What the heck just happened on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1, episode 17?? Check out our recap, and let us know your thoughts on “Turn, Turn, Turn.”
Here’s all the crazy stuff what happened on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1, episode 17:
Confessions
As Agent Garrett is pursued in midair by S.H.I.E.L.D. drones, Coulson, May, Skye, and Fitz continue their standoff from last week. May confesses that she was reporting to Nick Fury, but insists that redirection of the plane is from HQ, not her.
Fitz is forced to say that he set up an encrypted line to Simmons to hide their work on Skye’s GH-325 enriched blood. Coulson realizes that Simmons could be in serious danger, unknowingly surrounded by people she cannot trust.
Suspicious activity
Trip walks in on Simmons doing analysis on Skye’s blood, though she tries to keep it secret. Trip is suspicious that the subject of the blood hasn’t been sent to HQ, and – because poor Jemma still sucks at lying – quickly susses out what she is up too. He agrees to use his clearance to call Agent Weaver at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy for help.
Mixed signals
Back on the Bus, Skye finds that contact through S.H.I.E.L.D. lines is impossible – all the lines are scrambled with a secret signal. The team does manage to pick up Garrett’s distress call and heads to help him.
And then Coulson shoots May with an icer, still convinced that she is a mole. It is very painful to watch.
With the aid of some fancy flying, Coulson manages to pull Garrett’s bacon out of the fire, and the senior agent safely boards the Bus. Phew!
Unfortunately, Hand is also relieved. Now she can take out Garrett along with Team Coulson. One agent is upset about turning on men and women who were friends only days ago, but Hand says that her group swore allegiance to each other.
“Today that loyalty will be tested,” she says. Traitors will not be suffered in Victoria Hand’s ranks.
The beast
“What the hell???” says Garrett, as Coulson and the others try to fill in the vast, gaping blanks in their information. Coulson is convinced that Hand is the Clairvoyant, but Garrett strongly disagrees. Already, the acid of distrust is nibbling away at the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Finally, Skye has a breakthrough when she decodes the encrypted message spamming all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. lines. The message is one composed of only one word:
H.Y.D.R.A.
Now the team has some serious decisions to make. Garrett wants them to bail on the Bus and make a break for it, but Coulson says they can’t do that, as Simmons is still in the H.Y.D.R.A.-infested Hub.
“We’ll fly in there and face the music,” says Coulson. “Even if it is the H.Y.D.R.A. theme song.”
Buried
Coulson pulls May out of the cell to call Fury, as Fitz has fixed the encrypted line. May reluctantly makes the call as the Bus touches down at the Hub – but the man at the end of the line is not Nick Fury.
“Director Fury is dead,” he says, and Hand’s men open fire on the Bus.
The team hunkers down, trying to formulate a plan. Coulson yanks a bullet out of May’s arm and demands the truth. She says that Fury asked her to keep an eye on Coulson, and watch for “signs of physical or mental deterioration.” She insists it’s that simple, and maybe it would be, but Coulson correctly guesses that May knew about TAHITI.
“How could you do that to me?” Coulson demands, devastated. “I gave you a second chance when I assembled this team–”
“I assembled this team!” May spits back. “I evaluated what was needed, and I gave the assessment to Fury – and he gave you the parameters for your unit.” Agents who could repair Coulson’s body, reprogram his brain – and take him down, if necessary.
“I did it for you, to protect you,” May insists, tearfully. “You mean a lot to me.” Coulson would like to believe her insistence that she has nothing to do with H.Y.D.R.A. – but observes coldly that she has already used his trust against him.
Trust me
Simmons and Trip manage to hold out for a while in the lab. Simmons reaches her mentor, Agent Weaver, who says that S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy is under siege. “Don’t trust anyone,” Weaver implores Simmons, instructing her to lock the door and stay hidden. Their connection is cut by an explosion at the Academy.
Trip locks the door, scarring Simmons. He insists that he is trustworthy, and proves it by pulling a knife on Simmons – and then giving it to her. The relief does not last long, however, as Hand’s agents soon burst in on their hideaway.
Simmons and Trip are brought to Victoria Hand. “Hyrdra has successfully infiltrated SHIELD at the highest level,” she says, and offers them one chance to swear unwavering loyalty to H.Y.D.R.A. Simmons gives Trip a tiny nod… and he whips out a knife to hold at one of the agents’ throats, proving without a doubt that they are not and never plan to be agents of H.Y.D.R.A.
Thankfully, Hand has no such intention either. She isn’t H.Y.D.R.A. – but she’s pretty sure that Coulson is. Simmons protests, but Hand reels off back Coulson’s list of questionable decisions, rejected orders, and shadowy secrets. Hand is done with letting H.Y.D.R.A. strike first – now it’s S.H.I.E.L.D.’s turn.
Something brewing
After Skye wipes all of the team’s information from the Bus, she loads it onto a hard drive and gives the drive to Ward. They chat as they sneak through the Hub, setting charges. Ward feels terrible for shooting the not-Clairvoyant just to save Skye. The shipping seems strong with these two, and they agree to grab a drink when things are less betrayal-y. Ward then takes out twelve agents to prove his love for Skye.
A change in the wind
Coulson, Garret, May, and Fitz infiltrate the security-camera room. Fitz searches for Simmons on the feeds which Garrett makes a case for taking out Hand immediately. “This is a battle for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s soul,” he says. And then he starts attributing every crime we’ve seen on the show to Agent Hand, including “brainwash[ing] that bitch in the flower dress.”
Coulson goes ashen. “I never told that to anybody,” he says. He realizes that Ian Quinn promised that Coulson would lead the Clairvoyant to his cure – and he did. Garrett walked right into the hidden safe house with them.
Garrett sighs. “Dammit,” he says, as though he has just dropped a penny. He then tells the incoming S.H.I.E.L.D. team that they know what to do – and then half of them take the other half out.
“Heil H.Y.D.R.A.,” Garrett says.
Oh, ****
Now in charge of the situation, Garrett makes a halfhearted case for switching sides – it would be a shame to have to kill his old buddies.
Coulson, of course, swears that he will never join H.Y.D.R.A.. May is obviously following Coulson wherever he goes, and a weeping Fitz stays strong as well. Garrett is about to unleash the firing squad when when Skye’s explosions go off.
A fight breaks out, and Garrett almost strangles Coulson, until Fitz tosses him that stunner-gizmo from “0-8-4.”
Hand’s people (and Simmons) come in too late to be helpful, but they did hear everything and know that Team Coulson isn’t H.Y.D.R.A. The H.Y.D.R.A. agents, including Garrett, are marched out of the Hub; Ward and Trip are devastated about Garrett’s betrayal.
Staying alive
In the aftermath, Hand and Coulson take stock. Most of S.H.I.E.L.D. has fallen, though the Fridge is still secure. Ward, who “wants to see [Garrett] suffer,” accompanies Hand to the maximum security prison.
The rest of the team licks their wounds on the Bus. Coulson orders Skye to restore as much tech as possible, and tells Fitz to have the Bus patched up. He allows May to stay on board – “You’re not a friend,” he says coldly, “But I do believe you’re an ally.”
“What are we planning to do next?” May asks, speaking for the desperate audience.
“Survive,” Coulson says simply.
The rest is silence
On the plane to the Fridge, Agent Hand makes what may, in retrospect, be her only bad decision. She offers Ward the chance to kill Garrett right there on the plane, and Ward takes the opportunity to rip our hearts out choose a side.
Ward murders Hand and her agents in cold blood, and then nods slightly at Garrett.
In the tag Garrett babbles happily about nothing. Ward gazes at Hand’s corpse, hearing absolutely nothing.