Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: “What They Become”

A ‘Lil Review Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: “What They Become”

Season 2, Episode 8 (December 9, 2014)

As great as the DC Universe is on television, there is no interconnectedness like we have with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shows like The Flash and Arrow appear on the CW, but then there’s Gotham on Fox, and Syfy will soon have Krypton. As a result, many of DC’s staple characters will not interact with each other. Not to mention that with the new DC Cinematic Universe coming soon with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, many of the same characters will not technically be the “same” as their TV counterparts, (even to the point that in The Flash film, there will be a different actor than the one on the current TV show) and this can be rather confusing!

This is not the case with Marvel films/TV shows. ABC actually prides itself with the tagline “it’s all connected” to further that statement. The events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier had a direct impact on events on the show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now it looks like the events of last night’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D episode will have an impact on future Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

Throughout the series, there has been a shroud of mystery surrounding Skye’s backstory. She was first introduced to the show as a simple hacker working for The Rising Tide as a hacker, who was identified by S.H.I.E.L.D when young as a 0-8-4 (an object that is useful or poses a grave threat). After leaving her orphanage, she eventually finds her way with Rising Tide and dedicates herself to uncovering the truth about superhuman living among us. Eventually she is recruited by Agent Coulson into S.H.I.E.L.D. Initially she was untrustworthy, but eventually became a full agent and has proven herself on many occasions. She always was interested in discovering her history. When shot, she had to be injected with GH.325 (The same mysterious substance that brought Agent Coulson back to life after being killed in The Avengers movie). However, she did not experience any of the psychotic problems that Agent Coulson or any of the other test subjects for GH.325 had in regards to the compulsion to find the mysterious city. Because the substance was derived from the blood of the Guest Host, a dead Kree alien (yes the same aliens from The Guardians of The Galaxy movie) and did not affect Sky in a negative way, this led the audience to believe that she was an alien of some sort, or something else.

This season has been a war between Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. to find the missing city that Coulson and the other GH.325 recipients had been trying to find, as well as the Obelisk/ Diviner. Hydra wants to use them for their nefarious purposes, and S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to stop them. Last episode S.H.I.E.L.D. found the city in Puerto Rico with Hydra closing in on them. S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to destroy the city to prevent Hydra from using the Diviner. Rainamentions to Skye that she is human, but has the potential to be something much more. Raina believes that once the Diviner is released in the city, it will be able to change them. Hydra circles in on The Bus demanding the turn over Raina, and then they board Ward also demands Skye. Ward and the Hydra agents then leave The Bus as Whitehallthen calls for Hydra to airstrike The Bus….. and so we begin.

The episode starts with Agent May doing some great flying so that The Bus is not blown out of the sky and then after Hydra believes they have destroyed the plane, The Bus is cloaked and flies away. As they regroup in Puerto Rico they decide that they will destroy the city so that Hydra cannot use the Diviner. They also want to try and save Mack, who after going into the city was changed into something else for the city: almost an alarm system that attacked humans that entered.

Elsewhere Ward took Skye to Hydra’s base in Puerto Rio where he reunites her with her father making a very unique reunion between the two. The audience finally learns Skyes father’s name is Cal. Skye wants nothing to do with him since he is a killer who has been working with Hydra. He explains that once his wife was killed by Whitehall, he lost his way, and has only been working with Whitehall so that he and Skye could be reunited. He then tells Skye that her mother was special (just like he says Skye is) and Whitehall killed and used all her organs, and vows to kill him so he can have the “best day ever.” Soon enough, Whitehall arrives with Agent 33 where they confront Ward on why he brought Skye when he was ordered to bring back Raina. Then at gunpoint orders Skye to pick up the Diviner (if she is “special” then she will live), which doesn’t affect her. When she realizes that it cannot hurt her, Skye uses it on a Hydra guard, killing him. Skye’s father and Ward try and turn the tables on the Hydra guards around them, but they are outnumbered.

After putting a paralyzing device on Cal’s neck and tying up Skye and Ward, Whitehall and the rest of his Hydra agents continue their plan. Suddenly, they are interrupted by Coulson and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and a firefight breaks out. Cal rips the device off his neck and kills the Hydra agent guarding him. Cal leaves behind Ward and Skye as he proceeds to find and kill Whitehall. Ward ends up freeing himself and frees Skye, who then shoots Ward in the back, therefore showing that she still doesn’t trust him and goes after her father. Soon enough Cal catches up to Whitehall, but before Whitehall can shoot him, Coulson shoots him in the back. This sets Cal off, because he wanted to be the one who killed him. Meanwhile, having been brainwashed by Whitehall Agent 33 is devastated by his death and realizes that she has no purpose in life anymore. Ward comes to her to help her and the two escape. Cal is furious with Coulson and begins to beat on him. As Cal gains the upper hand and begins punching him repeatedly Skye stops him with the threat of shooting him. Cal then calms down and says goodbye to his daughter “Daisy” calling her by her real name.

Raina is walking through the temple underground with the Diviner in hand and Skye and Coulson going after her to stop her from using the device. Simmons, Fitz, and Triplett are planting bombs throughout the temple with the intent of destroying it before the Diviner can be activated. When they realize that Skye is down there, Triplett starts to go after her and disarm the bombs. Coulson tries to go after her, but Mack (still alive and still possessed by the city) starts to stop him. Raina enters a chamber to activate the device, when Skye catches up to her. Once in the chamber, the device begins to activate by itself. When activated, the doors to the temple begin to close and Triplett enters the room just in time. The Diviner then opens to reveal crystal shards and a strange mist begins to come out. As Skye and Raina breathe it in, they begin to turn to stone. Trying to stop it, Triplett then destroys the crystals further releasing the gas in the entire room. Then Triplett turns to stone as well. Slowly, the stone begins to crack and come off of both Skye and Raina as though it was some sort of cocoon. Raina is shown having whiskers, and her eye color has changed. Skye then simply uses some sort of power to throw the rest of the stone off her body, as well as shake the foundation of the entire temple. Poor Triplett was not “special” and remains in stone, therefore dying. The Agents regroup and try to exit the temple.

Elsewhere in an office, there is another figure with another Diviner who sees his glowing. He then picks up the telephone telling whomever that he got this “someone new” under control. He then turns around for the camera to see, and he has no eyes.

Thoughts:

This episode was awesome! This show really picked up from when they introduced Hydra and has been picking up steam every episode. This show is now just as important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as any movie featuring an Avenger. This episode was great because it finally started to give the audience some answers about Skye and her origin. They confirmed that Skye is an Inhuman.

In the comic books the Inhumans were a race created by the Kree aliens as a means of creating superhuman beings for military purposes by altering the DNA of early human beings. The Inhumans powers are activated by ingesting theTerrigen Mist from the Terrigen Crystals. This causes the Inhumans to mutate and gain super powers. Most of the Inhumans that remained on Earth left the planet to avoid being noticed, but continuing breeding with “normal” humans allowed their genes to pass throughout the population. The only way current people would know if they are an Inhuman is to ingest the mist. Skye, her father, and Raina are now confirmed as Inhumans. This is great because in 2018 we will have an Inhumans Marvel movie, but it looks like we will begin to see Inhumans on the small screen helping build their mythos in preparation for the upcoming movie. We no longer need the movie to be an “origin story” film, because Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will provide the audience with all the backstory needed. There will probably be Inhumans involved in the Captain America Civil War movie now that they are being established on this show. This once again proves that the powers that be that are running Marvel have had a very long end game for how they want their stories to be told. Never in a million years would I think that I would have seen the Terrigen Crystals anywhere but in the comic books, but now we’ll be seeing them on the TV show and in upcoming movies: Good Job Marvel!

Skye’s real name was finally revealed. She is Daisy Johnson, who in the comics was known as Quake (although not an Inhuman in the comics) who has the power to create seismic energy manipulation, which is pretty much what Skye did at the end of the episode. This is cool because in the comic Quake is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D, but is a mutant. Since Marvel cannot use the term “mutant” in their movies (Fox owns mutants as well as all the X-Men), having the Inhumans is there way of having many characters with superpowers to be introduced.

Who is the new eyeless guy and how will he play in upcoming episodes that come in 2015?

Shame for Trip to die. He seemed to suffer what most underdeveloped back characters do (looking at you Walking Dead), which is to be killed after doing something heroic. Many thought it would be Mack who would fill that role based on last week, but he survived and seems to be free of whatever hold the temple had on him as well. He had potential, but it seemed wasted.

Until 2015!

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