‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’ 1.07 Episode Recap and Review: The Hub

The SHIELD team goes where the magic happens on this episode of Agents of SHIELD!

The team extracts a SHIELD agent in deep cover who’s carrying a data capsule full of information on a group of militant separatists in Eastern Europe. Both the data and the agent are destined for one of the major SHIELD offices, this one known as The Hub.

On arrival, half of the team is taken into the situation room by none other than Victoria Hand. The other half, FitzSimmons and Skye, don’t have the clearance, so they’re left out of the briefing. According to the retrieved data (many Bothans died to bring them that information), the separatist group plans to use a massive device called Overkill to take over any weapon in its range. The group is too organized for a full-on SHIELD strike to work, so they want a two-man team to go in. One of those people has to be extremely well-versed in computers and engineering, so Fitz is tapped to be on the team.

Ward and Fitz find themselves in a bar, looking for their contact to ensure their safe passage across the border. Their contact is dead, but Fitz manages to get them in good with the local mafia by fixing their power in the middle of the big game. (Of course, he conveniently neglects to mention that he’s the one who knocked it out in order to create that particular bonding opportunity. Well done, Fitz.)

Meanwhile, back in the Hub, Skye has decided to use her powers for evil and convince Simmons to help her break into the mainframe to find information about Ward and Fitz’s highly-classified mission. (Because that’s a shock.) As she’s searching, she discovers two important things: the redacted documents that she’s already seen, and the fact that FitzWard’s mission doesn’t have an extraction protocol.

Back on the ground, Ward’s already figured this part out. Once Fitz and he have broken into the factory, he tries to get Fitz to coach him through the last bits of deactivating Overkill so that Fitz can get to safety before all hell breaks loose. Fitz refuses to leave until his job is done. They’re successful, but end up pinned against a wall outside by lots and lots of gun-toting separatist bad guys. Fortunately, Coulson, Skye, Simmons, and May have formed their own little extraction team, and May is able to literally blow the bad guys away using the engines of the Bus. When confronted, Agent Hand says that she knew Coulson’s team wouldn’t need the protocol, with the implication being that they’re just that good.

Coulson is able to get his hands on the un-redacted document that Skye is so interested in. He tells her that an unidentified female SHIELD agent dropped her off at the orphanage as a baby, and that no one knows who she was or why she did it. According to his later conversation with May, there’s a lot more to the document that he’s not planning on telling Skye, and it’s serious enough for May to express pity for her.

And that’s what you missed on Agents of SHIELD!

Well, there’s always next week.

I have to say, this was far from my favorite episode. Skye’s actions were both predictable and irritating as all get out. On top of that, despite her being on what should have been pretty strict “probation” after the events of the previous episode, there were no consequences for her going rogue this time. Even May felt bad for her by the end of it. Seriously, what rules does a girl have to break to get kicked off the Bus around here?

On the other hand, in what I can only hope was the main storyline of the episode, it was good to see Ward and Fitz interacting well to get the job done. I enjoyed that part enough that I can mostly ignore all of the “look, it’s a nerd!” jokes.

I’m sure SHIELD is just going through a few growing pains and will live up to its potential soon. I mean, I had trouble watching Arrow here and there, and look what a fun watch it’s turned into now!

Best Quote:
Simmons: “I can’t be part of your bad girl shenanigans!”

Things to Ponder:

• So, SHIELD’s theory here is that because Hawkeye and Black Widow never need extraction plans (except for that one time in Avengers when Black Widow totally had one), Coulson’s team shouldn’t need one? Color me skeptical.
• Coulson stumbled on the catchphrase this time. Something’s starting to break down in there…