Agents of SHIELD 'Melinda' Review- The Calvary is Born

In the early episodes of Agents of SHIELD, it became clear that Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) had a rough past but that she also was a very skilled agent. Nicknamed "The Calvary" around SHIELD, May always hated that name and in this week's episode, we finally find out why.

***** SPOILERS for EP 2.17 "Melinda" to follow *****

This episode, written by DJ Doyle and directed by Garry A. Brown, takes us seven years in the past to Bahrain. We see a completely different Agent May then the one that is currently the second in command at SHIELD. Coulson, May, and a tactical SHIELD team go to Bahrain to meet the super-powered Eva Belyakov (Winter Zoli).

Back in the present time, Mockingbird (Adrianne Palicki) tries to recruit May into helping the "Real SHIELD" figure out what Coulson (Clark Gregg) has been up to. It appears that Coulson has secretly been very busy. He has been moving assets and resources all across the globe and not telling anyone. This project is being called Theta Protocol and Mack (Henry Simmons) believes it is because Coulson is building a separate base to house powered people. 

Skye/Daisy (Chloe Bennet) is still with the other Inhumans in Afterlife and learns the secret that Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) is her mother. Jiaying helps Skye understand her abilities and the different ways she can use them. Jiaying requests Skye has dinner with Cal (Kyle MacLachlan) because without him her, they never would have been reunited.

When we go back to Bahrain, another organization was also after Eva and captured her and a young girl. This forces Coulson's hand and reluctantly sends May in alone. Once inside the building, May finds a room containing her other SHIELD agents but they are not okay. They need her pain. 

Melinda goes on to take down guards and try and rescue the little girl being held hostage. She kills Eva thinking that her death would eliminate the spell her coworkers were under. Unfortunately, a much darker choice lies ahead for her. The little girl, Katya (Ava Acres), is actually the one controlling their minds. May is given the choice of either touching Katya's hand and falling under her spell or eliminating the child.

She is forced to make the logical choice and kill the child. This came at a time where her and her husband Andrew Garner (Blair Underwood) were trying to have a child of their own. Melinda becomes distant and requests a transfer out of the field and not become a member of the team Coulson is assembling to recruit Earth's mightiest heroes.

Coulson has always referred to his SHIELD team as a family and this week we got a look at an Inhuman family but also the beginning of the end for another. 

Check out the promo for next week's episode "The Frenemy of My Enemy" below, which has strong ties to Avengers: Age of Ultron!

Share your thoughts on this week's episode in the comments below!

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