Agents of SHIELD – Can the team trust Skye?

Agent Grant Ward has been leery of Skye’s inclusion on the team from moment one. You can’t really blame him; what little we know about the Rising Tide does not lead one to believe that their goals would overlap with SHIELD’s. Her “I’m in” text at the end of last week’s episode implies that she is working with someone on the outside with a completely different agenda from Agent Coulson and the rest of SHIELD. Was she ordered to infiltrate SHIELD, or was that just a happy coincidence? And who exactly is calling the shots?

As long as the Rising Tide remains a mystery, the audience cannot simply rush to judgment on Skye. In fact I don’t think you can even assume that her text was to someone in that particular group. Sure, she obviously still has connections with them, apparent through her quick acquisition of an invite to Ian Quinn’s party. But there is no guarantee that she is being run by the Tide; I think it is just as likely that the Rising Tide was another organization that she was sent to infiltrate. Until there are more clues to go on, it is simply guesswork and supposition.

Despite her origin story, and whatever agenda her controllers might have, the allure of a white hat and a family – non-standard as it will likely be – is something that is going to weigh on Skye as the season goes on. She has been impacted in her training sessions, less so physically but more the emotional connection she is establishing with Ward (For someone who is trained to notice the little things, his concern on his ability to connect to her is so obviously misplaced … he is just connecting differently than he expected).

Her loyalties are something that audiences will question for the entire season. The screenwriting handbook tells us that she become more and more a part of the team, but will eventually betray them, something she will regret deeply. Then, in the first season finale (because I’m still optimistic that the show will see a second season, she will, at great sacrifice, find a way to avert whatever disaster her betrayal caused.

Dr. Franklin Hall represents the first member of Marvel canon that the show has introduced (not counting Maria Hill and Nick Fury). While I am no big Marvel historian, I am looking forward to further expansion into the tome of stories at the writer’s disposal. That the first one was a tertiary character like Hall — who eventually becomes Graviton — and clues us in a little on the types of characters that we might expect to show up in SHIELD for more than just a cameo. The “after-credits” sequence made it apparent that we have not seen the last of Hall, who will naturally blame Phil Coulson for his disposition.

The magic of Tahiti gave way to a new hint to the answer of Coulson’s miraculous recovery. His inability to breakdown a sidearm seemed unimportant at first, but his comment about “muscle memory” changed things. We heard the phrase quite a bit as a part of Skye and Ward’s training sessions, doing something so often it becomes reflexive. The implication being that Coulson’s body doesn’t seem to remember something that he remembers. An important clue, or a red herring? Every hint and reference to Coulson’s backstory is meticulously planned and executed. Something that we need to remember is that just because something seems important doesn’t mean that it is.

Notes & Quotes

• “I know Director Fury felt he owed you after you sacrificed yourself…” – Ward
  “…and my card collection.” – Coulson
• I don’t know what a “neodymium laser grid” is, but it sure made May look uncomfortable (that, or it was “dead toast,” but I’m going with the former).
• “You forget – I saw plenty of action with the Avengers [Walks away].” – Coulson
  “[under her breath] … and you died.” – May
• The US, EU and SHIELD I’m fairly knowledgeable on … but does anyone know what the DRTC is?
• I am glad that the show is carrying over the MCU’s post-credit scenes. Last week was Nick Fury’s appearance and this week was the beginning of Gravitron.