TV RECAP: Agents of SHIELD “One of Us”

By Felicia Kudronowicz

The second half of the season is really coming together as storylines continue to dove-tail from episode to episode, offering a more cohesive and interesting narrative than we’ve seen in the past, which all leads us to this week’s episode entitled “One of Us”.

We open in Coney Island, NY as Skye’s father, Calvin, starts to build his army. He finds Karla Faye (Drea de Matteo) and two other bad guys with special powers. They then continue on their way to find more people to add to their team, gathering a man with super strength, another whose voice puts people into catatonic shock, another with technology powers and the girl with razor claws. Once they have assembled, they head on over to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. (Shout out to my home state!)

Back at SHIELD, the team is trying to help Skye through her transition. May decides to bring in a shrink, who also just  happens to be her ex-husband, Andrew. Skye is hesitant to talk to him until she learns of his connection to May. After that they trade information, and we discover out that May and Andrew eloped. All the while, Andrew evaluates her throughout the episode to see how dangerous she is and if she can stay in active duty with SHIELD.

In the meantime, Coulson is working to track down the bad guy army. Angar the Screamer unleashes his voice, causing cheerleaders, football players and birds to become catatonic. This was probably the creepiest scene yet and it serves as a way for Coulson to find them. They are baiting Coulson, who quickly arrives with Bobbi, May and Skye. At this point, there is an epic good guy/bad guy showdown that is pretty impressive. They seem fairly even despite all those special powers. Skye tries to come forward to trick her father into cooperating, but instead that no-eyed guy from last episode teleports in and whisks Calvin away. Soon after Skye passes out, staring at her hands. Another power?

Nope. We just find out that Skye hasn’t been containing her powers, she’s been forcing them inward which is essentially cracking her bones. Yikes. It sounds like there’s no way for her to control her powers; she can either let them out or keep them in and harm herself.

Simmons and Coulson have a conversation about this development and she suggests that they should start using two different classifications for people on the index of special powers. There should be people with man-made powers and people that are born with powers. In the meantime, Andrew has finished his report on Skye with the suggestion that she leave SHIELD altogether, but of course no one wants that.

We also learn a little bit about what is happening with Mac and Bobbi. Mac has taken Hunter prisoner and explains that they are part of the “real SHIELD.” I’m not sure what that is suggesting, but it can’t be good.

We learned a lot this episode, especially about the variety of powers that people have in this universe. Is SHIELD doing the right thing by locking these people away? Is there a way to make sure they don’t hurt people without locking them up? If Skye weren’t part of their team would there be a cell with her name on it? There are a lot of ethical questions to consider.

Overall this was another strong episode. I loved seeing the bad guy/good guy face off, especially as the SHIELD agents don’t have any kind of super powers but were still able to kick ass. Next week, it looks like we’ll learn more about this second SHIELD, but still no sign of Ward. What is he up to? Also of interest is the no-eyed guy. It seems like he might be part of a group that helps train people born with powers, like Skye. I guess we’ll just have to keep watching to find out!