This one could have easily been named The System, or the Sandwich. They went with The Hub. Which lacks a smidge of Chipotle Aoli, but it will do.
Coulson and his team’s relationship with the rest of SHIELD is made murky by actions that put the team in danger. In a test of loyalty Coulson sides with his team against the system he is supposed to be trusting.
Coulson is captured (on purpose? If so, that would be the first time an action movie has ever used the on purpose capture trick) and in his escape with May and Ward he leads recently exposed Agent Shaw on a dog sled trip back to The Plane. Simmons, grossly, removes important intel about a anti-weapon weapon from Shaw’s nose. This information is deemed top level by Coulson and SHIELD and therefore not something that can be discussed with the rest of the team. This lack of information sharing bothers Skye, but everyone else takes it in due course. May tells her that discussion might take place on The Plane, but at The Hub things are handled differently. The Hub, which is as it’s name implies, is a SHIELD super center with plenty of agents, and records. Including the redacted files of Skye’s long lost parents.
At The Hub, Coulson and his Level 7s (May and Ward) meet with the (famous) no nonsense Agent Hand. She gives them a Two Person mission to dismantle the Anti-Weapon weapon. The second person has to be someone who can dismantle a weapon like that on site (Fitz). Who happens to be having trouble walking through the door in the next scene.
Simmons puts on a brave face sends Fitz out on his mission with a sandwich. Ward and Fitz are on the ground being captured by whoever killed Uri, Ward’s former contact. Simmons and Skye are on The Plane commiserating about their lack of mission information when May kicks them off for, she claims, technical reasons. (But, it turns out she just wants to do Tai Chi). Skye leaves determined to get more information from Coulson. He stonewalls her and tells her to trust the system. Unsuccessful in getting the information from Coulson Skye gets Simmons to attempt some bad girl shenanigans. Meanwhile, down at the bar Fitz used a localized EMP to put out the power, and played the hero to get the power back on. Providing the two of them access to the base. On the way there they are attacked, and forced to hide in a gutter, where Ward throws Fitz’s sandwich away. Coulson goes to May for advice, which she gives through eye rolls and semi-meaningful glances. Back to Bad Girl Shenanigans which work out perfectly, if you consider flirting with a superior officer, shooting said officer with a tranquilizer dart, and getting caught by Coulson while downloading the information perfect. At least Skye showed the audience that she will put finding what was going on with her team above finding out about her parents, eventually.
Coulson went to Agent Hand to complain about the fact that there is no extraction plan set up for his guys on the ground. He’s told to trust the system. By this point Ward and Fitz have used their camouflage sleeping blanket to gain access to the base. While Fitz makes a high tech spy window, Ward discovers that there is no extraction team and they are on their own. May, armed with this information, Simmons, and Skye head to The Plane to plan their own rescue where they meet Coulson who volunteers to go along with them. Ward sees that Fitz has his own agent swagger as he dismantles the weapon and builds a new one. They fight their way out of the building to find insurmountable odds outside. All hope lost, The Plane arrives and saves the day.
Back at the Hub, Agent Hand asks the formerly tranquilized agent if Coulson’s team had escaped. He says yes and mentions that he thought they had no extraction plan for them. She says that Coulson’s team can make their own plan with a smile on her face.
Coulson tells Skye that a SHIELD agent is the woman who dropped her off at the orphanage, which turns out to be only part of the truth, since the file May is looking at in the next scene shows a dead woman. May promises him that she will help him get to the bottom of things. Coulson calls SHIELD records to get information about his Tahitian recovery, only to be denied.
I get the feeling that people who read these threads won’t think much of the fact that I thought this was a great episode.; I say that every week! In addition to some pretty good character development, and an exciting story, this episode was, by far, the funniest episode of the season. From The Sandwich, to Simmons’ awkward attempt to get away from Sitwell, the laughs just kept coming. It also set up how murky the relationship between Coulson and SHIELD is going to be. Hand’s smile seemed to imply that she was happy he went against orders to save his team. But, the system was set up to allow his two agents to sink or swim. People above Hand’s rank, might not be able to smile at his antics. Coulson wants to know what happened to him, and he is losing his trust of the system. I was surprised by how quickly the writer’s let Coulson gloss over Skye’s intrusion into SHIELD’s database. But, I suppose, it’s possible, they found a way to look around her “Web Browsing” phony stuff to see what she really looked at. They furthered Simmons and Fitz’s relationship, and forced Ward (who could have at least given a token chuckle to Fitz’s story) to recognize Fitz as stronger agent than he realized.
Skye’s defiance seems to be spreading not only to Simmons, but May and Coulson as well. They are willing to skirt the rules to get information about both Coulson and Skye. I guess that quest for the truth versus doing the job is going to be a common theme that runs throughout the run of the show.
[ul]
[li]“No need to go off on one of your socialist rants!”[/li][li]The dogless sled was funny.[/li][li]I like that they are pairing different characters together and seeing how they interact. Both the Simmons/Skye and Fitz/Ward stories were fresh for the show, and fun.[/li][li]Simmons flirting will be funny every time I watch it. “You have a nice… head”[/li][li]I’m pretty sure Agent Hand was testing Coulson, and hoped he would do what he did. But, I’m not positive. I do like that character, though.[/li][li]I think that’s the first time Coulson didn’t finish the “A magical place” catch phrase for Tahiti.[/li][li]Skye really spent a lot of time looking at those records. Couldn’t she have looked up the guys first, and then did personal business?[/li][li]“Little Bear”[/li][li]Bad Girl Shenanigans[/li][li]I really liked the sandiwch stuff. I laughed every time he brought it up. Although, it was sort of dumb, shouldn’t he have known about the smell thing? Or, I guess he is more mechanical, and doesn’t think of that sort of thing. (Also, see Rubles)[/li][li]“What beers do they have on tap here?”[/li][li]“Coulson, obviously I’m talking about Coulson.”[/li][li]“Those guards are attacking each other!”[/li][li]“I thought you’d say 5”[/li][/ul]