Meanwhile, in the battle of the S.H.I.E.L.D.s, Coulson and Hunter decide to fight the power by stealing a jeep from a used car salesman named Honest Ed. After striking a blow for irony, they make their way to “The Retreat” to find Skye, only to instead discover evidence that Gordon beat them there. As Hunter puts it, he and Coulson are left with bad options, which include luring Nu-S.H.I.E.L.D. back to the retreat and stealing a Quinjet. Enter twist #2: Mike “Deathlok” Peterson.
When Coulson first mentioned back-up, I think we all had our fingers crossed for an Avenger. Yes, that would have been awesome beyond all reckoning, but I too cheered with the reveal of Deathlok, which is weird because I remember when it was revealed that Peterson was being turned into Deathlok last season, it was an eye-roll moment watching Marvel try to turn one of its D-List characters into one of the Rat Pack. What a difference a year makes.
But Deathlok’s well-timed assistance further solidifies Gonzales belief that Coulson’s gathering his own personal army of powers, a crazy conspiracy theory that the commander seems wholeheartedly invested in. In pushing to turn May, Gonzales ends up confronting a fact of his own democratic rule of S.H.I.E.L.D., that he can’t unilaterally throw the book at her for her apparent insubordination. Seeing Ming-Na Wen and Edward James Olmos face off over the difference between duty and loyalty, if there is a difference, gave a lot of gravitas to this week’s episode, and it included a tease for next week’s May flashback spotlight story.
And who would have guessed that Bobbi would be the one to start having second thoughts about what S.H.I.E.L.D. she wants to be a part of? Right, not exactly a sudden or surprising development, but it adds another element of intrigue about just where the S.H.I.E.L.D. divided storyline is going, and whether more people might see that Coulson’s not such a bad guy if there’s people in the ranks of Gonzales’ team that will shoot first and ask questions later out of fear of people with powers.
The real dramatic meat though was the developments for Fitz and Simmons, who seem to have thawed their chilly relationship again, only to split up again over Simmons’ willingness to help Gonzales figure out how to access the toolbox. But before you can shed a tear about Fitz dissing Mack with a “only my friend Mack gets to call me Turbo,” or the scolding that Gemma gives him insisting that maybe it’s for the best that he leaves, you cheer because FitzSimmons pulled the ole switcheroo! Fitz escapes with the real toolbox and a delicious sandwich from Simmons. It might have made sense to have Simmons side with her new friend Bobbi, but the show used the occasion to re-solidify the buddy act of FitzSimmons.
Throughout the episode, the one thing I was trying to reconcile was the missing Grant Ward. Ward has been sidelined pretty hard in this run of episodes, which makes you wonder why the show even bothered keeping him around. As if reading my mind, Coulson chooses the best of a bad option. He needs someone that knows about Inhumans, and who knows about HYDRA, and there’s one guy that fits the bill. Looks like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is putting the season 1 band back together…