Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Recap: What They Become

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Season 2, Episode 10

9|8 EST on ABC

Mid-Season Finale

(Will return in March 2015, aka TOO FAR AWAY)

SPOILERS

  

This episode broke my heart. It crushed my soul. Like a grape. I give you fair warning.

 

In the last episode, Whitehall gave the order for his jets to shoot down the Bus after Ward leaves with Skye and Raina. May pulls a Maverick-worthy piloting maneuver and escapes. HYDRA leaves, thinking they've destroyed the Bus, even though there's no debris or bodies or wreckage or anything, really.

 

 

 

That's REAL talent. You can be my wingman any time, May.

 

In Puerto Rico, HYDRA is using a plasma drill to tunnel their way down into the Kree city, while Trip, Fitz, and Simmons plant WWII-era bombs (seriously, being the grandchild of a Howling Commando has a lot of low-tech perks) inside the city to keep HYDRA from getting to it. They have no idea what happened to Mack, and to prevent the same fate from happening to them, they're wearing hazmat suits (since apparently, the berserker thing is triggered by skin touching the floors, walls, etc.). How they figure this out, I don't know; and it doesn't seem to matter, since they spend half the episode running around hazmat-suit-less anyway.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Ward takes Skye to see her father, Cal, and have family reunion so functional it could give the Kardashians a run for their money. Skye is less than enthused to meet her father, but he's his usual sweaty and vaguely nervous self. Apparently he doesn't hulk out when he gets angry or anything like that; he just gets really, really ticked off and then kills people with his bare hands.

 

 

Cal tells Skye that he wasn't always this way ('this way' being a murdering psycho) but after she was taken away from him and his wife was murdered, he changed. (Just slightly.) He tells her that he and his wife worked together in a clinic, and SHIELD (aka HYDRA sleeper agents) took her away. Cal left Skye with people he trusted and followed Whitehall, but when he got there, his wife was already dead. I admit, I actually felt for Cal during this scene; such a horrible thing happened to his wife. He and Skye sit on a couch and he hums 'A Bicycle Built for Two' while awkwardly patting her shoulder.

  

doing the family bonding
 

Whitehall, with impeccable timing, sends an agent to tell Cal he wants to see him. Cal then tells Skye Whitehall has served his purpose, and he's going to kill him. Best day ever!

 

 

Whitehall has gathered Ward, Raina and Cal together to celebrate the big event of reaching the Kree city. Whitehall really comes into his own here as the giant Nazi creep that he is - he oozes evil slime and he does it really, really well. Even his stupid little glasses look evil.

 

 

 

He tells them that, while they all have questionable loyalties, the only one he doesn't understand is Ward. He then tells guards to bring Skye in, and asks Ward why he brought her along and countermanded his order to bring down the Bus in the first place. Raina helpfully suggests it's because he wants to prove himself to Skye because he loves her. Because Whitehall is an evil genius, he believes Skye can hold the obelisk, and he has her prove it. She grabs it, and then uses it to kill a guard while her father stabs another one with a scalpel and Ward threatens to shoot the rest of the HYDRA agents.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, Whitehall still has the upper hand and they're disarmed. He quite happily states he's going to dissect Skye to see if she's as 'special' as her mother, and reprogram Ward into compliance. Ward gives him this cute little smile. I can't help it. I've always loved Ward most.

 

 

Ward and Skye are tied up and Cal is tossed in with them, and they're placed under guard. Considering Cal is a wee bit insane, Ward is a deadly killer and Skye is a SHIELD field agent, you know they aren't going to be there for long. SHIELD (I've decided to just call it SHIELD instead of S.H.I.E.L.D. because I'm lazy and don't want to take the extra time) shows up in a timely fashion. Go Coulson!

 

 

Cal seizes the opportunity to leave Skye and Ward and attempt to kill Whitehall, but turns out Ward had a hidden knife (because he's agent Grant Ward and jumped out of a plane without a parachute) and he gets himself and Skye free. Then a thing happens.

Ward tells Skye to stay there and heads over to the door to check on the current state of affairs outside.

Skye gets up and takes a gun from the guard Cal killed when he escaped.

Ward turns around.

And Skye shoots him.

 

 

Not once, but multiple times.

 

 

 

I was in shock. My heart didn't know what to do. I forgot what air was. And then I remembered this parallel. And then a small part of me died. Right then and there. It died dead.

 

 

SKYE YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO TAKE THAT LITERALLY. WARD WASN'T THREATENING YOU. HE WAS HELPING YOU ESCAPE. AND YOU SHOT HIM. YOU SHOT HIM. I AM GOING TO HAVE A HARD TIME FORGIVING YOU FOR THIS, SKYE. YOU JUST LOST POINTS.

 

 

 

I mean, I know you're ticked at him because of what he did, but he's told only the truth since then! All he's done is help! You might feel bad, but you know what?

 

 

 

Coulson, May and Huntingbird have stormed the castle and two awesome things happen.

 

a) Coulson shoots Whitehall and then enters a fight with Cal. Coulson then pulls a full-on Natasha Romanoff.

 

 

 

b) Hunter (who has quickly become my second favorite, after Ward) gains even more points by quoting Deadpool.

 

 

 



 

Coulson holds his own, but Cal gets the upper hand and is beating him to a bloody pulp when Skye rushes in and threatens to shoot him if he doesn't stop punching her real fake dad and leave. Cal does leave, but assures Skye that her destiny will force her back with him. Skye will have none of it.

 

 

Cal leaves, but not before he calls her by her real name - Daisy. First Mary Sue, then Skye, then Daisy, then...

More on that later.

 

Meanwhile, Agent 33, lost without Whitehall, finds Ward (who survived, because he's agent Grant Ward and he can shoot the legs off a caterpillar at 500 yards as long as there's no wind) and helps him get up and out. (This is going to be an intriguing working relationship.)

 

 

Skye goes to the room with the hole in the ground and finds the Obelisk gone. She knows Raina has taken it, and while she had no intention of going into the Kree city, she decides she needs to find Raina and take the Obelisk herself.

 

 

 

 Coulson follows, telling May to stay behind and get everyone out. This happens just around the time Trip and FitzSimmons emerge, having planted bombs that will go off in ten minutes.

When May tells Trip that Coulson and Skye are still in the tunnels, he throws caution to the wind and enters the tunnels again to disarm the bombs before they blow up his friends. YOU GO, TRIP. EVEN THOUGH YOU AREN'T WEARING A HAZMAT SUIT.

Meanwhile, Raina finds zombified Mack, who leads her to the temple. Skye follows close behind and, since she's 'worthy,' Mack lets her pass, too. Trip finds the last bomb and disarms it just before it goes off, and we all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Until Skye and Raina face off, but it's too late - the Obelisk is on the pedestal. Crystals emerge like a miniature Fortress of Solitude or that science project you did in third grade, and Trip runs in just in time to see it happening. The Obelisk sends an explosion outward that quickly turns Raina and Skye to stone. Trip, trying to stop Skye from dying, smashes the crystals, but once again, it's too late. Trip looks down to see shards in his chest. WAIT! BUT - HE WAS SUPPOSED TO LIVE!

 As he turns to stone and crumbles, the last thing he sees is the girl he couldn't save. (I might be being a bit dramatic here, BUT IT'S WHAT HAPPENED AND IT'S NOT OKAY.) Outside the temple, Mack appears to snap out of his trance, with Coulson standing beside him. Things begin to fall apart everywhere, and the stone crumbles off of Raina – we only see a brief image of cat-like eyes, and then it crumbles off of Skye, who is reborn.

And we know who she is now. She is Daisy Johnson, the inhuman known as Quake for her ability to cause earthquakes. Daisy Johnson, who is personally selected by Captain America himself to be an Avenger. Daisy Johnson, who gets Level 10 clearance. Daisy Johnson, Nick Fury's protegee. Daisy Johnson, future Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Daisy Freaking Johnson.

In the post-credits scene, we see an Obelisk glowing on a desk, and an eyeless man answering a ringing telephone. The person on the phone asks the eyeless man “Are you seeing what I'm seeing?” The voice then tells Eyeless that this means there's 'something new,' and to tell 'the others.' What does this mean? Are 'the others' the Inhumans? How many Obelisks/Kree artifacts are there? Is the guy with no eyes The Reader, or possibly Videmus, or maybe even a Seeker?

Will Ward be okay? Are the Koenigs really androids? Will we survive until the next episode?

 

In the meantime, here's an interview with B. J. Britt/Trip (very cute, very sad, includes a great video) about Trip's death.

You can go console yourself with the approaching premier of Agent Carter. Or something. I really don't know.