Things got a little rocky on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2, episode 2! Check out our recap and share your thoughts on “Heavy is the Head.”
Loose ends
May finds Hartley’s crashed jeep, but leaves Hunter to chase Creel. She gets within sniper-range, but Coulson orders her not to engage. Hunter is apprehended by the army, who set him up in a helicopter with Glenn Talbot.
Skye and Tripp return to the Playground and pass off the Quinnjet to Mack. Coulson wants him to figure out how the Quinnjet cloaking works, so they can fix the Bus’s stealth system.
Skye tells Coulson about seeing the strange symbols on the Obelisk, but he’s more concerned about Hunter being captured. If the mercenary talks, S.H.I.E.L.D. is screwed.
Hiding
Mack opens up the Quinnjet’s cloaking device. He wants Fitz’s help, but Fitz, still dazed and chattering to Simmons, claims he isn’t up to it.
Skye and Tripp are upset by his condition (Skye mentions that Simmons “abandoned all of us,”) but Mack has never known Fitz any other way.
Which hurts, guys.
Fitz and “Simmons” start working on a way to neutralize Creel, which is easier for him than the cloaking device. Mack tries to get Fitz’s help on the Quinnjet as he studies Creel’s files.
“Simmons” responds positively to the idea – and to Mack – but Fitz grows frustrated again. “I didn’t solve this today,” he repeats.
Prices
Talbot sweet-talks Hunter, who left the military because he “met a girl.” Talbot doesn’t want Creel, he wants Coulson, and is being backed by a very wealthy senator who can provide the means to get him. (Tabbing that one away for future reference.)
Hunter’s price: 2 million dollars and a proper burial for Isabelle Hartley. Talbot agrees.
Bad guys
Creel has absorbed properties of the Obelisk, and kills a waitress just by touching her. That’s bad.
Coulson also debriefs Hunter; Coulson already knows about the deal with Talbot, because he’s awesome. Hunter plans to bail once he gets revenge on Creel – and his money.
What remains
Skye cleans out Hartley’s quarters with Hunter. They find a picture of her sister and a necklace which belonged to Hartley’s mother, which Hunter takes.
Hunter tells Skye that she reminds him of Izzy, and he invites her to join the mercenary party.
“S.H.I.E.L.D.’s my life now,” Skye says.
“S.H.I.E.L.D.’s not a life,” Hunter keenly observes. “It’s just a job…. remember that.”
Treat or trick
Creel absorbs various substances, but none of them can heal the mysterious Obelisk-spot on his arm. He gets a call from Whitehall’s lackey, who promises that HYDRA will take care of him when they get the Obelisk.
Raina appears out of nowhere, as she does. She tempts him with carbine, a super-amazing-star-metal-thing. Creel warns her to stay away from HYDRA, and steals the carbine as the Obelisk material spreads further along his body.
Weird connections
At the Playground, Coulson dials a number sent from the HYDRA contact list. Raina answers.
She says she’s not working for HYDRA, but she doesn’t want the Obelisk falling into the hands of people who won’t understand it.
But you know who she thinks will understand it? Coulson.
Coulson realizes that Raina wants them to catch Creel… and has embedded a tracker in the carbine, to lead them right to him.
Wow, thanks Raina.
Piece by piece
Fitz and Mack struggle with a way to neutralize Creel. Mack is an interesting combination of supportive and pushy with Fitz, and it’s really weird to see him working with someone who isn’t Simmons.
Fitz keeps repeating that he “didn’t solve it today.” Mack realizes that Fitz means that he’s already designed a solution to this problem. They find the design on a tablet, which is… kind of easy.
Dirty, rotten scoundrels
May, Skye, and Hunter track Creel to Whitehall’s operative, who waits to take the Obelisk. Trip lurks above with the serious guns. It’s an acceptable plan until Hunter ICEs May, Skye, and Trip.
Uncool.
Creel is freaking out over the effects of the Obelisk, but his contact urges him to remember his training. “Compliance will be rewarded,” the British man says.
Creel breathes deeply. “I’m happy to comply,” he responds, and the dark stain on his skin fades.
Until Hunter shoots Triplett’s mega bullet at Creel, which literally doesn’t bother him at all. Creel chases Hunter and is about to Obelisk-touch him… but Coulson arrives and stabs Creel in the back with Fitz’s device! Creel turns to stone. Ta da!
Oh, and Raina makes off with the Obelisk.
Promises
Hunter watches Hartley’s burial and returns her mother’s necklace to her sister’s car. Coulson recruits him for S.H.I.E.L.D. It may not be a smart move, but Coulson needs assets, and both he and Hunter are interested to find out why Hartley vouched for him.
All Coulson needs Hunter to do is sell him out.
Resistance
Mack and Fitz discuss the anti-Creel device and Simmons. Fitz is thrown when Mack commiserates over losing a partner. He watches “Simmons” out of the corner of his eye, and says he’s dealing with it.
At Skye’s urging, May confronts Coulson. It has been 18 days since his last “episode,” and May tells him to stop fighting it.
Coulson relaxes as May locks down the office. She watches over him, recording his actions as he carves more symbols into the office wall.
(Which, it must be said, is not really what we thought those two would use a video camera for.)
Mist-ifying
Raina studies the Obelisk intently. A man with bloody hands tells her to pick it up. “I need to know,” he says, “And so do you.”
Trembling, Raina grasps the Obelisk. It glows a livid orange in her hands, dancing with the strange symbols. She is thrilled, but Bloody Hands tells her it didn’t work – it just let her live.
Raina asks him to show her how it works.
“Bring me my daughter,” he says, “And I’ll show you both.”
(Is the Obelisk really Terrigen Mist? Maybe it’s Terrigen Mist! We will probably have a new theory about this every week.)
To sir, with love
Coulson confronts Talbot in a field. Coulson gives him Creel, with more “gifts” to come if Talbot leaves S.H.I.E.L.D. alone. Talbot is unimpressed, until a heavily-gunned Quinnjet materializes in the sky – and another plane appears on the ground.
As a great man once said, “Booyah.”
Also…
The preview for next week’s episode indicates that Simmons is working for HYDRA, so we’ll just be sitting here chewing our nails until next Tuesday.