***** SPOILERS for "Love in the Time of Hydra" to follow *****
"Love in the Time of Hydra," written by Brent Fletcher and directed by Jesse Bochno, sent the characters we have grown to love in three separate directions.
The first was Coulson (Clark Gregg), May (Ming-Na Wen), Skye/Daisy (Chloe Bennet), Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) on the mission of helping Skye understand and control her powers while also deciding what her role should now be within SHIELD. May convinced Coulson to pull Skye off of active duty, which did not go over well her.
Simmons developed new gloves for Skye to wear that are meant to diminish the strength of her powers. This seems to be just the beginning of the transformation that Skye will undergo, which hopefully ends with her looking something like the image on the left.
Speaking of transformations, emotions of the audience went through the roof during a straight to the point confrontation between FitzSimmons. It has been great to see these two come back together and hopefully this conversation will bring them back together and give us more of the witty banter the pair had in Season 1.
The other members of Coulson's team were unable to be apart of these events due to them being with the "Real SHIELD." This version of SHIELD is run by Robert Gonzales (Edward James Olmos) and features one familiar face among their leaders in Agent Weaver (Christine Adams). Their leaders plus Mack and Bobbi try and convince Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) that, just like every evil organization, they are not the enemy.
The "Real SHIELD" is convinced that Coulson is the real problem and he should be the one to blame for the deaths of Isabelle Hartley (Lucy Lawless) and Agent Triplett (B.J. Britt), the transformations of Skye and Raina (Ruth Negga), and much more. Thankfully, Hunter does not agree with them and even hijacks one of the many vehicles on-board their helicarrier to escape.
This episode also featured the return of Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) and Agent 33 (Maya Stojan). Last time we saw the two of them they each had a number of things that needed to heal. Ward was shot three times and Agent 33 had part of her mask and face destroyed so they needed some obvious time to get back to being themselves. They set on a mission to fix Agent 33's face and then kidnap and start to brainwash Sunil Bakshi (Simon Kassianides). The kidnapping means an encounter with General Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) which ends up being quite comical thanks to the inability of Talbot in distinguishing who people really are.
Dalton was a welcome edition to the show after a few weeks of being away and getting to see Grant Ward back in action was a highlight of the episode. Nick Blood also gave a memorable performance as he continued to thwart the attempts of the "Real SHIELD" recruiting him. Hunter has become an increasingly likable the past few weeks which I find to be fascinating given his cold shoulder approach at the beginning of the season.
As the writers make the likes of Hunter and Fitz more likable, they have turned Bobbi and Mack into characters that are hard to be a fan of. Their characters are still interesting but I could not imagine them keeping an actress as high profiled as Adrianne Palicki and have her turn evil, especially given her character's history.
Another highlight recently has been the ability of the writers to find time for the fun and heartfelt conversations between Coulson and Skye. Whether it was Coulson comparing Skye to his beloved car Lola or Skye pleading with Coulson to just be her friend and not a SHIELD Agent during this difficult time in her life, the interactions between the shows main characters are something that the show is based on and needs more of.
A quick shout out is also well deserved for Ming-Na Wen who had to display the regular stone cold perception of May but then also convey the emotion felt by Agent 33 after being "taken in" by Ward.
Agents of SHIELD returns next week with "One Door Closes." Check out the promo for the episode below as the two SHIELDs come face to face!
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