AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 Episode 8
Episode Title: “The Things We Bury”
Writer: DJ Doyle
Director: Milan Cheylov
It’s time for another “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” recap as things start to get… Inhuman. Or at least that’s the going theory after Coulson’s team figured out that the alien writing was actually the map of a city.
That’s the set up as the series heads towards its fall finale. But will “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” finally deliver on its potential?
Cloak and Dagger
At the base, Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) gives cryptic instructions to Skye (Chloe Bennet) and Antoine Triplett (B.J. Britt) in Hawaii while Bobbi Morse (Adrianne Palicki) personally interrogates Sunil Bakshi (Simon Kassianides), the Hydra officer captured by Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) and left for Coulson’s team as a gift.
Coulson also hints that Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) will be needed in the field, as he insists that the damaged young man learn how to quickly re-assemble a device in under six minutes. Over at Hydra HQ, Daniel Whitehall (Reed Diamond) expresses his displeasure when his scientists can’t tell him anything about the Obelisk that he didn’t know decades earlier. Skye’s father, The Doctor (Kyle MacLachlan) tells Whitehall that the Obelisk isn’t a weapon, it’s a key…
In a flashback to 1945, Whitehall forces prisoners to touch the Obelisk. One young woman (played by “Dollhouse’s” Dichen Lachman) is seemingly unaffected by the Obelisk’s fatal touch.
Carter’s Legacy
While Bakshi doesn’t give up much info to Morse, it’s enough for the team to figure out Whitehall’s direct connection to the Red Skull. Flashback to the ‘40s, as Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell) interrogates Whitehall. He wants an immunity deal in exchange for his knowledge about the alien artifacts. Carter refuses and she lets Whitehall rot away in his cell for decades.
Many years later, a now elderly Whitehall is released by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents loyal to Hydra. And they’ve found the young woman from 1945, who apparently hasn’t aged at all.
Ward Vs. Kindred
In the present, Grant Ward kidnaps his older brother, Senator Christian Ward (Tim DeKay) and forces him to dig up the infamous well from their childhood. Even at gunpoint, the Senator claims that Grant nearly drowned their younger brother (Thomas) of his own volition. The Senator even tries to take credit for Grant’s escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
But faced with a one way trip down the well, the Senator breaks and he confesses the reason behind his younger brother’s torture. Grant seems to forgive his older brother as he helps him up, but later in the episode we learn that the Senator and his parents were killed in a fire. And because of the Senator’s confession to Grant, the media believes it was a murder suicide.
MockingHunt
Although Morse can’t fully break Bakshi, she demoralizes him with the knowledge that he inadvertently revealed Whitehall’s true name to them. In response, Bakshi threatens to tell S.H.I.E.L.D. about the atrocities that she committed to ingratiate herself within Hydra as a double agent. Then Bakshi pulls the old hidden cyanide capsule trick and nearly commits suicide.
Morse and her ex, Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) manage to stabilize Bakshi… but Hunter accuses Morse of allowing the suicide attempt to hide her sins. Morse denies it and asks Hunter if he will ever trust her. Hunter replies that he won’t… but he always wants to. That’s enough for these two to briefly reconcile and shag in the S.H.I.E.L.D. van.
The Expendable Trip
Coulson explains to the team that they’ve set up a complex heist to gain access to a remote mapping station in order to find the hidden city. Coulson leads the mission himself, with Fitz and Triplett. But they find that Hydra agents have already gotten there first and Triplett is hit by a bullet while attempting to protect Fitz.
The Doctor introduces himself to Coulson under the pretense of saving Trip’s life. But the Doctor slips up and calls Coulson by his first name. The Doctor keeps Coulson at bay by threatening to allow Trip to bleed out while offering tantalizing hints about the hidden city. However, the Doctor becomes angry when Coulson refers to his daughter as Skye.
Ultimately, the Doctor escapes, Trip is saved and the hidden city has been found.
Daddy’s Real Agenda
Back in the states, Whitehall welcomes Ward back to Hydra. In flashback, we see Whitehall experiment on the eternally young woman until she dies. But Whitehall was able to use her body to rejuvenate himself to his 1945 age. That will probably come back to haunt him, as the final revelation of the episode is that the young woman was Skye’s mother. And the Doctor vowed vengeance against Whitehall once he saw what happened to his wife.
This is the first time that Kyle MacLachlan’s new character has had anything of substance to do on the show and it’s a good twist. The Doctor may be malevolent, but he and Whitehall are going to end up going against each other at some point. That’s intriguing.
Overall, this was a fairly solid episode. But feel free to share your opinions in the comment section below!
