Oh my GOD. I don't care how exploitative it is. I don't care that I'm basically being brainwashed to go buy a ticket to see Avengers: Age of Ultron this weekend. This was great. The plot is sort of convoluted, though, so this might take some time.
Coulson is back on the Bus, and he has brought Ward and Agent 33 (from hereon out to be referred to as Kara) with him. Coulson has a plan to infiltrated Hydra and rescue Mike Peterson and the other Inhumans that are trapped there. Then, Gonzales can come in and blow up the base. Coulson wants to bring May, Ward, and Fitz with him. Simmons is determined to take Ward out if given the chance. She manages to convince Coulson to let her go on the mission as well.
Meanwhile, in Afterlife, Cal is not happy that Jiaying tried to abandon him. He yells out loudly about the situation, referring to Skye as "our daughter," thus spilling the beans to the rest of Afterlife's residents. Skye is disturbed to learn that Lincoln didn't make it back to Afterlife, and when Gordon goes to look for him, he is almost captured by Hydra. Jiaying says that unfortunately they can't risk trying to rescue Lincoln from Hydra. Raina has a vision of Skye saving Lincoln, and tells Skye about it. Gordon gives Skye a lift... but not to Hydra, to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Skye is reunited with the other five original cast members. Coulson, May, Ward, Fitzsimmons, and Skye. Reunited. But things are so different now. Ward fills them in on what Bakshi is doing with Hydra, and the team go to Hydra's location to break out the Inhuman prisoners and also steal information from the base. Simmons, Ward, Skye, and Bakshi are sent to rescue Lincoln and Mike Peterson. Skye uses her new earthquake powers to shock Lincoln's heart back to life, as he lay flat lining on the table. Simmons tries to kill Ward by disintegrating him, but Bakshi gets in the way, and Simmons inadvertently kills him instead. Ward doesn't retaliate against Simmons, instead choosing to sneak out to avoid Coulson imprisoning him once the mission is over.
Meanwhile, Coulson, May and Fitz go looking for information. Coulson manages to find out where Hydra's main base is - the location of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Coulson tells Maria Hill about it, and she asks him if the Theta Protocol is ready. He says it is. Maria tells Coulson she'll send the Avengers in to defeat Hydra. Ward calls Coulson and says goodbye, and also says that he's leaving Kara with S.H.I.E.L.D. She used to be a good agent, before Hydra kidnapped her and changed her (a la a certain Bucky Barnes). Coulson tells Ward he'll do his best for Kara.
Back in Afterlife, Jiaying chastises Raina for using her precognitive powers to convince Skye to run off and rescue Lincoln. Raina has a vision of the future, where she sees metal men wreaking havoc and destroying cities, a clear reference to Age of Ultron.
So many things to talk about. If I were to complain, it would be about Bobbi, Mack, and Hunter. All three of them were in this episode ever so briefly, and I don't really get why. Bobbi just kept repeating her party line to Gonzales - these are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents! We need to be a team! It's getting old. (Although I did appreciate the sinister hint that Gonzales wants to use Skye and Lincoln to get information about the other Inhumans). Mack and Hunter had a conversation wherein Hunter forgave Mack for everything that went down. What? Why?! Hunter... have a bit of dignity, dude! Mack and Bobbi both totally lied to you. I was disappointed that he caved and forgave Mack so quickly, and I didn't really understand why.
But I was practically giddy when I was watching this episode. Overall, I'm a very happy camper. First of all, I loved all the Age of Ultron stuff. I think it's just because I'm so impressed by the franchise as a whole, and all the intricate stuff they're able to do with it. You can watch this show without seeing the movie, and you can definitely see the movie without watching the show, but there's just SO MUCH material that overlaps in such interesting ways! I love it! There's a mention of "the twins," which clearly points to the new characters from Avengers, and it looks like Coulson is the one to get the info to Maria Hill that she can pass on to the Avengers so they can take down Hydra's base. Now, in the context of the movie, I'm sure the details of how the base was discovered aren't particularly important. But here, we get the whole story!
But I was practically giddy when I was watching this episode. Overall, I'm a very happy camper. First of all, I loved all the Age of Ultron stuff. I think it's just because I'm so impressed by the franchise as a whole, and all the intricate stuff they're able to do with it. You can watch this show without seeing the movie, and you can definitely see the movie without watching the show, but there's just SO MUCH material that overlaps in such interesting ways! I love it! There's a mention of "the twins," which clearly points to the new characters from Avengers, and it looks like Coulson is the one to get the info to Maria Hill that she can pass on to the Avengers so they can take down Hydra's base. Now, in the context of the movie, I'm sure the details of how the base was discovered aren't particularly important. But here, we get the whole story!
Then there's Grant Ward. God, I hate him so much. When he was giving his little speech to the rest of the team, I just wanted to reach through the screen and throttle him. But this scene was honestly brilliant. He addresses the elephant in the room, saying he knows it's really weird to be working together again. He regrets that his actions broke up their happy little family. Tender music plays in the background as Ward expresses his feelings. Then, there's a pause, and Skye says: "I'm still happy I shot you." The rest of the team jumps in: "Me too." Brilliant!
Simmons tries to kill Ward?! What the heck, Jemma! This was brilliantly dark. I don't think I was expecting them to go so far with this, but I'm glad they did. Earlier, Fitz and Simmons were talking about getting revenge on Ward, and then Simmons mentioned the whole disintegration thing. At first, Fitz thinks she's joking, but he then realizes she's dead serious. Even though Fitz was the one more permanently damaged by Ward's actions, Simmons is the one intent on revenge. And even though she failed, she did actually kill somebody - Bakshi wasn't a particularly important character, but it was still kind of a shock to see Simmons disintegrate somebody! Fitz knew what she was up to, and expressed his worry. Fitzsimmons is just too precious for words.
Jiaying gets more and more sinister the more time we spend with her. She seems to need total control a bit too much, and what she said to Raina about her only using her powers when Jiaying said so... well that was a bit extreme. I like the interplay between all of these powered people. In some ways, Skye really belongs with them. In others, what Raina and Jiaying are ready to do is something quite different from Skye's own loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Jiaying gets more and more sinister the more time we spend with her. She seems to need total control a bit too much, and what she said to Raina about her only using her powers when Jiaying said so... well that was a bit extreme. I like the interplay between all of these powered people. In some ways, Skye really belongs with them. In others, what Raina and Jiaying are ready to do is something quite different from Skye's own loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D.
I could keep going, but I think I'll stop there. Raina ends the episode by making prophecies of doom about metal men taking over cities... cue the Avengers coming to save the day! So awesome. I'm guessing next week's episode will be picking up on the aftermath of the movie.
8.5/10
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