AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. RECAP: SEASON 2 EPISODE 5 – ‘A HEN IN THE WOLF HOUSE’

Hydra infiltrates a wedding party, half filled with members from an anti-Hydra unit from the U.S. Navy. They plant a seriously deadly champagne that produces similar effects to the Obelisk (the weapon was made by reverse engineering samples from the Obelisk’s victims). When drunk, the victims fall dead almost immediately. Well, mostly. Some of them who drank the concoction lived to fight another day.

After her encounter with Whitehall last week, Raina goes straight to her boss, Skye’s father, who seems to be patching up a criminal after a job went sour. Yes, he’s one of those doctors. Raina interrupts and pleads with the Doctor to let her have the Obelisk so she can give it to Whitehall. She seems genuinely scared out of her mind. To prove a point, however, the Doctor chokes Raina and growls that she should be more scared of him. The puzzling thing about this scene (and every other scene he’s in) is that the Doctor is having a very hard time controlling his anger. Even Raina points out that he’s barely keeping it together. The green lights in the background seemed almost like a hint that he was about to Hulk out at any moment.

Meanwhile, Skye is still wondering what Coulson is hiding from everyone else. After spotting some of the alien carvings etched on Coulson’s desk earlier, Skye goes to Ward for some answers. He tells her that Garrett had been carving the same symbols over and over ever since he injected himself with the GH formula. According to Ward, once Garrett started carving those symbols he couldn’t stop, and whatever ended up controlling him inside wasn’t meant to survive. This, of course, pulls up a huge red flag for all of us. We can’t watch Coulson die a second time!

Skye finally confronts Coulson about the carvings. That’s when he finally fesses up, saying his sudden urge to carve the symbols started when he saw Garrett’s carvings and that the GH formula is the likeliest cause of this. But wait, Skye took that formula too. Why isn’t it affecting her? Coulson’s theory: she might be an alien!

Meanwhile Raina is making her way through Hydra headquarters, getting ready to plead for her life to Whitehall. Then she spots Simmons, and suddenly she thinks she may not have to visit Whitehall after all. She follows Simmons who is taking her lunch outside. At the same time, Simmons sends an urgent message to S.H.I.E.L.D. about Hydra’s plan to weaponize the Obelisk’s power once they have it.

Poor Simmons. You’d think S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy would have taught even their scientists to be a bit more sneaky in case they had to be a mole smack dab in enemy territory. Hydra gets a whiff that someone has been sending messages to S.H.I.E.L.D. and they sent their top security officer to find the perp. Enter an uptight, rigid-looking Adrienne Palicki! She singles out Simmons for her exemplary marks as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent as if she’s already found her target. As luck would have it, and some sneaky maneuvering by Simmons, Palicki’s henchmen find Simmons’ paper tablet in someone else’s work space. She’s safe for another few hours.

At the same time, Coulson and Raina are having a pleasantly tense dinner meeting. Raina just came back from Hydra. In her arsenal: a photo of Simmons sending a message to S.H.I.E.L.D. which is set to go to blow up onto every computer at Hydra. Raina wants Skye so she can present her to the Doctor so he can give Raina the Obelisk to give to Whitehall. Did everyone follow that okay?

It’s very possible that Season One Coulson would have given in, but this is Season Two Coulson: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He has a plan. Coulson lets the clock run out. Putting Simmons in peril. Hunter, who has been watching a few tables down, joins the party and injects Raina with a tracking device so she can lead them to Whitehall. As a bonus, Raina also gives them an address to where they can find the Doctor. Skye heads to the address before anyone else realizes she’s gone but finds it abandoned, save for two dead bodies once belonging to the crooks we saw earlier in the episode.

The rest of the team catches up and Skye and Coulson have a little heart to heart. Just outside, the Doctor is watching them through video feed from his security cameras. He hears Skye call him a monster, and that sends him into a mixture of intense remorse and rage. He speeds off before anyone notices he’s still there. Equipped with the Obelisk, he makes his way to Whitehall’s office. There he offers a partnership: he teaches Whitehall how to not only weaponize the Obelisk, but to survive it. In return, he wants a hand at killing Coulson and the rest of his team.

Elsewhere, all of Hydra now knows that Simmons is the mole. Just when Simmons thinks she’s cornered, Palicki attacks her agents and comes to Simmons’ aid. As they fight their way to the top of the building, Palicki reveals herself to be Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird in the comics). She’s another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent implanted by Coulson to keep an eye on Simmons as well as steal as much intel as she can (i.e. Simmons’ computer hard drive). Agent Trip meets them on the roof and whisks them away in the previously concealed Quinjet.

Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, it’s reunion time all around. Simmons is glad to be back, but the return of Fitz-Simmons is still a questionable one after witnessing a rather awkward and timid greeting. Bobbi is also reunited with a few acquaintances of her own: Mack and Hunter. Remember the hell beast of ex-wife he keeps complaining about? Yeah, that’s Bobbi he’s been talking about this whole time.

Upstairs, Skye tells Coulson of her newfound determination to bring in her father on the condition that he lets her in on all of the secrets he’s been keeping from her. Coulson complies to her request, and starts with showing her his most recent carvings. He still has no idea what it all means, but then out of the blue, Skye says that the symbols could be a map. Okay, we’re gonna need something to support that next week.

Speaking of next week, you’ll want to watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Why? ABC is showing the very first teaser trailer for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’!!!

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