Violet recaps Season 3 Episode 13 of Agents of SHIELD, titled Parting Shot, where Bobbi and Hunter spy on Malick to see what he’s up to in Siberia! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts about the episode.Don’t need the Agents of SHIELD episode recap for Parting Shot? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Josh’s thoughts on this week’s Agents of SHIELD episode, Parting Shot, click here to get directly there!
Episode Recap of Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 13: Parting Shot
The episode opens with Bobbi being questioned in an Interpol interrogation room in Moscow, but Bobbi isn’t talking. The man asks her what she was doing in Siberia.
Flashback to 34 hours earlier. With the help of the SHIELD team, Bobbi and Hunter are directed toward Malick’s convoy.
Back to the present. Hunter is being questioned. He insists that he and Bobbi were picking mushrooms.
31 hours earlier. Bobbi and Hunter spy on the base of operations. Coulson says he’ll send a backup team. Hunter points out to Bobbi that they’ve never been on a proper vacation together. They think they see an Inhuman through their infrared device, when suddenly they are caught by soldiers with guns. They claim to be lost. Then they take out the soldiers. Bobbi, who understands Russian, hears a radio transmission that the Cabinet Ministers have arrived.
Just then, the SHIELD backup team shows up – Daisy, Mack, and May. Bobbi is the only one who speaks fluent Russian. May assigns mission teams.
In the present, Bobbi and Hunter continue to be questioned separately. They continue to claim they were on vacation and picking mushrooms. When Bobbi denies killing the man whose picture he shows her, the Interpol agent takes it as a confession that Hunter did it. Other agents drag Hunter from his interrogation room, yelling that it’s a lie.
29 hours earlier. Hunter and May sneak into the base together. They find a dead body – the body that the Interpol agent showed Bobbi a picture of. He was the assistant to the Prime Minster. Meanwhile, Daisy, Bobbi, and Mack sneak into the surveillance room. Daisy hacks the system, while Bobbi dresses up in a Russian guard outfit and heads out. She joins the outskirts of a meeting between Petrov and Malick. Petrov tells him that the Prime Minister is against the Sanctuary, because his opposition supports it. Petrov reveals that the Prime Minister’s assistant is dead, at the hands of the General. Petrov also reveals that the General himself is Inhuman, and is restrained on site. Malick suggests that they let the General loose. Coulson, listening in through Bobbi, comments that Malick is staging a coup.
Back to Bobbi being questioned. The Interpol agent tells Bobbi to admit that she’s working with SHIELD, and they’ll spare Hunter from the firing squad.
28 hours earlier. May and Hunter are unable to leave their hiding spot. May is still angry at Hunter for him being willing to let Andrew die. May tells Hunter that SHIELD is about sacrifice and the greater good — even over the ones you love. Hunter apologizes for everything. Hunter gets a message from Bobbi that Malick is on the move. Bobbi follows, trailing at the back, but is caught. She beats up the guy who catches her, but loses Petrov and Malick behind a locked door. She asks Daisy for help. Mack sees video of the General being cut loose.
Meanwhile, back with the rest of SHIELD, Simmons analyzes the scans of the Prime Minister’s assistant. She and Fitz see that he was strangled, with fractures to his larynx, but that it appears he wasn’t touched. They conclude that his death may be as a result of a psychic ability.
Hunter and May get eyes on Malick. Daisy is able to get Bobbi through the locked door, while Mack directs her where to go. Mack notices something odd on the video feed.
Fitz notices helicopters coming in towards the compound, which Coulson realizes is the Prime Minister’s detail. Coulson alerts the SHIELD team on the ground that the Prime Minister is heading there, and that they need to stop the Inhuman on the loose.
Coulson tells May and Hunter to forget about Malick and to protect the Prime Minister, who is walking into a trap. They sneak in and see the Prime Minister’s meeting — and also see the General dressed as a Russian guard and lurking nearby. The rest of the team sneaks up on the other side of the meeting. The Prime Minister realizes they are all traitors. The SHIELD team throws a smoke canister in the middle of the meeting as cover, and takes down all the guards. Daisy, Mack, and Bobbi escort the General away. He soon realizes they’re onto him, and unleashes his power on them. A shadow man comes out of the wall and attacks Mack, knocking him out, while the General gets away.
Simmons radios to them that it’s not just the General’s shadow, it’s a sentient dark force able to shift its density at will that operates independently from the General. Bobbi wonders how to beat it, but Simmons says technically you can’t. Bobbi realizes that they have to take out the General in order to beat it.The shadow thing attacks Bobbi and Daisy. Mack wakes up.
Meanwhile, Hunter is protecting the Prime Minister, but the shadow thing finds them. Hunter tries to fight back, to no avail. Bobbi finds the General and shoots him dead. Then the Russian soldiers promptly surround her, pointing their guns at her. The shadow thing disappears, and soldiers converge on Hunter as well.
In the present, Hunter is brought into the interrogation room with Bobbi. They are left alone to say their goodbyes. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is looking on, along with the President, and accuses them of being Agents of SHIELD. The President denies SHIELD’s existence. The Prime Minister wants to make a big deal out of the incident, but the President and Coulson, who is introduced as an assistant to the ATCU, remind the Prime Minister that his life was saved. Coulson goes in to “question” Bobbi and Hunter, using a device to knock out sound and video for 90 seconds. He tries giving them instructions to escape, and says he can change their identities, but they say it won’t work, and they consider the options. Bobbi and Hunter say that the right thing for them to do is to “take the bullet.” Coulson says he’ll have their things sent to them. Then the feed comes back, and he scolds them, saying they should be more careful with their vacation plans.
Coulson verifies to the Interpol agent that Bobbi and Hunter don’t work for SHIELD or any other U.S. government agency, and the President says they never will. The Prime Minister seems satisfied.
Returning to the team, Coulson explains that Bobbi and Hunter are not coming back, as they have been disavowed. They walk free, but cannot be agents.
Later, in a Los Angeles bar, Bobbi and Hunter discuss where to go next. Bobbi gets sent a drink from a secret admirer. They see Jemma. They get another drink. They see Fitz. Another drink. May. Another — Daisy. Bobbi realize’s it’s a “spy’s goodbye.” Mack is there too. And Coulson. But none of them can talk to Bobbi and Hunter, as they are being monitored. Each of them raise their shot glass toward Bobbi and Hunter, and drink. Then they leave, everyone in tears or on the verge of tears.
In the final scene, Malick practices shooting by a river. His daughter arrives, and he talks openly with her about Russia not going well. Malick gloats that Coulson has no idea that “he” (referring to the Ward Monster) is back. His daughter expresses interest in meeting him. She says she knows what his plans are, and that it’s going to change the world. She also practices her shooting.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 3 Episode 13 of Agents of SHIELD: Parting Shot
While this was a great episode that focused on Bobbi and Hunter, with the recent news that the pair would have their own spin-off show, which we now know has the title of Most Wanted, it was all too obvious that the two of them going off on their own like that was going to be a setup for their new show. I do have to admit though, that their departure from Agents of SHIELD was done in a believable way that honors the characters and their commitment to SHIELD. And what a farewell it was. I don’t know which was more emotional, that reunion at the end of the mid-season finale, or this episode’s “spy’s goodbye” to Bobbi and Hunter.
As for the remaining SHIELD members, I’m not sure how the international incidents in this episode will affect things going forward, if at all. The Russian Prime Minister seemed to be satisfied, at least for the moment, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any backlash whatsoever. Malick seemed to think the whole Russian operation was a bust. So maybe there won’t be any consequences from this, who knows. We were introduced to a new player this episode though, and that was Malick’s daughter, who appears to have a deep involvement in what Malick and HYDRA have been doing. I have a feeling we’re going to see more of her in the near future. SHIELD remains in the dark both in regards to the Ward Monster, and about Malick’s daughter. So even if SHIELD does manage to take down Malick, they probably won’t expect that his daughter could easily take over for him and continue his work. Additionally, she claimed to know what the Ward Monster’s plans are. I wonder what those are, and if she will reveal them?
Josh’s Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 13: Parting Shot
So, while I really liked Bobbi and Hunter, and I really started getting attached to these characters, I did not particularly mourn for them leaving the show. I guess part of that was soured by the fact that they would be getting their own spin-off show, so it wasn’t a huge loss for SHIELD I thought.
It was still sad though, and it was an interesting way for the team to say goodbye. I will likely watch their spin off as well, as those two characters seem to work well with each other.
This episode seemed primarily to be just a big way to send off these two characters, but there were a couple of other things going on. It looks like Malik’s plans have been foiled, at least temporarily, with creating his Inhuman city in Russia.
Other than that I thought the episode was a bit slow. I am hoping we get some more movement in the story in the coming episodes. I am curious to see how the show goes with less “muscle” now. The current Agents that are the brute force seem to only be Agent May right now, with other characters stepping up occasionally, like Coulson and Mac.
Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 14: Watchdogs
Here are scenes from the next episode of Agents of SHIELD, titled Watchdogs:
At first I thought it’s going to be sappy. But, I admit that I started to choke up during the bar scene at the end.