Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 2X11 - Aftershocks | The Fangirl Initiative (4)

Season 2, Episode 11

9|8 EST

Wednesday
SPOILERS, obviously

Well, that was an...interesting episode. I remarked to my sister when it ended that it was kind of like Doctor Who smashed into The Tomorrow People (does this have anything to do with the addition of Luke Mitchell as Lincoln?) really hard; and I get the feeling that we're going to be see a lot more of that vibe since we don't get the Inhumans movie for a few years yet.
Still, I'm super happy to have it back! There was only one minor issue.

That, people, is the amount of Ward scenes in this episode. It's also rumored to be the amount of scenes with Ward in the next episode. Because no, his fans aren't all freaking out about the fact he's been shot four times and is hightailing it to safety with Agent 33. No. Not like we care at all, right? Not like we're interested, or want to know where he is?

Anyway, to get to the actual recap - everyone is dealing with Tripp's death in their own way. May is punching things, Fitz is sciencing, Mack is soddering things, Jemma's attempting to flood the Kree city after analyzing it, Hunter's drinking, Bobbi's giving Skye quarantine care packages, and Skye's having a hard time of it. She's kept enclosed in a quarantine room with glass walls (when does she go to the bathroom, exactly? How does that work?) while Simmons and Fitz run blood tests to see if she's all right. The thing is, she's most definitely NOT all right - things are starting to go crazy around her. Objects start shaking. Lights explode. She knows she's turning into something (albeit she isn't aware she's Quake of Inhumans fame yet) but she's afraid to tell anyone, and with good reason.

A Conversation

Jemma: We'll just run some more blood tests to make sure they match up with your previous samples.
Skye: Okay.
Jemma: I hope what happened to Raina didn't happen to you. (i.e., Raina morphing into a thorny cat and killing people before escaping).
Skye: Okay.
Jemma: Because this is basically a disease, it's caused all the world's problems, it's awful -
Skye: Um, I mean, it doesn't have to be THAT bad -
Jemma: - IT'S THE WORST AND IT SHOULD ALL BE DESTROYED see you later!

End Conversation

I can totally understand why the writers wanted Jemma to be the antagonist here - what could be worse than having someone Skye loves and trusts express such hatred for what's happening to her? I just wish they'd been a little less heavy-handed with Jemma's speech - I mean, she used the words 'disease,' 'eradicate,' 'horrific,' 'epidemic,' 'terminate,' and 'plague' all in the same basic paragraph.

The entire crew is under heavy friction which leads to a full-blown argument about whether or not Coulson's idea - KILL ALL THE HYDRA HEADS - is a good one at the moment. Opinions are varied and tensions are high, but they move on (because Coulson's calling the shots) and set up an elaborate, clever ploy which results in Bakshi getting taken to Talbot while the heads of HYDRA kill one another out of suspicion.

We also get a flashback featuring Jiyiang, Skye's mother (played by the gloriously beautiful Dichen Lachman) comforting a fledgling Inhuman boy named Gordon, who has the ability to teleport himself, but also has no eyes. MEANING: I totally called it at the end of the last episode - the eyeless man was the Reader. HAH.

Meanwhile, we feel pretty sorry for Raina, whose outfit lacks flowers for the first time since she first showed up. She's morphed into a body that's a) fairly hideous and b) fairly painful to inhabit, and she seeks out Skye's father, Cal, for help. Instead he shows concern for Skye and what she must be going through, and basically tells Raina that if she's so tired of living as an Inhuman, she should just go off herself. Desperate, Raina walks across a freeway in an attempted suicide, but is instead surrounded by men with guns and then carried off by none other than Gordon the Reader. (How precious was it that he repeated Jiyiang's words of comfort to Raina? I mean. Just.)

Back on the Bus, Fitz has figured out that Skye is the one who caused the earthquake in Peru, but instead of telling everyone about it, he switches up the blood samples, gets her cleared from Quarantine, and promises to keep her secret until everyone else is ready to hear it. I adore Fitz so much. Aside from Ward, he's my favorite character on the show. His character arc has been so beautiful, and he's so precious.

At the end of the episode, we see the little remote-controlled Lola that Mac gifted Coulson with. It's sitting on a desk in Coulson's office, and then suddenly a camera unfolds from the hood and it scans Coulson's desk. Mac tells Bobbi that the 'toolbox' Fury gave Coulson is hidden there, and Bobbi tells Mac that she'll 'make contact' soon.