Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: 2×15 “One Door Closes”

Loyalty and ideology set the dividing lines for S.H.I.E.L.D. vs S.H.I.E.L.D. Are the roots of Civil War taking hold before our eyes?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — In flashbacks, Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki), Mack (Henry Simmons) and Hartley (Lucy Lawless) rescue Commander Gonzales (Edward James Olmos) amidst a brutal fight aboard his carrier the day S.H.I.E.L.D. fell. Orders are to prevent Hydra from winning the ship by sinking it, but the prospect of killing hundreds of innocent agents is too much. The group instead decides to fight and rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. with no more secrets. In the present, Bobbi disables The Playground and steals Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson). toolbox. Before the team can regain control, the base is flooded by gas allowing Gonzales and his version of S.H.I.E.L.D. to take over. At the Retreat, Skye (Chloe Bennet) is visited by Gordon (Jamie Harris), who offers to help her control her gift to tap into the vibration of all things. Skye is curious, but not yet ready.

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Coulson (Clark Gregg) is confronted by Gonzales who makes it clear Fury’s toolbox is the key to stopping objects and beings of terrifying power from destroying the world. Gonzales no longer trusts Fury’s ideals and believes alien DNA has compromised Coulson. May (Ming-Na Wen) intervenes, helping Coulson escape while Agent Calderon (Kirk Acevedo) and Bobbi lead a team to retrieve Skye. When fired upon by Calderon, Skye’s power is unleashed to frightening effect. With eerie parallels to Hydra’s hostile takeover, things have never been less certain. As the divide widens between over how to deal with those with powers, which S.H.I.E.L.D. should be in control? Are the seeds of an impending Civil War starting to take hold? With so many questions, let’s blast our way into this week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Could Bobbi Morse be a reluctant warrior of conscience again?

Seeing the death and destruction of Hydra’s takeover all over again was difficult to watch. This show certainly didn’t pull any punches with a staggering death toll and the brutality of Hydra agents on full display in the flashbacks. The visual effects of the burning carrier were stunning and the callous disregard for life by Hydra agents was painful.

As Bobbi, Mack and Gonzales came to the conclusion that they must work together to sink the ship, the natural look of reluctance was on everyone’s face, but Adrianne Palicki in particular showed us a deeper level of regret in Bobbi’s eyes. She was willing to make the sacrifice play to do what was right, but killing so many of her fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents still fighting to keep the ship seemed to cause an internal snap.

“Since when do you [Bobbi] not fight for what you believe in?” ~ Mack

“You have your orders, Agent Morse. This is not a democracy.” ~ Gonzales

“Maybe it should be. We can’t keep pretending that everything’s the same as it was yesterday.” ~ Bobbi

The writing team created an interesting adversary in a second faction of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It’s not surprising that more than one group survived, but something unique happened on the Iliad the day S.H.I.E.L.D. fell. The group tasked with destroying the ship took a different route. Their trust of Fury eroded in one powerful conversation that changed the ideals of all of them at once.

Gonzales sparked the idea when he mentioned the concept of democracy. But it was Bobbi that grabbed hold of it and ran with the thought. She’s the one that took a stand and defied orders. Everyone else, including Gonzales, followed. She entered the ship prepared to die for the cause. But when faced with what she believed in versus what she’d been asked to do, she chose her own path over someone else’s.

We saw the same glimpses of reluctance in Bobbi’s eyes again as she opposed Coulson thanks to a fantastic performance by Palicki who is simply draped with talent. She feels so natural in the role of Bobbi that we sometimes forget she’s still new to this show. She’s embraced this character and slowly exposed layers of Bobbi, including signs of loyalty to Coulson and his team.

She’d vouched for Coulson’s integrity and when concerned about Skye’s recovery, she inserted herself into the mission. Did anyone else notice the telling glances between the other three in the conversation? Bobbi may have put a monkey wrench in a plan she wasn’t aware of at all. If her conscience later tells her Coulson is right, will she do the same thing she did on the Iliad and follow what she believes in? We don’t know, but smartly placed clues suggest we might find out.

A glimpse of hope. Skye’s abilities may be a gift instead of a curse.

We had been wondering when Gordon would finally make an appearance to Skye. Given his ability to teleport, we thought we might see him talking to Skye before now. perhaps there are limitations to his teleportation we don’t yet know, but it seems highly likely that he’s been waiting to get Skye alone where they could talk.

Jamie Harris has a bit of gruff, but personable sense about him as Gordon. With a little humor and compassion we got to see a bit more of this character than we had before. What we truly enjoyed was finally seeing Skye smile any finally feeling like she had someone who understood her. It was rather telling that Gordon’s interview of Skye went differently than Andrew’s (Blair Underwood).

Gordon asked Skye almost the same question as Andrew about how she felt, but with one small wrinkle. Instead of referring to her powers as “it” Gordon called them a gift and Skye opened up. As Gordon continued to encourage her, Bennet again brought her A-game and let the small emotions of relief and understanding trickle out.

“Every object in this universe gives off a vibration. Did you know that? Nothing rests—animals, trees, people, even this ratty couch. And you—you have the ability to tap into those vibrations. Don’t you see? You could become magnificent.” ~ Gordon

As Gordon left, we got the sense that he never expected her to follow. This first meeting was to put her at ease. As she discovered her ability to shift water from the tap, Skye smiled a genuinely happy smile for the first time since her transformation. She’s shown us some sarcastic humor, but this was real amazement at her own ability—her gift. When pushed by the S.H.I.E.L.D. team sent to retrieve her, she dropped the gun and used her power almost instinctively—as if it had always been a part of her just as Gordon described.

We were in awe of the visual effects from Skye’s power. The slow motion and catastrophic splintering of every tree within reach was a Matrix-style visual feast. Kudos to Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Kolpack and his entire team for stunning work. Bobbi’s warning and Bennet’s emotional response afterward will be elements we look to see explored further. But thanks to Kolpack we saw for the first time that Fitz was right. Skye has Avenger level ability and that kind of raw power is both enticing and horrifying if you can’t control it. Bruce Banner would certainly agree.

The dramatic events of this episode pushed Skye even farther with new-found insight from Gordon and a dramatic, pushed-in-a-corner reveal of her Inhuman capabilities. Skye is incredibly powerful and Bennet has helped us feel both the awe and vulnerability as Skye comes to terms with that fact. Achieving both, isn’t easy and that’s feather in Bennet’s cap as an actor. She’s blossoming and we love seeing it.

Are the splinters of S.H.I.E.L.D. the roots of an ideological Civil War?

We don’t know what influence this episode may have on the larger MCU, but it certainly feels like two sides of an argument building. We know there’s a Civil War storyline coming between key members of The Avengers and it was easy to see how two sides of a “people with powers” divide is shaping this season on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The battle of New York and the emergence of Hydra has changed everyone’s perspective. Trust is a very rare thing in this world at the moment and everyone seems to be reevaluating their perspectives and purpose. Coulson has been on the front lines with the strange and otherworldly happenings and we’ve been eager to see it on our screens. But this season has helped us understand the other side as well. There’s a clear divide building on this show between those who accept that powerful doesn’t always equal danger and those that fear what they can’t control or understand.

“We believe that Fury kept a lot of what he did from the world council, that he had objects and people of terrifying power hidden across the globe. We want to find them, and we want to make sure that they don’t destroy the very world that we fight so hard to keep safe.” ~ Gonzales

Coulson certainly believes he’s right for reasons that have been laid out over nearly two seasons. That being said, Gonzales, who would be easy to characterize as an enemy since he’s opposing the team we love, is doing what he believes is right as well. That’s great storytelling.

As the exchanges played out, great dialogue from Lauren LeFranc and Rafe Judkins convinced us both sides believed in what they did for valid reasons. Granted, we’ll side with Coulson because he’s our star we and we love him, but Gonzales isn’t crazy in his views. We may not agree with them, but that doesn’t make them invalid. And that’s storytelling at its best. Everything is shades of S.H.I.E.L.D. gray that may ultimately come to blows on a much bigger MCU stage.

FINAL VERDICT: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. once again kept us on the edge of our seats as S.H.I.E.L.D. vs S.H.I.E.L.D. clashed and Skye unleashed the kind of power that may be exactly why one S.H.I.E.L.D. does not trust the other.

Let’s get right out and say it. This was no ordinary episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The season arc moved forward more in this episode than any since the Winter Finale. Without mincing words, the apple cart has been upset and there’s no going back. A door certainly has closed. But that kind of progression isn’t unsettling. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has made a habit of successfully reinventing itself and with this entry, the writing team made some bold choices that will have lasting effects on this series.

All of the characters are being challenged and stretched. Even May. We enjoyed seeing a motherly approach as danger closed in on Skye. Ming-Na Wen can be a bit stubborn at times in her stoic approach to May, but seeing her visibly concerned for Skye was a nice change from the glares and cut looks that so often define her moods.

Skye and Bobbi both endured transformational moments that could prove to be crucibles that shape them going forward. Bobbi is betraying a great number of people that trusted her, but reservation about it shows in her eyes. Skye is very much the opposite. For her, it’s the rest of the world that has turned. She’s become an outcast. Quite literally as she’s spending time away from everyone else. Who is being protected in that scenario? That’s up for debate, but as this episode continued we got more of what we’ve enjoyed so much from Skye. She’s emotionally raw and Bennet has simply crushed her performances as Skye has continued to feel out her new self.

Writers and Directors never get enough credit for doing it right, but the they catch hell when things flop. That said, we like to shoot straight and call them like we see them whichever way it goes. Writers Lauren LeFranc and Rafe Judkins earned a double thumbs-up for this script. Taking a carefully constructed world, shaking it up and pouring the contents out to spill everywhere isn’t easy to do. Especially when no one is clearly in the wrong.

Director David Solomon gets a tip of our cap as well. He made sure that as this story unfolded, we could see and understand both sides. We may not like anyone opposing our beloved team, but we understood why and that’s a job well done. There were a number of emotional, gritty and even tender moments that worked. It certainly felt like Solomon believed in this script because the small, meaningful moments felt as genuine as the big ones.

If the pro-powers and anti-powers teams are asking for volunteers, Coulson and Gonzales are likely to be on opposing sides. That divide certainly felt like the subtext behind their exchanges and tapped into the larger themes of the season. Conflict isn’t a bad thing for us as an audience. It makes for great television. And conflict where no one is really in the clear wrong, makes for even better television. We don’t know what’s ahead, but we are enjoying this exceptionally high level of television and we’ll be tuning in next week to see it continue to play out!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• THAT .. was Bobbi Morse!
• Fury is always creating messes that other people have to clean up. #AskCap
• Oh hell. Leo and Jemma. That’s not good.
• May vs Morse! Mamma mia!!!
• The Calvary vs Mockingbird is the #1 fight I wanna see..that I really DON’T want to happen. 🙁
• It’s been a bastard of a day. I’d say it was. This hurts to watch.
• Oooo .. #HulkWasHere sign!
• Wait .. have we seen this cabin before in a @josswhedon property? #CabinInTheWoods
• I wish you wouldn’t stare. That was a joke. I’m feeling slightly better. Slightly.
• Or do they “protect” you “from” people? I’m thinking yes.
• Whoa!! Way to go Jemma!!
• Holy Hell! This episode is freakin intense!
• It appears @edwardjolmos is typecast as the commander of the big ships. (We love ya EJO .. even if you’re #AntiCoulson)
• Holy wicked water spouts Batman! That was wild!
• Where’s Gordon with that neat party trick when you need a quick exit?
• Nice entrance. The woman knows how it’s done boys and girls.
• Am I the only one that impressed as hell with #AgentSkye BEFORE she went all Neo on us??
• That wasn’t Tahiti was it? #BadMemoriesAllAround
• That was intense. Everyone feels they are in the right. Why can’t we all play nice? Hunter—is growing on me by leaps & bounds