Agents of SHIELD Episode Recap, Season 2 Episode 5: A Hen in the Wolfhouse

Episode Recap of Agents of SHIELD, Season 2 Episode 5: A Hen in the Wolfhouse

The episode opens at a wedding reception full of Navy soldiers. The champagne that is served causes its victims to die from effects similar to those caused by the obelisk.

SHIELD hears about the deaths. It turns out that the 6 Navy soldiers who died were all part of an anti-HYDRA unit. They assume that the obelisk is in HYDRA’s possession. Skye sees some of Coulson’s alien carvings on his desk, but he says they’re just sketches, and quickly covers them up. Skye suggests that Coulson tell her the source of the writings he’s been giving her, so she can follow up. He says that’s classified, and Skye questions his unwillingness to declassify them, but he pulls rank.

Meanwhile, Raina goes to see Skye’s father to ask for the obelisk back. When she tells him that it’s Dr. Whitehall who’s scaring her, he gets angry and begins to choke her. He lets her go, but refuses to give her the obelisk, because it’s the only thing that might make Skye understand him. He tells her to go beg to Dr. Whitehall, and as she leaves, she is sad that she was unable to bring Skye to him – although he says that’s not her name.

At a HYDRA meeting where they review the results of their attack at the wedding reception, Dr. Whitehall asks Simmons about where they went wrong. He also asks if they had the obelisk, then would it be possible to weaponize its effects, and she says she believes so. Simmons’ supervisor seems excited about the fact that they could kill millions, even billions, of people.

Fitz has a conversation with fake Simmons, wherein he admits that she’s only part of his subconscious.

Hunter tells Skye he thinks she should find out what Coulson is hiding. She starts looking into it by talking to Ward. He tells her that Raina is the source of his information about her father, so she doesn’t believe that her father is alive. Skye shows him an image of the alien writing to ask him what he knows about it. Ward tells her that Garrett had been sketching them anywhere and everywhere.

At HYDRA, Simmons goes out for lunch and leaves a message about what she learned at the meeting, and drops the message in a nearby trash can. Raina spies from afar.

Skye confronts Coulson about the writings, saying that she knows he is the source. He tells her that he thinks the GH formula triggered it in him. Skye questions why nothing happened to her. Coulson explains that they’ve been monitoring her, and that he thinks maybe he and Garrett had a negative reaction to the GH formula. The theory is that Skye is an alien, which Skye freaks out about.

Just then, Coulson gets a call from Raina, who wants to meet to discuss an urgent matter.

Back at HYDRA, they have discovered that someone has been sending SHIELD messages, and put the room on lockdown, not allowing anyone to leave. HYDRA agents search everyone’s desks, and a woman questions Simmons. They find one of the plastic message devices in the desk of Simmons’ supervisor (which had been in Simmons’ desk earlier), and take him away. Simmons is off the hook — for now.

Coulson meets with Raina at a fancy restaurant, with Hunter sitting nearby, and Skye and May hiding in the kitchen as backup. Raina tells Coulson that HYDRA is currently looking for a spy within their ranks, and shows him a picture she took of Simmons leaving the message for SHIELD.

Meanwhile, at HYDRA, the female HYDRA agent who questioned Simmons before confronts Simmons in the bathroom. She asks if Simmons planted the flex screen in Kenneth’s desk, and when she answers no, the agents says that Simmons isn’t a good liar, and that she’s going to check out Simmons’ hard drive.

Raina tells Coulson she’ll delete the picture of Simmons in exchange for Skye. She starts a timer for 2 minutes, after which the picture will be sent out to all of HYDRA. When Skye hears that Raina wants to take Skye to her father, who has spent his entire life searching for her, and that if she doesn’t go with Raina, then Simmons will die, Skye tries to go to Raina. However, May stops her. Coulson tells Raina no deal, and the picture gets sent out.

Simmons tries to run away, then sees the female HYDRA agents walking down the hall toward her with two HYDRA soldiers. To Simmons’ surprise, the woman takes out the two soldiers, and brings Simmons with her, saying that Coulson has a plan.

Meanwhile, Raina is shocked that Coulson would sacrifice one of his own agents. Raina tells him that HYDRA is making her do this, and Coulson concludes that Skye’s father has the obelisk. She begs Coulson to take her in, but he says no vacancies. Hunter shoots a tracker into Raina’s leg, and she realizes that they are going to use her to get to Whitehall. However, Coulson says they may protect her from Whitehall based on how useful she makes herself – starting with telling them where to find Skye’s father.

Simmons’ new friend is named Bobbi Morse. She says there’s an extraction team on the roof and tells her to wait in the hall. However, Bakshi and some men come down the hall towards her. Bobbi holds them off while Simmons runs up to the roof. But no one is there. Bobbi comes running up to the roof, calling in their location to the extraction team. She returns fire at the HYDRA solider who has followed them, then they jump off the roof into thin air – and land on a cloaked aircraft. They go inside, and Trip welcomes Simmons back. Bobbi reveals that she has obtained Simmons’ hard drive.

Coulson and Hunter regroup with May, discussing the fact that the address Raina gave them is only a few blocks away, and realize that Skye is missing. We see that she has gone to the building where her father had been – but it’s empty.  She finds a picture of her father on the floor, and Coulson finds her and comforts her. Meanwhile, Skye’s father watches them on a tablet from his car via a hidden camera in the room. Hunter reports that the place has been cleared out. May calls them over to the lab area where Raina had spoken to Skye’s father. The two men have been killed with a blade, and the third, who had been laying on the table, was killed with pure strength. Skye knows that her father did it, and calls him a monster. Skye’s father is still watching, and gets angry and smashes his tablet screen.

Trip, Bobbi, and Simmons meet up with Coulson and May. Coulson tells her that he has asked Bobbi to join the team. Simmons goes and greets Fitz. They have an awkward exchange. Hunter sees Bobbi and immediately seems hostile toward her. It turns out Bobbi is his ex-wife, and that she vouched for Hunter.

Skye tells Coulson that she just wants to stop her father, and that whatever it takes, she’s in. However, she demands that he be completely honest with her from now on. He agrees. Then he shows her his wall of carvings from the day before. Skye has a theory about them – she thinks it’s a map.

HYDRA seems to be packing up and moving. Skye’s father shows up in Whitehall’s office and kills a few HYDRA soldiers who try to remove him. He opens up his briefcase to show Whitehall the obelisk, telling him that in its native language, it’s known as “the diviner.” He also says that he can not only teach Whitehall how to use it, but to survive it as well. When Whitehall asks why he would do that, Skye’s father says that they have a common enemy: Phil Coulson, and that he thought that together they could kill him, and everyone else.