Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: ...Ye Who Enter Here (2x09)

Yikes! I wasn't expecting that! Let's do the plot.

We start with Skye, as she has a bad dream wherein Coulson and May, seemingly her parents in the dream, abandon baby Skye. Once she is awake, Skye cannot get rid of the ominous feeling the dream has left her with.

Raina is nearly captured by HYDRA, lead by Agent 33, who still looks like May. They need her because she can safely touch the Obelisk. However, Raina is saved by two of the Koenig brothers - Billy and Sam. Coulson sends Skye, May, and Lance Hunter to go get Raina. Meanwhile, he goes with Bobbi, Mack, Fitz, and Simmons with him to find the alien city, which is apparently hidden underneath San Juan.

In San Juan, Simmons tries to talk to Fitz about their relationship. She has gotten advice from Bobbi that she should share her feelings. However, Fitz cuts her off and announces his intention to let her be the head of the science department. He says he wants to move to the garage and work with Mack. He'll work for Simmons, but he can't work with her. Bobbi, meanwhile, asks Coulson if he plans on destroying the Obelisk, or if he wants to take it and use it for himself. Coulson insists that he wants to destroy it, because he doesn't want to put people at risk. Unlike Nick Fury, his "acceptable losses" number is zero. Bobbi has a contact who helps them find a way into the underground city.

Mack is lowered down through a shaft to the city, not knowing that only those who are "worthy" can enter it. He touches a symbol on the ground, and he is immediately in great pain. They quickly pull him back up, but it seems like Mack is forever changed - his eyes begin to glow red, and he starts to attack everyone. He nearly knocks Simmons into the shaft, but Coulson catches her. Fitz has a gun pointed at Mack, but he doesn't want to shoot. Bobbi is able to shock him, therefore incapacitating him without killing him. However, he unfortunately reels over and falls down the shaft. Coulson tells them that they have to block off the entrance. Mack is gone.

Meanwhile, when Skye and the others catch up with Raina, Skye tells Raina that HYDRA has the Obelisk. Raina realizes that Whitehall doesn't want her dead - they need her, because she is one of the worthy few that can touch the Obelisk. She tries to escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. and get to HYDRA, but May, Skye, and the others don't let her escape. Raina talks to Skye about her father. She tells her that Skye's father is a great man, who took in Raina and other misfits and gave them a home and a purpose. Raina also tells Skye that only the "worthy" can touch the Obelisk and enter the city, which makes her afraid for Coulson and the rest of the team. She tries to reach them, but communications are jammed by HYDRA. At this point, Ward and other HYDRA agents board the plane. Ward is there to retrieve Raina, but he also demands that Skye come with him. If she complies, Ward promises not to hurt anybody else on the plane. Ward also takes the coordinates to the alien city.

In the final scene, we see Agent 33 talking to Whitehall. He is happy to hear that Raina and the coordinates to the city have been found, but he is angry that Ward failed to destroy the plane, as he was supposed to. He tells Agent 33 to rectify the problem.

Okay I think I only have a few real problems with this episode, and they're minor for the most part.

Maybe I'll feel differently once I understand the whole story, but I got pretty annoyed by the little conversation between Mack and Bobbi. Mack has picked up on Bobbi and Lance's renewed relationship, and he wonders if Bobbi is going to tell Lance about "the other thing." What the hell is "the other thing?" I'm not a particular fan of vague mysteries, and this show was really bogged down last season by every character having some super special secret behind him or her. I don't want to repeat that here.

I also wonder a little bit about Skye's dream. It was a good enough scene to start off with, but we didn't get any particular exploration of it in the rest of the episode. Maybe next week we'll deal with this a bit more?

I mostly found this to be a very strong episode, however.

First of all - Fitzsimmons! My babies! Simmons tells Bobbi that she's only ever seen Fitz as a friend, but that she can't imagine her life without him. She has been avoiding Fitz lately, but it's not because of his brain damage. She just feels so confused. She had no time to process his confession of love before suddenly he was in a coma, and things were so confusing... ugh poor babies. And Fitz saying that he can't work with her? Ouch! There's this lovely moment where Fitz can't find the right word, and nobody is able to help him out. Simmons is the one to supply the missing words, finally. It seems like, even if there is a lot of angst in their relationship right now, there's also the potential for progress.

Ward! He is so evil. I absolutely love it. The whole scene on the Bus was very chilling. I particularly loved the little moment when May didn't want to let Sky go with him. Skye assures May that she'll be okay. May was very mothering and protective in that moment, which was a nice mirror to the earlier dream wherein May was Skye's mother, but was actually leaving her behind. (I still say the dream was a little out of left field, though).

I liked that we brought Agent 33 back. I wasn't expecting to see her again, but it was pretty cool. She looks just like May, but she has a huge deformation on the side of her face, and her voice is mechanical and scratchy. This is a really cool design for the character.

Of course, the biggest thing going on here was the Mack thing. Is he really gone?! I know I was never all that enthusiastic about the new characters, but I didn't want this! If I had wanted one of the newbies to go away, it would have been Lance, not Mack! That being said, I do have to give props for the way this all went down. I definitely wasn't expecting that! I'm sad to lose Mack, since I would have loved to develop him some more, but at the same time, it was a really effective way to up the stakes for whatever is going to happen next week. It's also going to force Fitz to be without his support system, which should be tragic.

I think that's all I've got. Next week is the mid-season finale, I think, so I'm sure it will be very exciting!

8/10