Things come to a head with Mac and Bobbi. While Mac keeps Coulson busy looking over Lola, Bobbi plugs a flash drive into the server, then uses a fancy laser to cut into Coulson’s desk and retrieve Fury’s tiny cube, which holds everything needed to relaunch SHIELD. Coulson uses the time to confront Mac about what he has hiding in the Little Lola. Mac insists he works for SHIELD, and Coulson gives the signal, causing the mechanics who just suddenly appeared in the garage to pull weapons. It takes him a moment to realize that Mac isn’t working with Hunter, but with Bobbi. He yells for May, and May finds Bobbi with the cube. The girls fight epically, but Bobbi “wins” when she pulls a cord on her outfit that sets off an EMP and shuts off the power. By the time the generators kick in, Bobbi is gone.
Things are in chaos. Bobbi reaches out to Gonzalez via a comm hidden in a fire extinguisher. Gonzalez is concerned about locating the girl. Bobbi then surprises Simmons in the locker room, playing the “We’ll be safer together” card. Simmons does a really good job covering the fact that she knows Bobbi is behind the craziness, and gets her to hold a couple little battery-type things. When the two touch, it electrocutes Bobbi and knocks her out. About this same time, Mac finds Fitz in the server room. He has found the flash drive, and Mac begs him not to touch it. May goes through Bobbi’s locker and finds, hidden in a false bottom, a gas mask. “They’re not trying to get out.”
Gas seeps into the compound. The wall beside Fitz explodes and Mac tackles him out of the way in the nick o’ time. An army moves into the base, handcuffing Coulson, securing FitzSimmons in the lab. May is hiding in the shadows, evading capture. This proves useful. She overhears Gonzalez and a few others talking about how Skye is at The Retreat. Calderon wants to bring her in; Bobbi insists on going – to provide a friendly face. May sneaks to the plane and uses the power there to radio a message to Skye – get the hell out.
Skye, meanwhile, has been bored out of her mind. So bored that she tries on Simmons’ magic gloves. They are tight and make her feel woozy. There is a knock at the door – Gordon. He is exceedingly polite, probably the reason she invites him in – cautiously. Gordon tells her that he is the same, but he had years to prepare for his transformation, he had a mentor. She defends SHIELD for putting her in this retreat, and for creating her special gloves. “Do those gloves protect you or the people around you?” He offers her the tools and understanding she needs to learn about herself, post-mist, but it is only if she wants to come. “When you are ready, I will find you.” He leaves in a flash of blue light.
When Skye hears from May, the panic in her voice sends her racing outside. Several planes are circling the area, looking for her. Bobbi is leading the ground team, and reminds everyone that Skye is still a SHIELD agent – so icers only. Skye is attacked by a soldier, and she uses her training to fight the guy back and disarm him. During the struggle, the soldier’s gun fires into the sky, and Bobbi and Calderon rush to the noise. Calderon fires a real bullet, which scares Bobbi and sends Skye into defense-mode. A shock wave erupts around Skye, knocking out everything, destroying trees, killing grass, and knocking Bobbi and Calderon back. Bobbi is alive, but Calderon was impaled with a splintered piece of tree. Skye is stunned, seemingly more afraid of her power than being hunted. She whispers for Gordon, and he appears, zapping her away with him.
Back at SHIELD, Gonzalez and Coulson meet in his office. The both seem to want the same thing; they just have very different ideas on how to achieve that. Gonzalez doesn’t trust Nick Fury and therefore doesn’t trust Coulson, who was made in Fury’s image. He believes that Fury’s secrecy led to SHIELD’s downfall; Coulson only blames Hydra.
Through a series of flashbacks peppered throughout the show, we see what happened under Gonzalez’s command the day that SHIELD fell. Bobbi and Mac were part of the mission to rescue Gonzalez from his aircraft carrier, but Bobbi was given a second mission from Fury directly. She was tasked with putting some bit of technology into the ship’s main servers, destroying everything related to SHIELD and sinking the carrier – which would kill everyone on board. Bobbi blindly follows the orders until the last minute, when Mac reminds her that things change and what may have been a good plan yesterday was not a good plan for today. Gonzalez still feels that Bobbi should complete her mission. Bobbi considers the options, then breaks the tech in half. “Maybe it should be a democracy,” she reasons. “This isn’t time to go down with the ship – this is time to stop this.”
Gonzalez admits to Coulson that he was wrong that day, and doesn’t want to be director. But that doesn’t mean he wants Coulson to be director, either. Since Coulson can’t or won’t open the toolkit, Gonzalez gives the cube to a guard to deliver to Weaver and Simmons. May bursts in, blasts Gonzalez and all the guards with icers, and frees Coulson from his restraints. She gives him a go-bag and smuggles him out a secret elevator hidden behind the wall. She promises to take care of FitzSimmons, and Coulson is gone by the time Weaver comes in. May surrenders.
Coulson makes it to safety – a beach bar, someplace tropical, where the drinks have too many little umbrellas in them. Hunter meets him there and pledges his allegiance to Coulson and his version of SHIELD.
You can check out the promo for episode 16 of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” in the player below. Titled “Afterlife,” the episode is officially described as follows:
“As Robert Gonzalez makes his move, Coulson must do whatever it takes to protect the future of S.H.I.E.L.D. Meanwhile, Skye’s journey to control her powers takes a surprising turn when she meets the enigmatic Inhuman named Lincoln.”
Written by Craig Titley and directed by Kevin Hooks, “Afterlife” is set to air April 7.
