The team was on thin ice tonight in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1, episode 12, “Seeds.” Check out our recap and share your thoughts!
Here’s what happened in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1, episode 12, “Seeds.”
A refreshing swim
S.H.I.E.L.D. students Callie and Seth blow off steam after an exam in a swimming pool, sullenly watched by another student, Donnie. Callie does not swim, and Seth barely escapes when the surface of the pool begins to turn to solid ice. Donnie breaks the ice to free Seth’s leg.
Back to the books
The team is on the way to the Sci-Ops division of S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy (FitzSimmons’ alma mater; Ward went to Operations) to investigate the Ice Device. May says that she and Coulson are going off on their own.
Sci-Ops is housed in the old Scientific Strategic Reserve building. Everyone is nerdy and not-ripped. FitzSimmons, well-known at Sci-Ops, are greeted by Agent Weaver. She is worried about a “bad seed” in the ranks. Ward shows Skye the memorial in the lobby to fallen agents – including one Bucky Barnes. Skye feels like she cheated her way into S.H.I.E.L.D., and we do not disagree, though Ward does.
Ward interviews Seth. He mentions a dislike of Donnie Gill, the boy who saved him at the pool.
Jemma and Leopold begin their speech about the dangers of “potentiality.” Skye listens in, as does Donnie Gill. Suddenly, Donnie starts screaming for help, but he is rapidly frozen solid. The team saves him, and Donnie melts. Chilled, he tells Skye that he doesn’t know anyone at the Academy, and doesn’t know why anyone would want to hurt him.
The group is certain that this is attempted murder, not a prank. Weaver says that Donnie is an isolated young genius. He has a ton of potential for S.H.I.E.L.D. – might even be assigned to the Sandbox – but Weaver thinks he will fail out.
Things heat up
Ward, Skye, and Simmons go to the cadets’ hangout. Once a boiler-room hideaway from faculty, it is now Party Central. (Sci-Ops: 1, Operations: 0.) Skye locates Callie, who is another Sandbox hopeful. She spills that Donnie and Seth are friends, and had been planning to meet Fitz “for weeks” – even though the team was brought in on short notice.
Fitz talks to Donnie in his room, and is impressed by Donnie’s innovations. Donnie says that his inventions “are not my big ideas.” Fitz helps Donnie solve an overheating-superbattery problem. Fitz admits that Hermione Simmons is probably smarter than he is because she likes homework more than life itself.
Simmons calls Fitz to tell him that Donnie isn’t what he seems; panicked that he helped Donnie power a larger version of the Ice Device (which descends ominously from the ceiling of Donnie’s room) Fitz confronts Donnie. Seth shoots Fitz with a pressure gun and they run.
Meanwhile, in a sexy car
May takes Coulson to Mexico City for a honeymoon to track down Agent Lumley, the partner of Agent Linda Avery, the woman who dropped off Skye at the orphanage. She was subsequently murdered, and her agent partner disappeared.
In Mexico City, May and Lola wait for Lumley. Coulson thinks she means to distract him from his concern that S.H.I.E.L.D. changed more than his memories. May insists that she would know if more about him had changed. “We need to root out all the secrets,” Coulson says.
May considers this.
“Agent Ward and I have been having sex,” she admits, but Coulson bolts out of the car in pursuit of Lumley, who, for this reason, we already despise. Lumley climbs a fire escape, but Coulson pulls a Lola and levitates beside him in the car; shockingly, he is relieved to learn that they are from S.H.I.E.L.D. “This is about the baby girl, isn’t it?” he asks.
Death in her wake
Back on the plane, Lumley tells them that he and Agent Avery went with a team to investigate a 0-8-4 in rural China, which an entire village had died to protect. The 0-8-4 was a baby girl, allegedly with powers.
After the girl was recovered, the members of the team were picked off one by one. To keep the baby safe, Lumley and Avery hid her in the foster system, with assurances that she would be frequently relocated. Lumley went off the grid after Avery died protecting the secret. He asks if the girl is safe; Coulson says she is.
“Then it was all worth it,” Lumley says.
Coulson agrees not to bring Lumley into S.H.I.E.L.D. Grateful, he advises them to stay away from the child, aka, Skye. “Wherever she goes,” he says, “Death follows.”
May tells Coulson that he can never tell Skye what they have learned. He is so going to listen to her.
Brewing up a storm
The Bus returns to the Academy. Fitz is fine, but pissed. Donnie and Seth have gone missing with the extremely dangerous Ice Device. Fitz suspects they have a financial backer.
He’s right. It turns out that Ian Quinn hired the boys to make the device; Quinn is angry that news of it got out, and backs out. He lies that he will extract them in exchange for a demonstration of the Ice Device, because he’s an asshole.
While the team realizes this, Coulson admits to Skye that he has been lying to her about her mother. Since he’s over the whole “withholding information” thing, he tells her about Linda Avery, the village in China, and the people who have died protecting her. Skye is devastated.
Let it go, or not
Seth and Donnie fire up the Ice Device, which initially does not work… but soon FitzSimmons see a massive storm brewing on the monitor, spied also by Weaver and Ward on the ground.
“We did it!” Seth says. “I did it,” Donnie says, stunned.
May flies the Bus straight down into the eye of the storm, to Donnie, Seth, and the Ice Device. The device explodes as Donnie tries to stop it, electrocuting Seth. Simmons tries to resuscitate Seth, but they cannot save him. A broken Donnie is taken to the Sandbox to be watched.
May makes sure Coulson knows she’s sleeping sweaty with Ward. “I trust you know what you’re doing,” he says. (Yeah she does.) May says she will end it if it becomes problematic.
May asks about Skye; Coulson said that her response was that her story started – not ended – with the devastating revelation. She has realized that S.H.I.E.L.D. is her family. Coulson is awed and inspired by Special Sparkly Skye; over his gushing monologue, it is revealed that Donnie Gill has gone Elsa, and now has ice powers.
Seriously, Quinn is an asshole
Coulson intercepts Quinn’s call to Donnie, and tells him that Quinn’s aircraft will be shot down by any country allied with S.H.I.E.L.D. Unfazed, Quinn coolly retorts that “The Clairvoyant told me to say hello.”