Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Episode 2.20 Recap, Scars

Coulson shares Theta Protocol with the team: it is a massive aircraft carrier. A little underwhelming, but okay. He reveals this information with the idea that he and Gonzalez could operate as one SHIELD. Coulson will remain as director, but Gonzalez will head up the council that he created.

Raina is a little happier now. She has learned to embrace her visions, though sometimes it is hard to know what is a vision and what is a dream. Last night she saw something that was like a stone, but not a stone, then it was like an ocean, with deep cavities carved into it. Gordon knows what she is describing and becomes alarmed. He takes her to Jiaying, who says what she saw is real. It is Kree, it is dangerous, and it is intended to destroy them. Gordon will try to find it, and Raina volunteers to help.

The pair blip into the SHIELD aircraft carrier. (So this Kree thing is Gonzalez’s “secret cargo.”) Raina recognizes this as the place from her vision, and they are looking for a red door. They hide, narrowly avoiding Bobbi and May, but then Hunter sees them. He sounds the alarms and Gordon blips them to a different part of the ship, which happens to be in front of the red door. They blip in and see the Kree… thing. Black and heavy like a solid stone, that can turn into a liquid and reform as a solid. They blip away for good.

Bobbi makes sure the Kree thing is heavily guarded. Gonzalez explains the stone is alien, discovered over 100 years ago, and has no idea what it is or what it is used for. Hydra was looking for it, so it can’t be good. Coulson asks Skye and Lincoln if they know anything about it. They don’t. Coulson and May take Skye aside, and Coulson admits he is nervous about her “new friends.” She tells him that “we” are called Inhumans, and it is clear that Skye is becoming defensive. She insists that the Inhumans keep to themselves because of what happened to the little girl in Bahrain, and stories like it – look what happens when people know about us. Coulson reminds her that they are not the enemy. Over in Afterlife, Gordon and Raina meet with Cal and Jiaying. They are scared, and much like how Coulson worries Skye is siding with the Inhumans, the Inhumans worry she is siding with SHIELD.

Using footage they got from Mike’s eye-cam, Weaver was able to build their own version of Hydra’s Gordon locator. They know where Afterlife is, and Gonzalez wants to attack. Coulson and Bobbi are against this idea – they don’t want to start a war. Coulson wants to talk with Jiaying, and suggests they use Skye as an intermediary, to set up a meet. Skye is hesitant, especially when Coulson tells her they want to put them on the index and find out how many there are. Skye insists on going alone, and admits that Jiaying is her mother. This surprises Coulson. He informs May, who is less than surprised, but wants to tell the council. Coulson makes an attempt to apologize to her, but she blows him off. She is clearly hurt, but she is also worried about Coulson – Skye is living proof that the alien blood inside him caused him to lose control.

Raina has another vision and races to tell Gordon: SHIELD is coming here, and Afterlife will be in flames. Gordon wants to tell Jiaying, but she begs him not to. Jiaying can’t be the one to talk to SHIELD; that is how the war starts. She suggests that she talk to SHIELD. Gordon seems a little dubious; after all, Raina is a manipulator. But Skye and Lincoln return to Afterlife, and Skye immediately needs to talk to Jiaying. Raina and Gordon exchange a look. Skye and Jiaying speak privately, and she begs her to sit down with Coulson. Jiaying isn’t interested, but Skye pleads with her. “Until now, he was the closest I’ve had to family.”

Coulson meets with the council to go over the plan on going in to Afterlife. Gonzalez doesn’t think he should be the one to go in; he is too close to Skye. He makes an analogy about the Avengers allowing Tony Stark to do what he wanted, with Ultron as the result (an unnecessary tie-in). The entire council agrees, including May. Coulson backs down gracefully and Gonzalez will go.

May finds Bobbi and tells her that Coulson wants them to scout ahead. As the plane is set to auto-land, May pulls a gun on Bobbi. She is really Kara – I guess she isn’t as autonomous as everyone thinks. The girls fight, the plane lands, and Bobbi gets off. The moment she is on the ground, Bobbi is shot in the head. By Ward. It is just a freezer gun; she isn’t dead, but Ward and Kara tie her up and take her away for some nefarious plan.

Cal is not thrilled that SHIELD is on its way. Jiaying wants to know if they can be trusted. Cal doesn’t like them, but they care for Skye, so they can’t be all bad. He does warn her against the index. She worries that denying the index would incite a war, so Cal gives her something to offer SHIELD as a sign of good faith: himself. Gordon warns Jiaying about Raina, and Raina is put under house arrest until SHIELD is gone, after which they will decide what to do with her.

Before they land, Gonzalez takes an “insurance” policy from Weaver and puts a small box in his pocket. Upon arriving, Gordon brings Gonzalez in to see Jiaying, and Skye is mad that Coulson isn’t there. Jiaying sends Skye and Gordon to deliver Cal to the agents outside while she and Gonzalez talk. She gets some sweet, fatherly words from Cal, then confronts May about Gonzalez, and wants to know why May isn’t in there. “Because we need someone objective,” is her answer, giving us the first, true sense at why May has been so bitchy lately. Not because Coulson didn’t tell her about some aircraft carrier, but because as much as she doesn’t want to admit it, she sees Skye as a daughter, the same way Coulson does. When Weaver takes Cal into custody, she discovers mysterious vials in his pockets, some sort of unknown liquid that Cal has been drinking.

Gonzalez agrees that what Hydra did to Jiaying was shameful, and suggests they share the same scars. To prove that SHIELD is not Hydra, he gives her the “insurance policy” – it is a traditional Chinese bracelet meant to protect the wearer from evil spirits. Jiaying had planned on giving it to Skye, but never got the chance. They found it amongst Whitehall’s things. Then Gonzalez launches into his speech, that SHIELD is there to protect the public against dangers, whether those dangers are from enhanced people or not. He wants to meet her people, learn about them, and keep a record of them so that if they try anything, SHIELD will be able to stop them. Jiaying considers this, and gives Gonzalez a gift in return, one that may even be worth indexing. She is passive-aggressively hostile as she shows him a blue crystal. They used the diviner to grow new crystals so more of their people could pass through the mist, but pieces of the diviner were embedded in the crystal – they couldn’t get it out. No big deal, because the diviner is harmless to Inhumans. Of course, it is a huge problem for humans. She breaks the crystal, and Gonzalez almost immediately begins to turn to stone. He manages to draw his gun, but his hand is stoney before he can squeeze off a shot. “You’ll get everyone killed you crazy….” is all he gets out before the stone consumes him. Jiaying breaks the gun from his hand and shoots herself twice in the shoulder. She stumbles out of her hut and gasps, “SHIELD tried to kill me. This is war.” She collapses to the ground.

You can watch the promo for the two-part Season Finale in the player below. In the finale, S.H.I.E.L.D. puts everything on the line to survive a war that blurs the line between friend and foe. Coulson and his team will be forced to make shocking sacrifices that will leave their relationships and their world changed forever. “S.O.S.” will air on Tuesday, May 12th on ABC.