Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1 Ep17 – Turn, Turn, Turn

The events that play out in “Turn, Turn, Turn” are a direct result of the events that occurred in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. So right up front I would advise checking that movie out in theaters first, before moving on to watching this week’s episode of  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and reading this recap/review. Fortunately, if you did purposely miss out on watching “Turn, Turn, Turn” and don’t have Hulu or a DVR, ABC will be re-airing the episode on Tuesday, April 15th directly before the newest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Providence”.

Skye isn’t taking any chances with May

“Turn, Turn, Turn” jumps right back into the drama we experienced last week. May continues to be questioned by Coulson and Skye at gunpoint as their plane is out of their control and headed back to The Hub by the order of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Victoria Hand. Meanwhile, Agent Garrett’s plane is attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. drones. We don’t know why Director Hand wants Coulson and his friends dead, but after the events of The Winter Soldier we can assume it has something to do with Hydra.

Coulson and his team soon find out, after rescuing Garrett from the S.H.I.E.L.D. drones, that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been taken over by Hydra. In addition, they suspect that Director Hand is The Clairvoyant. With the help of Garrett, Coulson and his team decide to get to The Hub and rescue Simmons and Garrett’s partner, Agent Triplet. Coulson and May then try to contact Nick Fury, whom May confessed she had been feeding information to all along, hoping he would help clear May’s name. To their surprise they find out Fury is dead (Spoiler Alert! He actually isn’t).

Meanwhile at The Hub, despite half of S.H.I.E.L.D. being revealed as Hydra, Simmons and Triplett have gained each others’ trust and are working on analyzing Skye’s blood sample while hiding from possible Hydra agents. Director Hand finds them and through a ruse/test she makes sure that Simmons and Triplett are still S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, revealing to them that she is not with Hydra as well. Although, Hand believes Coulson is.

After taking out several opposing forces Coulson and his team, along with Garrett, make it safely into The Hub. Ward and Skye share an intimate moment where Ward confesses to Skye that he shot the false Clairvoyant (in “End of the Beginning”) for her. He admits he cares for her more than he should as her S.O. Before Ward takes out a group of agents the two share a kiss, as they may not get a chance to do so later.

Coulson, along with Fitz, Garrett, and May make their way to a security room to help them pinpoint the location of Simmons and Triplett. It’s here that Garrett suggests they kill Director Hand, no questions asked. Coulson objects to his motives but Garrett tries to convince him by restating all the horrible things she’s done as The Clairvoyant. He then slips and mentions something Coulson never revealed to him. In a shocking twist we find out Garrett knows so much about Coulson because he is The Clairvoyant and has been working with Hydra all along. He confirms this with a proud “Hail Hydra”.

With Skye’s help, they’re able to take Garrett and his soldiers down. Director Hand hears everything that went on between Coulson and Garrett, which clears her assumptions that Coulson was with Hydra. Garrett is then taken into custody while a very angry Ward requests to lock him up personally. Director Hand agrees and she, Ward, Garrett, and two more agents board a plane together. Then the biggest shocker of the season occurs. Ward shoots the two agents and Director Hand, freeing Garrett, The Clairvoyant, from his captors. Ward is not an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward is an Agent of Hydra.

Marvel wasn’t kidding when they stated “After Captain America: The Winter Soldier everything changes”. By the end of The Winter Soldier, S.H.I.E.L.D. is in a pretty bad place and not only is the status quo changed for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but the entire Marvel cinematic universe as well. What Disney/Marvel has done with the synergy between their movies and their TV show is astounding and unprecedented. The plot of “Turn, Turn. Turn” is amazing on its own and is filled with plenty of twists, but the fact that it’s co-dependent on The Winter Soldier makes it even better. When The Winter Soldier comes out on blu-ray I’ll most likely want to watch it back-to-back with these past two episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. just for fun.

HAIL HYDRA

There were so many great things to come out of this episode. Plot twist after plot twist. Betrayals. Action. Drama. Everything. After last week’s episode, “End of the Beginning”, I knew there had to be more to the story than just revealing that Director Hand was The Clairvoyant. As solid of a twist that may have been, revealing that Garrett was The Clairvoyant was much grander. Since Bill Paxton’s debut as Garrett on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I’ve loved his onscreen presence. He really came off as a trustworthy and likable person thanks to his charming charisma and goofy one-liners. I actually liked his character more than some of the show’s core characters. So to see that he’s been the show’s bad guy all along was especially shocking, but the real cherry on top of this plot twist sundae was the big reveal that Ward is working for Hydra. Since the show’s debut Ward has always been one of the series’ weakest characters in my opinion, but I never pegged him to be working for the enemy. I can’t wait to see how Coulson, Skye, and the rest of the team react to this tragic news.

In addition to some shocking plot twists and nearly cinematic level action sequences, I loved a lot of the drama that occurred in “Turn, Turn, Turn”. Simmons’ distrust of Triplett was granted but seeing him give her his knife as a sign of potential trust was sweet of him. Being that Triplett has already appeared in a handful of episodes and might be displaying affection towards Simmons, I hope to see more of him. Maybe he can take Ward’s spot on the team.

The plight between Coulson and May was also heartbreaking. While most S.H.I.E.L.D. agents probably only view each other as co-workers, I’ve always felt that Coulson and May had a strong friendship. By the end of the episode, after we find out May was feeding Nick Fury information about Coulson behind his back, Coulson tells May she’s not a friend but she’s still an ally. Just hearing those words broke my heart. I don’t know if Coulson will accept her as his friend ever again.

Overall, “Turn, Turn, Turn” was a very well done episode and could have easily served as a proper season finale. Since the episode “T.R.A.C.K.S.”, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has done a complete 180° and has become one of my most anticipated shows to watch each week rather one I dread. Bravo, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Bravo.

In next week’s episode “Providence”, we’ll learn more about Agent Ward’s betrayal of S.H.I.E.L.D. all while Coulson and his team literally go underground and meet up with Agent Eric Koenig, played by special guest star Patton Oswalt (King of Queens, Dollhouse). “Providence” will air at 9PM ET on Tuesday rather than 8PM, as ABC will be re-airing “Turn, Turn, Turn” at that time. Check out the promo for “Providence” below and feel free to let us know what you thought about “Turn, Turn, Turn” and the current state of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comments.

You can also rewatch “Turn, Turn, Turn” on Amazon Instant Video.