S02.E11: Aftershocks

[Dagny]

Especially when they had the scene with Coulson and May in the car talking in front of their prisoner in an obvious setup because nobody would be stupid enough to do that otherwise

 

That is when I knew it was a setup. They can be stupid in front of each other, but in front of the prisoner, it was a setup.

 

Every time the blind man teleported, I kept shouting "BAMF!". I could help myself.

[EAG46]

I think Mac and Bobbi ARE working for Fury and/or Maria Hill. And whoever Gordon The Eyeless Man is, I'm glad he came to save Raina from killing herself; she needs a friend right now.

[KirkB]

See, I don't think Bobbi and Mac are secretly working for Fury. For one thing we've already done that with May. Besides, they seemed to be interested in the location of the toolbox. The thing Fury gave Coulson. Why would Fury need someone else to keep track of something he gave out? By giving it to him in the first place he's already shown he trusts Coulson about as much as he trusts anyone, but if its location or use are such an issue I can't imagine he wouldn't have the thing beaming updates back to him directly. Which means, IMO, one of two things. Either Bobbi and Mac are after the toolbox, or something in it, for their own purposes or at the behest of someone else. Given they have been teasing us about Bobbi and/or Simmons being brainwashed by Hydra that would seem to be the most obvious choice but most obvious is not always the right one. Bobbi was after it first and then brought Mac on board, so if they're Hydra they apparently didn't know about each other and having two undercover agents on the same team doesn't make much sense anyway considering how the remaining Hydra bosses were complaining that Coulson and his people needed to be eliminated. If they had one or more plants already in the team wouldn't they skip ahead from the bring us the secret SHIELD information thing to shoot everyone THEN bring us the secret SHIELD information thing? So if it's not Fury or Hydra that basically leaves Talbot, perhaps Maria Hill, the Inhumans and Bobbi and Mac with their own agenda. I don't see any reason the Inhumans would care, and I'm not sure Talbout would know it exists, so I'm going to say either Hill or Bobbi and Mac on their own.

[missbonnie]

While Howard Stark may have built SHIELD originally I haven't seen anything to make me think Tony would.

I am basing my spec purely off of what we've heard about age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War that

the Avengers splinter off into two different factions (much to my dismay I might add, I kind of feel like my favorite band is breaking up) and the fact that in the last Avengers movie Stark immediately went after Fury's secrets using Jarvis the minute he hit the bridge of the plane/ship. As he stated Fury is THE spy in all of this so of course he's going to have secrets. And then we find out that Stark was right, both Banner and Captain America were both pissed to find out that Fury had been using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.

of course I could be wrong, ymmv.

Edited March 5, 2015 by missbonnie

[AndySmith]

 

Skye and to a lessor extent Raina are needed for Universe building stand in,

 

Yeah, but no. She's still an annoying character. Then again, I just watch this show for Coulson and May.

[Lady Calypso]

Well, I find that I actually not only love Skye this season, but feel like she's definitely in my top three favourites. Yeah, I know, crazy right? I think it's when it was made clear that Skye and Ward will never ever happen, unless Skye is under some sort of spell, coupled with Coulson toning down the 'Skye is awesome' train that has made me appreciate her role on the show. Season 1, she was annoying and kind of insufferable, but this season has made her into a legitimate member of the team and one that I don't feel is that Mary Sue'ish. 

 

I appreciate that Skye is naturally freaked out about this and not knowing what to do. She has no idea what's going on with her. I didn't mind Bobbi praising Skye because, well, she's not wrong. 

 

Simmons' paranoia and gung ho attitude about putting Raina down was understandable, even if I don't entirely agree. We know Simmons has a good heart and she had been working for Hydra for a while, so she kind of knows how dangerous these people can be if they work for the wrong people. Her reaction may not make a lot of sense, but I can see her point of view. Then again, I can also be on board with Actionmage's idea:

 

It would be easy to think Jemma potentially had residual Hydra programming, with the seemingly OOC  'kill em all before they spread' mind-set,but it's spookier if it isn't. I'm good with no Hydra loophole.

 

 

Y'know, for reasons. But I'll bet this is just Simmons stating her opinion and after Tripp's death, I can see why she'd be shaken up. Also, I doubt she'd have an easy time with killing Skye, or the looming threat of killing Skye, when it comes down to it. Sadly, the parallel with Skye unable to kill Ward and Simmons probably being unable to kill Skye is there. 

 

Fitz was absolutely the MVP of the episode for me. He stood up to Mac, he tried his hardest to get back to his old self, and he stood by Skye when she needed it the most. I know it won't last long and they'll all find out soon, but it's nice that Fitz is finding a way to help Skye without other people judging her. It would be interesting, though, if Fitz was the only one ok with Skye's powers. I have a feeling Coulson will be on board, but I think it would be more interesting if he wasn't. He is turning into kind of a dick director, so imagine if he didn't accept Skye right away. Maybe it's just that I love the Skye/Fitz dynamic and don't want it to end any time soon. 

 

Poor Raina; I do feel sorry for her. I'm glad to see Doctor Daddy around. He's just so gleeful and so much fun to watch. 

 

I'm not sure what Mac and Bobbi are planning, but it can't be anything that good, especially if they're hiding it. 

[Traveller519]

As Skye has grown as a character, Chloe Bennett has grown as an actor. In fact I think all three of the young ones have.

[Spartan Girl]

I knew it was a setup the minute Coulson screamed, "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE US ALIVE!"  LOL!

 

Oh please don't let Mac and Mockingbird be Hydra.  Especially not Mockingbird, she is just too cool!

 

What can I say, Raina, the outside has to match the inside.  Was disappointed that she didn't die.

 

I love Fitz supporting Skye.  I wouldn't mind if this means they hook up somewhere down the road. 

[shrewd.buddha]

I might have felt somewhat sympathetic for Raina when she was about to step into oncoming traffic   .. if she had not just butchered three or four people on her way there. 

I chalk that up to bad writing.

The same goes for Simmons being the field scientist with a gun strapped to her haz-mat suit and suddenly becoming a shoot-first-ask-questions-later type character. Wasn't she just recently the timid character that Bobbi rescued from the Hydra science facility? 

[Minneapple]

I don't mind Bobbi praising Skye because Skye clearly needed to have her spirits lifted. She was feeling terrified and alone. Bobbi was doing things to make her feel better -- bringing her a care package and saying nice things about her. She was being a good friend and teammate. Not really the same as character propping like Coulson's speeches last year.

[Bruinsfan]

I'll give Chloe Bennett props for making Skye much more sympathetic and tolerable this season, but that big argument in front of her with the escalating tension and periodic cuts to something subtly unnatural going on were so reminiscent of the round robin argument scene in The Avengers that I expected Captain America to pop up and ask Skye to put down the scepter. Could Marvel maybe get some of the Agent Carter writers to moonlight on this series, since they seem able to bring both originality and subtlety to their work?

[sinkwriter]

 

Coulson's "you'll never take us alive" was hilarious and cheesy and hokey and I loved it.

 

LOL. When he and May were talking in front of the prison, I was all, "What are you doing? SHUT UP." But then I thought, okay, there has to be something going on because the writers wouldn't make them that stupid to say important stuff in front of a Hydra guy, right? When May got shot, I thought it was real, but that she would be fine because she was likely wearing a protective vest. But when Coulson shouted, "You'll never take us alive!" that's when I started laughing really hard and said, "Okay, this is all a plan of theirs. I see it now." 

 

I think my favorite part was May teasing him about how terrible that line was, and how Coulson snarked back, "Hey, I only had a short time to prepare a script! If I'd let you write it, we wouldn't have said anything!" Heeeee.

[KirkB]

Actually, I was kind of suspicious the whole time but May getting shot is when I knew for certain it wasn't real, although slamming a truck into the car your boss and his number one operative are driving is a pretty risky way to sell a story. If the car had been just a little further forward or back, or if the truck was moving just a little too fast, everyone in the car would be dead and who'd be in charge of SHIELD now? After Coulson and May, who is the ranking officer?

Edited March 4, 2015 by KirkB

[ottoDbusdriver]

Actually, I was kind of suspicious the whole time but May getting shot is when I knew for certain it wasn't real, although slamming a truck into the car your boss and his number one operative are driving is a pretty risky way to sell a story. If the car had been just a little further forward or back, or if the truck was moving just a little too fast, everyone in the car would be dead and who'd be in charge of SHIELD now? After Coulson and May, who is the ranking officer?

 

The speed that truck had to be going to push that SUV off the road and into that building should have crushed the SUV like a tin can.  So yeah, it was unnecessarily risky -- even if they survived the impact they could have whiplash or spinal injuries, and they should have WAY more facial cuts from all that glass. So many unexpected things could have gone wrong in that crash.

[kennyab]

The speed that truck had to be going to push that SUV off the road and into that building should have crushed the SUV like a tin can.  So yeah, it was unnecessarily risky -- even if they survived the impact they could have whiplash or spinal injuries, and they should have WAY more facial cuts from all that glass. So many unexpected things could have gone wrong in that crash.

 

Unless it's Nick Fury-issue reinforced like in Winter Soldier. And most Lexus SUVs don't have a machine gun option like the one Lance was driving. It doesn't seem too much of a stretch to assume that SHIELD's fleet has been, let's say, ruggedized.

Edited March 4, 2015 by kennyab

[Chaos Theory]

As Skye has grown as a character, Chloe Bennett has grown as an actor. In fact I think all three of the young ones have.

ITA. I get the "Skye is annoying" of early season 1 but Season 2 she has really grown as a character and has become fascinating.

[IWantCandy71]

Honestly, there isn't a single female character that I can stand. Skye and May are the most annoying, but the others are almost as bad.

 

So I guess Talbot was on for about two minutes and then nada?

 

Oh, well.

[nottopbravo]

So they had to quarantine Skye because she was in the underground explosion and might infect everyone else?  But inject her with alien blood and she's good to walk around and mingle with everyone else.

[ChelseaNH]

The speed that truck had to be going to push that SUV off the road and into that building should have crushed the SUV like a tin can.  So yeah, it was unnecessarily risky -- even if they survived the impact they could have whiplash or spinal injuries, and they should have WAY more facial cuts from all that glass.

 

MCU physics is not like our Earth physics.  Deceleration injuries don't exist.

[Tarasme]

Yay! More Marvel! Happy Agent Carter gave us excellent programming the last few weeks but I am SO ready for the extra puffy plot run up to a most excellent summer movie spectacle.

 

Y'know, for reasons. But I'll bet this is just Simmons stating her opinion and after Tripp's death, I can see why she'd be shaken up.

 

Response to all the Simmons new-anti-extrahumans-bigotry:

speculation: I think this is more support for the Captain America: Civil War story line. The schism between those afraid of in-x-meta-mutant-humans is getting wider and more severe. If someone like Simmons can respond with eradicate, then certainly an average Joe will be all for registration and mask removal of any with extra abilities.

 

Skye- I was SO happy they allowed Chloe Bennett to do her quarantine scenes with non-glamorous "sick/ tired" make up. The character's befuddlement and fear with what had happened to her was- for me- on the money. It also rang true to have her team members be extra supportive while she was stuck in the cage.

 

LOVED that team AOS removed 8 of 9 (or whatever) Hydra heads. And since Baron VS is all we seem to have left... PLEASE let Thomas Kretchsman make a cameo. Pretty pretty please! Only false note with the subplot was that Bakshi, who had been touted as such a formidable foe, fell for the ruse.

 

The Inhumans- AWESOME introduction and good on production team for tying in Raina's predicament with an interesting direction and new as yet morally ambiguous characters. I like Gordon and that the transformation is difficult- not cool- for these people.

Crazy Cal- I seem to remember that he's kinda strong? Maybe? In the context of the show what is his power?

What team pinned Raina down on the highway? When Gordon rescued her? Was that Hyrda, Shield or the government?

[paigow]

What team pinned Raina down on the highway? When Gordon rescued her? Was that Hyrda, Shield or the government?

SHIELD. Coulson told Simmons to come home because there was an ops team in Puerto Rico.

[Donny Ketchum]

Was Brett Dalton dropped as a regular? I didn't see his name in the credits.

No, he's still a regular.  His name just didn't appear because Ward didn't appear in the episode.  The most we heard about him was a mention from Bobbi (who, by the way, has been upped to a regular).

[VCRTracking]

"You're not a leper, you're a rock star." I knew as soon as Bobbi said that people on the boards would give a collective eyeroll and "You gotta be kidding me!" at that. At this point I think Jed and Maurisa are actively trolling Skye haters!

 

As frustrated as I was at Skye for not telling people that something was wrong with her, I do understand her fear. They really are playing the "Inhumans are the mutants of the MCU" thing and so far I buy it. I feel bad for Raina but as Kyle MacLachlan said she "wanted this". She actively sought it out and has only herself to blame. Hopefully "Blind Nightcrawler" will help her out.

 

God love Fitz. I understood his initiially being pissed at Skye for lying and making him doubt his already fragile mental capacities, but him covering for her and comforting her and saying she was just "different" but it's okay.

 

Simmons' attitude did surprise me but thinking about it, when she got infected by that alien electro virus, she was willing to sacrifice herself for the good of others. I don't think if she were in the X-universe, she'd be building Sentinels, but she would see mutants more as a threat.

 

I was not only surprised by the ruthlessness of Coulson's plan but that it actually worked!

 

Hunter killed Hunter!(It's funny if you grew up in the 80s knew Fred Dryer played Hunter)

 

Don't know what;s up with Mac and Bobbi but I don't want to believe they're bad guys.

 

Glad that they honored Tripp with May saying Coulson thought Tripp embodied the ideals of SHIELD and telling his mom and the shot of the picture of his grandfather Gabe Jones with the other Howling Commandoes, and them telling stories about him in  the end.

Edited March 4, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Chicago Redshirt]

So they had to quarantine Skye because she was in the underground explosion and might infect everyone else?  But inject her with alien blood and she's good to walk around and mingle with everyone else.

There's a big difference between the alien blood and the obelisk mist. 

 

The alien blood had been studied and in use for some amount of time. Its known effects include things like obsessiveness and compulsive writing, yes. But there had been no indication that it posed a direct danger to anyone who was not injected with it.

 

The obelisk mist was unknown to SHIELD. It came from an item that killed most of the people who touched it. And the mist itself straight-up killed Tripp and mutated Raina. Seems like some observation of Skye is in order.

 

LOVED that team AOS removed 8 of 9 (or whatever) Hydra heads. And since Baron VS is all we seem to have left... PLEASE let Thomas Kretchsman make a cameo. Pretty pretty please! Only false note with the subplot was that Bakshi, who had been touted as such a formidable foe, fell for the ruse.

 

From memory, there were about 5 heads (Bloom, Dr. List, the Banker, the Baronness and the Sheik) we saw, and they claimed to be Hydra management in "this part of the world." The table seated six, and there was curiosity as to whether Bakshi was going to take Whitehall's place.

 

So we don't know how much of the planet this Hydra group represented, but one would think there is at least one other group of 6 relatively high-ranking Hydra folks out there, if not more.

 

As for Bakshi, I suppose that weeks/months (?) of captivity and a near-death experience might leave you not as sharp as you might otherwise be. Also, there is the factor that slamming into the transport was a little drastic for a mere ruse.

[ChelseaNH]

May saying Coulson thought Tripp embodied the ideals of SHIELD

 

First rule of television is "Show, don't tell."  Not only did they tell rather than show, they did it second hand.  They need to work on their fundamentals.

[mac123x]

I generally enjoyed the episode, but the dialog was horrifically bad.  The part that jumped out at me is when the Bad Guys were sitting around a table discussing Whitehall, and felt the need to add in a direct reference to the fact that they are HYDRA.  Yeah, thanks Show, I picked that up from the context.  I really detest "as you know..." exposition.

 

Gordon's eyeless makeup / CGI was terrible.  The patches of skin where his eyes should have been didn't match up with the rest of his face, color-wise, at all.  That took me right out of the scenes he was in, even his heroic rescue of Raina.

[Chicago Redshirt]

First rule of television is "Show, don't tell."  Not only did they tell rather than show, they did it second hand.  They need to work on their fundamentals.

I agree that the writers need to work on their fundamentals, and that they told. But I think they also showed.

 

Coulson has lost people under his command before and various SHIELD agents before. Just off the top of my head, we had Hand, the guy who was Scorch's handler, Lucy Lawless's character and her friend, the various agents who were killed by falling for the Swiss promise of amnesty, the people Ward killed to escape, the three agents killed by Raina this latest episode. We also had a good portion of SHIELD killed when Hydra outed themselves. 

 

Yet, none of those deaths turned Coulson into the vengeful, emotional mess we saw in this episode. Why is that?

 

The telling connected the dots of the showing: Coulson is a true believer of the old days, the old ways. Tripp was very much a reminder and symbol of that, with a biological link to the Howling Commandos and early SHIELD, and with many of his retro gadgets that he got from his grandfather, as well as the attitude that he had toward the job. 

Without the telling, it might have just seemed to be plot driving character, but in my view, the telling confirms that character is driving that portion of the plot.

[ChelseaNH]

But I think they also showed.

 

Showing means not having to tell.

[benteen]

To me, Coulson was a really good middle manager who was named CEO of a company because he was the last one left.  And not Hydra of course.

 

I don't think Bobbie and Mack are working for Fury.  Fury already gave the keys to Coulson.  Coulson might be a lousy director but it wouldn't make sense on this show for Fury to be sending people to infiltrate his team.  Also, as pointed out, we've already seen that storyline before with May.

 

I didn't mind Bobbi's praise of Skye because she described events we actually SAW happen.  That's a big change of pace from Season 1, where Coulson would just talk about stuff that we never saw after the fact.

 

I'll repeat, can this show stop filming 90% of its scenes from the shadows?  The AV Club review is 100% correct that this show has no distinctive visual look to it whatsoever.  Well, except for the shadows.

[Donny Ketchum]

From memory, there were about 5 heads (Bloom, Dr. List, the Banker, the Baronness and the Sheik) we saw, and they claimed to be Hydra management in "this part of the world." The table seated six, and there was curiosity as to whether Bakshi was going to take Whitehall's place.

Wait, those were Hydra members getting killed left and right?!  I thought those were world leaders or even higher-ranked S.H.I.E.L.D. members!

[missbonnie]

Nope, all Hydra, was kind of a smart plan on Coulson's part. He managed to get them all to eliminate each other.

[jacehan]

Nope, all Hydra, was kind of a smart plan on Coulson's part. He managed to get them all to eliminate each other.

 

Well, almost all. By my count there were 5 Hydra heads at that table and 4 of them dead by the end of the episode.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Well, almost all. By my count there were 5 Hydra heads at that table and 4 of them dead by the end of the episode.

 

But this mean that 8 heads will rise in their place -- doesn't that make things worse ?  </snark>

Edited March 5, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Chicago Redshirt]

Showing means not having to tell.

In reality, just about all conventional television uses a mix of showing and telling.

[mac123x]

Regarding Skye's blood sampling:  My fanwank of that is they probably took blood samples as soon as they put her in quarantine, but were analyzing the blood for contaminants, viruses, etc.   Two days later, Jemma glimpsed Raina, saw what she could do, and thought "uh oh, 'mutation' even though I can't legally use that word" and realized she needed to do the DNA comparison on Skye. 

 

IIRC, blood samples aren't the best way to do DNA analysis, since red blood cells in humans don't contain DNA.  They should have had her do a cheek swab.

[I Love Me]

Cal, you nutter.  Never change, my man.

 

Word.  Love that guy.  

[Tarasme]

 

As for Bakshi, I suppose that weeks/months (?) of captivity and a near-death experience might leave you not as sharp as you might otherwise be. Also, there is the factor that slamming into the transport was a little drastic for a mere ruse.

Agreed ChicagoRedshirt. But I guess I thought he had a little time to get his stuff together while meandering with Hunter. Then, when Hunter turns the gun on him (under the overpass?), Bakshi immediately gives up his superiors and lets sends the cattle to slaughter. He doesn't have old Hunter vet young Hunter or do any other recon. Just goes with the "all the other guys are trying to kill us- lets kill them first!" plan. :::shrugs:::: eh- it's the plot. 

 

And thanks for reminding me of how many Hydra big wigs were at the table. I didn't see Old British guy (*think* he spoke thusly accented) get auffed and I did miss "this part of the world" but caught the reference to the Baron. I imagine the reference to Von Strucker got me so excited that the details of the conversation became hazy.

 

 

 

Regarding Skye's blood sampling:  My fanwank of that is they probably took blood samples as soon as they put her in quarantine, but were analyzing the blood for contaminants, viruses, etc.   Two days later, Jemma glimpsed Raina, saw what she could do, and thought "uh oh, 'mutation' even though I can't legally use that word" and realized she needed to do the DNA comparison on Skye.

 

Good rationalization of this. And thanks for noting the two day timeline- It was hard for me to tell how much time had passed from the earthquake through to Skye being outed to Fitz (good lord I want to call him Finn- help). 

 

If they needed additional samples (as you pointed out, cells- epithelials?- would make more sense than blood) for more targeted tests, a line denoting such or acknowledgement of prior test results could have clarified.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Agreed ChicagoRedshirt. But I guess I thought he had a little time to get his stuff together while meandering with Hunter. Then, when Hunter turns the gun on him (under the overpass?), Bakshi immediately gives up his superiors and lets sends the cattle to slaughter. He doesn't have old Hunter vet young Hunter or do any other recon. Just goes with the "all the other guys are trying to kill us- lets kill them first!" plan. :::shrugs:::: eh- it's the plot. 

 

My read was that Bakshi was going to say whatever young Hunter wants to hear, because he knows that old Hunter (aka Mr. Bloom) would take young Hunter out immediately.  With Bakshi, the natural successor to Whitehall, on his side. Bloom decides to move on most of the other heads. Like you said, we don't see him move on Dr. List (the accented guy), so maybe Bloom wanted to have the him as part of the new power structure, or maybe Dr. List was too smart to be in a position to get taken out.

 

Anyway, Bloom at Bakshi's behest tries to have men kill young Hunter, but young Hunter has a bulletproof vehicle with built-in machine guns (too bad SHIELD didn't give Fury that feature round the time of Winter Soldier).

[MandolinMagi]

I really don't mind Bobbi praising Skye. For one thing, she's stuck in quarantine. For another, she got kidnapped by a murderous ex-team member, brought to HYDRA's evil lair, exposed to the Obelisk, and then there was an earthquake. Skye shot Ward, saved Coulson from a vengeful Hyde, survived the Obelisk, and manged to emerge unharmed from the earthquake.   

 

Simmons has never been much for love and forgiveness. She straight-up threatened to kill Ward and framed a fellow HYDRA coworker as the mole. Besides, given Raina went from normal human to porcupine-esce murderer after exposure to an object that kills pretty much everyone it touches, killing her is a completely logical action. And this after two seasons of seeing mad science kill or main people, plus watching Trip's shattered remains wheeled out of the Kree city Also, it was less "shoot on sight" and more "We may need to kill her, and it might not be bad". Simmons is genuinely concerned Raina might be Patient Zero for some alien plague-which given the events of "FZZT", is very reasonable.

[ottoDbusdriver]

The biggest hitch in the Bakshi portion of the plot was when Hunter dropped him off at Bloom's house -- and Bakshi never even mentioned something along the lines of "Thanks for sending that guy to rescue me from SHIELD by ramming that truck into the SUV, how did you know where I was" because Bloom would have stated that he didn't send anyone for him.  And Coulson's plan would have ended right there.

 

These have to be some of the stupidest supercriminals ever.

Edited March 5, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[paigow]

But this mean that 8 heads will rise in their place -- doesn't that make things worse ?  </snark>

The 8 heads will be engaged in HYDRA: Civil War. Sounds familiar somehow....

[Chicago Redshirt]

The biggest hitch in the Bakshi portion of the plot was when Hunter dropped him off at Bloom's house -- and Bakshi never even mentioned something along the lines of "Thanks for sending that guy to rescue me from SHIELD by ramming that truck into the SUV, how did you know where I was" because Bloom would have stated that he didn't send anyone for him.  And Coulson's plan would have ended right there.

 

These have to be some of the stupidest supercriminals ever.

To be fair, Hunter never said he knew who hired him. He just claimed to be a merc hired to spring Bakshi. It was Bakshi who said "Take me to Bloom" presumably because Bloom was the nearest Hydra head. Even if Bakshi asked Bloom about it and Bloom revealed he didn't know anything about it, it doesn't mean that one of the other 4 heads wasn't responsible for springing him, or someone else in Hydra.

[Texasmom1970]

Is it wrong that I missed Ward in this episode? Yeah I think I need an intervention .

[XtremeOne1]

I don't Chloe Bennet is a terrible actress. I mean, she's like a CW level actress...and not one of the ones who'll have a career after but the type who'll always on the CW. She just can't really be a focus of a show. She just isn't strong enough for that and Skye isn't a strong enough character.  So that's why the weaker scenes are usually the Skye centric scenes are weakest unless it's spread even.

[Kromm]

So this. I've never been a Raina fan either because she has always been so untrustworthy. But I felt so bad for her last night. And Cal was indeed a total douche to her. Thankfully, it looks like she is gonna get the help she so desperately needs. 

Nah.  They've been too clear that Raina is merciless.  I'm betting, because the show likes to keep people in certain boxes, that she's gone from evil to "other evil".  If Hydra is down for the count for awhile (we know it won't be permanent) than we need another threat.  "Bad Inhumans" (vs. good ones--who no doubt will show up later) is likely the next step.

I mean we were pretty much told that Skye's mom was a moderating influence.  And we know she's gone now, by human hands.  So I bet those Inhumans don't much like humans.

Seems to me they keep hitting up the idea of endless enemies for SHIELD.  They've got internal dissension, remnants of HYDRA, Talbott's crew when he's not accepting favors from them, Ward and his crazy, Skye's Daddy and HIS crazy, and now maybe some Inhumans.  Really SHIELD can't catch a break.  Even taking down those HYDRA leaders is probably a very temporary (and false) reprieve. 

[Cranberry]

I don't believe for one second that the Simmons we know would have put Skye down had she been the one to learn about her powers. Simmons is a reasonable person; she could see that Raina had undergone some kind of mutation and become quite violent, but Skye looked fine and was already in isolation. There was plenty of time to run tests and see if she was contagious. I don't believe that she was so emotional over Trip's death that she'd make rash decisions, either. Their relationship amounted to a mild flirtation and was mostly on his end. He started making heart eyes at her when they were watching over a dying Skye and Simmons said she couldn't imagine her life without her, in fact.

We've only seen Simmons break down a few times: when she was about to kill herself to stop the legitimately dangerous alien virus, when Fitz tried to sacrifice himself to save her, and when Skye was dying of a gunshot wound. All three times she managed to pull it together and do what she had to. So no, I don't buy that she'd react out of grief and shoot Skye without at least trying to find a cure.

[Jack Kerouac]

I thought it was a pretty good episode. It makes sense that Fitz would be the most understanding of Skye now being 'different.' I wonder if we are going to see a little bow-chicka-wow-wow between the two now?

 

As for Simmons, her reaction makes sense considering what she has gone through, but I assume she will come out of it soon enough. It should be interesting to see how the other members of the team react. I do not believe Mack for one will react well.

[North of Eden]

I like what they are doing with Simmons...even good guys can have a bit of a dark side in certain matters.

[Aeryn13]

What did you know, I actually thought Skye was the most sympathetic character in the episode and Chloe Bennett gave the best performance. Or maybe Ian C. was equal. The final scene with Skye and Fitz was great.  

 

I get the reactions of everyone. Mack felt used and angry about the loss of control he experienced. When he angrily asked Fitz if Fitz knew what that felt like and Fitz calmly answered "yes", that was a fantastic scene. It also nicely set up the final moment with Skye and the "you are just different, there is nothing wrong with that".

 

Granted, Fitz didn`t transform like Skye but out of the entire team, he is the one who can actually relate to feeling different than before, feeling shut out and scared. 

 

Simmons on the other hand just saw Tripp in pieces and on top of that saw a transformed Raina slaughtering her way through the scientists. She snapped. Just like Mack snapped in anger. Of course, I didn`t think him calling out Coulson in general was out of line. And May`s "mind your rank" really rankled. You are basically a merry band of underground vigilants now, wake up and realize you are no longer a quasi-military organization with multiple strongholds, academies and a structure like before. Coulson and May IMO are trying to simply recreate SHIELD as it was or acting like it never stopped and this is just a temporary tough spot. I kinda want to bang their heads together for that.

 

Taking out the Hydra leaders like that felt a bit cheap to me because it kinda hinged on the Hydra people acting insanely dumb and naive. To fall for such a rather obvious ploy? To not be suspicious about someone who had been held captive by the enemy for months.  If you take out mid-level henchman like that? Fine. But not the leaders. Eh.

 

Skye`s mother was involved in some kind of experimentation then which quite frankly looked none the less horrific then what, say, Whitehall was doing. Or other Hydra staff. So, not entirely the good guy then. I`m sure they all thought they were doing some great, boundary.pushing things.

 

Cal continues to be a delight. His little victory dance was such fun. 

 

Felt a bit bad for Raina who got truly a raw deal. But then it`s not like she didn`t have it coming.   

[Sakura12]

Skye's mother wasn't experimenting on people. The Inhumans believe their gifts make them special so they want their children to get them. Gordan, Skye and Raina had those gifts inside of them already, the mist just released them. Terrigenesis only works if they have Inhuman blood. They were however experiments of the Kree (from Guardians of the Galaxy) which is why their powers are not fun powers.