In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
In the cold open, the French Mr. VanChat – he was briefly mentioned way back in the pilot as the guy whose safe Ward burgled for the Chitauri artifact – is closing a Chitauri deal when the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, minus Coulson but plus Agent Hand and a bunch of backup muscle, capture him in hopes he can lead them to Centipede. We learn it's only been a day and a half since Coulson was taken, and Hand is all about finding Centipede but is less worried about Coulson and even less than that is she inclined to let Skye stay aboard the plane given what she pulled back at the Hub. Ward sticks up for Skye, but when Hand asks May if she thinks Skye will be an asset, she says no. Cold! Before Skye goes, though, Fitz and Simmons surreptitiously give her a SAT phone for emergency use, and Ward urges her to escape and keep looking for Coulson. VanChat is not super-cooperative until Ward lets him get a glimpse of the view from outside the plane firsthand; the information he gives up leads Hand to send the plane to Sydney. She then tells Ward that the interest she's getting from above about Coulson is unprecedented and difficult to comprehend, but Ward replies that Coulson's that important. Later, he confronts May about her apparent betrayal of Skye, but May was in on the idea that Skye would do better working rogue. She was right!
Po is using some machine to try to extract Coulson's memories of what happened after he died and what is making him different now; we also learn from Po via the Clairvoyant that Coulson apparently saw his father die in front of him when he was a boy. When Po gives him some time to himself, though, Coulson contrives to get his handcuffs off and escape – only to find himself in a tiny town in the middle of the desert before being recaptured.
Skye has to get creative with the bracelet still hampering her ability to hack, so she latches onto ROB HUEBEL, who's playing some rich dude accused of securities fraud or tax evasion or something. Skye poses as May and threatens to freeze all his assets if he doesn't cooperate, and I'll explain in the full recap, but basically she uses him as a surrogate hacker to gain access to VanChat's and then Raina's transactions. Skye relays her findings to May, who takes Coulson's team to the desert location to meet her and retrieve him.
When Raina turns up from attending to their "other subject," the Clairvoyant calls, and apparently dissatisfied with how long Po is taking with Coulson, he asks to speak to Raina; after a brief chat, Raina hands the phone back – which then somehow zaps Po to death. Raina then tells Coulson that the Clairvoyant gives them formulas for a changing world, but the one thing about their super-soldiers is that they can't bring them back to life – which is why they want Coulson's secret. Raina's honey, including Clairvoyant-fueled information about his lost love, does much better than Po's vinegar in convincing Coulson to stop resisting the machine, and when he revisits the memory, Shepherd Book/Dr. Streiten appears and asks who ordered "all this," and the Tahitian masseuse, who turns into a doctor, says it was Fury himself. We then see a nightmarish vision of Coulson, his brain exposed, begging them to let him die as a robot that looks kind of like the monster from Alien pokes and prods at his brain. Coulson doesn't pass this info on to Raina before he's rescued, nor does he let on to the S.H.I.E.L.D. team what happened, but even though Raina is taken into custody, she and Coulson share a Meaningful Look. Hand tells Coulson they were able to strike blows against Centipede all over the world, and Coulson removes Skye's bracelet after sincerely thanking the team, so all's well, right?
Well, not quite. Coulson accosts Dr. Streiten, who spills the beans – Coulson was dead for days after New York, but Fury "moved heaven and earth" to come up with crazy procedures to bring him back, even though it meant keeping him conscious through excruciating pain, which explains the entreaties from Coulson to let him die. They gave him pleasant memories to restore his will to live, which don't completely seem to be working at the moment.
And oh, guess what "other subject" is still alive, burned all over, missing a leg, and with an eye device? Mike Peterson! He's not begging to die yet, but it's early.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!I rarely comment on previouslies, but they really underscore how few episodes were really needed to get here. Only four episodes had significant bearing on the Centipede plot, and I wouldn't necessarily begrudge the others if they'd actually done any meaningful character development. But however long it took, here we are, and we start with a close-up of a Chitauri artifact in an open briefcase. A wider camera angle then reveals that we're witnessing an exchange, as a young woman approvingly asks "Vanchat" – who, as I mentioned in the recaplet, owned the safe Ward robbed in the pilot – how he got hold of it, and Vanchat tells her finding "alien scrap that no one else can" is his vocation. The woman tells him to name his price, but just then a black disc that would look like an air-hockey puck if not for the lights around its edge and its S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem slides across the floor into view. The woman quizzically asks if it's a Roomba – hee – but it emits a blinding burst of light, after which May and Ward come rushing in and get with the fighting.
Ward gets tangled up momentarily with some henchthugs (he also gets hit in the general area in which he got shot, which is our only small reminder that even happened), allowing Vanchat to make it out a side door, but May's after him in a flash, and Ward soon gives chase as well. Vanchat fires off a few rounds at May, but she successfully takes cover; he then heads into a stairwell and down, but May calls to Fitz/Simmons that he's coming their way. In a control van, Simmons asks Fitz if he's sure this will fly (sorry), but he shows some steel as he tells her to embrace the change. When Vanchat gets out of the stairwell, he runs into several of Fitz's drones that emit some blinding light; unable to pass that way, he turns around and boards an elevator, whereupon Ward calls to Skye that it's her turn. She and her laptop send the elevator careening up at breakneck pace, and when Vanchat soon alights on the roof, he runs straight into a bunch of commandos who can only be from Big S.H.I.E.L.D., and that's completely confirmed when Agent Hand steps forward from behind the men. "Mr. Vanchat? We were hoping you could help us find a friend." I may not have had much use for her last time, but that's a hell of an entrance. Title card.
The plane's lab is bustling with personnel, but the only shirtless one is Ward, whom Simmons chastises for managing to reopen all his stitches. Ward just hopes that Vanchat can lead them to Centipede, and Simmons lets us know that the mask Vanchat was hawking "was an exact match to what Centipede used for their device." It's been a little while, but huh? Eh, doesn't matter; they suspect a link between Vanchat and Centipede and they're probably right. Across the room, Fitz berates an "Agent Cobb" to stop asking questions and fetch him the five-millimeter injector, whereupon he complains about all the extra personnel on board and Ward brightly tells him it's only going to get more crowded after they drop Vanchat off at "The Fridge" and pick up more people there. Ward, I thought you were supposed to be the antisocial one, hotel activities with May notwithstanding. Simmons, however, thinks some fresh eyes will do them good given that they've been up nonstop for the thirty-six hours since Coulson was abducted, but the discussion is curtailed when Fitz points out that Agent Hand is about to give another briefing. May is already there, and Ward pushes his way in just as Hand says they haven't been able to find anything useful. Ward asks about Vanchat, and she tells him there's nothing yet, but her best interrogator is in with him now (and on the monitor we can see the little bedroom touches made for Peterson have been scrapped). Hand goes on that when Vanchat spills, they'll use every resource to take Centipede down, so Fitz/Simmons pipe up that they'll be rescuing Coulson too, right? Hand doesn't have to bother pulling out a lip-service platitude, though, as a screeching sound indicating that someone's hacking the system interrupts them. Hand doesn't get it, but May's exasperated face sure does.
Cut to Hand sliding Skye's door open, ignoring Skye's request that she override the bracelet, and asking what she thinks she's doing. Skye explains that she thinks a money trail leading from Vanchat to Centipede will be the key to them finding Coulson, but Hand is like, you shot Agent Sitwell (Skye protests vainly that it wasn't actually she), so you'll be getting off this plane posthaste and you'll be lucky if it's not moving when that happens. Skye runs after her, to no avail, so Ward intervenes on her behalf, assuring Hand that while Skye's methods may be unorthodox, she can help. At least not dismissing him outright, Hand turns to May and asks if she thinks Skye will be of any use to them on this plane, and May's curt response is "No." There will be a short delay in takeoff while the plane is de-iced. Ward looks disbelievingly at May as Hand tells an underling to increase Skye's restriction level and confiscate her laptop and phone, but Ward pipes up that he'll do it since he's her SO. Hand nods her approval, and everyone disbands, with Skye giving May a hurt, but not entirely surprised, look. That's less watery than I expected, to be honest.
And indeed, rather than sad, Skye is angry, as in the cargo hold she bites out that even in the context of May having an axe to grind with her, that betrayal was out of line. Ward tells her not to worry, and when Skye reiterates that she can find Coulson, Ward says he believes her and has seen what she can do, even without S.H.I.E.L.D. resources. Fitz/Simmons then appear with a paper bag they whisper contains a satellite phone, and it's damper-resistant so it will be good for one call before the bracelet shuts it down. Skye is like, that's great, but I'm going to be "in a S.H.I.E.L.D. broom closet getting debriefed" for three days, so what do I need it for? Ward is like, that's right, agents are coming for you in exactly twelve minutes, and if he has to go for the hat trick of pointed statements he won't be congratulating himself on his training skills. However, this time Skye gets it, and they leave her to make her escape, which she does – but not before telling some random tech not to touch Lola. Heh.
Speaking of Lola, her owner is back on the massage table; after he trades a few innocuous words with the same masseuse we've already seen, an Asian waiter enters with a tray of island drinks – but Coulson doesn't even get to have a sip before he's snapped into reality. And reality is not looking super-fun at the moment, as he's lying on a gurney with his head in what looks like some high-tech imaging machine in a room populated with creepy mannequins and the nearly-as-creepy Po, who tells him he passed out, but now he might share what memories he saw. Coulson, blood having poured out of one nostril, gives a defiantly fake answer, but Po waves that aside and tells him that if he continues to fight the machine, it'll kill him. Coulson's like, better that than give you valuable information, and you must like killing anyway given how you blew Mike Peterson to smithereens in front of his own son? Po snaps that Centipede fulfilled their end of the bargain with Peterson and he chose to come after them. "You're just upset because that man's death hit so close to home. Seeing a boy lose his father at such a young age, as you did – a defining moment." This revelation kind of gets lost in the shuffle later, but it is interesting. Po explains that the Clairvoyant told him this information, but Coulson thinks the Clairvoyant must be a fraud or he'd already know the answers he claims to be after. Po admits that there's an aberration here, as the Clairvoyant can see that Coulson died – "you went cold" – but apparently the time Coulson was dead is dark to him, so he can't determine how S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to bring him back. "For some reason, Agent Coulson, you're different." He asks why that is, but Coulson stays mum, so Po's henchthug holds up an electrified tool that signals another round of happy fun times with the machine. That's cool, Coulson – maybe this time you'll get that mai tai!
Just to get this out of the way, are we to assume that Skye's super-techie bracelet isn't capable of tracking her? And that every time she shuts down a machine with a prominent display of " S.H.I.E.L.D. LOCKDOWN" on it, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't get a heads-up? Okay. Speaking of which, Skye's in a "Cyber Coffee" typing with one hand while holding the bracelet as far away from the computer as she can with the other, but it isn't far enough, as every computer and phone in the place suddenly produces the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo (I guess it affected the place's server). Secretive! Skye hightails it out of there before people realize she's the one coming between them and the uploading of their shitty Instagram offerings.
At a newsstand, Skye flips through a magazine and sees ROB HUEBEL's photo, and even though his comic genius is almost completely wasted in this role I'm always happy to see him. His picture appears to a piece covering "Investors' Offshore Accounts Questioned," and after we see his name is "Lloyd Rathman," Skye mutters to herself that he can be her way in – and then she catches sight of a belted leather coat in a nearby shop. I really don't want to nitpick this much, but she was living out of her van and then she went to S.H.I.E.L.D., who took care of her every need. Does she have, like, money?
However she may have tracked him down (maybe we're supposed to think he's arriving at his office, but he'd have his own parking setup were that the case), we cut to Rathman getting out of his car at a valet-parking stand; the attendant is busy with another car, but Rathman is too busy spewing some uninspired crap into his headset about how he loves truffles, "but not on that." Yes, he's a rich jerk, but it's ROB HUEBEL. Write him funnier! As he heads into a building, Skye passes in the other direction, shopping bags in one hand and a fake phone call in the other, and uncaringly breezes her way into Rathman's car and drives away like EVERYONE IN THAT VALET-PARKING COMPANY IS FIRED.
So Fitz/Simmons have been working on that little problem of the supersoldiers now apparently being able to shake off the night-night gun, so they're increasing the amount of dendrotoxin, but Simmons tells some rando tech it can't be enough to kill them. Fitz, however, is okay with that eventuality if it means getting Coulson back, especially since the supersoldiers could smash their skulls open. Simmons, however, reminds him that they're being coerced, and I'd be annoyed at the retread if I didn't suspect they might be setting up a conflict regarding a certain someone who might or might not be appearing at the very end of the episode. In other news, Ward is not finding the efforts of Hand's interrogator anything to write home about and decides to go in, and Fitz gives Simmons a look like, should we watch or reach minimum safe distance?
Skye tries to use the car's GPS but is thwarted by the bracelet again, so she pulls over to think for a moment. Seeing a roadside assistance emblem on a control panel, she then gets a crafty look and drives the car into a median, and although the bulk of the damage she inflicts is on some plastic barrels of water that fly every which way, it's enough to activate the service, whereupon Skye rather smugly asks if they can dispatch someone to tow her back to her house. Okay, I'll give her some credit for the clever plan, but once again, Roadside Assistance Lady who doesn't even ask for a name is so, so fired.
Coulson, his session apparently over, gets roughly shoved into a table of torture tools and then into bed, and after he's cuffed, his captors leave him alone. Once they're safely away, though, he pulls out a large pair of tweezers (he surreptitiously stuffed them in there when he careened into the tray of tools) from his shirtsleeve and tries to un-did his handcuffs. (If only Joe R. were still around, because he would definitely get that.)
Ward comes in and tells the agent, whose interrogation skills may be compromised due to his lack of a SAG card, that Hand needs him. When he's gone, Ward sits down in a chair attached to the wall and tells Vanchat it's time to talk, but Vanchat isn't impressed – until Ward straps himself into the chair and nods toward the monitor. Fitz/Simmons do a quick roshambo for the privilege, and Simmons's rock smashes Fitz's scissors (and her "Oh, Fitz" has Lisa Simpson's "Poor predictable Bart; always takes rock" written all over it). Simmons thus gets to push the button that causes the ceiling of the interrogation room to start opening up, and as Vanchat holds on to the table in front of him for dear life he agrees to talk in about 2.4 seconds. Jeez, man, I thought you had to be a better negotiator than that in your line of work!
Oh, here's someone coming in with a tray of food for Coulson; whatever's in the bed looks about as convincing as the full-sized doll that Ferris Bueller has set up to fool his mother, which makes sense enough given that when the guy pulls off the blanket he sees one of those creepy life-sized mannequins. From under the bed, Coulson sweeps his foot and then renders the guy unconscious with a sleeper hold. He runs outside…and sees that he's in a tiny little settlement in the desert; there's a "Fallout Shelter" sign on one of the small shacks, and Po announces from off to Coulson's side that they're in "The Town That The Bomb Forgot." He explains that it was built in the forties for nuclear testing, and while with the Cold War over it's now been forgotten, he thinks it's nice here. Referring to the dolls, he adds that "the children are always playing," and that's the funniest thing I remember him saying, but Coulson doesn't see it that way as he lunges at Po, only to be grabbed by the neck and lifted into the air by an appearing henchsupersoldier. Po finishes his statement about the children with "…yet never make a sound" before suggesting they get back to it, and Coulson does look like the machine might be preferable to indefinitely trying to breathe against that iron hand.
Skye's plan has worked (impossibly), and at Rathman's house, she checks out the Lamborghini in his garage and the Warhol-esque quartered portrait of him (heeee) before using the handle of a golf club to dial Rathman's office from a safe distance. Posing as the LAPD, she tells the woman that Rathman's car was recovered but was damaged, and there are two officers at his home waiting to get a statement from him. Cut to Rathman entering the place, but he hasn't even put down his briefcase before we see a pair of legs enter the frame as Skye's voice tells him he's in a lot of trouble. He asks who the hell she is, and a front angle shows Skye in shades and the leather jacket with her hair pulled back: "Agent Melinda May. With S.H.I.E.L.D." Good reveal, Skye, but you've got to work on your scowl.
Rathman tries to say he's totes a legit businessman, but Skye is like, cut the shit, you're taking money offshore for some very bad people, and if you don't play ball S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to freeze your assets harder than the Midwest right now. Rathman makes to call his lawyer, but Skye tells him if he drags him into it she'll rescind the offer of immunity she's currently dangling in front of him -- an offer which would mean S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't touch any of his assets, "not even your party boat in Key Largo." Obviously having many fond, disgusting memories of things that happened in international waters, Rathman hesitates, and Skye drives it on home by threatening him with five years in The Fridge if he doesn't cooperate, which she assures him is "worse than it sounds." Rathman gives in, but when Skye leads the way to his office, he pauses to trip a silent alarm, which I'm sure was not armed when Skye came in for the best of reasons.
On the plane, Hand announces that Vanchat's information is proving quite availing, and they're pursuing every buyer of Chitauri artifacts in the world – including the largest, which is taking them personally to a warehouse in Sydney. Ward asks about Coulson, but Hand's like, well, if he's in Sydney he's in luck. She dismisses the briefing but keeps Ward there to note that first Skye gave them the slip and then he went rogue on Vanchat, so does that mean they have a problem? Ward tells her no, and she reiterates that the information he got, however forcibly he may have extracted it, is proving very valuable. If that doesn't feel like much of a scolding, it's because Hand has something else on her mind – the response that S.H.I.E.L.D. is putting out to find a Level Eight operative is unprecedented. She goes on that she's been on the phone fielding requests for status updates all day from such inconsequential people as Fury and Hill, and she doesn't understand it. "No single agent is that important." Ward: "Coulson is." Argh. I'm liking Hand a lot more in the episode – her all-business attitude is well suited to a mission of this magnitude – and her questioning why S.H.I.E.L.D. would devote so much manpower to rescuing Coulson is astute. But it would be far more interesting for Ward to have a moment where her question penetrates rather than having him recite the "Coulson is the best OMG" platitude the show can't stop telling us rather than showing us. Does Big S.H.I.E.L.D. really seem like such a warm and fuzzy organization to Ward that Hand's question is unwarranted?
However important or great he may or may not be, Coulson is back with his head in the machine, and from the painful cries he's emitting it's fair to conclude he's still resisting. When the pain subsides, he tells Po that S.H.I.E.L.D. will find him before he breaks, but Po replies that, referring to S.H.I.E.L.D., the Clairvoyant "sees an end to all that." Po's henchsupersoldier then pokes Coulson again with a pain stick, and if that's why Coulson's been crying out I'm not sure how that's supposed to make him relax and stop fighting the machine, so maybe the upcoming discussion about Po's methods is less frivolous than I thought on first viewing.
Speaking of which, Raina's voice cuts in that Coulson doesn't look so good, and although Po affably asks what took her so long, there's no answering smile as she says she was tending to their "other subject." He replies that those persuasion skills of hers could be doing him some good with Coulson right now, but Raina's like, I wouldn't participate in an interrogation that uses force. Po starts to defend himself, but then his phone buzzes – it's the Clairvoyant! I was going to praise his timing, but I guess he has a leg up on such things. From Po's side of the conversation, it sounds like the Clairvoyant is also displeased with the turn the interrogation is taking, and then Po reluctantly tells Raina that the Clairvoyant would like to speak to her. Raina of course takes a sharp breath at the fulfillment of something she's wanted rather a lot, but she gets herself under control quickly and has a brief chat with the Clairvoyant, the only significant part being her telling him that she agrees with him. She then hands the phone back to Po, but as soon as he's put it up to his ear, it emits a high-pitched buzzing that kills him in a matter of seconds, turning his skin grey in the process; points to Raina for catching the phone on the way down like he's tossing her the Clairvoyant-communicator baton. Personally, I didn't find Po very interesting as a villain – as I said last time, the "mannered psycho for no reason" has been done to death – but if they were going to introduce the character they could have given more answers. Before this, it seemed logical to conclude that being the Clairvoyant's mouthpiece required some special talent, otherwise why would they bother with Po, whose incarceration was a logistical headache in addition to the character deficiencies that Raina soon decries? In other words, if Raina was always capable of that job, I don't know why the show bothered with introducing Po; it's not like he suddenly became a murdering psycho now. Maybe they'll explain further, but like many things so far on this show it just seems like a diversion with no real point. Regardless, Raina steps forward to take over where Po left off.
Speaking of things I'd change, I don't think the show really needs to spend any more effects money on those push-ins to the plane's cockpit, but when we get there, Ward is sitting with May and is obviously stewing. May asks what's up, so he tells her he and Hand don't see eye to eye, and by the way, why did May sell Skye out? May's like, I thought she could do better off the plane, and on one hand, I like May's efficient assessment of the situation, but this is pretty low-stakes as far as the emotional conflict goes. Ward was peeved at May for ten minutes; I wouldn't be surprised if that happens every time they hook up. However, some bit of emotional resonance comes when May quietly adds that he doesn't have to assume the worst of her, which at least is a moment of vulnerability we haven't much seen from her before, particularly not with anyone who's not Coulson. Hand then cuts in that they have a change of destination – the Centipede helicopter that took Coulson away has been found at a lab outside the Mojave Desert, so that's where they're going. Ward and May perk up at the news of their leader, and then we get another long shot of the plane changing direction, like I'd really like to see the budget's line item for plane effects for this show if I didn't think it would make me cry.
Skye tells Rathman to type in his "private corporate ID" to get into some Swiss bank account system, and Rathman is like, that is soooo illegal and why haven't you even shown me a badge? Skye pretends to make a call and then shows him the S.H.I.E.L.D. lockdown message on it, like, if we had to wonder why a secret outfit like S.H.I.E.L.D. is proudly showing its logo on every computer screen in Skye's general vicinity just for this moment, it means the writers really should work a little harder. The way a show solves story obstacles is a huge factor in the dissonance the audience feels; finding verisimilitude certainly is not an exact science, but this show's audience on balance is far too savvy for it to be able to afford to leave such wide logical gaps. Rathman, in one of the only funny lines the show sought to give a comedy genius, gripes that he just got his high score in Tiny Wings, but Skye isn't laughing as she lectures him on his numerous misdeeds and the fact that he's a shitty father: "Kids need someone they can look up to." I'm kind of wondering if she really could have gotten all this information from one print-magazine profile, since she can't hack, but regardless, This One To Grow On moment is interrupted by two bumbling security guards who can't even get together on entering at the same time, so Skye's S.H.I.E.L.D. training proves more than a match for them, which only validates her credibility in Rathman's eyes. It's too bad May's going to end up with all the glory, but Skye did it to herself.
Here's Raina bringing Coulson, who's unrestrained and sitting up now, a glass of water and being all "Hey, it was pretty fun how the Clairvoyant totally zapped Po, right?" Coulson is like, if you're trying to be friends don't bother since you totally kill your friends, but Raina disparagingly tells him Po was a murderer and incapable of remorse. Coulson, however, says he was thinking of Peterson and Chan, but Raina replies that she gave them what they asked for – for example, Peterson wanted to be a hero to his son, and now he is. Coulson brings up Amador, but Raina points out that S.H.I.E.L.D. is just as capable of using cruel means to reach what they think is a justified end. Coulson asks if the Clairvoyant is whom she works for, and her straightforward "yes" is refreshing; she goes on that she doesn't know who he is and that she only personally made contact with him for the first time that day. "My heart's still racing." Maybe he zapped her a little bit too! Coulson brings up the supersoldiers, but Raina contextualizes them by saying the Clairvoyant gives them guidance. "Formulas." Hmm, that ties Russia in a bit, no? She tells him said formulas are for dealing with a changing world, "a world your organization brought upon us. We're new to the business of what you've been doing for decades." Okay, if Centipede considers itself in righteous opposition to S.H.I.E.L.D., that will be far more intriguing than anything I've seen so far. I believe I've said before that the show will be much more interesting if S.H.I.E.L.D. is not a morally good organization; this episode gives me some hope that they're at least toying with the idea.
Raina goes on that the ability to bring their soldiers back to life is a key part of the Clairvoyant's plan, and that's where Coulson comes in – and doesn't he want to know how he survived? Coulson can't completely cover the fact that he does in fact want to know, and Raina goes on that she'd like to try the machine again – it induces theta brain waves that help uncover secrets buried in the subconscious, and if he stops fighting it, all will be revealed. Despite his ambivalence, though, Coulson tells her he'll die or be rescued before he gives her classified intel, but she scoffs that she's not interested in that – the Clairvoyant already sees all such information. "He knows what the President dreams about at night." Tweet that out from @obamadreamz, Clairvoyant! I'd follow that! Raina goes on that she wants the same thing he does – "the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. is keeping from you." Girl's good, and the look on Coulson's face knows it.
Skye, her Melinda May façade showing the first signs of strain under how long this seems to be taking, tells Rathman to go into his account history to research transactions and that they need to open up a terminal emulator to see what kind of encryption they've got. Rathman nods like he totally gets what she's saying, but Skye nevertheless notes that he's not typing and asks what's up, and he's like, where's the Account History again? Skye looks like she's getting a migraine, but then casts an appraising eye at the younger of the security guards, who's been sitting quietly in a chair…and then we cut to him taking Skye's commands as Rathman tells the other guy he has an assistant that does all this for him. Ha! It's a clever and unexpected use of the security guys; that kind of deft humor has been far too rare for a Whedon offering. Skye gets what she's looking for, giving the security guard an unnecessarily detailed explanation of why she wants it ("backtrack the info; find Raina" is what it boils down to); after Skye has the guy print the information she needs, Rathman asks if they're done. Skye: "One last thing."
Cut to her peeling out of his place in the Lamborghini, and it's a fun moment that's again slightly marred by my suspicion that he'd rather part with even the party boat than this car.
Back in the desert, Raina continues casting her spell as she tells Coulson (entirely accurately, as it turns out) that he's desperately clinging to his fond memories of his recovery. Coulson tries for some bravado as he again suggests that the Clairvoyant is a fraud, but Raina replies that he also told her that Coulson's worried not only about the answers but the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. denied them to him. She adds that it's hard to believe, given that S.H.I.E.L.D. is his only family "since you've lost your mother too." I wonder if Raina really even needs the machine. Coulson sticks out his chin and says sacrifice is part of the job, but she replies that he gave up his chance at a normal life, and at love with that cellist. "And she did love you, Agent Coulson." Coulson's defenses shatter into a million pieces as he brokenly asks how she could know that last bit, but Raina doesn't dignify that with an answer, instead going on to wonder if he misses their dinners and hearing her play. Raina then feigns (?) real empathy as she goes on that his love didn't even have a chance to say goodbye and she cried for days after S.H.I.E.L.D. told her he'd died. "They shattered her heart, with a lie." Given the story Coulson told Ward, this sounds like new information, which surely contributes to his upcoming shift in attitude. He tries to hold her off, but when she mentions Tahiti and he, as ever, reflexively replies that it's a magical place, even he can't toe the party line anymore: "I keep saying that." She asks if he doesn't want to know why, and after taking several moments to contemplate the machine, he finally tells her to turn it on. Great scene, really; it's consistent with Raina as this temptress mirror who convinces people to give into their desires, but it also fits with S.H.I.E.L.D. having a potentially nefarious agenda that makes Coulson's actions here seem righteous and not traitorous. Good stuff!
On the plane, Simmons is explaining to the other remaining members of the core team that the Centipede soldiers each have a port on their delivery device through which they can receive serum refills, so with the "injector cuff" Fitz holds up, which looks like a fancy wrist monitor, they can inject the soldiers with whatever elephant-sized dose on dendrotoxin they've decided is necessary to take them down. The catch is they have to physically wrap the band around the soldiers' forearms for it to work, and Ward complains that it's going to be like riding a bull for eight seconds. Fitz, brightly: "Yeah, exactly! It's that simple." Hee. Simmons then gets a call from Skye and immediately puts on her "I AM SO VERY LYING" voice as she greets "Dr. Nugent," and Skye is like, keep quiet because even Pinocchio lied less noticeably than you, but May thankfully doesn't let this go on any longer as she clears the room of Big S.H.I.E.L.D. techs and then takes the phone: "What have you found?" That impersonating you is pretty badass, but she probably won't go into that on this one urgent call.
Everyone is leaving the plane as Hand, having been briefed, can't believe that with an imminent raid on a Centipede lab Ward wants to take his team into the desert "based on a hunch from Skye." May suggests that they split up, whereupon Hand realizes May was in Skye's corner all along and doesn't super-appreciate being played. Bored of this argument, Ward says he's taking his team (is he actually second-in-command? I guess it would make sense given how long May was out of the field) and they're going to find Coulson, and Hand can send backup if she wants. My guess? No backup. However, Hand does look like she's wondering again what's so special about Coulson, but I can't decide if that makes it more or less likely that they ever hooked up.
As Raina straps him in, Coulson asks what makes her sure the machine will even work, to which Raina simply answers, "It worked on me." Is a repressed memory what brought Raina into the Centipede fold? Could Coulson face that same temptation? Is it possible we're getting somewhere? Coulson asks for one answer before they start – what's with the flowers Raina always wears? She merely smiles: "Who doesn't like flowers? I'm glad you noticed." Well, maybe he reads episode titles and also HE'S NOT BLIND. She tells him to close his eyes and relax, and once he's complied, she asks him to think back to his first postmortem memory. As he relates to her what he's seeing, we get the same start as at the beginning of the episode – but then Dr. Streiten's voice sharply cuts in: "Listen to him! Who ordered this?" We see he's dressed in operating scrubs and has replaced the waiter in Coulson's memory, and then the masseuse replies in unaccented English and a different voice that it was Fury himself. Coulson looks terrified, and I'd imagine commercials aren't going to help.
Skye arrives at the village and is understandably creeped out by all the mannequins; she then takes a look around, but a supersoldier (I think) sees her and gives chase – whereupon Ward's SUV comes out of nowhere and knocks him down. Hearing the commotion, Raina has the supersoldier in with her go investigate before turning back to Coulson; realizing something's happening, she urges him to look at his surroundings, and as he does the illusion starts to break down piece by piece. Raina asks what he sees, and he tells her everything's dark. If he's telling the truth, he's going to wish it stayed that way.
Outside, Raina's supersoldier appears, and Ward, the doohickey in hand, rushes him as the other four spread out to look for Coulson. Two guys come out and attack May, but from the way she handles them they seem just to be regular dudes. Ward does his best not to get his brains bashed in, but the guy is too quick to pin down by the arm – so Ward improvises by extracting the toxin, shoving it into the guy's mouth, holding it closed, and kicking him in the face to deliver it. The guy's face gets that telltale blue-stained look before he falls to the ground, leaving Ward to contemplate some choice words for Fitz/Simmons about their design.
Coulson sees a jumble of images – Fury as Coulson was dying (I guess since they've had Samuel L. Jackson on the show they can use his performance from the film), his own blood on his hands, a body bag being zipped over his face – and then he hears a woman's voice say he's drifting. In the memory, he opens his eyes, looking terrified, as Streiten says that this is wrong. Coulson incoherently tells them not to, and then he looks up to see his reflection – with what looks like metal legs dancing around it. A wider shot reveals that his skull has been removed and his entire brain is exposed, and a robot with spidery arms are operating away on his brain, which is creepily illuminated with whatever energy they're putting out. Coulson, his voice alternating between a whimper and a shout, begs the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors to let him die, and in the present, he lets loose a bellow that his team hears. Raina thinks he's fighting the machine, but he starts reiterating his pleas to let him die before Skye comes marching in. Raina tries to tell her (with none of her empathy from before) that it's for his own good, but Skye decks her (still feeling like May in that getup) and starts trying to shut down the machine as May appears in time to hear him begging for death. May pulls the plug, which I wouldn't necessarily assume is advisable but in this case seems to work, and Skye takes his hands and begs him to come back before his breathing slows and he says her name. She collapses onto him in tears, so I guess the May impression is officially over.
On the plane, May wryly compliments Skye's jacket before we see they're looking out the cargo hold to where Hand has Raina in custody, and Simmons is like, "Bet there aren't any flower dresses where she's going," which is such a fail as a badass line that it makes it all the way to genuinely hilarious. Coulson appears at the top of the stairs, and he and Raina exchange a knowing look that's inquisitive on her side and wide-eyed on his. She's then taken away, whereupon Coulson comes down to confer with Hand; she tells him that Fury is relieved and that they've crippled Centipede operations around the globe, and although they haven't yet found the Clairvoyant, Hand thinks it's going to be hard for him to stay hidden now. Coulson drives the point home that he wants to know how Raina was aware of such personal things about him, and Hand assures him that she's being taken to HQ for questioning and she'll be in touch with information. She turns to go, but he calls her back to thank her and shake her hand, and she seems sincere in saying it's good to have him back, although she does dryly add "this bus isn't really my style." I'll just say aloha, Agent Hand, and you can count yourself thankful you don't have to hear my Jeff Spicoli voice. When Hand's gone, the team gathers round so Coulson can give them too a sincere thank-you, and everyone looks moved, but he then jokingly tells them to go back to work. Shouldn't they get some sleep? Skye, of course, has to hang around, but it's just as well, since Coulson FINALLY, thank God, decides it's time to get rid of her bracelet, and the music is all sappy and swell-y – until it abruptly cuts out when Coulson pulls Skye's wrist in: "Disengage bracelet." Ha! Skye's like, effffffffffff you, but she then gets serious again as she asks if Raina learned anything from the machine. When he tells her no, she asks if he did, admitting she heard what he was saying, but he smiles and tells her no – it wasn't real. "They were just messing with my head." Well, I guess you have to give him that one.
Oh, here's Dr. Streiten getting into his car at night to find Coulson in the back seat. With very little preamble, he asks about Tahiti, and Streiten also takes little time in laying it out: After New York, Coulson wasn't dead for the short length of time it says in his file – he was dead for days. Coulson breathes that that's impossible, but Streiten tells him Fury "moved heaven and earth," working a team of scientists around the clock and using procedures that no doctor would ever allow. Coulson points out that Streiten was there, but Streiten tells him Fury brought him in for the seventh operation. "We kept you conscious to monitor brain activity, but you were in extreme pain. The neurological damage – it was catastrophic." Coulson adds that he wanted to die, and Streiten says they should have let him. "The trauma you'd endured was…ungodly." Oh, Streiten. Coulson asks what the sitch was with Tahiti and his memories, and Streiten gets even more emotional as he tells him that after what he went through, they wanted to restore the man he'd been, so they gave him a pleasant memory – because until then, he'd lost his will to live. "We tried to give it back." He apologizes, and then starts to elaborate – but Coulson's already gone. Well! On a broad level, I like it; it's dark and creepy and not what I expected. Still, though, as ever, it raises more questions than it answers. What were these procedures they used – were they alien? How was Coulson's body preserved if he was "dead" all that time? Did Coulson lose his will to live just because of the pain he endured, or was there more to it than that? Above all, why did Fury, and whoever else, think Coulson was so important that they had to go to any lengths to save him? The show keeps telling us how important Coulson is; this is the first time that I've thought maybe it's not wrong, but I worry they're still going to pretend that five pounds of mystery fills a ten-pound bag. Pick up the pace of these reveals and I think we'll be all right.
Oh, and our coda, spoiled by the opening credits but never in doubt to those of us who have watched TV before, is that Mike Peterson is alive – I assume he was the "other subject" Raina must have been attending to, although I wonder where her incarceration puts him. He's covered in terrible burns, although his Centipede attachment is still functioning, and when he pulls off his blanket we see his right leg has been severed at the knee. But that's not the worst thing, as when he opens his badly swelled right eye, he sees a scroll that reads "Good morning, Mr. Peterson. Stand by for further instructions." Looking in the mirror, he breathes, "No," and we're out. Honestly, I always wondered how he'd avoided getting one of those eye devices in the first place, but it's still an excellent wild-card development; I only hope it doesn't take long for S.H.I.E.L.D. to cross Peterson's path again.
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.