ABC
Mission Briefing
S.H.I.E.L.D. is still in pieces after the recent attacks from embedded HYDRA agents, and the U.S. governement is threatening to blow up the organization into even smaller pieces when S.H.I.E.L.D. is labeled a terrorist organization. With a dwindling number of options, Coulson decides to take a risk when he recieves a mysterious set of coordinates by way of his S.H.I.E.L.D. badge. Does salvation lie at the end of the coordinates, or is Coulson leading his team right into a Hydra trap?
Mission Fallout
The ragged remains of S.H.I.E.L.D. are barely holding themselves together after the events of The Winter Soldier. Coulson and his team are lying low at the Hub, one of the few remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. bases still intact and under genuine S.H.I.E.L.D. control. Things get even worse when Coulson gets a call from a Colonel Glenn Talbot, who threatens to send peace keeping troops to the Hub. Coulson bets that there will be less peace keeping and more bunker busting from the hard-edged Colonel and decides to cut and run, even though the Bus is in no kind of shape for a long journey. The team takes off with limited food, fuel, and supplies (but good Internet), and decide to go completely off the grid.
Meanwhile, the double crossing Agent Ward frees Raina from a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison and introduces her to Garett, Whom she is disappointed to learn isn’t really clairvoyant, but simply in possession of a high S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance. Ward and Garrett decide to raid the Fridge, the secret location where S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps its most dangerous acquisitions. Ward reveals to Raina that all of his actions since first meeting Coulson and joining his team were calculated moves to gain everyone’s trust. He does reveal that he cares for Coulson, but not as much as he cares for Garrett. The duo infiltrates the Fridge and steals a load of S.H.I.E.L.D. weaponry, but can’t crack the encryption on Skye’s hard drive, which is full of S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets. Garrett tells Ward to get the password from her and kill the rest of the team in the next 24 hours.
While flying away from the Hub, Coulson receives mysterious coordinates on his badge, which he believes to be a message from Agent Fury. The rest of the team doubts the coordinates, believing them to be a HYDRA trap. Coulson decides to head to the coordinates anyway, which leads them to a snowy wilderness. With the validity of the coordinates seeming less likely by the second, The team finally reaches the location of the coordinates, only to find nothing. Everyone except Fitz begins to doubt Coulson even more, especially after learning the he used the Bus’ last bit of fuel flying to the coordinates. Coulson gives an impassioned speech about still believing in S.H.I.E.L.D. before inadvertently setting off a defense mechanism. It turns out that the coordinates belonged to a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base set up by Director Fury and manned by Agent Eric Koenig (Patton Oswalt). Koenig reveals to Coulson that Fury is alive, but prevents him from telling the rest of his team the good news. Skye informs Ward about the secret base, and the agent arrives, ready to do whatever it takes to get the password for the hard drive.
Most Valuable Agent Award
This weeks honor might go to Coulson if he weren’t being so irrational the entire episode. Of course he ended up being right, this being his show and all, but shouldn’t he be just a little more wary about following mysterious coordinates? Especially after HYDRA has eaten its way through his entire organization? No, this week’s award goes to new recruit Agent Koenig for fitting in some primo Call of Duty hours while being locked away in the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base.
Mission Highlights and Other Observations
– Looks like Coulson and his team should be expecting a visit from the supervillain Graviton pretty soon, now that Garrett has gotten his hands on the gravitonium from episode 3.
– Agent Grant Ward has become infinitely more interesting after revealing his true colors. All of a sudden he’s all rugged and roguish. Why couldn’t he be this cool before?
– It looks like the show is positioning Triplett to be a Ward’s replacement on the team. No complaints here.
