Josh recaps Season 1 Episode 16 of Agents of SHIELD, titled End of the Beginning, which has Coulson and his team hunting down the Clairvoyant. We also see more of Deathlok, and learn a bit more about Agent May’s deception! Following the recap, Josh and Violet both share their thoughts on the episode
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Episode Recap of Agents of SHIELD, Season 1 Episode 16: End of the Beginning
- Agent Garrett and Agent Triplett have an encounter with Deathlok. They are able to scare him away, however.
- Several lead SHIELD agents, including Agent Hand, Sitwell, and Garrett, meet with Coulson on his plane. He explains to the Agents his plan to take down the Clairvoyant, and they discuss Deathlok. Narrowing down to 13 candidates, Coulson plans to hit all 13 people. To avoid detection, the plan will have the operation “compartmentalized”, meaning only certain people know certain parts of the plan, to avoid detection by the Clairvoyant.
- Fitz and Simmons help Skye get back on her feet, and she is given the details of the plan, and makes some suggestions of her own. She is also honorary inducted into SHIELD.
- Deathlok receives a “gift” from his boss, a new weapon that attaches to his wrist. The Clairvoyant then requests a meeting with Deathlok.
- Interestingly, Sitwell is pulled out of the mission, and told to head to a boat. This actually plays right into Captain America: The Winter Soldier. (You can read our review of the newest Marvel movie here.)
- Fitz and Simmons discuss with Agent May that Skye’s blood work seems a little strange, and May is intrigued, and begins asking questions. Meanwhile, Skye prepares the mission for the other agents.
- Ward and Triplett discuss how they are going to handle the Clairvoyant. Ward says they’re taking him in, Triplett wants to take him out. They receive their target, and move in. May is paired with Agent Blake, and Coulson is paired with Garrett. They also receive their targets, and move in.
- Agent Blake encounters Deathlok, and proceeds to open fire. We learn later in the episode, before being injured, Blake was able to tag him with a tracer bullet developed by Fitz. The other teams move in to help Blake as May is attacked. Blake survives, but is critically injured.
- Back on Coulson’s plane, Coulson believes they have found their suspect. Meanwhile, Agent Hand isn’t happy about Blake’s injury. In the meantime, Simmons will be helping determine how to take down Deathlok at the “Hub”. She also has a plan to test Skye’s blood.
- Coulson finds Deathlok’s location through the tracker used by Agent Blake. Garrett, Coulson, and an entire squadron of SHIELD agents move into the building where Deathlok should be hiding out. Skye locates Deathlok and the teams move in.
- Coulson proceeds to follow Deathlok, and runs into Agent Garrett. They both move in deeper, and find the Clairvoyant–a catatonic man who begins talking to Coulson and Garrett through a computer. Ward and other agents join Coulson. Nash begins talking about Skye, and threatening Coulson and Skye through his machine, which angers Ward, and he shoots Nash–killing him.
- Back aboard their plane, Fitz discovers May’s secret phone line while calling Simmons, who is now at the Hub. Meanwhile, Coulson tells Skye he isn’t sure Nash was the Clairvoyant. Skye then realizes that the Clairvoyant may not be so all-knowing, but an agent inside SHIELD.
- Coulson then confronts Ward, accusing him of killing Nash to cover the real Clairvoyant’s tracks. Fitz then tells Skye about May’s secret phone line. Skye then warns Coulson. Coulson and Skye confront May to tell her to explain. She doesn’t, but says it’s not what they think it is.
- Their plane is suddenly taken over, and flown to a specific destination. Coulson blames May, but we learn that Agent Hand is the one pulling the strings–and plans to kill the entire crew.
Josh’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 16 of Agents of SHIELD: End of the Beginning
I thought this episode was better than most. The plan to take down the Clairvoyant was really cool that Coulson and Skye came up with, I thought. It was also pretty awesome how so many SHIELD agents were coming together to work on this mission.
This episode was actually even better after watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier. You notice events in this episode that then lead into where certain characters are in the film, specifically Agent Sitwell. Then you have events that seem to take place during Captain America that make you wonder how it is going to affect certain characters, such as Simmons, as she is currently at the Hub, and during the episode she is abruptly cut off. Now, what is really exciting to see, is what will happen now, in the aftermath of the movie? Without spoiling Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there is certainly a big event in the movie that makes you wonder what will happen next in Agents of SHIELD.
I have to say, there was one really bothersome part to the episode–how and why would Agent Ward shoot The “Clairvoyant”? I understand the use of it as a plot device, to throw suspicion on Ward when Coulson figures out that someone inside SHIELD is the “Clairvoyant”. But given how much I feel they have made Ward show restraint (for example, when he was infected by the Berserker staff in the episode The Well which made people go rage-o-rific), I thought it was very uncharacteristic of his character to just shoot the guy. One, it isn’t “by the books,” which does seem to be Ward’s character, and the Clairvoyant is more helpful alive than dead.
Of course in the end, the man isn’t even the Clairvoyant anyway, so Ward killed an innocent man, which makes Coulson suspicious of Ward. Then May is discovered with her secret phone. My theories about this phone, however, is that it may be a direct call to Nick Fury, as this episode and Captain America discussed “compartmentalizing” missions for SHIELD.
Violet’s Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD, Season 1 Episode 16: End of the Beginning
This was actually a pretty decent episode of Agents of SHIELD. Going back to the beginning of the season, the show got off to a rocky start, in my opinion, and we only kept watching because we felt obligated to, and because we kept hoping that it would get better. I feel like the show has improved since the beginning, and that the last few episodes have been fairly good. Now with the connection between Agents of SHIELD and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it seems like the show is about to get really awesome. This episode had a lot of fun action in it, along with twists and turns that still have us guessing what’s going to happen next. I’ve also been enjoying the addition of Bill Paxton as Agent Garrett.
Guess I’ll get my traditional Skye bashing out of the way upfront. She never even went to SHIELD Academy and she gets to be a SHIELD agent just like that?! Lame. Okay, I guess we all figured it was going to happen sooner or later, and it’s not like the show was going to ship her off to the academy for a few episodes. 16 episodes in, and I have still not warmed up to Skye. At this point, I don’t think I ever will. But, never say never. Maybe one day. But for now, she still annoys me. Even if she does come up with good plans.
Yeah, I don’t know what was up with Ward shooting what he thought was the Clarivoyant like that. It was just really random and seemed unprovoked. Hopefully we’ll get some sort of further explanation about that, because the way things stand right now, it doesn’t make any sense. As for May, I’m pretty sure the show is just trying to make her look like a bad guy, but I don’t think she is. Like she said, “This isn’t what it looks like,” and I believe her. After all that she and Coulson have been through together, and based on her character, she wouldn’t turn on them like that.
Anyway, after seeing Captain America: The Winter Solider, I’m very much looking forward to the next episode of Agents of SHIELD so we can see how the events of the movie affect the show! After all, the next episode keeps being advertised as “Everything changes!”
Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Season 1 Episode 17: Turn, Turn, Turn
Here are scenes from the next Agents of SHIELD episode, titled Turn, Turn, Turn:
Ward shooting that guy reeked of someone trying to cover something up. He tried to play it off as his emotions getting the best of him, but that’s completely out of his character if that’s the case. Given what happened in Cap 2, I’m wondering about Ward’s loyalties.
I like how they try to tie the series with the movies. I almost lost interest during the first few episodes. Glad I stuck it out.
I was just reading about how the makers of this show knew what was going to happen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier a long time ago and how they incorporated that into how the characters did certain things, so that you could go back and recognize that it all fit and that it’s always been connected in that way. It’s very cool they went to that length to make them coexist in that way.
This was a great episode, my favorite yet. The next one after this is even better.