About this time last year Captain America: The Winter Soldier premiered in theaters, and ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took a whole new direction. Looks like that’s going to be an annual event because “One Door Closes” (which premiered on March 31, 2015) is another game-changing episode. Just when you thought you knew who to trust, everyone reveals their secrets, and you need a new scorecard.
[Flashback] On the day SHIELD fell, Mack (Henry Simmons) is being held prisoner by Hydra on the ship Ilead, along with several other agents. The Hydra agent starts killing people when he doesn’t get answers quickly enough. Just when it looks like Mack is next, a beeping device slides under the door. Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) follows it, blasting her way in. She takes out all the Hydra agents but one, who is taken out by Izzy (Lucy Lawless). It turns out Fury had given Bobbi and Izzy orders to save SHIELD.
Bobbi returns to Coulson’s (Clark Gregg) SHIELD. We see her secretly cut some rather important-looking wires. Mack and Coulson are going over Lola (Coulson’s car), but we can see that Coulson is suspicious of Mack. Bobbi appears and tells Coulson that Hunter is nowhere to be found. Then she’s off to the server room where she installs some sort of chip.
Skye (Chloe Bennet) is at the SHIELD cabin. She and Jemma (Elizabeth Henstridge) are talking over a video link. Skye has eaten the Little Debbie snacks but hasn’t tried on Jemma’s gloves. Jemma urges her to wear them and signs off. Fitz (Iain de Caestecker) comes in, and he and Simmons are very prickly with each other.
Back in the garage, Coulson and Mack are talking over Lola. Coulson confronts Mack about the secrets he’s been keeping, but Mack stays mum. When he doesn’t talk, every mechanic in the garage pulls a gun on him.
Meanwhile, Bobbi is using a laser to cut into Coulson’s desk, no doubt going after the toolbox Fury gave him. As she pulls it out, May (Ming-Na Wen) pulls a gun on her. (She’s not happy!) Bobbi tells May that she works for the “real” SHIELD, and May doesn’t. Then she propels herself out of the office through a window. May fires several times but misses.
They continue to fight, with Fury’s box going back and forth. Finally, other agents rush in, and they corner Bobbi. She triggers a blackout and disappears. In the car garage, so does Mack. Coulson goes looking for them and finds May and Fitz. Fitz discovered that the toy model of Lola had a scanner that was programmed to find vibranium, which is how Bobbi and Mack knew where to look for Fury’s toolbox. Fitz goes off to initiate a manual lockdown. May tells a confused Coulson that Bobbi said that she was working for the “real” SHIELD.
[Flashback] Bobbi, Izzy, and Mack are searching the wreckage on the Iliad. They come upon Commander Robert Gonzalez (Edward James Olmos), who is severely injured. Their mission is to get him off the ship.
Bobbi accesses a secret panel and talks to Gonzalez. She tells him that Coulson and May were already suspicious. When Gonzalez asks about Skye, she explains that Coulson probably had her removed to another location.
At the cabin, Skye tries on Jemma’s gloves. But she can’t reach Simmons when she tries to contact her with questions about the gloves (because Bobbi blew everything with the EMP). She looks behind the paneling at the computer’s wiring and finds a fist print the Hulk left behind. Then she starts hearing noises. Finally, she hears a knock at the door. When she answers it, Gordon, a.k.a. the Reader (Jamie Harris), introduces himself.
Skye lets Gordon into the cabin. He tells her that he’s there as a friend to help her. He points out that their transformations were similar but that he had a lot more help than she did to guide him.
At SHIELD, Bobbi finds Simmons. Simmons is relieved to see her, apparently having no idea that Bobbi is to blame for the blackout. Elsewhere, Coulson and May assess the damage caused by Bobbi and Mack. When she points out that no one is dead and that Hydra usually leaves bodies behind, Coulson says he doesn’t care who they work for because they took the toolbox.
At the cabin, Gordon tells Skye that she can become magnificent with the right guidance. Skye is unsure. He offers to take her with him to a place where she can learn and be accepted. But she declines. He leaves, saying that he’ll find her when she’s ready.
At SHIELD, Simmons is sifting through a bag, looking for a device. Bobbi is getting impatient, wanting to get away. Simmons innocently hands her a device that stuns her and knocks her out. Simmons radios Coulson and May that she’s got Bobbi. (Tricky Jemma!)
Fitz is working on the servers, but something isn’t working right. He searches for the problem and finds Bobbi’s chip. Just then, Mack shows up. He tells Fitz to trust him, but Fitz obviously doesn’t.
[Flashback] An agent is working on Gonzalez while Mack distracts him with a story. Bobbi and the agent shove his broken leg back into alignment. Izzy comes in and warns them that Hydra is closing in. Bobbi tells her to get Gonzalez and everyone clear. She hands Izzy something to give to Hunter. Izzy takes it reluctantly. Bobbi tells Mack the plan and that she’ll catch up later. Mack questions her, and she tells him that she has a second mission: to sink the ship. Gonzalez explains that the ship is carrying cargo that cannot fall into the hands of Hydra. After some argument, Commander Gonzalez decides that they will all go to the control room to help Bobbi sink the ship.
At SHIELD, Coulson and Simmons handcuff an unconscious Bobbi, and Coulson retrieves his toolbox. May is searching Bobbi’s locker for clues. She finds a gas mask and realizes what’s going to happen. The gas starts pouring from the vents. In the server room, Mack begs Fitz to move away from the wall. He tackles Fitz just as the wall explodes. Gonzalez and his team come through, wearing gas masks.
[Flashback] Bobbi and Mack are leading their team through the corridor. They come on Izzy taking out a group of Hydra agents. When Bobbi asks her why she’s not on the top deck, Izzy tells Bobbi that other SHIELD agents have secured the turret. She thinks that they can take back the ship from Hydra. But Gonzalez commands them to continue their mission.
At SHIELD, our agents are cuffed and guarded. Gonzalez tells Bobbi that she will have time to explain everything to Coulson. Gonzalez and Bobbi discuss what to do with Skye with Agent Weaver (Christine Adams) and Agent Calderon (Kirk Acevedo). They all agree that Skye needs to be brought in. Bobbi volunteers for the mission. As they walk away, we see May, hiding in the shadows.
At the cabin, we see Skye in a moment of contemplation. She removes her gloves to run her arms under cold water. But when she looks, she has manipulated the water into a spiral. She is amazed by her powers.
At SHIELD, Fitz and Simmons have a little reunion with Agent Weaver, their former professor. She says that they have a lot to discuss, but in the meantime, she asks Simmons to take a look at Mack to make sure they haven’t missed anything in his injuries.
Coulson is led into his office to talk to Gonzalez. Coulson explains that he tried to find Gonzalez when SHIELD fell. But Gonzalez tells Coulson that he doesn’t trust who Coulson has become because he has alien blood in his veins. He tells Coulson that he and the “real” SHIELD don’t like that Fury has so many secrets. They suspect Fury has devices and other things hidden all over the world that could be dangerous. He tells Coulson to show him how to open the toolbox.
May makes her way into the bus and uses the comm system to contact Skye. She warns Skye that SHIELD is coming and that she needs to run. At the cabin, the lights go out. Scared, Skye grabs her jacket and runs out the door in time to see a jet getting ready to land.
The jet lands and Bobbi tells the agents that Skye is still SHIELD and to use icers only, but we see Calderon chamber a bullet. Bobbi looks worried.
[Flashback] Bobbi, Mack, and the others make it to the server room. Just as Bobbi is about to install the chip, Mack tells her to stop, to think about all the agents who are still fighting to save SHIELD and don’t deserve to be blown up. Mack, Bobbi, Gonzalez, and Izzy argue about whether or not to sink the ship. Finally, Bobbi breaks the chip, and they set out to take back the ship.
In present day, Gonzalez tells Coulson that if he had followed Fury’s orders that day, that hundreds of agents would have lost their lives. Coulson points out that he’s operating the same way, like a dictator. Gonzalez tells him that Coulson was groomed by Fury to take over SHIELD. Coulson reminds him that it wasn’t Fury who took down SHIELD but Hydra. Gonzalez picks up the toolbox and heads out to give it to Fitz/Simmons. But May ices the guards and then Gonzalez. She hands Coulson supplies and sends him out through a secret elevator. She tells Coulson that without him, there is no SHIELD. Weaver and her agents find May, who surrenders.
Out in the woods, Calderon tells Bobbi that Weaver fought off one of the enhanced “monsters” the day SHIELD fell. Bobbi tells him, “That’s not Skye.” An agent comes on Skye trying to take down the perimeter. They fight, and she takes him out. Calderon and Bobbi find them. Bobbi yells to Skye just as Calderon shoots. Skye raises her hands in defense and sends a blast that levels Bobbi, Calderon (who gets a tree shard in the chest), and a lot of trees. Skye is horrified by what she’s done. She asks Gordon for help. He appears and teleports away with her.
Somewhere tropical, Coulson is drinking. Hunter (Nick Blood) arrives (yay!), and the two of them act like nothing’s wrong. Then Hunter tells Coulson he wants the job he was offered. (I’m so glad Coulson has help!)
– A look back: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2 episode 14 recap
