Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Recap: Ye Who Enter Here

Season 2, Episode 9

9:00 EST on ABC

and, as always,

THIS EPISODE. MY HEART. When it was over, Mom looked over at me and started laughing because I was sitting with my mouth open, staring in bewilderment at the screen wondering what on earth I'd just seen. That...hadn't really happened, had it? They hadn't really left us THERE, had they? With only one more week until the mid-season finale? The answer: Oh, yes. They did. If you haven't caught the episode yet, grab a butterfly net and do so; then come back. Seriously.

As is their current modus operandi, the team has split into two groups - half of them searching for the mysterious city (coughAttilancough) while the other half tries to secure Raina. (Raina remains a puzzling character - seriously, what's her goal? Is she totally amoral, or does she have an agenda? Or is her agenda simply 'stay alive and stay on top of everything?' What's your deal, Flowers?)

We get a lot more of Billy (and Eric) Koenig. They're adorable, but are they humans? Are they life-model decoys? Are there really thirteen of them? What even is going on?

Hunter is really on the ball this episode, performing no less than three daring last-minute rescues and giving us a valuable lesson in the Art of Knocking Someone Out in the Middle of the Street.

See? Smooth an' easy.

Lance Hunter is Boss.

Agent 33 (also known as Melinda of the Opera) is lurking around and causing trouble for Whitehall, who is attempting to re-capture Raina because they need her help - after all, she's one of the only people who has held the Obelisk and lived. SHIELD uses a Bond-like invisible cloaking umbrella (it looks a lot less cheesy on-screen) to hide Raina from Agent 33 and the HYDRA goons, and they whisk her away to safety. Well, relative safety. For the time being.

Raina tells Skye that the 'blue angels' mentioned in the last episode are, in fact, Kree (which we knew already). If you don't remember the Kree, this should jog your memory.

Raina then tells Skye that - PLOT TWIST! - Skye isn't an alien, but she has the potential to be inhuman. (Do you see what I did there) Apparently Raina is also one of these special, gifted people - and therefore, one of the only people who can enter the Kree city.

This alarms Skye, because...well, the other half of the team is there right now, preparing to enter. Oops.

A word about Mack: The show needs Mack. Fitz needs Mack. FitzSimmons needs Mack. Mack is kind, Mack is smart, Mack is important. Therefore, Joss Whedon felt the need to send Mack down the dark, scary hole where he touches something he shouldn't have touched and bad things happen.

And then he...

dies?

Is he dead? Really? Did he just die? Did they just kill him? Is he really dead? Just like that??

What???

CUE TRAGIC DEATH RESPONSE FACE.

On the other hand, CAN WE TALK ABOUT FITZ. Can we talk about he picked up a real gun and was ready to shoot Mack if necessary? Can we talk about the growth he's undergone? I think this transition - from season one's 'night-night' guns to him holding a real weapon, ready to take down a close friend - was such a stunning picture of his transformation.

I am Katniss.

Meanwhile, Group B is on the Bus, trying to get a message to warn Group A when their communications are shut down. They're surrounded by HYDRA, and HYDRA isn't leaving until they get Raina. A representative is sent over, and is nobody but the one and only Grant Ward, whose haircut looks super cute on him now. I need to re-iterate how much I love Ward this season. Now that he's free from SHIELD's constraints, he can do whatever he wants. Is he good? Is he bad? Is he neither? We don't know (we don't even know if HE knows) - and that's a good thing. It keeps us guessing, turning him into the shows' most unpredictable character.

The episode literally ends with Mack falling down a hole, and Ward taking Raina and Skye with him. They're both important, apparently - and after all, Skye needs to meet her Dad, right? Ward promised! But then we get a lovely post-credits scene, where Agent 33 tells Whitehall that Ward

a) took a hostage and

b) didn't shoot the Bus out of the sky, which was apparently his job.

I KNEW IT. WARD. I BELIEVE IN YOU, WARD. DO YOU HEAR ME, SON? I BELIEVE IN YOU.

Whitehall promises retribution.

Agent 33 calls in for HYDRA to shoot the Bus down.

And that's it.

That's the end. We have to wait until next week.

Who wants to bet they're going to leave us like this?