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In Utah a young woman buys some essentials at a gas station and gets harassed by the clerk for being the cause some guy named Jack’s death. When the clerk pushes the woman a little too far she inadvertently uses her psychic powers to throw cans and then a whole shelving unit at him. As he runs out, gasoline and fire create one heck of an explosion, even as the woman prays “not again.”
In May’s room, the Cavalry is getting dressed after a night of fun with, you guessed it, Agent Ward. Lover boy himself saunters out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel McSteamy-style and reminds us all that he has some wonderful, um, assets. No time for ogling though because there’s a mission at hand. As Coulson explains to Skye, they’ll be heading out to check in with the telekinetic. He wants Skye to pay attention to how this is done properly. He’s referring of course to her laughable awful attempt with Mike back in the Pilot episode.
This asset retrieval process can be touchy because their telekinetic, Hannah, is probably in denial, like most of the assets Coulson has encountered. FitzSimmons spout off their trademark science/techy lingo, this time in regards to how they’ll confirm Hannah’s powers. I may have a simple BA but I’m pretty sure if things start flying at you when she’s around, it’s a solid indicator of telekinesis.
The team heads out, with Skye mandated to stay in the car. An angry mob is gathered around Hannah’s house but Coulson breezes through them like a boss. Just as he’s telling her about how they can help, someone chucks a water balloon at Hannah making her telekinesis kick in. A squad car vrooms to life and Coulson leaps through the air to save a bystander. A cop decides the smart thing to do in this situation is point a gun at the girl with psychic powers. Luckily, May takes charge by using a tranquilizer gun on Hannah. “So much for the welcome wagon,” Coulson sighs. Commercial.
FitzSimmons debate the legitimacy of telekinesis, which quickly turns into a talk about pulling pranks on Skye. This should be fun. On the Bus, Coulson and May go in to speak with Hannah. Coulson looks alarmingly casual without his tie (he removed it in case Hannah’s powers clicked on and his tie became a noose). He even introduces himself as “Phil.” Anyway, they apologize for tranqing her but she’s more concerned about how many people she’s hurt.
In the lab, FitzSimmons see Hannah’s readings as perfectly normal. They take a break to feed Skye a bull story about the source of May’s Cavalry nickname. Seems she took out entire squadrons of mercenaries. I, for one, believe it. She dislocated her wrist, people. On purpose. To escape! Returning to their case, Fitz slaps away Skye’s hand when she touches the particle accelerator holograph. “Sorry, I didn’t go to your S.H.I.E.L.D. Hogwarts or whatever…” Skye responds. Heh.
Back in her cell, Hannah recounts fixing a part in her lab prior to the accident that started this whole thing. Coulson thinks she was altered by the accident, giving her telekinetic powers. Hannah is adamant that she doesn’t have any powers and isn’t responsible for everything happening around her. God is punishing her, she says, allowing her to be haunted by demons. Later, as the team talks this revelation over and agree that the girl is just in denial, a figure creeps unseen behind Coulson in the shadows.
After commercial, Skye is trying to convince Coulson to let her talk with Hannah. See the hacker has cyber stalked the asset and found that she’s actually a wonderful, caring person. May shuts Skye down. In the kitchen with Ward, Skye complains about May’s robotic attitude. Really, she’s going to talk about wooden personalities? Her big idea is that May needs to get laid and Ward barely contains himself for blurting out his big secret. He instead redacts FitzSimmons’ Cavalry tale, saying it was only 20 trained assassins. Also, he manages to lose the knife he was using for his sandwich. From the sound of it, that knife is currently jimmying the lock on Hannah’s cell.
As FitzSimmons continue to do their nerdy-cute thing, Skye digs for more info on Hannah. Fitz pulls some supplies from the closet and a figure approaches him from behind. Just as suddenly, it disappears only to find Simmons and nearly bashes her head in with a wrench. There is someone/thing else on the Bus, Simmons tells Coulson, and it just cut the power. Commercial.
In the cockpit, May and Ward prepare as best they can for a rough landing in a nearby field. It goes incredibly well. Seriously, actual landings have been bumpier. Anyway, the team agrees that some kind of ghost is causing havoc on the plane and in Hannah’s life. Skye, who feels almost as useless as I think that she is, wants to be the one to deliver the good news to Hannah. “That a non-corporeal madman is hunting her?” Ward deadpans. Right? But Coulson lets Skye go anyhow and Simmons realizes they’re missing Fitz. He’s just escaped from being trapped in the supply closet and thinks he’s being pranked. Luckily, his other half and Ward find him while May heads to defend Hannah’s cell door. Against a ghost. Because she’s the freakin’ Cavalry!
Coulson places a call in to S.H.I.E.L.D. about their crash landing but the ghost man cuts the phone lines. “1990s technology at its best,” Coulson snarks when the phone goes dead. Skye talks with Hannah through the cell door, telling her “something bad is out here.” Yeah, I think she knows. The two women have a heart to heart about God. Hannah thinks the Almighty is punishing her, while Skye’s spirituality was ruined by mean Catholic school nuns. Anymore religious talk is cut short when May orders Skye away to help Coulson.
FitzSimmons thinks Hannah’s lab was trying to create portals like what Thor uses to cross between worlds. As Ward secures the area, Mr. Ghost shoves the duo into a room and attacks the Agent. We finally get a good look at him: it’s Tobias, the man who previously filed safety concerns at Hannah’s lab.
In Coulson’s office, Skye is again complaining about May. Coulson tells her his Cavalry story: May went in to meet some assets and it went south. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and a civilian were being held captive by a cult and May decided to rescue them herself. In the process, she lost herself and became rigid and cold. Then story time is over and Tobias is trying to bargain Skye’s life for Hannah. In talking with May, FitzSimmons advise trying to wait Tobias out as long as possible. Each time he appears, there’s less and less of him so he’ll eventually disappear fully. Speak of the devil, Tobias pops up behind May but she pulls a disappearing act of her own. He pursues her into Hannah cell but the women aren’t there. May’s taken Hannah outside the plane to “fix the problem.” Commercial.
Coulson and Skye are trying to get out of his office while Ward finally wakes up from being whacked by Tobias. May and Hannah arrive at a barn, where the Cavalry disproves all those saying about her coldness. “I don’t mean to scare you, I just need to use you as bait.” “Well that’s comforting,” Hannah replies.
Having used a limited edition and much beloved watch as part of a makeshift explosive, Coulson and Skye are able to rejoin the rest of their team. They all deduce that Tobias was filing complaints about safety to Hannah and then even causing the accident to spend time with her. Now as a dimension jumper, he’s trying to protect her from mean store clerks and angry mobs. Guys, there are easier and more effective ways to get a girl’s attention! We like sincere notes, flowers, movies, and Starbucks. Causing serious safety hazards at work are not necessary.
But that’s what Tobias did. After engaging in a pretty brutal fight with May, Tobias shows his true colors by saving Hannah from a falling beam and confessing that he loosened a few bolts at the lab so that she’d visit him. Now he’s being dragged between Earth and hell for what he did. May gives an impassioned speech telling Tobias to let Hannah and himself go so that he can finally accept what he did and move on. It works, and he fades away just as the team arrives at the barn.
Back on board the Bus, Skye tucks in Hannah. Coulson mourns the loss of his watch and tells Skye that she has the potential to be great at bringing in assets someday. She’s so buoyed by this compliment, she joins May in the cockpit for takeoff.
The credits scene this week is a cute one. Ward, Coulson, Simmons and Skye are playing a friendly game of Scrabble when Fitz comes in. He’s just woken up with shaving cream on his hand and face. The classic prank is thanks to May, who is apparently getting her humor-groove back.
Field Notes
Coulson says they’re going to meet Hannah “to conduct an Index Asset Evaluation and Intake.”
Skye: “Does that mean we talk to her and see if she has powers?”
Coulson: “Basically.”
Coulson replies to FitzSimmons’ techy mumbo jumbo with a very articulate explanation about a particle accelerator. As everyone stares at him incredulously, he shrugs. “I read.”
Skye nicknames May and Ward, Warm and Fuzzy. She’ll probably want to rethink this once she finds out about their between the sheets action.
The high five between FitzSimmons was adorable.
Coulson has to use one of his prized watches to rig up an explosive to get out of his office. “They only made 20 I think,” he tells Skye, then groans when the watch detonates.
This was another solid episode for this series. Each week we’re getting more character development for the people we care about (i.e. not Skye) and an interesting villain who sometimes isn’t what they seem. IfS.H.I.E.L.D. can keep up this pace, it’ll quickly turn into a show that is every bit the comic book TV serial fans were hoping for.
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