Tonight’s episode opens with Bobbi and Hunter in police custody in Moscow, then tells the story of how they got there in a series of flashbacks, interspersed with scenes of them “now.” This format only lasts for about half the episode; then it all becomes chronological. For the purposes of this recap (and my own sanity), I’m just going to go chronologically.
Thirty-four hours earlier…
Bobbi and Hunter are running across the Siberian tundra. They spot Malick’s convoy, which Fitz is tracking from the Cocoon. They figure that, because of its desolate location, the “sanctuary state” Malick is building for Inhumans is actually a prison camp. I can’t believe it took them this long to figure that out.
After three hours, Malick and his men finally arrive at their destination, some kind of massive facility that is well-guarded and shielded from thermal readings and other tech. Hunter wants a green light to kill whoever they find, but Coulson squashes that – it would be an act of war. He tells Bobbi and Hunter to find out what Malick is up to. After some idle chit-chat about when was the last time they took a vacation, they see a prisoner being transported into the facility. Four soldiers find them, and they beat the hell out of them. Over their walkies, it is announced that the cabinet ministers have arrived. May lands the plane and picks up Hunter and Bobbi. Daisy, Mac, and Bobbi will go into the facility, find the security hub, and see what Malick and his goons are up to. May and Hunter patrol the perimeter together.
May and Hunter hide in a huge shipping container, where they find a dead guy in a suit. May recognizes him as the Russian Prime Minister’s personal attaché. Inside the facility, Daisy is tasked with hacking a Russian computer system while Mac stands guard. Since Bobbi is tall, blonde, and speaks Russian, she dons a coat and hat and rolls out.
Bobbi finds Malick talking to the Russians, assuring them that if reservations weren’t created, Native Americans would have been wiped out. He hopes that this will be a reservation for Inhumans. The attaché was assigned to shut down the project. The Prime Minister is against it because his opposition is for it. Petrov had the general in charge of the Ministry of Defense kill the attaché – the general just happens to be an Inhuman. He wants Malick to smooth things over with the Prime Minister, but Malick can’t help; it is “bigger than any single country’s fate.” He wants to ally with Inhumans because Malick believes they are the key to their survival. He wants the general to be their leader.
In the Cocoon, over the bug that Bobbi planted, Coulson hears this plan and realizes that Malick is staging a coup.
May and Hunter are still in the shipping container and sniping at each other over the meaning of friendship and sacrificing for SHIELD. Bobbi lets them know that Malick and his group are on the move. Bobbi follows. In the security hub, Daisy is working on hacking a locked door for Bobbi, and watches on CCTV as Malick frees the general from his imprisonment. Simmons says that it looks like the general snapped the neck of the attaché, but did so without touching him. Some kind of telekinetic power? Mac sees the general move out of the room – and sees his shadow move separately. Later, Simmons figures out it is some sort of dark force that can change mass at the general’s whim.
Helicopters fly to the compound, but not military choppers. The Prime Minister’s detail. Coulson realizes that the hit on the Prime Minister is going down right here, right now. He tells May and Hunter to let Malick go; right now their mission is to protect the Prime Minister. He is walking into a trap.
The Prime Minister meets with the traitors, and SHIELD is all there. They roll out the smoke bombs and move in. Hunter grabs the Prime Minister; Bobbi takes the general while FitzSimmons prepares the containment unit. The other agents fight their way out.
The general is not happy being told what to do. He makes his shadow move off the wall. It swirls, like it is made of dust, and throws Mac against the wall, knocking him out. Bobbi and Daisy tend to him while talking with Simmons – how can they fight it if it is non-corporeal? They are powerless against the shadow creature, so they have to go to the source: kill the general.
The shadow creature next attacks Hunter and the Prime Minister. Hunter tries to fight it, and finds it useless. Bobbi rushes to help the only way she knows how: kill the general, despite him being surrounded by Russian military. As soon as she lays bullets into him, she surrenders, dropping to her knees, hands on her head. It worked though – the shadow disappears and the Prime Minister is safe, but Hunter is also arrested. It’s a little disappointing that this Inhuman was taken out so easily; could have been a good villain. I think the effect was just too expensive.
Hunter and Bobbi are in separate interrogation rooms. Bobbi is evasive; Hunter insists that he and his lady were just hunting mushrooms for his famous mushroom soup. They are interrogated for hours, and the investigator shows Bobbi the photo of the dead attaché. She insists she didn’t kill him, which the investigator takes as a confession that Hunter killed him. Bobbi is furious, but mostly at herself, for putting Hunter in danger. Hunter is being dragged out of his cell, despite his insistence that he has never seen that guy before. The investigator tries to break Bobbi again, trying to get her to admit that she is part of SHIELD, working in secret. She won’t.
Hunter is brought into Bobbi’s interrogation room. She looks like she is going to cry. They clutch hands but both have come to the same conclusion. There is no way out.
Secretly, the President of the United States is meeting with the Russian Prime Minister and Coulson, who is there as a consultant to the ATCU. The Prime Minister still believes that SHIELD is alive and well, and he believes that the new arms race is for Inhumans. The President points out that he was saved from would-be assassins; he should be thankful. The Prime Minister doesn’t care. When this goes public it will weaken the Russian position. He wants someone to pay for what happened here.
Coulson goes in to speak to Bobbi and Hunter. He introduces himself, then hits a switch in his hand, scrambling the audio and video feeds so the three of them have a few minutes of privacy. He has an escape plan in place. It means that they will be done in the field and have to live on the run. Hunter and Bobbi flatly decline this. The right thing for them to do is take a bullet for SHIELD. Coulson doesn’t like it, but accepts it. He turns the cameras back on and hands them over to the inspectors. Coulson informs the inspectors that Hunter and Bobbi don’t work for a government agency. They never have and never will, but thank them for sacrificing their “vacation” to keep the Prime Minister safe. They are free to go.
Coulson returns to his team on the ship, who are all concerned because he is not with Hunter and Bobbi. He informs them that they are not coming back. They have officially been disavowed. They can walk free but they can’t be agents. Frankly, that sounds a lot better than living on the run. You can’t really be an agent like that, either. At least this way they can pick up some side mercenary work or something.
In a very touching scene, Bobbi and Hunter are having a drink at a bar, when a waitress brings them a shot from a “secret admirer.” Looking around, they see Simmons in a back booth. She smiles discretely at them. The waitress brings more drinks. Fitz, May, Daisy, Mac, and Coulson are all spread out through the bar, separate. Bobbi smiles. It’s a “spy’s goodbye.” She and Hunter raise a glass, and around the bar, SHIELD does the same. Then the agents file out separately, leaving Bobbi and Hunter alone. But hey, at least they have each other. And their upcoming own show.
In the final scenes, Malick is skeet shooting with his daughter. She knows that SHIELD got in the way in Russia, and Malick doesn’t want to talk about it. She wants to meet “you know who,” and what the plans are. Malick is confident that Coulson has no idea Ward is back, and his daughter is pleased. He is going to change the world.
You can watch a preview of next week’s episode, titled “Watchdogs,” using the player below!
