Recap and Review of Agents of SHIELD Episode 214: Love in the Time of Hydra

After last week’s JV Villain showdown and Skye’s psychological evaluation, what happens in this week’s Agents of SHIELD Episode 214: Love in the Time of Hydra?

[divider]Recap of Agents of SHIELD Episode 214: Love in the Time of Hydra[/divider]

First off, Agent Ward and Agent 33 are back, who we haven’t really seen since Agent 33 pulled a wounded Ward out of Puerto Rico.  Since then, they have bonded.  They kidnap a gentleman who is able to repair Agent 33’s facial reconstruction mask, but alas it is stuck on.

In a “We have to limit this power somehow” move, we learn the facial morphing mask can only hold 3 designs at any given time. Ward gives her a creepy cult leader like pep talk about how she needs to have a “conversation” with the people who messed her up to find herself.

Agent 33 morphs her face to look like Skye in an effort to please him. But Ward freaks out a bit, saying that he is pretty sure that when Skye shot him in Puerto Rico it meant she didn’t have the feelings for him that he thought she did.

But it turns out he knows where Doctor Whitehall’s number 2 is: Bakshi is in General Talbot’s jail.

So using Agent 33’s mask powers and some trickery, they infiltrate General Talbot’s base, kill a couple people, and kidnap Bakshi.  Back at their place, Agent 33 reveals her real face, saying her name is Kara, and Ward says it is nice to finally meet her. The end of the episode is them torturing Bakshi, putting him in the place to be compliant like Agent 33 was “converted.”

Then we have the “real” SHIELD.  It turns out that this group was formed to make people accountable for their actions, with the theory being that the last SHIELD fell completely apart because Nick Fury had run amok.  (No mention of Hydra? How soon we forget!)

The assembled group seems to be making a credible case that Coulson has lost control, especially with his weird alien injection, endangering others, and doing things that don’t make sense, that end with Tripp dying and Skye getting her powers.

They explain all this to Hunter, who seems to doubt what they are saying.  While they want him on board with the idea that Coulson has been “compromised” he bides his time until he and Bobbi are alone. And after a monologue, he makes a break for it, eventually getting outside, realizing that he is on a large aircraft carrier (They couldn’t spring for another Helicarrier?  Or is it mandated that they have to be crashed?).

Hunter steals a vehicle and gets away, even though it appeared that Morse could have stopped him.  Mac has already been sent back but it will take Hunter a fair amount of time to get back to land and alert anyone.  Morse decides it is time for her to go back in to take Coulson down.

Coulson’s crew has some interesting things happening.  They have finished their testing on Skye and the end result is the recommendation that Skye should be deactivated as an agent. Coulson and May go a few rounds about this, with her being the brains and him wanting to be the heart.

In the end, Coulson collects all the information from Simmons and takes Skye on a plane ride to a remote location.  Along the way, he tells this story about how he and his dad restored a car, how it took a long time and how he ultimately came to understand it better. Skye says that the car is his now flying Corvette. And because we need to spell everything out, how she is the car.

When they land, Coulson says he has taken her to a cabin where she can relax and that others have used it.  But it does have laser fences.  He also shows her some gauntlets Simmons has made that can inhibit or lessen her powers, much to the chagrin of Fitz.  Skye seems to accept her fate, knowing that May will come visit periodically and she has a direct video line to the base. Coulson gives her a pep talk, saying if anyone is strong enough to deal with this, it is Skye.

When Coulson gets back to the base, we quickly wrap up much of the story. One, Mac is back, giving a story about how Hunter is heartbroken.  Coulson and May don’t believe him and it looks like they will shake him down next episode.  Talbot reports on the Agent 33 and Ward incident.

[divider]Thoughts on Agents of SHIELD Episode 214[/divider]

Overall, this episode serves as a set-up piece.  Even the action we see (Hunter’s escape, Ward and 33’s attack) is just to move the plot forward.  In a real way, nothing major happens; the new SHIELD reveal is pretty weak and we don’t get much more than their motto seems to be “ACCOUNTABILITY” which is pretty lame in the superhero world.  (Again, it does seem to make some pieces come into play for the Civil War set-up.  A group running the show on based on this idea will want to register every powered individual on the Index.)

That said, it does have some interesting moments. Agent 33 as Skye seducing Ward had a way more heightened level of creepy than I would have thought. Ward helping Agent 33 “heal” shows that he is going to be a persuasive force.  If Cal and he teamed up, it wouldn’t be full on Masters of Evil but it would be more than the JV version we saw last episode.

This 7 out of 10 episode seems to set up the run to the finale.  What happens when Morse tries to take down Coulson? Will Skye out in the middle of nowhere learn to focus her powers? What side does Hunter ultimately land on?