After last week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD, we go into this week wondering what happens to Skye now that everyone knows she is different. And do Morse and Mac get outed because of Hunter? [If you need to get up to speed on the show, you can check out this handy list of characters and this recap of the major storylines of the show thus far.]
Caution, spoilers ahead.
[divider]Recap of Agents of SHIELD Episode 213: One of Us[/divider]This week’s episode revolves around two main plots and a small subplot.
Let’s start with the subplot. Mac has captured Hunter, handcuffing him to a bathroom sink. Morse tries to sell Coulson on the idea that Hunter has abandoned them, but Coulson seems to not be buying it.
The major plots: Skye’s dad has hacked SHIELD’s Gifted Index and is using it to put together the JV version of the Masters of Evil. The index is a list of people who have powers that SHIELD is helping or has helped in some way.
Cal’s – Sky’s dad – arrives with Wendall, the JV team’s recruited hacker, to recruit Karla Faye Gideon, who has her hands shackled. After Wendall cuts her free we see that she has Lee Press on Knives. They then head out, along with Francis Noche, who we later learn is strong due to chemicals.
Cal rounds out the group after freeing Angar, a supervillain whose sonic yell knocks people out. The sonic yell also knocks birds out of the air, which was a nice touch. The villainous posse then travel to Wisconsin and bait Agent Coulson to come there for a confrontation.
Meanwhile, Coulson and crew are trying to figure out Skye. May suggests they get Andrew, who we learn is her ex-husband. A lot of the comedic beats of this episode come from people speculating about their relationship. Andrew is a therapist and comes to interview Skye, which happens when people get put on the Index.
Skye tries to deflect it all before finally starting to be honest. Andrew agreed to do the work for SHIELD only on the basis that he is there to help Skye, not SHIELD. And it appears he is, until she falls asleep and in a nightmare almost shakes the plane apart. But that is about the time they discover that they need to go to Wisconsin.
Coulson shows up for the showdown with Cal’s gang, which is happening at the high school where his dad coached, until he died when Coulson was 7. SHIELD tries to fake that they will harm Skye, but her dad doesn’t buy it, and he instead rants about how SHIELD treats people on the Index.
Just as the battle is starting, the eyeless teleporting Inhuman shows up and ‘ports Skye’s dad away, leaving everyone shocked. In the midst of the battle, you wind up with the fight breaking into duos. May fights the superstrong Noche. Morse takes down Lee Press on Knives and Coulson takes out Angar–and because he is the director–Wendell as well.
But they eventually figure out that the “control” Skye is developing over her powers is really her turning those powers in on herself, fracturing her own bones.
When Skye wakes up, Andrew tells May that he is recommending that Skye leave SHIELD. May says that the SHIELD family is all that she has, and is exactly what she needs to help her. Coulson and Simmons are talking about they need a new category for the index, not people that are artificially enhanced like Angar, but people like Skye, who had the power inside of them all along.
The last two scenes wrap up the episode. First, we see Mac and Morse confess that they work for SHIELD. The “real” SHIELD and Edward James Olmos looks to be large and in charge of that group. (It was everything I could do not to be all “So say we all!”) And Skye’s dad is reprimanding the blind teleporter about how they were supposed to help Skye but he is eventually sent to meet with whoever is in charge.
- Karla Faye Gideon’s origin story is going to be told in the Daredevil Netflix series, which is where she gets her start in the comics. Also, her having three names means she is a serial killer. Or an assassin. I think it is a modern world rule.
- This whole Gifted Index is Marvel’s way of building towards the Civil War. Part of the comic storyline is that heroes have to give up their secret identity. In the MCU movies, that is less of an issue. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark are known commodities; the thinking is that secret identities can’t be the ultimate source of the fight. What I think they are doing is planting the seed that this Gifted Index is something that the government and SHIELD monitor and it will split into the Civil War story. I could be wrong.
- If you are going to have an Index, Skye’s dad shouldn’t have been able to pull it up on his Android tablet. Bare minimum, it should be iOS level clearance devices. Or sell Apple some ad space and he can look at it on his Apple Watch, which you can order starting April 10th, just in time to try and shaft the government of the money you owe them.
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Let’s talk about Angar’s jaw. He should have been named Anaconda. I mean, I know he is Angar the Screamer and that does a great job explaining him; but Anaconda would be a much better name. Plus, eventually, I want the Serpent Society in the Marvel movie and television world.- I wish we had revisited some of the bad guys we had already seen, like Absorbing Man in the JV Masters of Evil. I want them to have their own webseries where Wendell complains about how people eat food all the time.
- Skye’s turning her power inwards lends itself to a really interesting metaphor about self-harm and not expressing your emotions. I hope they revisit it. Also, her new therapist since Andrew turned her down: Doc Samson. (Though I still want to see Bruce Banner coaching her.)
Tabletop Takeaways: Tips for Dungeon Masters with a Narrative Spin