t work. Grant regains the upper hand within 20 feet. Then he pushes his older brother’s head down so all he can see is the well. Then he admits it. The Senator hated Thomas. He wanted him dead. He wanted their mother to know their pain. Then in a creepy, Jack Nicholson in The Shining level of creepy, Grant turns. He’s nice and comforting. Claiming that the Senator’s admission was all he wanted. Now they can go home.
There is a very large computer/satellite network that would give the team the ability to find the city in question. However, it’s security measures are incredible. Instead they chose a smaller network in the Australian outback. If the big network goes down, the Australian one powers up. Coulson had Tripp and Skye deliver two seemingly inconsequential items. Those items get close enough together, and the big network goes down.
Call me crazy, but is anyone else getting the vibe that the Skye story line is about to become Kida from Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire? I don’t have some clever, nerdy Marvel correlation. I will mention why I think that is later when one other detail presents itself. If my hunch is right.
In Australia, the team enter the facility. It’s dark and empty. As planned the emp disables the Hawaiian facility. Their coms go out and Tripp reads this as an ambush. There is a fire fight. There are a small group of civilians huddled in a corner. Tripp gets shot in the shoulder but it is more than a flesh wound. One of the civilians offers to help, because he’s a doctor. Or The Doctor (as Whovians everywhere launch into a massive protest-I’d be really pleased if most of you get that reference), Skye’s father. All of this was a set up to get close to Coulson and then escape.
Another flash back to 1989 has Reinhart prepping for surgery. On the table is the woman from before. Looking very scared. What follows is not for the faint of heart. In a montage like sequence, we see Reinhart essentially harvesting liquid, tissue, muscle, anything he can use from this woman to find out why the Obelisk didn’t kill her. Then he looks to his assistant and says, “dispose of the rest”.
Whitehaul is in a dark room talking to someone about second chances. At first I thought this might have been a recent flashback involving Bakshi. But, alas, it’s Grant Ward. Surprise, surprise. Grant tells Whitehaul that his skills and ability to always move forward could be of some use. Whitehaul agrees then runs a video on a tablet. “The bodies of Senator Christian Ward and that of his mother and father were found in what looks like a murder suicide” all while video of the house burning is shown. Then the reporter claims a portion of a tape was found that is believed to be his suicide note. The audio is that of Grant forcing Senator Ward to admit to forcing Grant to push Thomas, not kill their parents. Grant looks at Whitehaul and gives the subtlest of smirks.
Hunter and Bobbi go at it, as I’m sure we’ve become accustomed to at this point. But this is more. This is in each others face. And as predicted, the spat ends in a sloppy make out session.
Back on the bus, Skye looks around the room as she explains how the computer system works for finding the city. Everyone is transfixed straight ahead. She can tell something is up.
Skye: Guys, is everything OK? They’re patching Tripp up and he’s going to be fine. You’re acting like you saw the devil out there.
(Coulson turns slowly to stare into Skye’s eyes. They both stare uncomfortably long, then the computer finds a match for the city)
Whitehaul calls a meeting between himself, The Doctor (they have to give him another name, I’m not comfortable referring to a recurring by not main character as “The Doctor”), and Grant Ward. Whitehaul believes the two of them with their respective expertise can do great things. Ward mentions the run in with Coulson in addition to referring to his familiarity with Coulson’s team as being ‘like family’. The Doctor doesn’t see it as a loss. He thinks you should look your enemies in the eyes. The then turns gradually at Whitehaul. Let me take this moment before the reveal to say, I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT.
In another flashback, this time 25 years ago (that distinction is important), we find The Doctor running through a jungle. He stops short. Whatever he sees is life altering. It’s the woman who Reinhart/Whitehaul carved up. The woman is The Doctor’s wife and presumably Skye’s mother. In the flash back, The Doctor vows revenge. Even uses the phrase, “Tear him to pieces”.
So here’s the theory. Skye’s mother was one of the chosen ones. Seems logical that whatever made her that way got passed down to Skye. Skye had the same alien blood injected into her that made Coulson and Garrett crazy, yet she was unchanged. SHIELD and HYDRA are both racing toward some secret city. What happens when Skye and the Obelisk (big assumption) walk into the temple together? For anyone who is familiar with Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire, all of this will seem eerily familiar. We shall see. The bigger question for the immediate future is, “Who does this Doctor despise more, Whitehaul or Coulson?”
Courtesy of Disney
