Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: A Hen in the Wolf House (2x05)

Okay then. Things are really picking up.

Raina only has 48 hours to get the Obelisk from Skye's father. When she goes to ask for it, he refuses, angrily saying that Raina was supposed to bring Skye to him, and has failed to do so. We see that Skye's dad has some... anger management issues, and some unnatural strength, to boot. He kills two people who were with him for an illegal surgery.

Raina discovers that Simmons is undercover at HYDRA, and she uses this information to her own advantage. She meets Coulson for dinner, promising to send an incriminating picture of Simmons communicating with S.H.I.E.L.D. to all of HYDRA, unless Coulson hands over Skye. Why? So that Skye can meet her father. If Coulson doesn't comply, the picture gets sent out, and Simmons dies. Skye, curious to meet her father and desperate to save Simmons, wants to take the deal, but Coulson says no. He has a plan. Raina is desperate - if she can't get Skye to her father, there's no way she can get the Obelisk for Whitehall!

The picture of Simmons gets sent to HYDRA, and Simmons tries desperately to run away. It looks hopeless, but we then discover another undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent has been hanging out in HYDRA: Bobbi Morse. Bobbi, a total bad ass, helps Simmons to escape.

Coulson puts a tracking device in Raina. He says that if she proves useful to them, then maybe they'll help save her from Whitehall. Raina tells them where to find Skye's father. Skye leaves to go track him down, against orders. She finds an empty room. Coulson comforts her with a hug, knowing she's been through a rough time. They find the dead bodies of the people from earlier, and Skye realizes that her father is a "monster." Skye's father watches this scene through a video camera, and is enraged to see that his daughter thinks of him that way.

Skye's father brings the Obelisk to Whitehall, offering to join forces with him to kill Coulson, along with everyone else. Coulson comes clean to Skye about the markings that he's been drawing. (Skye had earlier spoken to Ward, and realized that Garrett was also drawing those symbols). It's strange, because Skye is the only one who was injected with the formula who isn't exhibiting symptoms from the alien virus. Maybe because she's already alien? Skye looks at the markings that Coulson has been drawing, and realizes that they are a map. Simmons and Fitz are reunited, and Bobbi officially joins the team. Turns out, she's Lance Hunter's ex-wife!

Complaints? Ugh, why does Bobbi have to be Lance's ex-wife? She's so cool! She doesn't need to be connected to Hunter, does she? That annoyed me.

Skye's scene with Ward also annoyed me. I know in an earlier review, I said that I liked the way they were justifying Ward sticking around. But honestly, the scene with him felt a bit forced. I get it, he still loves Skye, and he's trying to repent, yadda yadda. Anybody else getting a bit sick of Ward? Or, maybe that's not the right way to look at it... I have nothing against his character sticking around, per say, I merely wish they could find something interesting to do with him.

But everything else was AWESOME! I love that Skye is figuring out more of the mystery with Coulson, and for the first time, I'm seeing how Skye's own mystery identity ties in with what's happening to Coulson, which makes it so much more interesting. Apparently the symbols are a map. A map of what? Color me intrigued! Skye and Coulson's father/daughter dynamic was particularly poignant in this episode, too, since of course Skye is looking for her father, and yet Coulson is the one caring for her. I loved the hug.

And Skye's dad actually became a bit interesting to me here, too. Instead of just being bad-guy-in-the-shadows, we now see that he's a really insecure, emotionally weak guy. Even though he's clearly a bad guy at the moment, I see potential for him to be a really complex and interesting character moving forward.

Then there's Bobbi! Well, that's quite the introduction for a character. I'm already loving her. And I'm loving Simmons' crush on her even more. Seriously, Jemma is a bit smitten. The scenes in the HYDRA building were really intense. Good suspense, good action, a nice building intensity, until the moment when Simmons and Bobbi jump off the building and land on the invisible craft waiting for them below! I was very impressed. And can we talk about Simmons totally framing her lab partner? Yikes. I suppose she's gotta do what she's gotta do...

Now that Simmons is back, I'm really worried that she's been brainwashed. There was a line where Simmons mentions how happy she is to be safe, since if not she would get brainwashed, and I was like: oh no. Please no. This is going to hurt so much.

Fitz had a really important scene with Hallucination!Simmons. He acknowledged that she wasn't real, but only a part of his subconscious. (Which, uh, does that means that Fitz is crushing on Mack? That was hilarious!) Fake!Simmons tells Fitz that he doesn't need her anymore, now that he's making real friends, but of course Fitz still misses Simmons and isn't ready to let her go. However, he is perhaps getting ready to move on. Now that Simmons is back, things are going to be very different. I cannot wait to see the Fitzsimmons scenes in next week's episode!

Episode highlight? When Coulson suggests that Skye might be an alien, she understandably freaks out, and asks why Coulson didn't tell her sooner. Coulson says: "I was trying not to rattle you." Skye replies: "Well guess what? Epic fail!"

I'll leave it there. I loved this one!

8.5/10