Josh recaps Season 2 Episode 8 of Agents of SHIELD, titled The Things We Bury, where the SHIELD team splits up for separate missions, Ward has a family reunion with his brother, and we learn more about Dr. Whitehall’s past! Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts on the episode.
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Episode Recap of Agents of SHIELD, Season 2 Episode 8: The Things We Bury
This episode of Agents of SHIELD begins in the past in Austria, 1945. HYDRA’s current leader, Daniel Whitehall, is running some Nazi experiments, which involves the subjects touching the obelisk. The first man dies as we have seen others in the past do. Another notable aspect of this scene is Whitehall–he looks about the same age as he is in present times–huh? But Whitehall is unable to find a pattern to the obelisk’s pattern. A woman is brought in next, and forced to touch it. She pleads to not touch it, figuring it must be bad, but she is forced. She doesn’t die though, and on top of that the stone glows orange in color. Whitehall wants to prep her for surgery, but the allies are about to storm the place.
In the present, Whitehall is disappointed with his scientists’ results in looking into the obelisk. He brings in Skye’s father to shed some light. Whitehall is a little nervous, as are his men, after they saw what he did before. Skye’s father explains it is a key, and can unlock its own “true power”, and there is a special place that this key can go to do that.
Skye’s father and Whitehall discuss finding this city, and he says that he needs a team and funds to find this city. He also says he wants to kill whoever took his family from him, and be reunited with his family–in the afterlife.
Bobbi interrogates Bakshi, but he isn’t an easy one to crack. Meanwhile, Mac talks with Hunter, and Mac seems concerned that Coulson isn’t mentally stable. Simmons interrupts the conversation, and the three watch Bobbi continue her interrogation. She takes a break, and talks with the three watching. She seems to be piecing together that Whitehall might have a more direct connection to Red Skull.
Arriving in Hawaii, the team moves out for a mission. Even Fitz is given a mission, to install a transceiver. He begins practicing so he can meet the time frame Coulson gave him. The team returns from the mission, and their next mission is to head to Australia.
Simmons and May, meanwhile, look through some research, and find someone named Werner Reinhardt referenced working with Red Skull back during World War II. In a flashback, we see Agent Carter interrogating Reinhardt, which turns out to be Whitehall. Back in the present, Hunter finds as picture of Reinhardt, and Simmons realizes they are the same person. In another flashback, Carter talks with Reinhardt. She tells him that he will be forgotten, and she will stop visiting him. Decades pass, and 44 years later, a SHIELD agent that is working for HYDRA sneaks Whitehall out.
This agent also tells Whitehall that the woman they were going to cut open in 1945 has been found–and she hasn’t aged a day. Whitehall is excited to open her up finally.
Back in the present, Simmons tries to figure out how Whitehall “de-aged”. Bobbi returns to Bakshi, and presses him more. Bakshi tries to turn the interrogation around, and accuses Bobbi of making some questionable decisions that got her into HYDRA. Bobbi is unfazed though. Bakshi has a backup plan though, and activates a cyanide pill that was in his cheek bone. Bobbi tries to save him though.
Coulson explains that the mission in Hawaii was done to block a signal, that would force an Australian satellite to come online. They have 6 minutes to work once that satellite comes online. The mission begins, but the site in Australia has some HYDRA soldiers waiting for them. Coulson and company begin to work while holding of the HYDRA agents. Triplett is hit, and a “doctor” comes in to help–Skye’s father (Coulson and the rest of the group doesn’t know who he is though). He helps Triplett, by removing the bullet. The “Doctor” accidentally reveals he knows who Coulson is, and Coulson pulls his gun. But the Doctor purposely nicks an artery to force Coulson to hold back. While talking with Coulson, he says he wants to meet Skye “in the right circumstances”, and that the obelisk has some tremendous power behind it. The doctor makes a run for it, and leaves Coulson and Fitz to tend to Triplett.
Moving over to Ward, he finds his senator brother, and takes him captive. Ward marches the senator to the middle of nowhere, and the Senator tries to plead his case–that he saved him from SHIELD. Ward isn’t buying it. Arriving at their destination–the well from their childhood, they argue about their brother being pushed in the well–a topic that has come up quite a bit with Ward. Ward has his senator brother dig up the well, since it has been buried. The senator tries to make a run for it, but doesn’t get far. Ward tells him to admit that he was the one that tormented their brother. He finally does after being threatened to be tossed in the well. Ward seems pleased with the response, and decides that his brother still has to die.
Moving back to the past, we witness the horrifying dissection of the woman from 1945 that doesn’t age. We then see that Whitehall used whatever he found in her on himself to de-age. We then see that Ward has paid a visit to Whitehall, and wants to join his cause. We then learn that Ward killed his brother, but made it look like a suicide.
Back with Bobbi and Hunter, it looks like he survived, and Hunter is pretty harsh with Bobbi, and tells her how distrustful he is of her because of her spy background. But this argument soon turns into romance, as they head outside to make out in a truck.
With all of the research that Coulson recovered, they hope to find the “mystical” city. Quite quickly, the computer says, “Match Found”.
The “Doctor” returns to Whitehall for a meeting. Whitehall wants Ward and the Doctor to work together. Flashing back 25 years, we see the Doctor, and he discovers the body of the woman Whitehall dissected. This turns out to be his wife, and he makes a vow of revenge to her killer–Whitehall.
Josh’s Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD, Season 2 Episode 8: The Things We Bury
So Whitehall’s past is revealed, and we learn he is a lot older than he looks. It will be interesting to learn how he was able to de-age, and what he removed from this woman to do it. Is this woman an alien? A “mutant”? What I think we can safely say, is that this woman is likely Skye’s mother. The episode doesn’t explicitly say it, but we find out that she died 25 years ago, which is probably a little older than Skye. We also know that she and the “Doctor” were lovers, and that the Doctor is Skye’s father. I suppose there could be another woman involved that is the mother, but I have a feeling this woman is it.
So what does the Doctor specifically want to use Whitehall for? From this episode, we learn that he wants Whitehall dead. Why doesn’t he just kill him then? Has whatever Whitehall went though changed him to be immortal? Does the Doctor require something from this “city” everyone is looking for to kill him? We know that he wants to meet Skye–but is waiting for the right time. I am curious to know what will make the right time.
I am really happy to see that Fitz is returning a little bit more to his normal self, with his ability to get the transceiver going, and on top of that, do it while saving Triplett’s life. I really want the Fitz-Simmons relationship to get back to where it was in season 1.
I am curious about Ward’s next move though. He seemed bent on helping Skye, so why is he running to Whitehall to help? Is he trying to play both sides? He is the person that delivered Bakshi to Coulson, so why switch sides so quickly? I guess we will have to see where this thread goes.
One final thought I wonder about. What is with Mac doubting Coulson so much? I like Mac, especially with his helping of Fitz to return to some sort of normalcy. But he seems to be question Coulson a lot, and I am worried he is going to make a stupid move at some point, if his fears become more potent to him.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 2 Episode 8 of Agents of SHIELD: The Things We Bury
This was a pretty cool episode, because there was so much going on! I feel like a good chunk of it was devoted to giving us Whitehall’s backstory. I remember in the first episode this season, we saw him with the Nazis in the past, and then saw him in the present, looking the same age, so I had just assumed he never aged for some reason. But interestingly, in this episode we learn that he did in fact age to become an old man, but that he somehow extracted something from a woman that caused his aging to reverse. I am curious to know if he is still reverse aging, Benjamin Button style? And if not, how did he come to look this age? I’m guessing that he can administer whatever he extracted to the point that he can control at which point the reverse aging stops, by simply giving himself less of it. But why wouldn’t he want to look younger if he can control it? Was he only able to extract enough from the woman to get him to this point in his aging? Hopefully we’ll learn more details about that soon.
Then there’s Ward’s storyline, where the old story about the well came up. For a second, I almost believed his brother, but then I realized Ward wouldn’t have gone to such great lengths just to clear his name on this one thing. Plus, the well story was brought up last season, when he was the more sincere Ward. I did actually think for a moment that everything might be okay between Ward and his brother after he admitted everything, which I thought was really weird. But then when we hear about the staged murder-suicide, all seemed right with the world again.
The SHIELD team was split up into several different factions this episode — and of course, they separated Fitz and Simmons. Maybe it is good for them to be apart for a little while, while Fitz gets back to his old self. I was pleasantly surprised by how he stepped up to the task that Coulson gave him, after being so pessimistic at first, and greatly surpassed that goal. Then he did well under pressure when Triplett was injured. So he seems to be gaining confidence and getting back to his old self. Maybe now the show can at least start to get back to putting Fitz and Simmons together.
The ending of the episode, when we find out that the woman Dr. Whitehall dissected was the woman that Skye’s father loved, we can probably assume that the woman was Skye’s mother. When this scene happens, it seems so obvious, but I honestly didn’t really consider it until the scene spelled it out. Now Skye’s father is out for revenge against Dr. Whitehall, presumably using the old mantra “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Definitely curious to see where this goes, and what Ward’s role is in all of this! Probably something having to do with impressing Skye. Gag.
Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Episode 9, Ye Who Enter Here
Here are scenes from next week’s Agents of SHIELD episode titled Ye Who Enter Here:
