Anyways, this was Season 2, Episode 11
-Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D returns this week from it’s midseason hiatus with all the charm, wit, development, and surprising moments that have come to define the series. Aftershocks begins with a flashback to Skye’s mother helping a newly transformed Inhuman cope with his new abilities/ lack of former abilities. Coupling this with Raina’s new look (I thought the effect was fantastic) bring a heightened level of danger to Skye’s new identity, who unlike the other two looks the same as before. Their extreme transformation suggests there is a lot more to Skye’s new shaky powers.
Speaking of shaky powers, Skye’s first demonstration happens unbeknownst to the group as they are all too busy shouting at one another in a scene that I can only assume is a nod to the scene in “Avengers” where the team argues in front of Loki’s staff. It was itself a successful scene, even if you think the “can’t control my new powers” bit is a little played out.
There was actually a fair amount of shouting in this episode. Some good, like Coulson’s declaration that he is going to go out there and crush Hydra (which had an awesome pay off) and some not so good, like Simmons new anti-super policy which, while certainly raising the stakes for Skye, struck me as a forced moment. Not that Elizabeth Henstridge didn’t provide a convincing performance, just that it is a little too convenient for her to take that position now especially after she’s been through so much worse. But it fills a need, so I won’t complain too much.
The shouting award has to go to Ian De Caestecker though, for the scene in which he realizes something is wrong with Skye. Personally I think Fitz is the most interesting and well acted character on the show, and his journey to recovery this season has been absolutely heart wrenching. His was fractured way of communicating is so interesting, and seeing him struggle to express something so crucial and terrible to Skye was easily the best moment of the episode.
I mentioned the pay off earlier and I’ve got say again how epically this episode delivers in Hydra carnage. Coulson said goodbye to Mr. Nice Guy when this season started and is finally making rolling up his sleeves and plowing some Hydra ass. I love how much momentum this show has, and though so far it has only served to react to the events in the MCU films, I think we are at a point where the show will be effecting things throughout the franchise, and that is very exciting.
I don’t know what Mac and Bobbi are up too, and frankly that type of heavy handed plot setup is annoying to me. I hope it leads somewhere interesting, but I doubt it. Aside from these mostly ignorable “network TV” moments, I found “Aftershocks” to be as strong as “S.H.I.E.L.D.” has ever been.
After a brief hiatus that saw the stellar first season of AGENT CARTER show us how good an original Marvel series could be, AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to pick up with the birth of the Inhumans. Before getting into the transformations of Skye and Raina, the episode opens with a flashback to 1983 where Skye's mother comforts a young boy with no eyes named Gordon. She speaks to an elderly man and they discuss how long it has been since Gordon passed through the Terrigen Mists. Jiaying draws the boy to her despite his uncontrollable superpower of teleportation running rampant.
In current times, Coulson watches over Skye as she has nightmares about Tripplet dying in the Kree temple. Skye laments what happened, saying she failed but Coulson tells her she did not and he will find someone and make them pay for what happened. The crew moves on and begins to catalog the temple and the city, trying to find uses for what they have there. One of the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists is attacked and killed by an unknown attacker. The only thing we see is a gnarled hand come around the wall. It seems safe to assume this is Raina.
We also get to meet a cabal who mourn the death of Whitehall and wonder where Mr. Bakshi could be. Assuming he has been captured, they decide that whoever can take out S.H.I.E.L.D. will be the new leader of HYDRA. One of the men also says he will look into Whitehall's research into arcane artifacts to see if anything will be of use to them. As Simmons meets with the agents in the temple, Raina attacks and kills most of them. She gets a brief glimpse of herself in the mask of a HAZMAT suit and we can see she is not very pretty anymore. Simmons gets a shot off but she escapes. Simmons notifies Coulson and May that it was Raina and she was covered in thorns. As they gather their forces, they decide to go after her while also trading Bakshi. Mack has an outburst amongst the team about whether they should have gone to the city in the first place. As they all argue and fight, Skye's heartrate skyrockets and things begin to shake. Coulson diffuses the argument and no one but Skye noticed what was happening.
As May and Coulson head to deliver Bakshi to General Talbot, their car is hit head on by a truck. Driven into a warehouse, the agents take fire as mercenaries try to retrieve Bakshi. The mercenaries shoot and kill May and Coulson and one leads Bakshi away. In the car, the merc is revealed to be Hunter and the entire operation was faked to lure Bakshi into leading them to HYDRA.
At a shipping yard, Raina sneaks up on Cal, Skye's father, as he tries to escape. He apologizes that she didn't evolve but she says she did. She grabs him and reveals her face which looks cat and lizard like and asks what she has become. Raina tells Cal that Skye was safe after emerging from the Mist and he celebrates that she is okay. Raina blames Cal for her current state and says Skye stole what was rightfully hers. Cal tells her this is her dream and he cannot changer her, sending her off on her own.
Hunter and Bakshi arrive at the home of the HYDRA benefactor. Bobbi arrives as Hunter waits. Back at HQ, Simmons suggests that the team hunting Raina kill her instead of letting the potential contagion spread. Here begins the eternal Marvel struggle between treating Inhumans/Mutants as a sickness versus human beings. Sides will be taken, mark my words. Back at the HYDRA contact, Bakshi video-conferences with the leaders whom are referred to as The Doctor, The Banker, The Baronness, and The Sheik.
Fitz reveals that he saw the heartrate on Skye's monitor and questions how she could have survived unharmed when everything around her was totally destroyed. Calling her inhuman, Skye begins to get scared and everything in her containment cell shakes, the lightbul exploding and sending Fitz running in fear. At the same time, Coulson delivers the sad news of Tripp's death to his mother while various HYDRA agents take out the leadership Mr. Bakshi referred to. After all of them are killed, Hunter and Bobbi recapture Bakshi and take him into custody.
When May sees Skye's injured hand, they begin to get paranoid, but Fitz returns and covers for her, saying her DNA is normal and releases her from quarantine. Fitz tells her he switched her samples until everyone can calm down so she can be safe. Skye hugs Fitz and collapses into tears saying she is sorry and she could have stopped Raina, saying there is something wrong with her. Fitz says she is just different now and there is nothing wrong with that. At the same tiime, Raina walks into traffic to try and kill herself but instead is surrounded by soldiers who say they want to take her in. She says they have to killer her but before she can attack, the man with no eyes teleports in and takes her to safety.
In the stinger scene, we see a toy car in Coulson's office open up and begin to scan the room while the team chats. Bobbi and Mack discuss their operation and that they will make their next move soon. The team thinks about Tripp and lament his passing.
MCU References: Several Inhuman references and a veiled comment about Iron Man.
Review: This felt like a bit of a letdown after the major cliffhanger introducing the Terrigen Mists and the concept of the Inhumans. The introduction of a new group of leaders for HYDRA only to kill them alll off in a single episode felt like a waste, but we did get the first step in the humans versus Inhumans debate that will likely plague the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years to come. Coulson took a backseat this week as Skye and Raina took center stage in very different capacities. It is still unclear if Raina is based on an existing Marvel character or who the eyeless Gordon is, but it feels like AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. has abandoned the conceit of being a Marvel show without superheroes to instead embrace the superpowers and comic book stories everyone wants to see.