Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Who You Really Are (2x12)

Oh, shit. Well then. I gotta say, I'm not sure what to make of this episode. There are certain things that should be really interesting to me, but are not grabbing my attention, and then other things that haven't been interesting to me so far, but suddenly became super intriguing. Let's get started.

Lady Sif shows up on Earth, but she has amnesia and can't remember what she's doing there. Coulson and the team come in to help her. Video footage shows Sif fighting with a mysterious man. Sif remembers the word "Kava," which turns out to be the place where Whitehall first found the Diviner. They find the man Sif was fighting with. Turns out, he's a Kree named Vin-Tak. He restores Sif's memory with his weapon, which is how she had forgotten in the first place. Vin-Tak was trying to find all of the Diviners on earth and destroy them, because they can create dangerous weapons in the form of infected people (like Raina and Skye).

Skye, who can't seem to control her weird new powers when under stress, starts freaking out as she hears Vin-Tak talk about the dangers of these people. Her powers revealed, Vin-Tak and Sif both try to capture her, needing to eliminate the threat. However, Bobbi is able to erase Vin-Tak's memories using his weapon, and Coulson is able to convince Sif that Skye belongs on Earth with her family. Sif agrees to take Vin-Tak back to his home world. She leaves with a warning for Coulson, that Skye might be beyond help.

While all of this is going on, Bobbi talks to Mack about bringing Hunter in on their little secret (whatever it may be). Mack tells Bobbi that the risk is too great, and encourages her to break things off with Hunter. If Hunter leaves the team, that will be one less thing to worry about. Bobbi behaves coldly to Hunter, trying to get him to back off, but Hunter knows something is up. He confronts Mack about all of his suspicions, which forces Mack to knock Hunter out. The episode ends as we're not sure what Mack will do next.

I cut out a lot of detail when writing that plot summary, but those are the basic broad strokes. I think if I were to complain about anything, it's that all the stuff with the Kree, and the Diviner, and everything is... well, certain aspects of it are getting too far removed from the characters. Obviously, the focus here is on Skye and the fact that she's been personally affected. But all this stuff about the political factions of the Kree and stuff... it just wasn't holding my interest.

However, despite that rather large complaint, I think this episode was stellar in the way it focused in on characterization, and gave a lot of really great detail to some of our favorite players.

Fitz and Simmons had a few moments together. In an interesting development, we saw Simmons trying to be with Fitz like back in the old days, chatting with him and asking him about research. Fitz, with his big secret about Skye, acts evasive and strange. I felt so bad for both of them when Simmons realized that Fitz had been keeping such a huge secret. I really want these two to become friends again, but Simmons is going to have to accept that Fitz is never going back to the way he was before.

May hasn't had much to do for the past few episodes, but in this episode she really stood out as a protector and a friend of Skye. She would defend that girl to the ends of the earth, and now that it looks like she might really have to, May doesn't waver. She might think that they're in over their heads, but she loves Skye and she'll look after her in any way she can.

Lady Sif! Even though it was sort of random, I still loved having her back. She had the best comedic moments in the episode, like when she said she only hurt people who deserved it, and then checked with Coulson to see if that was actually true. She also brought a sobering bit of reality to the party when she told Coulson that no matter what, this thing with Skye was going to be difficult. One thing I'm always really interested in when Sif comes on the show is that she's still getting her orders from Odin. But we all know that "Odin" isn't Odin right now! He's Loki! I don't know if that means anything, or if anything will ever come of it, but it's intriguing nonetheless.

I was really impressed with Chloe Bennet's performance in this particular episode. There are a lot of complicated things going on with Skye's character right now. She's both more powerful and more vulnerable than she's ever been. She's scared for herself, and she's even more scared for everybody else. When she put herself down to avoid hurting May and the others, I was so upset. Skye would do anything for these people. They're her family.

The most interesting thing going on right now is this whole Mack and Bobbi secret. In this episode, we got confirmation that they're not working for HYDRA, so I suppose that's a good thing. But it only makes me more and more interested to figure out what the heck is actually going on. And that cliffhanger! Is Mack thinking about killing Hunter? What's going to happen?!

I think that's all I have to say for the time being. Interesting things are a-brewing... I want more Fitzsimmons, of course, but I also want more of this interesting development in Skye's character. And I want to know what the heck Mack and Bobbi are up to!

8.5/10