You know what they say about keeping your friends close? Well today Doors open day is over and it’s time to review episode 15 One Door Closes
This week we pick up the pace a little bit, which is a welcome change as the series was going at a pretty good speed during the first half but somehow managed to slow down quite dramatically once they took down a good chunk of the remaining heads of Hydra. With no clear-cut villain anymore, everything turned into some kind of gray zone and some fan might even start to root for the other team (I’m not but then like many of you I’ve been following Coulson since Iron Man and through all of season 1)
The episode is pretty evenly split between the present day events and a flashback harking back to last year’s Captain America – The Winter Soldier and there are a few things to talk about.
Let’s start with that flashback.
I gotta say it was good seeing Hartley again and Lucy Lawless is still very much capable of going Xena on just about anyone that gets in her way. With that in mind, I think it’s a real shame she got killed off quite so soon and somehow somewhere I wish they can find a way to bring her back because she’s awesome.
There is so much parallel with what happened to Coulson’s team when S.H.I.E.L.D. fell especially the idea that Bobbi had a mission from Fury. That mission was to destroy the aircraft carrier and its precious cargo. We’re never told what that cargo was but I’m gonna go ahead and say it’s probably vibranium. Although if that’s the case you have to wonder how much of it they have. Remember back in the 40’s Cap’s shield was made with “all the vibranium there was” but that was the 40’s. Now we find out Fury’s toolbox contains vibranium too so it’s not a huge stretch to assume some of it is in S.H.I.E.L.D. possession. I seem to recall in the comics S.H.I.E.L.D. had a working relationship with King T’Chaka of Wakanda so it’s possible that’s how they ended up with it. Of course it could be something else entirely, let me know if you have theories on this.
In the flashback we see Bobbi (when are we gonna start using her code name by the way?) make the decision to disobey Fury’s orders on the basis to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. on a more democratic platform, whatever that means. But the decision is also motivated by the belief that Fury is dead. What I’m hoping is that the conflict can be resolved without Fury swooping in again to save the day. That was a lot of fun last season but this time it would be too easy for them to do that.
Coming back to the present and Gonzales’ team sweep in on the Playground.
Remember when we last saw the dendrotoxin use in gas form? Yep Hydra. I’m not saying the “real S.H.I.E.L.D.” is Hydra, obviously the flashbacks made that pretty clear but it forms an interesting parallel. Having said that I’m gonna put it out there because it seems fairly obvious: I think Gonzales’ team has a mole, which I believe to be Calderon. He’s shown himself to be rather impulsive and irrational, not someone I’d want on my team of democratically selected spies. He tries to shoot Skye with a real bullet (more on that later) and you don’t see him in the flashbacks. That said he seems to have been injured by the shockwave and it looks like part of a tree is sticking out of his shoulder. He’s not listed in the cast for the next 2 episodes but that’s not to say we won’t see him again.
Quick mention about Simmons as well which displayed an incredible amount of cool taking down Bobbi, you have to wonder how she learnt to be so hard to read. This whole invasion by another S.H.I.E.L.D. might just prove to be the trigger that reunites her with Fitz, despite her calling him “Leo” earlier in the episode (which she’d never done before). We’ll have to see how they fare with Agent Weaver in the picture. Fitz has proven pretty resilient, has shown he’s healing and his skills are still there but with him having realised where Mack stands, Simmons seem to be the only person he can fall back on right now.
Sometimes confrontations don’t have to be using fists and Tae Kwon Do moves to be powerful. The dialogue between Coulson and Gonzales was a pretty good illustration of that. Even with cuffs on Coulson easily dominates the conversation. It was one of these moments when you think that’s where they could resolve this conflict but Gonzales has developed too much distrust in Coulson because of the HG formula. This is symptomatic of the prejudices that are running through both teams and why I think Coulson and his team will come out on top. It will come down to who can accept that there are people out there with gifts who can do good, who can make a difference and not just be a force of destruction.
In the end May being the only one not taken captive by the “real S.H.I.E.L.D.” sets Coulson free at the cost of her own freedom and we see him at the end of some tropical beach (anyone else was wondering is this was Tahiti?) where Hunter meets him and officially signs up to be on his team. I’m not sure how they knew where to meet or what but that must be one of a gazillion extraction protocols or something, or maybe Hunter just called Coulson’s cell 😉
Finally let’s wrap this up by talking about Skye.
So much cool stuff to talk about. That safe house for instance, last wee we’re told Steve Rogers used it when he was recovering from being defrosted, this week we discover it was built by Bruce Banner and we can see a very large Hulk-size fist print on the reinforced steel panels. That’s a very nice touch from the writers to keep the story tied in with the Avengers, which is what a lot of fans have been wanting despite the stories standing very well on their own.
We also see her finally getting a grasp over her powers. The thing she’s doing to the running water I’ve seen it done before but I think it involves playing with certain frequencies. There’s got to be a video on YouTube of people demonstrating doing just that.
And then Gordon comes in and offers her his help. He doesn’t just swoop her away like he did with Raina and Cal (both were in precarious situations at the time, granted) but still he shows himself to her and from what he says he seems to have some kind of cognitive ability. People keep calling him The Reader but he doesn’t strike me as someone with the power to create a new reality from a book. But he does sow seeds of doubt in her mind regarding the true intend of her friends regarding her gift. Truth be told, what could S.H.I.E.L.D. do? Coulson has neither the resources nor the knowledge to train someone like that to her full potential. I don’t think Skye will turn on S.H.I.E.L.D., at least I hope she doesn’t but she needs the Inhumans to find out how to develop her abilities to their full potential without being a threat to herself and others.
And then before she does end up swooped away by Gordon, she does what we’ve all been waiting for her to do since the terrigenesis, create a shock wave strong enough to deflect a bullet and tear down trees. Bobbi gets blown away but is otherwise unscathed, as I said before, I don’t think the same can be said about Calderon, good implementation of Karma right there. Hat tip to the special effects team on this one.
Next week we’re going to follow Skye wherever Gordon took her and hopefully find out more about the Inhumans. It would be good to have a few more name drops and perhaps find out what’s going on with the Royals some 4 years before the movie is due to come out.
