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So this one time? At S.H.I.E.L.D. camp? A bunch of kids sneaked into the pool to blow off steam and it froze over. This wasn't due to irony, though; instead, it turns out a device was planted in the pool's filter days before; also, the device used technology "Leopold" Fitz and Simmons invented, so our heroes are all called in to S.H.I.E.L.D. Science And Technology Academy for the investigation. Or, I should say, our heroes minus May and Coulson, who have other business to attend to. An "Agent Weaver" tells the foursome she's worried a "bad seed" is to blame, and one of the kids who was there thinks this super genius might be responsible – until said smarty spontaneously freezes almost to death in a lecture hall during a Fitz/Simmons speech. Fitz/Simmons, with an assist from Skye, manage to save him, and we quickly learn that Ian Quinn, he of the Gravitanium device, is behind the whole thing in one way or another.
Coulson is still obsessed with the fact that he was like totally dead, and once he's dropped off everyone but May, he tells May he can't wrap his head around what he learned last time, which Fury has since avowed. May, however, thinks he needs to take his mind off it and knows just the thing – the investigation into Skye's past she's been working on. Turns out while the agent who dropped Skye off at the orphanage was killed, her male partner wasn't – he disappeared for twenty-three years, but has just resurfaced in Mexico City, so that's where they're going. While they wait, May tells Coulson that she knows him, and whatever S.H.I.E.L.D. did to alter his memories, she doesn't think they did anything else. In the spirit of honesty, May also confesses about her intimacy with Ward. May and Coulson then catch the agent, who tells them "Avery," the agent who died, and he rescued Skye as part of a mission – because she was an 0-8-4. After they rescued her, people around them started dying, and Avery gave her life to protect her. He warns them to shut themselves from Skye if they want to survive, not that they'll listen, of course.
Fitz talks to the genius kid "Donnie" and tells him he was like him before giving him an idea to solve a tech power problem he's working on – only to soon figure out, with Simmons' help, that the genius kid and one of the others, "Seth", staged the freezing attacks to lure Fitz/Simmons there to solve their power problem. Coulson and May return and Fitz/Simmons brief them on the newly powered ice machine they're now facing; Fitz also realizes that due to how expensive it must have been to make, the students must have a backer, and Skye's investigation quickly figures out it's Quinn.
Seth and Donnie decide to put on the ultimate demonstration for Quinn and create an ice super-storm; later, the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane comes through the storm to rescue Donnie and Seth. Seth suffers a shock from the device and Fitz/Simmons try to save his life, but he dies, and an embittered Donnie gets taken to the Sandbox. Also, he's now like Iceman?
Wrap-up: Coulson comes clean to Skye about his Mexico City investigation, and she cries but bright-sides that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been protecting her for years; Coulson is like whatever w/r/t May and Ward as long as May thinks she can handle it; Coulson calls Quinn, who's all: "The Clairvoyant told me to say hello." DUN DUN DUN!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!I'm not sure this is the best-written hour of the series to date, but I think it might be the most enjoyable. I kind of wish they'd started a bunch of these threads in the pilot, but if this is what we can expect going forward I'll be so much happier. So:
At an indoor pool (the fact that the surrounding lights are off suggests they're not supposed to be here), some early-college-age-looking kids talking about advanced science-y stuff. One boy sits antisocially off to the side, but two of the others strip down to skivvies and jump in before calling to the laughing "Callie" to come on in. As the sullen kid packs up his bag and starts to leave, Callie begins to disrobe as well – but in the far corner of the pool, the water starts turning to ice. As it moves toward the kids therein, Callie's smile fades and she tells them to get out, but they're a little slow to realize the danger, and the upshot is that the male one of the two gets half his leg frozen in the ice. The taciturn kid rushes back and uses a skimming net to chip him out (not sure that cheap piece of plastic should have made a dent, but maybe it wasn't solidly frozen), after which the kid, who's sporting shoulder-length hair, stares at the taciturn kid looking terrified but also kind of baleful. The girls then wrap him up in a hoodie – which we see has the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on it. As Skye would say, we're at S.H.I.E.L.D.-warts!
On the plane, a rear shot of Coulson sitting in his chair suggests pensiveness, which given the revelations of last time is understandable. As we pan in, we see he's in possession of a bunch of photographs of him looking very dead. As he continues to look lost and forlorn, Simmons' voice cuts in on VO that there's nothing more unsettling than being part of something so horrible, but although her comments could obviously apply to Coulson, which is the intention, she's actually talking to Skye, Ward, and Fitz and referring to the incident at the Academy. Fitz tells her they couldn't have known their concepts "would be applied in that way" and Skye references a device found in the pool, so apparently whoever was behind the incident used some scientific theories Fitz and Simmons came up with to implement it. Ward, with a photo of the device (it's a cylinder about a foot long with a control panel on the side), says it was apparently planted in the pool's filter a few days before, so it's logical to assume that whoever activated it was waiting for those specific cadets to be present.
Fitz/Simmons go on that because of their authorship of the technology used, they're being asked to consult on the investigation, and Skye perks up at the news that they're going to the Academy. Ward clarifies that they're hitting the Science and Technology Division and says that "Agent Weaver" asked if Fitz/Simmons would address the class on, essentially, using their brains for good instead of evil; he then lets us know he's never actually been to Sci/Tech. Skye asks if the different S.H.I.E.L.D. academies don't interact, and Fitz and Simmons scoff hilariously and let us know the "Academy of Communications," focused on data analysis, is the easiest division to get into by far. Fitz adds that that's where Skye would be, while Ward adds that Operations, his division, is the most aggressive program with the highest attrition rate. I guess it's fair to say that's where May's from. Skye, a knowingly wry tone in her voice, asks which one's the hardest to get into, and Simmons merely smiles beatifically in response. Hee. Speaking of May, she pops in just as Skye asks if the Ops people are going to steal the Sci/Tech mascot, but May replies that she and Coulson aren't going – once they drop Ward and the kids off, they have other business that needs their attention. She leaves, and with the mention of Coulson's name, Skye drops her tone as she points out that Coulson hasn't emerged from his office in ages. Ward, matching her half-whisper, supposes that they saw Coulson at a low and says he's as tough as they come, and given what he's been through, this is actually backed up. Ward adds that while Coulson gets his head together, it's on them to solve the mystery of the freezing pool. Given the obvious nature of the announcement, I anticipate them splitting up and searching for clues.
Cut to the four of them regarding the place in that only-on-TV dramatic horizontal line – it's a building, guys – and after some talk about the history of the place and the fact that you apparently need a PhD even to get into the program, Fitz asks Ward if the place is what he imagined, and he's basically like, it looks like a bunch of free-range nerds, so that's a check! The aforementioned Agent Weaver also appears to be from the UK (the actress, Christine Adams, is British even though she's recently worked quite a bit in the US), and when Ward tells Weaver he hears there's a list of suspects, she's like, even by this place's standards making that device would require a serious brain trust, so I'm thinking there's a bad seed among our top ten percent. Ward says he'd like to talk to the victim "Seth Dormer," so Weaver tells him she'll arrange it before leading Fitz and Simmons off to the lecture hall. It's one of those TV shortcuts, but how do they know the girl in the pool wasn't a target? Just because she's a faster swimmer (or IS she) doesn't seem like a good reason for exclusion. Seeing a bunch of students crowd around Fitz/Simmons on the way, Skye notes that they're "the popular kids," and Ward admits he knew what kind of adulation Fitz and Simmons commanded before telling Skye he wants to show her something. Ward!
Cut to the two of them, inside one of the buildings, approaching a memorial that Skye correctly identifies as the "Wall of Valor" – a dedication to all agents lost in the line of duty that all S.H.I.E.L.D. buildings have. They regard it reverently, with Skye saying the name "Bucky Barnes" aloud before sincerely supposing that seeing this makes "you guys" proud. "I just wish I was a part of it." Ward has to check himself from rolling his eyes, not entirely successfully, but Skye catches the snap and tells him it's really not self-pity, but they have all this history of which she honestly wants to merit a part. Referring to the names on the Wall, she tells him "they deserve it. I hacked my way in." Ward, however, tells her all she needs to belong is a dedication to the greater good, and I do like how he's stepped back into his CO role after what seems like a long interruption here. Ward reminds her that Coulson saw something special in her, which seems as good a reminder to check in on him as any.
On the plane, May comes in to see Coulson, and seeing him in basically the same position as before, tells him he's got to put "that" away. He wonders how he can – he remembers the pain, but he also remembers Tahiti, so how's it all supposed to make sense? May firmly tells him that what's in the file is the truth come from Fury himself, and when Coulson points out that Fury covered it up for a long time, May tartly points out that Coulson's current state of mind suggests Fury might have been wise to do so. She tells him again to put it away, so with a deep breath, he complies and asks why they're heading to Mexico City. The general reason is that May wants to get his brain working on something other than the whole "I died" thing, but specifically, she's been digging into Skye's past and discovered that while "Agent Avery," the woman who dropped Skye off at the orphanage, was killed, her partner "Richard Lumley" wasn't. Coulson takes a look on May's S.H.I.E.L.D. iPad at Lumley's file photo as May says Lumley vanished twenty-three years ago, "the day after Avery was crossed off," but a selfie posted by a Mexican teenager a few days earlier showed Lumley in the background. They wonder if Lumley vanished because he killed Avery or because he wanted to avoid the same fate, and then May's like, we'll know soon enough because we land in forty minutes. She then says she's going to gas the car, and I like her DIY attitude but if she doesn't need to be in the cockpit at this range, when does she ever?
Weaver introduces her "youngest graduates to date, Leopold Fitz and Jemma Simmons," and the two of them start talking and joking and on a side note whoever did Simmons' eyebrows this episode should be fired twice, and the speech is boring so let's cut to Ward asking Dormer if he knows why "a top student" (the implication being he is not in that category) would want to do him harm. Dormer doesn't, but then again, he's not that smart, so Ward shows him a list of names and asks if he considers them all friendly. Dormer, however, says that a "Donnie Gill" – the guy we saw at the pool -- is a loner and barely talks to anyone, but he thinks Gill just has trouble communicating "with anyone below a 170 IQ." That may not be Ward, but it still gives him an idea.
Speaking of which, let's return to Team Mensa here; Fitz pulls out some more history in referencing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s victory over Hydra lo these decades ago; Simmons, in a fairly obviously dubbed bit, adds that in addition to Hydra, Centipede and A.I.M. were made up of brilliant scientists; the point is that with the unlimited potential they all have, there's unlimited potential to do harm. We see Gill taking all this in, as is Skye, but before Fitz and Simmons can get to their real-life examples of potential gone awry, Gill agitatedly stands; as he yells for them to make it stop, ice envelops his feet and moves all the way up his body, silencing him as it finally covers his face. With Gill completely encased and someone screaming in the background like this is a torture-porn flick, we go to our first break. Creepy!
As everyone else, even the top ten percent we've been hearing so much about, stands around completely uselessly, Fitz and Simmons race into action, with Simmons calling to Fitz to find any exposed skin on Gill so she can inject him with glucose, which will raise his body's freezing point. Fitz, however, doesn't see any: "I need something to break the ice!" How about asking him if he comes here often? With a small tool, Fitz chips away some of the ice around Gill's neck, whereupon Simmons gives him the needle; Fitz then tells Ward and Skye to find the device that's doing this, and Skye locates it first and steps on it with her boot, whereupon the ice collapses. Everyone applauds like this was some kind of performance piece, but not participating in the kudos is Callie. Did she lose a bet on whether Fitz and Simmons would save the day?
No, her unsmiling visage is meant to cast suspicion on her, given that we cut to Ian Quinn – you remember him from the gravitonium device back in Episode Three – telling someone on the phone that he doesn't want to hear excuses "about why it didn't work." He tells the other person to "take care of it before I arrive" and to remember "how much this will benefit us both." He then gets out of his limo as he's told his plane is waiting, and even though it like the Callie thing has to be a fake-out, it still seems likely he's coming to the Academy. On a scale of one to Director-Fury-in-a-bad-mood, how mad's he going to be at Skye?
Skye is asking Gill if there's anyone at the Academy who'd want to hurt him, but Gill simply replies he doesn't know anyone before Weaver tells him she'll have an escort take him to his room. On his way out, though, he sincerely tells Fitz and Simmons he was looking forward to their lecture, and I love how on TV this good-enough-looking, quiet-but-polite-enough kid is the absolute epitome of social awkwardness in a nerd factory like Sci/Tech. After Gill's gone, our S.H.I.E.L.D. heroes and Weaver have a little confab, the relevant points of which are these: Donnie, who at eighteen (and an IQ of 190) is the youngest student they're had since Fitz/Simmons, inexplicably was at the pool with a bunch of popular kids; given his social difficulties, Sci/Tech was thinking of graduating him early and assigning him to the Sandbox; the device that produced the freezing effect had to have been extremely expensive to make. Once Weaver's gone off to continue her interviews, Ward asks Fitz/Simmons where they hung out when they wanted to get away from the faculty, and I'm assuming he means besides the pool? Simmons wonders if they can safely tell an Operations suit like Ward, but Ward answers in the affirmative, adding that they need to conduct their own investigation. Zoinks!
In "Mexico City, Mexico," as opposed to the one in Sri Lanka, Coulson and May wait in Lola, and while I do love the car I have to wonder if it's best for a stakeout, particularly of a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who probably knows a fair bit about Coulson. Anyway, they are watching the premises of, I believe, a passport forger who does not use a computer; the idea is that Lumley will know S.H.I.E.L.D. is on to him and as such will be looking to leave the country, and he'll come here to avoid leaving any electronic trail for S.H.I.E.L.D. to trace. Sound logic! Now where are the stakeout snacks?
Outside the Quantum Mechanics building, Ward tells them that once they get wherever they're going, they should just mingle and get people talking. Ward, that might be hard; these kids practically forget their own names once they catch sight of Fitz/Simmons. Ward adds that Skye looks young enough to blend in, and Skye replies that Ward's no old man himself and Fitz looks younger than the girls. Fitz: "The time will come when you won't make fun of me for that; you'll be jealous. You'll be jealous, wrinkly old hags." Hee. I love Bitter Fitz. Ward tells Fitz he wants him to talk to Gill, pointing out that he idolizes Fitz (I'm saying) and that even if he doesn't know who's after him, he could use a friend. Fitz grudgingly admits that Ward has good ideas every now and then before taking off, and then Skye and Simmons both hilariously beam at Ward's do-goodery. Ward tries to protest that his orders were strategic, but Skye snarks, "The Tin Man has a heart after all." Hee. The dialogue is snapping this episode. Has the team finally cohered?
Simmons is now leading the group as she tells them that S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps careful watch of everything within its walls, so in the late sixties, a few cadets started sneaking down to the boiler room to play cards and shoot the shit. As we cut to them heading down some dark stairs, Simmons goes on that some of the best S.H.I.E.L.D. ideas have come out of the institution, so it lives on. Skye wonders if that means they're cramming into a boiler room, but even though Simmons opens a door marked "Maintenance," the balcony she leads them to looks down on a full-on bar and disco-ball-lit entertainment center. Even granting what Ward said earlier about the cadets being trained to keep secrets, it's preposterous on paper; the idea that this could be kept secret from a secret-gathering organization doesn't wash – but in practice it plays; it's charmingly silly and out there and just the kind of thing this show needs to not take itself too seriously, and when Simmons determines from Ward that they don't have anything like this at Ops, she gloats: "Did not. Think so." Hee. The petty rivalry between divisions is also a favorite, even if Ward won't really play. Skye leads the way down to the bar. Let the mingling begin!
Gill opens the door and is shocked and awed to see Fitz, who invites himself in and announces that his dorm room was just like Gill's, only messier. I thought he was the fussy one and Simmons was the slob? The joke lands awkwardly, so Fitz goes serious and tells Gill he shouldn't be afraid to let him know if he suspects someone. Gill figures it was just a prank, but Fitz barely has time to rightly dismiss that idea before he sees some schematics on Gill's wall and then picks up a prototype of an "ionized air cannon," which he notes is very small, and Gill replies that he was able to double the pressurization that way. Careful, Simmons; you might have a rival for Fitz's brain love! To wit, an impressed Fitz tells Gill he shouldn't keep his "big ideas" to himself and should share them with his instructors, but Gill's like, oh, these aren't my big ideas. Did he mention the 190 IQ?
Back in Lola, May tries to engage Coulson, saying that if she wanted to escape as Lumley does, she'd hide in the wheel well of a 747 bound for Singapore, while she guesses Coulson would head to South America. "Lima, most likely, what with the growing food scene." Funny, but if Coulson's such a foodie, how come we never see anything more than sandwiches in the plane galley? Shouldn't they have a weekly wrap-up feast? Coulson's like, okay, what's with you talking all of a sudden, so May shoots back that someone has to, and when Coulson asks why she picked up the Skye investigation again, May evenly replies that Skye's proved herself and stepped up for the team. It's true, after last time, but I think May's also secretly flattered that Skye chose to impersonate her. Coulson astutely wonders if that's really it or if she's just trying to distract him, and May admits that it's both, and while Coulson may wonder if his memories were changed more than he knows, May firmly tells him that she's known him a long time. "You know I'd be the first to go down that road if I thought it led somewhere."
I still want to know more about the procedures they used on Coulson, but May makes a good case, and Coulson admits it but adds that he's tired of secrets, so as it happens he's glad they're there. "We need to root out all the secrets." This is the same guy who decreed that Skye could never know the truth about how she showed up at the orphanage; it's good work on the character arc even if it's taken a while. May looks irresolute for a moment, but then offers, "Agent Ward and I have been having sex." Ha! I never, ever thought that would come out in this manner, but the best part is that just as she says it Coulson catches sight of Lumley, so May has to put her embarrassment on hold while not even knowing for sure if Coulson heard her. Hee.
Anyway, the two of them split up to try to trap Lumley, but Lumley makes May and ducks down an alley. May hotly pursues him, but when she rounds a corner he seems to have escaped – but not for long, as he swings his feet into her from above. They fight, and it's the best visual melee I can remember; there have been some decently choreographed ones with Ward but this one is the least choppy in terms of the camerawork (and also has some good non-obvious stunt work), which I always prefer; I hate the Bourne-type fights where you can't see anything and you risk getting seizures. May tosses Lumley into a wall, whereupon Lumley ejects something from his watch; I can't tell if it's a weapon or (more likely) a suicide pill, but the point's quickly rendered moot as May kicks it away. After some more fighting, Lumley manages to break some wood slats over May's back and starts to run – but Coulson blocks his path with Lola, so he resorts to starting to scale the building. As we know, though, Lola is not an earthbound Corvette, and when Coulson floats into the air after Lumley, he takes a break from running. Coulson introduces himself, and Lumley is relieved: "This is about the baby girl, isn't it?" It is, and do tell!
Oh, okay, it was a suicide pill – cyanide, to be specific – and Coulson can't believe Lumley was ready to go to such drastic measures, but he says he wanted to avoid the fate that befell his partner – and by the way, she wasn't the first to die. He explains that they were heading into the Hunan province of China to investigate a call from a senior agent about an 0-8-4 and found that the entire village had died trying to protect it. He and "Linda" Avery were part of a five-person backup squad; when they lost contact with the first team, they went in search of them and found the senior agent, who had died from a gunshot wound but was still clutching the 0-8-4. "Poor thing was covered in blood." Coulson reels as he digests the news that Skye was the 0-8-4 (especially since the previouslies reminded us that he once joked about that very thing), and Lumley thinks she must have had powers, although "we never witnessed it."
May looks almost as bewildered as Coulson as Lumley goes on that the five of them helicoptered the kid home – but after they landed, they started getting crossed off. "Tortured, heads bashed in." Soon, only he and Avery were left, and they realized they needed to protect Skye by erasing her from existence. Avery used the lead agent's credentials to fake a Level Eight clearance, which she used to set up "a nearly invisible protocol" calling for Skye to be moved to a different foster home every few months. Avery died protecting the secret, while Lumley disappeared, because "whoever killed that kid's family and all those agents was a force to be reckoned with." No kidding! Not that this story doesn't pose some tough questions, but if Avery repossessed that clearance it does explain why Skye's information was redacted and probably why Big S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently hasn't been searching for Skye all this time, and it's easily intriguing enough that I'm willing to nevermind the details for now -- plus it gives the team another reason to develop into an even tighter unit.
Lumley doesn't want to hear anything about Skye's identity but is relieved to hear she's safe; he then asks if they're going to take him in, and May says yes, but Coulson countermands that: "I'm not sure S.H.I.E.L.D. is the safest place for you right now." I've been saying all along S.H.I.E.L.D. would be far more interesting with some evil in its ranks, and the story going on at the Academy could well be a parallel for something nefarious going on up above, which would really make me happy. Coulson tells Lumley they'll get in the air and drop him someplace along the route – with a parachute, I hope – and Lumley thanks them but still counsels them to stop digging. "And stay the hell away from that girl – because wherever she goes, death follows." That's better than boredom! As they walk away, May cautions Coulson that for everyone's safety they can't let the information go any further – and Skye especially can't know. "You can never tell her." How will that fit with Coulson's anti-secrets policy? At the moment, he's not telling.
At the boiler room bar, Skye reports back to Ward, who is not exactly socializing, that she told the bartender she's a Level Seven computer-science operative stationed at the Sandbox. Ward compliments the thinking, and Skye goes on that she pumped the bartender for information on whether any of the cadets aspire to the Sandbox, and guess what? Callie really wants it, but word is she's lost the top spot. Given that she was also at the pool but hesitated to go in, a case against her is shaping up, so Ward and Skye head off for more recon. In Ward's case, that may involve holding up the boiler, but still.
Fitz is marveling over Gill's schematics for a battery that carries a terawatt of energy, but Gill glumly says that while smaller models have been operational, he can't get it to work at that size because of the geometric increase in temperature. Fitz suggests an exterior oxygen flow, which might lower the power of the battery but would have a cooling effect that would at least render it functional. Gill looks like a light just went on, but Fitz cautions him to show it to Weaver before he tests it, as he has no idea how powerful it could be. Gill's like "sure sure sure" before saying it's true what they say, Fitz is the smartest person ever to come through there, and Fitz eagerly replies, "Is that what they say?" Hee. Fitz then admits that Simmons might be smarter "technically, but that's because she likes homework more than life itself." So you were the goof-off of the pair, Fitz. Got it. Gill wistfully guesses that it's nice to have someone with whom to talk shop all the time, "or to just plain talk to," so Fitz offers that he didn't like it at the Academy at first, and they share stories about being shy and misunderstood, essentially. Fitz tells him to hang in and he'll find a friend, and even invites him to come along to the boiler room (Boiler Room?), but Gill declines, saying he's going to try to draw up some of Fitz's changes. Gill thanks Fitz before he goes, and Fitz smiles warmly before heading out. No problem here!
Back in the Boiler Room, Ward has managed to get into a game of pool with Callie, who wonders why an Ops guy is hanging there. Ward winces at the lie he's about to tell but says that he's looking for the best mind they have to jump up in clearance and "join my top shadow unit. Is that you?" Callie's like, you never know before asking what the shadow unit will be doing, and Ward keeps it vague but does comment that the tech in the lecture hall was impressive, and whoever invented it could have a bright future. Callie's mildly surprised at that assessment given that Gill and Dormer were hurt, and when Ward points out that they survived, she comments that it's the best thing that's happened to them all year. She takes her shot, but Ward grabs it – FOUL – before suggesting she come clean about what she meant by that so he doesn't have to squeal to Weaver about her inappropriate ambitions. Callie explains that she only meant they got to meet Fitz, and they'd been talking about it for weeks. The alarm bells immediately go off for Ward, and they only get louder when Callie goes on that the two boys who supposedly weren't friends were discussing it with each other. On the plus side, Ward, look at what good things happen when you socialize!
Back in his room, Gill is working not on drawings but on the real McCoy – he even has a secret workstation he remotely lowers from on high – while Fitz is getting the urgent news from Simmons that Gill and Dormer staged the attacks to lure them to the Academy and take them off their radar of suspects. I have to say the second attack, given that it really could have been fatal, seems excessive, but maybe they had sufficient faith that Fitz/Simmons would rescue Gill (and I suppose he could always have prepared himself with that glucose trick in advance). She tells him to get out of there, but he's like relax, I'm already gone, and the kid's totes chill, I just helped him solve his…"power problem." With that awful realization, Fitz rushes back into Gill's room and catches him in the act, announcing that he's trying to power a bigger version of "the ice machine." Gill breathes that he wasn't supposed to see it, and Fitz steps forward and tries to be a good mentor by saying they need to turn in the device to Weaver – but then from off to his side, Dormer repeats that Fitz wasn't supposed to see it before shooting him with the air cannon. As he starts to secure the device, Dormer sweatily tells Gill they have to go, and Gill doesn't look too happy about his new buddy being knocked out on his floor, but there's not much he can do about it now.
With an icepack on the back of his head, Fitz castigates himself for being so stupid as he and Simmons re-board the plane. Coulson asks if there's any word on Dormer and Gill, and Simmons reports that Ward and Weaver are working together to coordinate the search effort. Skye then asks Coulson where he went, but he's all business as he tells her not now – and with good reason, since Simmons goes on that the device turns any moisture it affects to ice, and at great range too. Fitz, however, cautions them that Gill is a good kid and was probably manipulated by Dormer, "using him to finish the…the product." Fitz should say his thoughts out loud more often, given the revelations he's having this episode. (Did I just lobby for more of Fitz's external monologues?) May's like, "product" in the what now, so Fitz picks up the train of thought he half-started on ages ago by speculating that the kids have a backer, given how rare and expensive the device's parts are. Skye pipes up that the rarity of the parts will make them traceable, while Coulson feels the need to intone that sometimes it's not a bad seed, just a bad influence, and I'm glad he's got his head back in the game but I could still do without him cueing a The More You Know starfall like that.
Dormer is babbling into the phone about having the device ready but also having run into trouble in the form of S.H.I.E.L.D. looking for them. From his plane, Quinn is like, yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I didn't want, so now our deal is going to change, and he takes a swig of maybe Johnnie Walker Blue to show that he's serious. Back on the plane, Skye has figured out it's Quinn behind all this, and Coulson's like, that fucking guy. Skye adds that Dormer's father is a lawyer for "Quinn Worldwide," and if that's true you'd think Quinn would treat Dormer the Younger a little more generously, but I guess by this point we're supposed to understand that he's Eevil. Simmons thinks the cadets probably see Quinn as just a venture capitalist and not a criminal, and then Coulson tells them to alert May and Ward to Quinn's involvement – but not without tipping Skye off that something's on his mind. She asks to talk to him, and he reluctantly accedes. Secrets and lies, Coulson!
Quinn mwa-ha-has that they've gotten themselves into an unfortunate situation, and when Dormer confesses that they're holed up and boxed in, Quinn is like, well, I'm going home, lates! Dormer tries to tell him the tech is "worth it," so Quinn gets around to requesting a demonstration. He promises Dormer that if he does, he'll rescue them – but as soon as he's off, he tells the pilot to turn around and head back to the Seychelles, as the deal's off. He then waves around his glass and asks the female attendant (I'm guessing; it's a private plane so she may have other functions) to "freshen this up," which is so far into the realm of cartoonish villains that I suspect it of getting all the way around to being awesome. Still, given that he doesn't get his hands on the technology, what was his whole game in asking for the big show here?
On the roof of the parking garage at which they're hiding out, Gill wonders if they're going too far, but Dormer gives him a stock "It's you and me against the world, kid" speech. Gill still thinks what they're doing isn't safe, but Dormer basically tells him there's no going back now. Gill hates it, but he activates the device – which sputters a bit and seems to die. It's a fairly poor demonstration, but crisis averted, right?
Coulson is hanging his head like he's in principal's-office trouble as Skye tells him he hasn't even looked at her since he got back and wonders if she did something wrong. Coulson, however, with a pained expression, tells her no – but he did. OH! He goes on that Quinn isn't the only one who manipulates people -- S.H.I.E.L.D. does it all the time, even going so far as to teach it at the Academy. "It's our trade." He tells her he's been keeping something from her, but he feels he has no right to do that anymore, although she's not going to like what she hears. She reminds him that the truth can't be worse than what she's imagined, but he's ready for that one: "It is." With that, he tells her the story, and although the audio fades before he gets too far into it, we hear enough to know he's coming completely clean. Advancing the story! It's happening all up in here! The soundtrack stays doleful-music-only as Fitz/Simmons see what looks like the formation of a huge atmospheric disturbance on their monitors; the montage continues as Skye cries but continues to listen, and then Ward and Weaver see dark clouds gathering overhead. It's an effective moment of reflection on everything that's happening; Skye then breaks down as Coulson consoles her, and then we're back with Gill and Dormer, who are just now realizing the full extent of what's happening – since ice is starting to rain from the clouds. Dormer is excited that it worked – but moments later, the ice starts to fall much more intensely, and when they get back in the truck, chunks of the stuff hit hard enough to crack the windshield. Gill murmurs, "I did it," but it sounds less like a triumphant declaration and more like a confession.
The boys are back outside the truck, as the ice has stopped, but when Dormer asks if that means it's over, Gill says no. "It's just beginning." He says they're in the eye, but given that they accidentally seeded the clouds, they've created a super-storm. Dormer thinks this is a great demonstration, but Gill shows at least one of them hasn't had all his common sense removed as he tries to get the device to reverse the process, explaining that "all the money in the world won't matter if we're dead." It's funny how many people have trouble with that concept!
On the plane, Coulson's wondering how they can stop the storm, but Fitz thinks it's impossible. Ward reports in that he and Weaver have everyone safe in the Boiler Room, and while this was probably the only solution it's not going to help his likely reputation around here as a narc. Coulson asks Ward if he can reach the parking garage, as the device should be there, and Ward's like, I'm on it – only to open the door. Basically seeing Dorothy Gale's house blow by, he funnily amends his statement to "Yeah, I can't get there," so on the plane, Coulson asks for a solution, and Fitz replies that he knows how to get to Gill.
Cut to the plane flying over the clouds toward the circular break that leads to the eye. May takes the plane down as everyone weathers the turbulence – the eye is surely not stationary -- and Coulson takes Skye's hand, hoping to reassure her in more ways than one. On the ground, the boys are still working on the device – but it suddenly sparks and shoots them both with a jolt that sends Dormer flying. Gill, his hand burned, limps over to Dormer as he says they need to try to get underground, which will really prove to have been an unfortunate thing to say at this moment in time. The plane descends, and May holds it just off the ground so Fitz, Simmons, and Ward can carry Dormer in. Simmons yells that he's in cardiac arrest, and as May steels herself to bring the plane back up and out, Fitz/Simmons go into full resuscitation protocols – to no avail. Dormer's dead, y'all. Not that I cared much about him, but it's still pretty strong stuff for this show, and Gill breaks down with the realization that his only friend is gone. In the cockpit, May, having piloted them to safety, puts her shades on in triumph, probably not realizing what's happened behind her.
Sometime later, Fitz is walking Gill off the plane as he wishes him good luck, but Gill is not so much in the mood for kind words; in fact, when Fitz confesses he doesn't know what to say, Gill practically spits, "Then don't say anything." They grow up so fast, Fitz. Gill gets in a S.H.I.E.L.D. car, and we then cut to Coulson telling May that S.H.I.E.L.D. is moving him to the Sandbox now – not for him to work but so they can keep an eye on him. May then is like, so, did you hear me in Mexico, and Coulson can't resist torturing her for a second ("What, specifically?") but doesn't make her actually say the whole thing again. He soberly tells her he trusts her to end it if it becomes a problem, which she certainly says she'll do, and then, happy to have gotten the subject over with, she asks what happened with Skye, already having an idea that Coulson told her what Lumley revealed. When Coulson confirms that, she supposes it must have destroyed Skye to hear it, but Coulson is like, funny thing about her – he thought the news shattered her world and rendered her search for her parents over (I'm not convinced they're dead, but she probably is), but when he was done, Skye told him that her story started with S.H.I.E.L.D. As we cut to Skye taking another look at the Wall of Valor, Coulson's voice goes on that Skye always thought she wasn't wanted and that she didn't belong, "but all that time it was S.H.I.E.L.D. protecting her. That's what she took away from the story." I'd wonder if her 0-8-4 power is bright-siding, but it's actually a pretty great moment that ties in well to the social isolation Gill (and Fitz, long ago) felt.
The themes in this episode, while highly identifiable, are painted with a softer brush than in many of the show's other offerings; I could get used to it. Speaking of parallels, Coulson admiringly goes on that he gave Skye news that could have devastated her humanity, and yet she turned around and repaired a bit of his; that's a bit on the nose but given what Coulson's been through recently I can forgive him for it. As Ward watches Skye with what looks like untempered pride, Coulson goes on that the world is full of horrible things, but you can't hide from them – you have to face them. "The question is, when you do, how do you respond? Who do you become?" That's the essence of drama, Coulson, right there. It continues to be worth exploring. Skye runs her finger over Avery's entry on the Wall – and then, as a parallel to the good seed Skye so clearly is, Gill idly runs his own finger across the car window – leaving a trail of ice. I was joking about Iceman in the recaplet – I do know my X-Men fairly well – but as I'm sure most of you know, "Donnie Gill" is the real name of Blizzard. I guess the device imbued Gill with this power; whatever the case, he looks evilly happy about it. So we've got him and Graviton out there now. When will they come to visit their old friends?
And speaking of, Coulson uses Dormer's phone (I'd be freaked out doing that; bad juju) to get a call through to Quinn to introduce himself and tell him if he ever enters the airspace of a country allied with S.H.I.E.L.D., they'll shoot him out of the sky. Quinn's like, roger that, thanks for the courtesy call – and by the way, I have a message for you. "The Clairvoyant told me to say hello." He's talking to you now, Quinn? Raina's going to be so jealous! Oh, also: DUN!
The show's in reruns for two weeks, but when it returns, we're off the plane again. I'm thinking that's a good thing.
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.