Fear led to anger; anger led to hate; and hate led to suffering on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2, episode 20.
Revelations
A coy flashback reveals that Theta Protocol was the construction of a Helicarrier. In the present, Coulson and Gonzales agree that the two S.H.I.E.L.D.s will merge, with Coulson acting as Director under the guidance of the council.
But there are still battles to be fought — namely Skye, Lincoln, and the people they represent.
At the Playground, Simmons finds that though Kara will have gaps in her memory, her mind is free of Hydra’s programming. Lincoln wakes up, distressed to find that he is in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. He tells an unnerved Skye that the only thing keeping their people safe was their secrecy.
Oops.
Dangerous things
At Afterlife, Raina has really started to own the whole “Clairvoyant” thing. She shares a new vision with Gordon, of “a giant stone, but not a stone. And then suddenly, it was like an ocean.”
Raina and Gordon seek out The Thing, as we’ll call it, which is a Kree device intended to destroy Inhumans. They find it contained on the Illiad, morphing between phases of matter.
Gordon and Raina escape, reporting to Jaiying that S.H.I.E.L.D. has The Thing. Cal accuses Raina of sowing chaos, but Jaiying intervenes.
The Inhumans have been bound for centuries, she says. S.H.I.E.L.D. “will not take that away from us.”
Fear takes root in both Afterlife and S.H.I.E.L.D. The agents know very little about The Thing, except that it is alien and was wanted by Hydra.
Coulson and May question Skye, suspicious of her loyalty to the powered people who can infiltrate their base in a blink. “We don’t even know what to call them,” Coulson says.
“Inhumans,” says Skye OMG OMG SHE SAID IT, including herself in that category.
And thus begins the fundamental misunderstanding. May believes that the Inhumans are inherently dangerous in their abilities; Skye suggests (correctly) that the Inhumans may just be afraid of The Thing itself.
Then Skye plays a very dirty card and confronts May about the dead little girl in Bahrain. Danger between agents and Inhumans, she points out, has gone both ways.
Losing control
The situation escalates when Agent Weaver tracks Gordon to Afterlife. Coulson is reluctant to engage, afraid of starting a war. But confronted with the fear of his colleagues, he agrees to meet with the Inhumans.
Acting more certain than he was with the Council, Coulson stresses to Skye the importance of assessing and Indexing the residents of Afterlife. Skye is frustrated at this protocol, but Coulson allows her and Lincoln to plead their case with Skye’s mother first.
Later, Kara is put in a cell and Mack resigns, adamant that he will not work under a man affected by alien technology.
Coulson tries to apologize to May, who bitterly, May explains what happened in Bahrain. She says that she would never have put Coulson down, but she should have put a stop to his alien obsession.
“I never lost control,” Coulson protests, but according to May, Skye is living proof that this is not true.
The two Inhumans depart for Afterlife, arriving as Jaiying orders something packed up. Skye asks her mother to meet with Coulson. Like Coulson, she has to argue a side she does not entirely agree with.
Jaiying shares her concerns with Cal, who urges her to attack S.H.I.E.L.D. when he hears of the Index. Jaiying says her people would never “follow her blindly into a war.” Cal volunteers to be turned over in order to protect his family.
False pretenses
Gonzales and the Council veto Coulson’s decision to meet with the Inhumans himself. Gonzales refuses to let one man’s desires affect the world, a la Tony Stark, and May agrees.
Simmons prepares to index the Inhumans at Afterlife; Fitz is intensely worried about her as are we. Simmons confesses her attempt on Ward’s life, but only regrets that she failed.
“The next terrible thing he does is on me,” she says.
The next terrible thing actually happens right then, when May takes Bobbi ahead on a Quinjet. Gonzales, Weaver, and Simmons leave for Afterlife; Weaver gives Gonzales a small red box he calls their “insurance policy.”
Meanwhile, May and Bobbi talk on the Quinjet, which this is weird because May is flying Gonzales’ Quinjet. May reveals herself to be Kara, furious at Bobbi for something she done in the past – possibly related to the brainwashing Kara experienced while Bobbi was undercover at Hydra.
Bobbi gets the upper hand, but is shot with an ICER by Ward when the plane lands. Thrilled to be back with Ward, Kara wants to kill Bobbi right away.
“Closure is about so much more than that. It’s about digging in, doing the work,” he says. “Then we’ll kill her.”
My own heart’s blood
At Afterlife, Gordon turns the tables on Raina, who has had a vision of the compound destroyed by S.H.I.E.L.D. He tells Jaiying, and A frustrated Raina is put under guard. “You’ll regret this,” she mutters.
When S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives, Jaiying turns Cal over to Gonzales; in the plane, the agents are confused to find his empty vials. “I hope your mother is everything you want her to be,” May tells Skye, tension and sadness heating the air between them.
Gonzales and Jaiying begin their parlay; he apologizes for what she suffered at Whitehall’s hands.
“We share the same scars,” he tells her, and offers the red box. It is a Chinese gift to ward off evil spirits, intended for an infant Skye.
Jaiying appears touched, and Gonzales says he wants protect the world from any bad individuals who may have gotten powers. “That’s why S.H.I.E.L.D. exists,” he says.
In exchange, Jaiying she shows Gonzales her own artifact – a blue Terrigen crystal melted down from the Diviner. “As some have said,” she says, with no lack of irony, “Discovery requires experimentation.” The crystal still includes traces of the Diviner’s metal – fatal to humans.
And then Jaiying shatters the crystal. Her rage surges to the surface as her “enemy” turns to stone.
“How dare you compare your scars to mine,” she hisses. She vows that she will never let what happened to her happen to Skye — or any of her people.
And so she shoots herself with Gonzales’s gun, staggering from the room as Skye comes running.
“He tried to kill me,” Jaiying gasps. “S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to kill me. This is war.”
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