Strange times make strange bedfellows, and our friends at S.H.I.E.L.D. understand that better than anyone else. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s 19th episode of season two titled “The Dirty Half Dozen” had some very satisfying gratification (take that, Ward!), as well as tie-ins to Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Episode 19 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Recap
Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) is sitting in a S.H.I.E.L.D. cell when Robert Gonzalez (Edward James Olmos) comes in. He asks Coulson why he turned himself in now. Coulson explains that there are prisoners, powered people, who are being experimented on and held prisoner by Hydra in the Arctic, and that he needs Gonzalez’s help to rescue them. In exchange for their cooperation, Coulson will open Nick Fury’s toolbox for them.
At the Hydra base, Mike Peterson (J. August Richards) and Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) are in neighboring cells. They introduce themselves and discuss how in the world they’re going to escape. Outside their cells, Bakshi (Simon Kassianides) and Dr. List (Henry Goodman) are discussing their two new prisoners. Dr. List is explaining how all of their test subjects die during their experimental procedures. But he mentions that “the twins” were the exception. (He’s referring to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, who are in Avengers: Age of Ultron.)
At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, they watch a feed from Mike Peterson’s (Deathlok) eye showing Hydra surgeons removing it. Gonzalez puts the mission up for a vote. Agents Weaver (Christine Adams) and Oliver (Mark Allen Stewart) vote against Coulson’s mission. Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) and Gonzalez vote for it. Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) has the swing vote. She asks for a private word with Coulson before she votes. After the others are gone, she questions him about all the secrets he’s been keeping, including Theta Protocol. He won’t tell her about it, however. He realizes she’s mainly angry because he was getting counseling from her ex-husband, unbeknown to her. He apologizes, but then begs May to vote for the mission. She agrees.
At the Afterlife compound, Raina (Ruth Negga) is having more prophetic nightmares. She sees Gordon (Jamie Harris) with a cut forehead and Skye (Chloe Bennet) rescuing Lincoln. When she wakes up, Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) is watching over her because Raina had cried out.
Jiaying is asking Skye and Cal what happened in Milwaukee. Skye tells her that they were attacked by Hydra and that Lincoln was taken captive. Gordon leaves to retrieve Lincoln. Jiaying apologizes to Cal (Kyle MacLachlan) for planning to dump him in Milwaukee. She agrees to keep him at the compound. Gordon returns with a bleeding gash on his forehead, saying Hydra almost got him. He thinks they’re tracking him somehow. Raina sees his forehead and realizes her visions are coming true.
At S.H.I.E.L.D., Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) and Fitz (Iain de Caestecker) are catching up, talking about forming an alliance with Ward (Brett Dalton). Simmons shows Fitz a case of vaporizing weapons and suggests that they use one on Ward. He realizes she’s serious. Then she convinces Coulson to allow her to join the mission, saying that she can attend to Mike’s injuries.
Mack (Henry Simmons) is putting together a system so the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who are staying at HQ can watch the mission. An injured Hunter (Nick Blood) arrives and joins Mack at the work table. Mack apologizes for kidnapping him, and for everything that’s happened since. Hunter forgives him, but he hasn’t spoken to Bobbi at all.
Ward explains to Kara (Maya Stojan) that she’s going to stay at S.H.I.E.L.D. because Hydra robbed her of her career as an agent, and this is her chance to get it back. She’s reluctant to let him leave, but he convinces her. Later, Bobbi pops into the medical ward to see how Kara is doing. When Kara tells Bobbi that she’s the only one who has been nice to her, Bobbi tells her she understands that what happened to Kara was Dr. Whitehall’s fault. (I get the feeling Bobbi is playing good cop, getting Kara to trust her so that she can keep an eye on her.)
At the compound, Skye is arguing with Jiaying about rescuing Lincoln. Jiaying reminds Skye that she knows better than anyone what Hydra will do to him, but she cannot risk having Gordon captured or followed. Skye, however, convinces Gordon to take her somewhere so that she can rescue Lincoln, but it’s not where they were expecting.
May, Coulson, Fitz, Simmons and Ward are getting ready to depart for the mission when they hear a strange sound. Skye appears to join the mission. (The strange “whoosh” was Gordon.) Ward makes a crack about how the team is back together.
Ward is getting ready to explain the intel Bakshi has been feeding them from Hydra’s location, when he realizes that the others are glaring at him. He opens a dialog about his actions, only to find that everyone has just has much hatred for him as they ever had. Coulson finally brings them back to the mission at hand, and they form a plan.
Hydra picks up the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane as soon as it enters their territory. They fire on the “bus,” which explodes just before a commercial break. When we come back from commercial, we see that the S.H.I.E.L.D. team used the ol’ Han Solo trick of coming in camouflaged by the debris from the exploded plane. May lands the plane that had piggy-backed onto the bus after a harrowing drop.
Once inside the Hydra base, the team starts taking out Hydra guards. Ward says it’s just like old times, until Skye uses her power to blow away two guards. He says, “So that’s what happened in Puerto Rico.” Then the team splits up, with Fitz saying a silent prayer for Simmons.
In a breathtaking and amazing fight sequence, Skye takes out several agents in a long one-shot before getting to Lincoln. He’s flat-lining. She summons her power and jump-starts his heart. He’s alive! Meanwhile, Simmons finds Mike and they bust him out. When May checks on Coulson and Fitz, they realize Coulson isn’t where he’s supposed to be. May finds him in another room downloading intel from a computer. (Shades of Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, no?) She’s not happy and nearly drags him from the room.
Elsewhere, Ward is looking for a stretcher or something to carry out Mike, who has lost most of one leg to Hydra. Simmons tries to sneak up on him, but Bakshi attacks her. She winds up vaporizing Bakshi instead of Ward. Ward realizes she tried to kill him and walks out, leaving a very confused Jemma. He doesn’t return with the rest of the team.
Back at HQ, Coulson gets a phone call from Ward. Ward explains that Kara needs S.H.I.E.L.D.’s help and that he’s not the man to help her. (I can already predict that Kara will fall apart when she finds out Ward is gone.) After Coulson hangs up, Bobbi and Gonzalez approach him. Gonzalez hands him the toolbox, saying that it’s time for Coulson to make good on his side of their agreement. Coulson opens it up, but says that Fury might be back for it. When Gonzalez’s eyes pop open at the shocking news that Fury is alive, Coulson mischievously says, “Oops! Spoiler alert!” Then he gets a phone call from Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and leaves Bobbi and Gonzalez stunned in the hallway.
Agent Hill and Coulson are discussing the real reason Coulson wanted into the Hydra base: Loki’s scepter. While they’re talking about what Hydra is going to do with it, we cut to Raina at the compound. Jiaying is chewing her out a bit about how Raina’s information sent Skye off to rescue Lincoln. Jiaying tells Raina that from now on, she will make the decisions about what to do concerning Raina’s visions. Suddenly, Raina gets a vision of the scepter. She also gets a vision of the world falling into chaos and disaster, and of metal men taking over the world. We cut back to Coulson and Hill talking about the scepter. Coulson says it’s time to call in the Avengers. (Opening May 1!)
