Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - ...Ye Who Enter Here - Review

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “…Ye Who Enter Here,” was written by Paul Zbyszewski and directed by Billy Gierhart. This was another action packed episode that brings us right to the fall finale – and then a very long hiatus. At least we’ll have Agent Carter to pass the time! This episode answered a few questions, but also asked more questions. And of course, there was that terrific cliffhanger of Agent 33 ordering the Bus shot down. Hopefully, that question will be answered very quickly before the hiatus.

The episode begins with Skye (Chloe Bennet) dreaming. She’s running through an empty bunker in a flowered dress with bare feet. Unlike most of Raina’s (Ruth Negga) flowered dresses which tend to be dark, Skye’s has a white background. Raina’s usually smack of sex and the Orient while Skye’s seems like something out of childhood and the mid-west. Skye is looking for Coulson (Clark Gregg) and suddenly hears music that seems to be coming from a music box. She suddenly finds herself in the lab with Coulson and the box on the table. Coulson is holding a Chinese paper and tells her that the box is the mission. When he tries to touch it, she shoves it out of his reach. She’s sitting on the floor with the box, when suddenly May (Ming-Na Wen) and Coulson are holding a baby. May says the baby is poison fruit from the poison tree. They abandon the baby on the table. Skye then picks up the box and begins to turn to ash as if she’s holding the Diviner. Before she completely turns, Coulson wakes her up from her nightmare.

Does the dream simply illustrate Skye’s hopes and fears? Coulson and May are definitely parent figures to her. Is she worried they will turn against her because of her heritage? Does she feel that pull to Raina because of her father’s connection to her? Is Skye both hoping to be able to unlock the secrets of the Diviner and terrified that it will turn her to ash? I think we’ll want to revisit this dream again. Did anyone catch what was in the box when it fell open? Nothing happens in a Marvel show that isn’t important for later, right? Skye is definitely freaked out about the dream and says to Trip (BJ Britt) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) that she “Can’t shake this vibe like something really bad is going to happen.”

After the dream, we flash to a tiny version of Lola – complete with a mini-Coulson behind the wheel, driving down the hallway. Mac’s (Henry Simmons) latest attempt to get Coulson to let him work on Lola. Given the events of the episode, I’m beginning to wonder if Coulson maybe had a reason for not letting Mac work on her (see below). Mac is surrounded by couples who are making him crazy. He sees that Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) and Hunter (Nick Blood) are an item again and his foresees it ending badly. He also sees that Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) is avoiding Simmons.

Mac confronts Bobbi about Hunter as they leave on their part of the mission. She basically tells him it’s none of his business. But Mac says that while her personal business is one thing, he’s just wondering “if you’re bringing Hunter in on the other thing.” WHAT OTHER THING?!?! Please tell me we don’t have more HYDRA moles in our team! Actually I don’t think that is the case. Bobbi is adamant that she’s not bringing Hunter in – proving that she was lying to Hunter in the last episode. Mac then indicates that Hartley (Lucy Lawless) was also in on whatever this is.

The team has had to break up because there is so much going on. Coulson briefs the team to give them their assignments. It’s really interesting that Skye takes such a prominent role in the briefing – a good sign of how she’s basically leapt up the ladder at S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson tells the team about HYDRA’s plan. Trip as always lightens the mood by asking about the Bermuda Triangle, and Coulson off-handedly replies that they’d taken care of that in the 80s! Bobbi adds that Whitehall (Reed Diamond) had wanted an extinction level event and that the obelisk is dangerous on its own, even without the temple – which Coulson assured them they are going to blow the hell out of. Coulson replies, “One crisis at a time,” and that’s the first time we see Bobbi and Mac exchange meaningful glances. Are they concerned about Coulson’s strategy?

The team is forced to go in two directions – one team goes to Vancouver to rescue Raina and one team heads to the temple to destroy it. It’s always fun to see Patton Oswalt back as the Koenig brothers – Billy and Sam this time – because there have to be more of them, right? They manage to save Raina from Not-May-Agent 33 – also played by Ming-Na Wen now because Agent 33 is wearing a ruined nanomask of May’s face.  A shout out to the effects team for that amazing umbrella of invisibility! Kudos to the Wen for the double duty. Her final scene with Whitehall is particularly noteworthy as we see Agent 33 clearly afraid – she’s changed her demeanor and voice to create a new character, which isn’t helped by the prosthetic make-up – and kudos to the make-up department! Wen is able to convey a completely different character even with the make-up!

Skye is a little taken aback that Coulson isn’t taking her to the temple but sending her to get Raina. But she takes it like a professional – and doesn’t really talk back! She’s learning! May assumes that Coulson doesn’t want her anywhere near the temple, but Coulson is really more concerned with keeping her away from her father. The relationship between May and Skye has also really deepened – Coulson and May are really the parents Skye never had. Coulson tells May to keep an eye on Skye and May replies, “of course, I’m her SO.” But we all know it’s more than that.

It’s a nice little scene when the team splits up. Skye gives Coulson a quick hug. Bobby tells Hunter not to die out there. And Simmons and Trip give each other a little salute. I like how that relationship has developed into a fast friendship. In fact, I really like BJ Britt and keep hoping we’ll get more of him. Fitz and Simmons are going together with Coulson and look anywhere but at each other.

There are three amazing scenes in the episode for the Fitz/Simmons fans. Once again both De Caestecker and Henstridge knock it out of the park. I love how these two actors have moved from being largely comic relief to being so much the heart of the show. In the first scene Bobbi asks Simmons about Fitz. She asks how long they were “a thing.” Simmons is clearly cringing, but we finally get her side of the story. She tells Bobbi that he said something that caught her completely off guard and that she barely had time to process it before the water rushed in and the next thing that happened was Fitz in a coma for nine days. She tells Bobbi those were the longest days of her life and when he woke up he was confused and couldn’t speak. It would have been impossible for her to say anything then – it would have upset him and possibly confused him more. How could she know if he remembered saying he loved her or maybe he didn’t have those feelings anymore – we get a much clearer picture of her dilemma. Simmons clarifies that she’d never thought of him as anything other than her best friend.

I really liked Palicki in this scene. She responds to Simmons that she’s never started out as just friends. Bobbi intuitively picks up what Simmons doesn’t say – that she may have always thought of Fitz as a best friend, but it’s more now – even if she still can’t say it. Simmons proves this when she asks if it’s worth it to go through the roller coaster of love. Simmons has always played it safe. Declaring her love for Fitz would move their relationship in a different direction, and she wouldn’t want to sacrifice their friendship. Of course, they’ve mostly lost that now anyway. Bobbi gives her good advice, “at the very least you should be honest with him. If you don’t have trust…”

Mac and Bobbi almost seem to work together to get Fitz and Simmons back on the same page. It’s another great scene as the three of them are organizing the equipment and we see Mac in the background looking back and forth between them getting increasingly frustrated with the two of them. He finally strides out saying he can’t take the awkward silence!

Both start talking at once, and Simmons tries to explain that she didn’t leave before Fitz cuts her off and tells her that he’s leaving – but just the lab to work out of the garage with Mac. At first Simmons thinks he’s quitting, but Fitz would never do that. Simmons still doesn’t want to face that Fitz isn’t getting better and Henstridge is amazing as we see her eyes fill with tears. De Caestecker has been amazing all season and this scene is no exception. We see that Fitz really has an inner strength to recognize and accept himself for what he’s become. He tells Simmons that he can work for her, he just can’t work with her.

Once they are down in the temple, Fitz is trying to brief Coulson and gets stuck for words. Mac, however, doesn’t step in to help. Mac almost forces Simmons to do it, and suddenly they are finishing each other’s sentences again. It’s only one glance but I’ll still count this as the third Fitz/Simmons scene.

In Vancouver, the team arrives to collect Raina. I loved the scene in which Hunter takes out the HYDRA agent and then says, “Someone call 911… this man just passed out!” We get one of the big fight scenes in the episode as Skye takes on Agent 33. It’s great to see how her training with May has paid off. And kudos to the show here. Skye was introduced in the very first episode as just joining the team, and there was immediately a lot of concern that she’d become an instant agent. I think this fight has been a long time coming, and it’s completely believable that Skye, under May’s tutelage would be this good now. To top it off, she doesn’t quite win – Hunter has to come in to help her in the end. I also liked how Agent 33 stole May’s move from their fight together. Always tight writing on this show!

Skye and Raina have a couple of great scenes. We learn that the Diviner reads you DNA to determine if you are worthy to touch it. Does that mean – if Skye can touch it – that she is related to Raina – even if only distantly? Skye thinks it’s a trick to get her to touch the Diviner. One Raina realizes that Whitehall has the Diviner, she knows that they need her and she’ll be safe with them. She tries to run to the HYDRA agents and May takes the guy out with the van – you don’t mess with the cavalry!

I loved Trip’s face when Billy and Sam come on the bus. Koenig is terrific as always. I loved them discussing how creepy it would be for someone to have your face like Agent 33 and May! And Trip just staring at them! I also loved the “he’s shorter” that kept coming up. I also liked them telling Trip there were 13 of them and then dissolving into laughter – but it’s not clear whether that means there are more or less of them than that….

Raina tells Skye that the Doctor (Kyle MacLachlan) delivered Skye, so she has met her father. She also tells Skye that while he may be violent and emotional, he’s also misunderstood. She tells Skye that he saved her from being a petty criminal on the streets of Thailand, running with a bunch of “freaks.” Before meeting him, she was a lost soul, but she wasn’t a replacement for Skye. Skye is all he’s every wanted. Raina also clears up the question of whether they are alien – they aren’t. But there is a very old story about blue angels who came from the sky – and Raina finally, officially names the aliens as the Kree. Raina also tells Skye that only the worthy can enter the Temple – all others will be killed. Skye attempts to warn the team, but the tracker in Raina has allowed Ward (Brett Dalton) and Whitehall to find them.

The scene when Ward re-enters the bus is terrific. The air fairly vibrates with hate for Ward. It’s a beautiful shot of May and Skye in mirror image with their guns on Ward. I loved May telling Ward not to talk to Skye. Skye taunts him with “Pick a side,” and he tells her he has. Of course, he doesn’t really say which side he’s picked – and I still think his side is HER side – we just don’t see it yet. He insists that he won’t lie to her, and promises not to shoot the Bus down if she comes with him. May doesn’t want her too, but she insists. It’s another great moment between Wen and Bennet when Skye assures her that “Whatever happens, I can handle myself.” And it’s all because of May’s training. Negga has to get some recognition for the great work she does in this episode too, and I just wanted to slap her when she tells Skye not to forget her tablet.

Meanwhile, the other team is not fairing any better. It was fun seeing Coulson out of the suit and discussing crab filled plantain and hats with Bobbi. She clearly doesn’t quite know what to make of him. Their discussion is interesting and raised a lot of questions for me. She points out that Coulson does things very differently from how Fury did. Coulson tells her that he and S.H.I.E.L.D. really have one goal – to protect as many people as they can from what’s out there. We’ve heard him say it before. Bobbi presses that she wants to make sure that they are there to destroy the weapon not recover it. Coulson says he’d rather use a scalpel not a shotgun – to disrupt the local people and landscape as little as possible – but if he needs the shotgun that’s why he’s brought her. He tells her that his acceptable number of casualties is zero. So, is she probing to know more about him to report back to HYDRA or are she and Mac part of a faction of S.H.I.E.L.D. who don’t yet have faith in Coulson as a leader. He did act oddly while under the influence of the alien blood, perhaps some agents lost faith in his ability to lead? Or maybe they are looking for a change of leadership/directive? I wonder if this is going to dovetail into Agent Carter and the story of how S.H.I.E.L.D. came to be.

Naturally things go sideways in the temple. The drones are neutralized and Mac has to go down the hole. As soon as he touches the alien markings he’s infected by something. We have another great fight scene – and apparently Bobbi’s batons are also tasers! I had some hope that Mac was still salvageable when he’s able to tell Coulson to run before being completely turned into a killing machine. I felt terrible for Fitz when he’s the one with the real bullets and Coulson is yelling at him to shoot his friend. Bobbi doesn’t hesitate to jump in to save the rest of the team, which gives me hope as well that she isn’t HYDRA. I’m really, really disappointed if we’ve lost Henry Simmons. I liked what he brought to the show and to Fitz. Coulson insists they close the tunnel, maintaining that what fell down the hole was no longer Mac. Even if it was, it seems pretty unlikely he could have survived that fall.

All of our agents are in peril. Skye is taken by Ward and Whitehall, the Bus was just ordered shot down, and Coulson, Fitz, Simmons, Bobbi and maybe Mac are still in the alien-charged temple. Will they be allowed to leave? What did you think of the episode? What do you think is going on between Mac and Bobbi? Is Mac really gone? What side do you think Ward is on? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.