Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns tomorrow night, so I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at the two hour season finale of season two. It was a really satisfying conclusion to the season, solidifying the place of inhumans in the universe, and of course, leaving us with that incredible cliffhanger with Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge).
Part one of “S.O.S” was written by Jeffrey Bell and directed by Vincent Misiano, and part two was written by showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and directed by Billy Gierhart. Whedon, Tancharoen, and Misiano will be teaming up for the season three premiere, “Laws of Nature.” One of the real strengths of the show for me is the continuity and that flows from having such a tight team behind the cameras.
“S.O.S” picks up immediately from the action in “Scars” and doesn’t slow down for most of the two hours. Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) stumbles out after having killed Gonzales (Edward James Olmos), accusing S.H.I.E.L.D. of double crossing them. Skye (Chloe Bennet) wants to go talk to Coulson (Clark Gregg) but Jiaying insists Gordon (Jamie Harris) is taking care of it. Jiaying also refuses Simmons help. Of course, this is because we find out how she is horrifyingly healing herself by sucking the life out of people.
Naturally, Coulson is adamant at all times that he doesn’t want things to escalate, so he tells May (Ming-Na Wen) to just get everyone out. Meanwhile, Gordon steals a jet and destroys all the evidence of Gonzales’ murder – and a number of their own people to make it look good.
Jiaying continues to manipulate Skye by questioning her loyalty, setting her up for a confrontation with May. This is an excellent fight scene between the two – something the season really lead up to. In the end, in order to beat her mentor, Skye has to resort to using her powers.
The episode has action on three to four sides in the episodes as we see Jiaying rallying her people; Coulson at the base; Ward (Brett Dalton), Kara (Maya Stojan), and Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki); the ship with Weaver (Christine Adams), Oliver (Mark Allen Stewart), and Mack (Henry Simmons). Who else is thrilled that Simmons is back as a regular this season? When we first see him, Mack is anxious to get off the ship and be done with S.H.I.E.L.D. until he hears of Gonzales’ death.
It was interesting to watch how everyone reacted to the failed talks. Simmons immediately wanted to blame Gonzales. Weaver, of course, defends him, and Coulson agrees that Gonzales was smarter than what seems to have happened. He reiterates that they aren’t going to take action or start a war until he understands the situation. Coulson doesn’t believe that Skye is working against them. It’s also Coulson who looks beyond the monster to what really is driving Cal (Kyle MacLachlan). Gregg, as always, is terrific throughout the episode as the cool, level-headed and fair-minded leader. He’s completely invested in the character which is so important to make a show like this work.
Kyle MacLachlan is simply outstanding in this episode as he was all season. From his ‘slightly’ crazed singing of “A Bicycle Built For Two” to his full blown monster attack, he just gave 100% to every aspect of this character – both the anger and the sorrow that overlay his abiding love for his daughter. Coulson is quick to realize that Cal is there as more than a peace offering. Simmons has analyzed the ‘cocktail,’ which is an “ill-conceived attempt at super-strength.” Cal admits that he’s really there to take out as many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as he can but mainly Coulson.
Coulson sees what’s really going on and tells Cal that Jiaying is the real monster for always having Cal do her dirty work. After Cal collapses, Simmons gives him adrenaline to revive him, and it’s what he was waiting for to really activate his ‘cocktail.’ Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) gives Coulson an icer and it’s pure Coulson when he replies that he’s not hopeful they’ll stop him, figuring it will “probably just piss him off.” Which of course, it does. Coulson sends Fitz and Simmons away as he continues to try to get through to Cal. He reiterates that Cal doesn’t have to do Jiaying’s bidding and adds that this isn’t what Skye would want. Cal maintains that doing what Jiaying wants makes him happy.
I loved Coulson finally pinning Cal with an SUV and then pinning the SUV in place too. He keeps telling Cal that he’s not a monster, telling him that they want the same thing – to protect Cal’s daughter – and that he knows deep down that Cal’s a good man. Cal finally gives in and explains that he put Jiaying back together – literally piece by piece – after Whitehall, but she was forever changed. Before Whitehall, village elders would volunteer their life force for her to drain and she would be devastated at having to take it, but after, she had no problem just taking lives. Cal says even he had to be better – he had to take the formula to please her. Cal gets loose, and there’s a nice moment of will he or won’t he, which MacLachlan makes the most of – before Cal asks to help Coulson.
Lincoln (Luke Mitchell, also joining as a regular this season!) is mad at Skye, accusing her of knowing what was going to happen. Jiaying defends her. Skye does want to know what comes next and goes to talk to Raina (Ruth Negga). Raina says she knew it would all fall apart but also knew that Skye wouldn’t have believed her. She tells Skye, “You and I have spent our whole lives looking for our destiny and I finally have the answer. It is the thorn who protects the rose – or the Daisy in this case.”
Raina has accepted that her own destiny is to help Skye achieve hers. I loved her telling Skye, “Your mother isn’t leading our people, she’s MISleading them.” I loved this line because of the double meaning of misleading. Jiaying is lying – and misleading in that sense – but she’s also leading them in the wrong direction, so misleading them in that sense too. Negga has been excellent on the show and I was really sorry to see her go. The only solace was that it could not have been fun to have to deal with that make up!
Skye goes back to Jiaying with what she’s learned from Raina. Jiaying tells her she wants to take the fight to S.H.I.E.L.D. but she needs Skye by her side. She gives Skye the talisman that Gonzales had given her and tells Skye to bring it back when she decides to join them. Jiaying then meets clandestinely with Raina. Negga’s final scene was a nice closure for her character – though I couldn’t help wishing they’d find a way to save her.
Raina tells Jiaying that only Skye can save the inhumans from destruction. She tells Jiaying that her mother always told her that she was an angel and she’s finally embraced that because angels are guardians and heralds. She is planning on telling all the inhumans exactly what Jiaying is. “Even in the darkness, the will see the truth.” Jiayning stabs Raina in the throat to shut her up, but she’s already exposed Jiaying to Skye who has watched the entire exchange.
It would have been fun to see Raina as herald and guardian for Skye, but then, it would be too easy if you had someone who could always see the future! Not surprisingly, Skye refuses to have any more to do with Jiaying, so Jiaying has her knocked out and restrained. Jiaying then initiates the assault on the ship.
Meanwhile, back at the base, Fitz and Hunter (Nick Blood) have been trying to find Bobbi. I love the two of these guys together, finishing each other’s sentences! They quickly realize that Kara has taken Bobbi with May’s face and May and Hunter head off to find her.
Ward has continued his rehabilitation of Kara by devising a way for her to get payback and closure from Bobbi. Bobbi had to sacrifice the location of the safehouse that Kara was in to protect other information while undercover at HYDRA. Palicki is fantastic in this episode as we see more layers to her character. She clearly regrets that Kara was taken by HYDRA and what was done to her, but Bobbi points out that they all take the same risks when they become Agents. She maintains throughout that she’s do it again because it was the right call because it saved the maximum number of lives. Two things really stood out for me in this episode. The first was that Bobbi flat out tells them that even if she confesses after the anesthetic wears off – and just how diabolical and hideous was Ward’s torture!?!?! – she won’t mean it. I loved that she took it back even before she could be forced to say it! The second was Bobbi’s bravery in taking the bullet for Hunter.
Kara maintains that she will stand with Ward no matter what. Another one of the best fights of the season was the one between Ward and Bobbi. Kara jumps into the fray, and the fight ends when Ward stomps on Bobbi’s leg. Ward decides the time has come and gives Kara the gun. Kara can’t shoot, however, because Bobbi is bravely looking her in the eye – she’s not sorry for what she’s done and she’s not afraid to die, so Kara is getting no satisfaction out of killing her. Ward then devises the plan to have Bobbi witness someone dying for her actions and sets the booby-trap.
Hunter is determined to go after Bobbi when her cell phone pings even knowing it’s a trap. Both Ward and May are focused on killing each other. May sets Ward up by duping Kara into assuming May’s face again. There’s a terrific parallel scene as Ward clutches the dying Kara and Hunter holds the critically injured Bobbi. Both women are shot, ostensibly by the men holding them who love them. Dalton is absolutely terrific in this episode. He plays the razor’s edge of madness, yet underneath it, he clearly has grown to love Kara. We next see Ward in the final moments of the episode. He is clearly still grieving for Kara, and it’s fueling his rage against S.H.I.E.L.D. He decides that he is tired of being alone and vows to rebuild HYDRA.
It looks like the spin off with Hunter and Bobbi is going to happen, which makes me both happy and sad. More of Palicki kicking ass and taking names is appreciated, but I’m liking them both amongst the dynamic of the team. However, with Bobbi telling Hunter that she doesn’t want to be an Agent anymore, it looks like the writing is definitely on the wall for the two of them to ride off into the sunset together even though they are also listed as regulars on S.H.I.E.L.D.
On the ship, Mack just happens to stumble upon the boarding party, carrying an unconscious Skye whom he recognizes by her bracelet. Henry Simmons is fabulous in this episode and has some of my favorite lines. When he encounters Alisha (Alicia Vela-Bailey) splitting in the corridor, he deadpans, “I can’t wait to get off this ship.” But Mack, like the rest of our heroes is no coward, and he arms himself with a protective vest and a huge ax.
Gordon, who’s been in on the plan in its entirety from the beginning, takes the ship for Jiaying who then arrives with a case of crystals. Lincoln reports that there’s a rescue beacon going out, and Jiaying wants Weaver to expand it to draw all the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to the ship. In order to make her comply, she kills Oliver with one of the crystals.
Gordon and Lincoln consider the black obelisk in the hold. Gordon defends Jiaying, but Lincoln is clearly having problems with the mission. Gordon says Jiaying is just doing what she needs to to protect their people and that it’s nothing that S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t done themselves. Gordon reminds Lincoln about how far Jiaying went to save him – sounds like some backstory we need more information on!
Mack frees Skye – nicknaming her Tremors, which I love! He tells her that he understands that she made the best choice she could based on the information she had. Lincoln finds Skye and zaps her. It doesn’t take much for her to convince Lincoln to join their side. She tells him the truth. She points out that Jiaying is suddenly already healed and then tells him she killed Raina. She reminds him about what Jiaying has already done with the crystals. Lincoln gives up the location of the crystals, but before Skye can stop him, Mack knocks Lincoln out, saying, “I’m in a crack heads first, ask questions later frame of mind…”
For those of us who had been waiting all season for some clarification between Fitz and Simmons, we got teased by two scenes. Simmons tells Fitz to be careful before he sets off with Coulson to try to stop Jiaying. Fitz tells her straight out, “I won’t be safe. I’ll get the job done.” How far he’s come since his first field assignment with Ward! Simmons tells him that seeing Bobbi and Hunter made her come to a realization. She reminds him that they’ve never really spoken about what he said at the bottom of the ocean.
Fitz’s reaction is priceless. “This? Now?” Bad timing Simmons! She tells him that it means a lot to her that they’re still friends and wants to talk about it when he returns. Fitz doesn’t think there’s anything to discuss, but she grabs his hand as he’s leaving and suggests, “Maybe there is…” Do not toy with our boy Gemma!! Coulson interrupts them by coming to fetch Fitz.
The end of the episode features a super-awkward Fitz following up by asking Gemma out to dinner so they can talk, but not before he falls up against the door to the obelisk, accidentally opening it. Simmons agrees to dinner, but the episode ends with her being sucked in to the black goo!! Thwarted again! Of course, this opens the possibility for Fitz to obsess over his responsibility for her disappearance – and to be the one to rescue her.
On the way to the ship, Fitz detects a message from Skye in the distress call warning it’s a trap. Coulson sends all the other jets back. Jiaying meanwhile orders the crystal mist released to kill everyone on the ship. Skye calls Jiaying on what she’s doing, but Jiaying insists that she’s only killing those getting in her way. Jiaying leaves Skye behind with Alisha. Cal insists that Jiaying be left to him and he tries to convince her to stop, but she’s too far gone.
Skye is fighting Alisha when May and Lincoln show up. It’s another great fight scene, and I really liked the use of slow motion in this one. Skye has a brief moment to apologize to May who is understanding. Lincoln releases the incapacitators on Skye’s arms, and Skye goes after Jiaying. This was yet another great fight scene. In the end May is about to shoot Alisha when Lincoln stops her, saying, “We’re not bad. We’re mis-lead.” Once again using that double meaning. Lincoln zaps Alisha instead to subdue her.
Skye tries to get through to Jiaying, telling her it’s all about hate, not saving their people. Jiaying won’t listen and begins to suck the life out of Skye. Skye breaks away to use her powers to push the plane with the crystals off the ship. Of course, by the end of the episode, we see that the crystals have dissolved and been absorbed by fish and then made into fish oil capsules. It was easy to see that pushing the plane and crystals into the ocean was going to be a bad solution, but what will this mean going forward? A lot more inhumans seems most likely, but will people without latent powers be turned to ash or gain powers?
Jiaying tries again to kill Skye, and it’s clear that Skye is struggling with the likely necessity of killing her own mother. Cal arrives in the nick of time and does what he’s done all along – he protects Skye regardless of the cost to himself. He spares her the pain of having to kill her own mother and he sacrifices the love of his own life.
Mack is guarding the crystals when Gordon suddenly zaps in. I absolutely adore the shot of Henry Simmons sitting on the crate – and the exchange between the two when Mack introduces himself as “I’m the guy who kills Gordon.” Interestingly, Gordon senses that Mack has come into contact with something Cree, so I wonder if this is going to play out more this season?
Coulson and Fitz arrive, and I can’t wait to have more banter between these three. Mack asks what took them so long, and Coulson tells him, “It’s a big boat with poor signage.” Mack tells them he’s been guarding the crystals and they won’t want to use guns because of the ricochets. Meanwhile, Fitz is running about sticking things on the wall and Mack asks what he’s doing. Fitz tells him they’re quantum field disruptors. Mack sarcastically wonders why he didn’t think of it, and Fitz tells him, “That’s ok. You’ve been busy and you’re not a quantum physicist. Completely understandable.”
Gordon materializes and gets a couple of good shots in before Fitz activates the device and Gordon is trapped – which both shocks and pisses him off! Gordon ends up materializing on Fitz’s pipe and drops the crystal he had in his hand. Coulson throws himself and catches it in the air and his arm immediately starts turning to ash. I may or may not have screamed at my television the first time I watched this. However, it seems that Mack, at least, may have been watching
The Walking Dead because he immediately takes the gigantic ax he’s been carrying around and lops Coulson’s hand off!!
The next we see Coulson is talking to Andrew (Blair Underwood). Coulson is still coming to terms with the loss of his hand, but is exploring his options. Hmmmm – bionic Coulson? We learn that Coulson convinced Mack not to quit – Coulson jokes that Mack owed him for cutting off his hand without asking. Andrew says that Mack still has a deep distrust of all the alien artifacts, and we learn that Coulson has put Mack in charge of their safe-keeping. We learn that May has asked for some time off, and Andrew affirms that it’s time for her to discover the world outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. I loved the shot of May packing her things and almost leaving her gun but going back for it.
The final scene between Cal and Skye is just terrific. MacLachlan and Bennet both knock it out of the park. He tells her that he knew he wasn’t getting a Hollywood ending, but it was all worth it because she’s even better than he imagined – and he imagined her as perfect. He tells her, “You’re way more interesting than that.” He goes on to tell her that it was his love of family that drove him mad.
He knows that he’s going away for good, but he hopes that she’ll come to visit. Skye promises that she will. Cal begins, “That would be….” And Skye finishes, “let me guess – the best day ever. You have a lot of them.” Cal replies, “No. Just one. July 2, 1988.” Skye’s birthday. Both cry as they embrace and then Cal walks away. The kicker here is that we think he’s simply going to prison – but he’s not.
The next time we see Cal, he’s a veterinarian – Dr Winslow. He doesn’t recognize Skye when she shows up, and she introduces herself as Daisy – fully embracing her identity. We learn that Cal has been through the T.A.H.I.T.I. program. We also learn that Coulson is putting Daisy (I’ll no longer be referring to her as Skye) in charge of the Inhumans. She insists that they need to be anonymous – not out in the open like the Avengers. It’s interesting to see Daisy driving Lola, but Coulson still has just the one hand…
These were two terrific episodes to finish the season on! Lots of the terrific action and great one liners that really make the show for me. But also a story about love and family and what hate can do to you. I’m very much looking forward to this new season. I’m hoping that it won’t take too long to find Simmons and that the Fitz/Simmons storyline also gets resolved or at least moves ahead! Can’t wait to see Daisy and Mack in their new positions. I’m really hoping that Bobbi and Hunter will remain front and center for a good part of the new season. Can’t wait to see what Ward brings as their bigger than ever nemesis! I hope that May won’t be gone long and that she and bionic! Coulson are back to the team we remember from season one. What are your hopes for the new season? 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, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. 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.
