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A few assorted notes to start: Tahiti is still a magical place, Coulson wants Skye to feed misinformation to the public where necessary, and whatever even caused May to leave the field happened in Bahrain, and she was also known as "the cavalry" until then, which I think everyone will now agree makes sense?
Unsurprisingly, Skye has accepted Coulson's offer of a consultancy gig, even allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to take temporary custody of her van and taking up residence on "the bus," which is the fancy plane we saw in the pilot that's even more heavily featured this week. In other non-surprises, Ward is not so much a fan of Skye joining their team, such as it is, not that May seems so jazzed about it either, but she's not openly hostile to Skye like Ward is. And that's hardly the only intra-team tension, as Ward, Fitz/Simmons, and Skye all bicker among themselves, to which Coulson's basically like work it out, overachieving jerks.
The 0-8-4 referenced last week seems to be any object that's as yet unexplained, but the agents at least know it's in Peru, so they head to an Incan archeological site, and within a temple they find an artifact that they determine has been there for at least 1500 years. S.H.I.E.L.D. is then accosted by Peru's military police, but luckily their leader "Commandante Camilla Reyes" is an old acquaintance of Coulson's. Fitz and Simmons determine that the artifact has a functioning power source, but before they can get any farther, rebels attack, forcing Ward to grab the thing and lead a retreat back to the plane. Once safely there, Fitz explains that the artifact is fueled by tesseract technology and as such contains lethal amounts of gamma radiation, so much like last week, we've got the potential of a ticking time bomb on our hands.
On the plane, Skye explains to Ward the concept of social change through social media by way of letting him understand her beliefs about freedom of information, and the two of them at least make an effort to see things from the other's point of view. Ward then senses that all is not right with the Commandante and her group, but while he and Coulson make a fight of it, May, flying the plane, ends up incapacitated by gas, while Fitz and Skye are captured, so Coulson ends up ceding control of the plane, whereupon we learn that the Commandante intends to use the artifact to crush the rebels, because attempting to harness power sources you don't understand never, ever goes wrong.
However, the non-Coulson S.H.I.E.L.D. agents work together to free themselves from the cargo hold, with May earning the title of undisputed badass of the episode by dislocating her wrist on command to free herself from her restraints. The S.H.I.E.L.D. underlings then use Fitz's drones to activate the artifact and blow a hole in the plane, and the resultant drop in cabin pressure causes the doors between them and Coulson to unlock, leading to S.H.I.E.L.D., using their individual talents and saving the day, although once again, May is such a badass that even Ward is again impressed; he also comes around on Skye enough to take on training her as a field agent.
In the end, the S.H.I.E.L.D. misfits bond over beers as the artifact is safely dispatched from the Earth via "slingshot," but they're unaware that Skye tells the Rising Tide that she's infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. Also, Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) shows up to berate Coulson for the damage to the plane, and if he's going to appear every time these guys cause S.H.I.E.L.D.'s insurance premiums to go up, we'll be seeing a lot of him. And that would be pretty awesome.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open with our friendly S.H.I.E.L.D. plane "616" getting clearance to head to "the Slingshot." In response to a question over the comm about his status, Coulson tells the woman that it's going to be blue skies from here on out -- whereupon an explosion blows a hole in the side of the plane, sending one man screaming to his death. That's a different meaning of "blue skies" than I was expecting, although I have to wonder if the use of that term might also be a sly wink to those dozen of us who watched Dollhouse. Inside the plane, Coulson desperately grabs hold of something and hangs on as the sucking wind threatens to send him to the same fate as the other man… and then we get the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. title card. Well!
Cut to "19 Hours Earlier," and since Skye is just finishing up off-loading a bunch of stuff from her van onto the plane, it's safe to say she's joining up. After a wistful look at it -- and a warning to the dude taking custody of the vehicle not to take any joyrides (and I know you're protective of it, lady, but this is hardly the Ferrari in Ferris Bueller's Day Off here) -- she carries her box of stuff onto the plane. Inside, Ward is dismissively telling Coulson that Skye isn't qualified to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Coulson easily replies that she's there in the capacity of a consultant, an arrangement S.H.I.E.L.D. uses all the time. "Technically Stark's a consultant." I'd wonder if the show is going to rely too heavily on references to characters who will never actually appear, but I've already seen the ending so that would be silly. Ward still inquires about the wisdom of inviting someone from the Rising Tide into their midst, and I do wonder if that's not something Coulson would have to clear with someone on, I guess, Level Eight or higher, but Coulson's like, with her hacking skills, imagine what she'll do with our resources! Ward: "I am. That's exactly what I'm imagining during this frown." Hee. He points out that Coulson brought him on for risk assessment and tells him Skye doesn't think like they do, to which Coulson's like, "Exactly." I know we're supposed to love Coulson, and I mostly do, but if Ward wanted to roll his eyes in frustration here I wouldn't exactly judge him for it.
Fitz and Simmons excitedly greet Skye, although Fitz's excitement might be a bit more hormonally based than his counterpart's. Back in the command room, May comes in on Ward's side as she acidly notes that they already have "two kids on this bus who aren't cleared for combat," and now Coulson wants to make it three? Ward adds that while Fitz/Simmons were at least trained by S.H.I.E.L.D., they can't say that about Skye, and reminds Coulson that this is supposed to be a select team meant to protect people. Coulson at least drops the dreamy smile as he snaps that while their objections are noted, the matter is closed, so Ward drops the subject and moves on to the 0-8-4, which, as we'll learn, is the S.H.I.E.L.D. designation for an object of unknown origin. Or, as Coulson says promo-style, "We don't know what that means."
Fitz is telling Skye their name for the plane is "the bus," so May was not being as casual as it sounded just now; speaking of May, she announces that the wheels are going up in two minutes, so Fitz hurries Skye over to the only open bunk, which, he's more than pleased to point out, is right to his. He then scatters, possibly to work on a pill that will allow him to be in the same room with Skye without babbling like a crazy person, and then Ward barely breaks stride as he hands off to Skye a copy of the plane's safety brochure, which describes it as the "CXD 23 Airborne Mobile Command Station." Yeah, "bus" will do, I think. Coulson then comes up so Skye can compliment the "sweet ride," and Coulson tells her it's such because he earned some points with Fury by getting stabbed through the heart with a Chitauri scepter. Being used by Fury as the Gipper with the Avengers probably didn't hurt either. We once again hear that Tahiti is a magical place, and this time Skye notices the repeat language, but Coulson moves her thoughts along by insisting Skye use a coaster for her bottle of water, and while the table doesn't look like it's got a finish on it that would be damaged, the point that Coulson is protective of the plane is taken. Coulson then informs Skye that they're off to Peru to determine if the 0-8-4 is useful or dangerous, noting that the last one they came across was pretty interesting. It'd be hilarious if Skye just sipped her water and ignored the obvious invitation, but of course she takes the bait and asks what it was, so Coulson replies, "A hammer." That is interesting, but like Netflix interesting, not IMAX interesting.
After the plane sets down in a runway in the Peruvian jungle, S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles pull up at an "Incan archeological site" in Llactapata, May and Ward concern themselves with security measures while Fitz and Simmons chatter about the local fauna, with it once again being apparent that Simmons is made of somewhat sterner stuff than her male counterpart, not that fear of snakes was particularly embarrassing even before Indiana Jones. They then come across an Incan temple and are appropriately awed, while nearby, Skye tells Coulson that if the 0-8-4 is dangerous, they should inform people in the vicinity, as they already are dealing with anti-mining rebels and the Shining Path. Coulson, however, tells her that not only are they not going to do that, he may need her to spread disinformation to put the public on the wrong scent should word start to get out. She points out that's everything she stands against, and the maddening little smile returns as he's like, "Yep." Well, Ward, at least it's not just you.
Coulson greets the archeologist who discovered the artifact, and he leads Coulson inside, where, half-buried in the wall, we see a metallic object that's emitting a blue light in spots. After determining that only the guy's ministry knows about the discovery, Coulson tells him his team is going to have to evacuate until they evaluate the object, which is already happening as a drone flies right under the guy's chin, somewhat to his chagrin. It's okay! These are nice drones! After he's gone, Skye somewhat gleefully says there's nothing on the Internet about this artifact at all, and then Simmons pipes up that the object's placement in the rock suggests it's been there for at least 1500 years, which predates the temple by a millennium and as such could indicate that it's alien. Fitz, however, pipes up that the shape and craftsmanship are "almost German," and is he implying that Germans aren't of this Earth? As someone who's half-German, I have to admit it would explain a thing or two.
Outside the temple, Ward reports no evidence of unknown tire tracks in the area before asking May where her sidearm is. May: "If I ever need a gun, I'll take one." I'd point out that realizing you should have had a gun is often a fatal revelation were May not such a badass, and when Ward says he forgot he was working with "the Cavalry," May grits for him never to call her that. Ward apologizes but says he's heard the stories of what went down in Bahrain before adding that Coulson was smart to pull her out of retirement. Backing up, he goes on that it's nice to have a trusted friend who'll have your back -- before reaching into the foliage behind him and grabbing and throwing a guy in commando gear. May quickly overwhelms the two guys who come at her, grabbing their guns and pointing them at their owners for good measure, and if she can disarm anyone who comes at her with a piece that certainly backs up her contention that she doesn't need to carry one herself. As more of the enemy appear and a truck drives up, Ward desperately holds his guy in a chokehold to use him as a shield while May stands impassively, her twin guns now targeting the line in front of her. Ward breathes that they should have taken more guns, although nastier drones -- perhaps named after serial killers instead of dwarves -- would work well, too.
Outside, the Peruvian standoff continues as a woman in uniform and sunglasses gets out of a Jeep; inside, Coulson hears that there's a situation, but when Skye points out that there are a lot of rebels in the area, he muses that there isn't any gunfire. He heads outside and informs the opposing side in Spanish that he's there on a matter of international security -- but when the woman sees him, she's like, Phillip? He recognizes her as "Camilla," which ends the standoff as she comes forward for a smiling double cheek-kiss, so I guess it just became a matter of sexy national security, then. After establishing that her rank is now "Comandante," Coulson introduces her to May and Ward as a member of Peru's military police, and when he adds that they "used to work together back in the day," May and Ward (his first name is "Grant," by the way; not sure I've mentioned that) exchange a little knowing va-va-voom side-eye that speaks well of both of them. After a bit of discussion of the 0-8-4 (Coulson does mention that its classification as such supersedes all national claims, which will be important), Camilla tells Coulson he looks good. Coulson: "Yeah, I work out." Heh, but speaking of which, there's got to be a gym on that plane, right? Ward's chest isn't going to work itself out!
Inside, Fitz announces that the 0-8-4 has a functioning power source -- and I'm no scientist, but I might have guessed that from the artificial light emanating from it -- but he's baffled by the way he gets some temporal matches, which then seem to shift, although Skye seems to understand something about that. Ward then comes in to tell them about the arrival of the police, and when he mentions that there are a lot of rebels in the area, Skye pipes up that people are fighting back against the government's mining policies. When she goes on to pronounce that awesome, Ward jumps down her throat about her armchair (van-chair?) activism before asking Skye what her job there even is, and Skye doesn't have a ready answer… but maybe that's Coulson's fault?
Outside, Coulson and Camilla reminisce a bit about old times before she guesses, sounding resigned, there's no way she'll get to keep the device. Coulson says it isn't his to give, but he's sure they can resolve things respectfully -- whereupon a structure behind them blows up, probably from a grenade and early indications are that this show is a big fan of the sudden explosion, no? Camilla tells Coulson it's the rebels as she and her men move to engage, while inside, Ward tells the team to get ready to move. After Fitz gets kind of amusingly OCD about packing up his equipment, Ward grabs the artifact out of the wall (it… would just slide out like that after all this time?) despite Fitz's objections that the thing could be unstable, and I'm assuming the thing lay dormant until recently as otherwise I can't imagine why they're only now detecting it, but I don't believe they ever address what activated it, which seems like a question they should be asking.
Outside, Coulson is shooting along with the rest of them, but he takes a moment to tell Camilla she needs to instruct her men to fall back if they want to make it back to the runway. They cover each other as they move before they observe Ward and the three S.H.I.E.L.D. noncoms pinned down as they try to escape the temple -- and it's worth noting the WTF look on Camilla's face when she sees the helpless team -- but Ward, in a crouch, then pulls a cylinder out of his jacket that telescopes out into a long rod. Seeing it, Coulson urgently tells Camilla to instruct her men to get down. Once she's obliged, Ward somersaults off the stairs and plunges the rod into the ground, whereupon the top of it floats into the air, and he takes cover right before the thing lets loose a sonic explosion that knocks the rebels off their feet. Ward signals for the three inside the temple to come out, but then a rebel targets them and shoots -- only May's timely arrival in an SUV shields them, and they quickly load in.
With the rebels on their tail, the S.H.I.E.L.D. and Peruvian Military Police (PMP) vehicles head for the airstrip, and Fitz won't shut up about the potential instability of the artifact but is thankfully shouted down by pretty much everyone else. Having triggered the ramp remotely, May drives straight into the plane, whereupon Ward lays down some covering fire so Coulson and Camilla's group can get out of their vehicle and onto the aircraft. Once they're all safe on board, Ward turns to Fitz and is like, now what were you babbling about, so Fitz replies that the device is fueled by Tesseract technology (MS Word does not recognize "tesseract," and Madeleine L'Engle would be so disappointed) and contains lethal amounts of gamma radiation, and when Ward asks if that means it's nuclear, Coulson somberly intones that it's "much, much worse." Everyone takes a theatrical step back -- in the seated Fitz's case, it's a slide -- from the bag containing the artifact, which is cheap and obligatory and as such obviously made me laugh.
After Coulson gets clearance for the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane to travel through restricted airspace, he apologizes to May for putting her in a combat situation, but her only reply is stony silence. For not wanting to see any combat, she's awfully good at it. Back in the lab, Simmons is babbling nervously at Skye about the artifact when Ward and Fitz come in on a wave of bitchery that, apparently, has to do with Fitz's predilection for big words and Ward's dislike of same. Personally, I think Fitz's propensity for SAT vocabulary is far less of a problem than the speed at which it tends to come out of his motormouth when he's agitated, not that Ward isn't still being kind of a meathead about the whole thing. Elsewhere, Coulson checks in with the Peruvian contingent and after one of the few males with a SAG card thanks him for the extraction, Camilla wonders if they shouldn't put down at a nearby PMP airfield to deal with or possibly get a safe distance from, the artifact, but Coulson tells her they're bound for a S.H.I.E.L.D. containment facility.
Another one of Camilla's men asks if there's anything to drink, so Coulson invites them all to make themselves at home upstairs, and he may trust Camilla but if he's going to give Skye the warning about coasters, I'd think he'd do the same to a bunch of sweaty military types. Coulson then heads into the lab to deal with what's become a full-fledged shouting match between Ward and Fitz; he unamusedly asks if there's a problem, and when Ward points out that not everyone on the team was prepared for a firefight, Coulson is like, we got out, didn't lose anyone and saved a few of theirs, so what's the problem? Yeah, I'm starting to think Coulson really isn't too great a leader. Just because you sail a leaky ship safely into the harbor doesn't mean you don't plug the holes afterward. Pretty much agreeing, Skye points out that she was feeling pretty green, but now she's gotten the idea that Ward doesn't know Fitz from Simmons, who by the way have seen even less gunfire than she has. "I'm no rocket scientist, but is this your first mission together?" Simmons is like, it's our second, thank you very much, and while Ward continues to look like the prickly porcupine of Hill's drawings, Skye goes on that with the experience level around there, she might as well be team leader, which could actually be a good idea given the eyebeams of hatred that Fitz and Ward are exchanging. Proving Skye's point, Ward gets right back into it with Fitz and Simmons both, and Coulson testily concedes that Skye's got a point but goes on that Ward can be dubbed in… I mean, "speak" six different languages while Simmons has advanced degrees he doesn't even understand and Fitz is an actual rocket scientist. "So work it out." Is his point that smart people should get along? Because if he really thinks that, I'd like to introduce him to the Internet.
Later, in her bunk, Skye is looking vansick as she wistfully holds her hula girl car ornament, but the Peruvian guys are having a better time as they lounge about in the common area. In the lab, Fitz and Simmons are now bickering at each other as they manipulate 3D holographic projections in front of them, which look pretty cool, I'll scientifically say. Soon, though, they opt to do some work as they discover that the Tesseract device is capable of emitting an extremely powerful laser, which is how it came to bury itself in solid rock in the first place. They do not look thrilled at the potential danger this puts them in, not that they were in such a good mood going in.
Ward is sitting with a book (Matterhorn, recommended by his Supervising Officer) when Skye comes up with a bottle of something and offers him a drink in an attempt to get off the wrong foot on which they started, and Ward manages to lose the frown and wordlessly accept. She takes the opportunity the détente affords her to clarify her position from before about which he got so bent out -- she doesn't think violence is anything to celebrate; it's just that Peruvians are organizing well for the first time in decades and are using social media to do it, and people banding together to solve a common problem is what the Rising Tide is all about. Ward at least seems willing to listen, although I wonder if he'd resist if he knew how much this is setting up a "One To Grow On" second half. He allows that they see the world differently, with his tone suggesting that he's not implying his way is the only right way, and Skye continues the bonding session by saying this was her first actual war zone and wondering if Ward has seen a lot of them -- whereupon she notices some blood on the side of Ward's white T-shirt and disbelievingly asks if he got shot. He's like, it's just a flesh wound, and that may be but I'm pretty impressed that he was still able to argue with Fitz at top volume after that. It certainly gives him more of an excuse for the grouchy mood, though. Skye asks if that happened defending them, and he modestly tells her not to worry about it but goes on that his training taught him to eliminate variables whenever possible, and today -- he looks around at the Peruvians -- "they keep adding up." Skye then notices that the craft is turning, and Ward explains that in restricted space, they have to keep to certain flight paths. He then uses some jargon that Skye's a fan of, but while the lingo may be cool, Ward notes that they just can't seem to understand each other. Don't you start.
Upstairs, in what looks like a mini-museum, Coulson is showing Camilla one of the first walkie-talkie wristwatches, saying it still works and sighing that there was an elegance to things back then. Camilla's like, that's nice, and how about I close this door so I can flirtily reminisce about when we were stationed together and worked in an RV? Coulson replies that first off, we didn't get much work done, and secondly, you were awfully hard to get back then, so what's with you acting like we're already in the back seat of Lola? Camilla doesn't have an answer to that -- and downstairs, alarm bells are going off for Ward, too, as he suddenly realizes the drink one of the Peruvians poured is untouched. He asks Skye for the bottle, while outside the lab, someone enters the foreground unbeknownst to Fitz and Simmons. Camilla's not quite ready to give up the ghost as she suggests they make some more memories, but Coulson's like, whatever you're planning is contingent on you taking out May, so I'm hoping Ward will get to her first. Speaking of, Ward gets into it with one of the guys, but we see another using a small electronic drill to bore a hole in the cockpit door, and the gas that flows in very quickly incapacitates May. Coulson and Camilla engage in some hand-to-hand before Coulson gets away and runs down the stairs, but all resistance ceases when they see on the monitor that one of the other PMP guys is holding a knife to Fitz's neck. Coulson turns to Camilla and bitterly points out that they were allies and had a history. "When did you decide to throw that away?" Camilla: "As soon as I saw your team." To appropriate a quote from 30 Rock, that's a pretty good burn, Camilla.
One of Camilla's men has taken over in the cockpit while another is working on rearranging Coulson's facial features, but Coulson realizes -- for the benefit of exposition as much as anything else -- that Camilla's keeping him alive because they'll need him to verify the route when their HQ calls in. I… guess? Maybe they think a short pasty white guy isn't enough of a threat to waste a bullet on? Coulson goes on that maybe he shouldn't give the all-clear so S.H.I.E.L.D. will shoot them out of the sky, but Camilla's like, pish posh -- you turned over your seven-figure plane just to save that one kid who never shuts up, and a word from me now will result in your whole team getting dumped out of the cargo hold. "And you're such a sentimentalist." I mean, not wanting to see him team turned into a short stack seems more normal than sentimental, but her point that he's probably going to give the thumbs-up like a good little boy is taken.
In the aforementioned cargo hold, the group is sitting with the hands apparently manacled behind their backs while Fitz is lamenting never having learned kung fu, and I can't not hear Sterling Archer's voice in response: "The Dane Cook of martial arts?" Simmons and Ward similarly self-flagellate while Skye wonders what happened to May and her mad ninja skillz, which Fitz and Simmons apparently know nothing about. They turn to Ward, who tells them May is The Cavalry, and that means something to them -- and then May, who's been lying apparently unconscious to them out of view until now, grits that she told Ward never to call him that. Heh. Simmons eagerly asks how they can get out of there, and May wearily sits up and tells them the doors are out -- with the plane in lockdown, they're bolted and tied to the pressurization lines. "You two geniuses have nothing?" Fitz says it's hard to concentrate with so much pressure, but Ward tells him he doesn't have to come up with the whole solution and looks to Skye for approval, and it's bad enough that they're making their escape so on the nose with respect to the "Yay, teamwork!" idea, but to actually make it textual is laughable. Whedon resolutions aren't usually so straightforward; I hope this is an aberration. (I'm not counting the plane; I doubt that's going to stick. Plot developments aside, you don't ditch an elaborate set like this after only two episodes.)
Back with Coulson, we're getting more of the "let's hear the villain's evil plan" in the grand tradition of Scooby-Doo as Coulson is like, you knew this was a weapon all along, didn't you, and Camilla amusedly admits it but says she had to play nice since S.H.I.E.L.D. got to it first. She goes on that her country commissioned it decades ago; after the fall of Hydra, many Nazi scientists relocated to this side of the world, which makes Coulson realize that Fitz's comment about the design looking German was actually spot-on; the weapon was lost in a jungle clash -- until today. Not sure why, then, Simmons thought it had been in the rock for centuries, but I suppose it was based on faulty or at least limited information; regardless, Camilla's looking pretty pleased with herself, but what she doesn't realize is that Coulson is surreptitiously working on the ropes binding his wrists to the support pole behind him. Coulson tries to tell her that her little sphere of influence is going to be meaningless if the aliens invade again, and I hope he's just trying to distract her because I'm pretty sure she's bored with his speechifying already.
Back in the hold (and we now see there's a guard in there with them up on the landing), Simmons doesn't like the idea that's just been advanced, but Ward is basically like, we might as well try it since we're all dead if we get to where Camilla wants to take us. Fitz/Simmons and Skye then babble at each other, but shut up when they hear a crunching noise from May's direction and when Fitz asks what that was, Ward grimly replies, "Her wrist." I'm sure that was painful, but if wrist dislocation can shut people up this effectively, it might be a skill worth learning. When the guard looks down, something is obviously off, but before he can even start counting to five May attacks him from behind and flips him over the railing to the deck below. She jumps down herself and punctuates the badassery by twisting her wrist back into place before asking what's . Well, it looks like what's is the non-Ward people gaping and wondering if they're fit to be on the same team as you, if the ensuing shot is any indication.
Camilla is chattering away about Coulson's idealism and pathetic team and BORING (although I'll give her a nod for the mention of his "airborne man-cave"); her point is that he's having a midlife crisis ("afterlife thing," he amusingly amends it to) and he built his little team to feel relevant again. He's like, that may be, but you just gave them a common enemy, and right now I can feel they've cast off their shackles and are coming together as a team and appreciating each other's unique strengths for the first time! I mean, he doesn't quite get that far, but as overwritten as this subplot is, he might as well have.
Back in the hold, Skye, Ward and Fitz/Simmons psych themselves up about not freezing and no going back and life and death before May, who's got the door of her SUV open, tells them they talk a lot and while I'd prefer fewer words from everyone else, May playing Voice of the Recapper has something going for it. As the other team members take cover, May gets in and drives the thing straight into the lab, and while the Peruvians of course hear them, Camilla tells them not to go running in as that's what the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents obviously want. However, they have other cards up their sleeves, as Fitz is able to use his iPad Generation 512 to unlock the door so May can get out of there; he then deploys a drone, which heads up out of the room via a vent whose cover Simmons just removed. For their parts, Skye and Ward get hold of some ropes and chains that they use to harness everyone, and while the shot is too tight really to see what they're doing, the idea that they're literally bonding to each other seems about the right level of subtlety for this episode.
The confirmation call finally comes in from HQ, at which point Camilla cocks her gun and tells Coulson to answer or his team dies. Again unbeknownst to her, Coulson has now freed his hands as the HQ woman goes on that they're cleared for passage directly to the Slingshot -- but when he sees the drone ("Sneezy," if you're keeping track) hovering nearby, he quickly divines the plan and wraps the rope back around the pole before giving the line that opened the episode. In the hold, Fitz uses his control, and the drone emits a light that sets off the weapon, blowing the hole in the side of the plane we saw earlier. Fairly lucky that the thing wasn't pointed toward, say, the lab, but as they said their alternative was certain death. The poor drone gets sucked out into the airstream along with that one soldier we saw in the cold open while Coulson holds onto the rope for dear life. I hope you weren't kidding about working out, Coulson, because your hand is going to fatigue right quick.
When we return, the red light on the doors turns to green as the drop in cabin pressure released them, which was the plan all along. (I'm not sure what was up with May getting out, though.) Ward resolves to deal with the soldiers while the rest of them handle the weapon; some Ward-fu then clears a path for the kids, while in the cockpit May deals similarly with the current pilot. Camilla somehow hasn't been able to secure herself, so Coulson ends up grabbing her hand before she flies off to join her underling and Sneezy, may they rest in peace. We then see that Skye and Fitz/Simmons are lashed together so they can retrieve the 0-8-4 without being sucked out, and Simmons manages to reach the thing and pull it out of the wall. Another copy of the plane's brochure, the one Ward gave to Skye earlier to review, blows into her face, which gives her an idea and she disengages from the others despite Simmons' protests. Coulson manages to reel Camilla in and she offers little resistance as Coulson binds her wrists, while in the cockpit, May finally finishes with her guy and takes control of the plane, which was in a nosedive, and was S.H.I.E.L.D. just going to let them crash? Not sure if they have protocol for this exact situation, but you'd think HQ would at least have popped up on the comm for a friendly check-in.
Ward continues to fight while Skye reaches her target object -- a life raft, which she struggles to get out of its box. Meanwhile, one of the soldiers grabs hold of the tether and starts hand-over-handing his way toward Fitz/Simmons, so they cut him loose, which unfortunately sends him barreling into Ward with the result that they end up arm-locked close to the gaping hole. Thanks to an untimely tear in his sleeve, the Peruvian guy makes an unscheduled exit, and Ward can't hold on and goes to join him -- only Skye has managed to get the raft inflated, and it flies forward and covers the hole just before Ward reaches it. Not too sure about the physics here, but I do like Ward's current shape quite a bit so I'm not going to argue too much with him not being turned into a pancake. Coulson then decks one of the soldiers before he can crawl to his gun, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief as May safely gets the plane under control. Skye helps pull Ward to his feet as she sheepishly admits she read the safety pamphlet and Ward snarks, "You might be the first." Heh. The team reconvenes as Coulson sighs that he was just getting used to the plane, and then Fitz reports that the 0-8-4 is stable, but they should still get it to the Slingshot ASAP. Coulson then turns to Camilla and smiles that he told her his team was good, and I could really do without the show putting self-congratulatory words in his mouth, thanks. I like Coulson, but I want to like him more and the writing is what's holding me back so get it together, please.
Later, at the Slingshot (the location is classified, but guess what, it's in the middle of nowhere), Coulson is examining Lola for damage, which is cute, but could they really have made it all the way here with nothing but a life raft that looks like it was on sale at Target keeping the cabin pressurized? Skye then finds him and asks what she's signing up for, and he repeats his line from last time about it being the craziest show on Earth, which again, we heard it once, so stop trying to make it A Thing. After explaining why they use the Slingshot (it's not complicated; the 0-8-4 is a weapon they can't afford to let fall into the wrong hands), Skye noses about for information about Coulson's history with Camilla that isn't forthcoming, while elsewhere, Ward tells May he's changed his tune on Skye -- she could be a solid asset with the right training. May points out that she'll need a good, disciplined Supervising Officer and when he catches her pointed look, he doesn't hesitate to say he'll take her on. It's a nice character beat (and understandable, given that she saved his life) but shouldn't he at least have to fill out a form first?
Fitz and Simmons get everyone to come out on the plane's ramp to watch the Slingshot in action, not that they need much convincing given that they're carrying a cooler full of beer (and are also half in the bag, as Skye amusedly notes), and Fitz babbles about how it'll take 180 days for the thing to reach the sun. Coulson -- sounding sterner than he's probably feeling -- asks whose idea it was to blow a hole in the plane, and Skye, thinking a lecture is coming, starts to take responsibility. But Simmons, backed up by Ward and Fitz, pipes up that it was all of them and this little moment would have sufficed for me instead of being beaten about the head by teamwork. The rocket then launches, and Ward reminds Fitz/Simmons to speak in layman's terms before paying Fitz back for all his back-slaps; Skye then gets an encrypted text saying that the Rising Tide are in a holding pattern and are planning to go dark before asking for her status. She pauses for a moment and looks uncomfortably at her new family before replying, "I'm in." DUN! Or maybe dun.
Oh, and at Minute 59, we get the entirely unexpected and delightful appearance of Samuel L. Jackson on our screen, as Nick Fury dresses Coulson down for taking only six days to ruin the plane. "Do you know how much this thing cost? It's got a bar! A really nice one." Hee. He informs Coulson that he could downgrade his ass to a Winnebago, and while Skye would probably love that, Coulson at least sounds fearful as he tells Fury he's aware. Fury says he wants it fixed just like Coulson found it, "so don't have Fitz/Simmons go make any modifications like… a damn fish tank!" I'll admit I would have singled that out, too. Fury then leans in closer and bugs his one good eye out even more as he tells Coulson that Skye is a risk, and Coulson, sounding like he means it, says he knows. I wonder if he's divined her duplicity -- he seems like the type who would keep her and hope she comes around to doing the right thing (from his point of view). Fury does take a moment to ask about Lola, but then stomps off on a wave of awesome indignation, prompting Coulson meekly to utter into his comm: "We're gonna to have to kill the fish tank." We may not get any more of Fury for a while, but a little of him goes a long way and the rest of this episode was a solid B-minus but I had to bump it up for this appearance. week: Skye goes on her first mission as a field agent. With all the training she's had, what could possibly go wrong?
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. His new film, a documentary on online privacy and the exploitation of personal data called Terms And Conditions May Apply, a New York Times Critics' Pick, is now on iTunes here. You can get news on it from the film's Twitter accountor website, or check out trackoff.us to learn how to protect your privacy. Also, you can email John at couchbaron@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/couchbaron, or check out his blog, "Pull Up A Chair," which he'd just love for you to stop by.
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