Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: A Fractured House Recap

Synopsis of 2×06: After HYDRA sends mercenaries to impersonate S.H.I.E.L.D. to attack the UN, S.H.I.E.L.D is on overdrive to prevent a measure that would have them all killed.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

While Talbot is giving a speech to the UN about his findings with S.H.I.E.L.D, they are attacked by a group of operatives claiming to be S.H.I.E.L.D. Using some sort of device that disintegrates the target on impact, several dignitaries are killed, but Talbot survives with only an arm injury. He later reports to his “senator with deep pockets” that he doesn’t believe that it was S.H.I.E.L.D since it wasn’t really their MO to kill dignitaries, but the senator doesn’t want to hear it. There’s a lot of mention of his brother, which makes me guess before the big reveal that Senator Christian Ward is the big brother Agent Grant Ward lamented so much about in the previous season.

Back at S.H.I.E.L.D, the team is concerned with hunting down the mercenary team hired by HYDRA to pose as S.H.I.E.L.D. Bobbi figures out the maker of the devices and heads out on a mission to infiltrate his compound and get more information… and Hunter is ordered along with too.

I bet you can see where this is going. Bickering and awkward residual sexual tension out the ass. I saw a reviewer call Hunter the stand in for Matt Fraction and David Aja’s take Clint Barton since Hunter happens to be divorced from Bobbi the way Clint is in the comic. I’m going to tell you the three reasons I absolutely 100 percent refuse to believe that.

1. Clint Barton is a human disaster. This much is true. However, he is a capable man with morals. Lance Hunter is a useless mercenary with more bark than bite.
2. As much as Clint has hurt Bobbi, Jessica Drew, and Kate Bishop (who I know is not romantically linked to him, but she did run off to L.A. to get away from his black hole of bad decisions), he would never call them names behind their backs the way Hunter did about Bobbi.
3. I ABSOLUTELY, 100 PERCENT REFUSE TO SEE LANCE HUNTER AS THE POOR MAN’S HAWKGUY. GIVE ME RENNER AS HAWKGUY OR GIVE ME DEATH.

Yeah, May was 100 percent my stand in when she looked at Hunter during his useless babbling and said, “You know I don’t like you?”

With a vote on Senator Ward’s proposal to start an international task force against S.H.I.E.L.D. on the horizon as well as a planned attack against Julien Beckers, a Belgian foreign minister who is against the task force, Coulson goes to Senator Ward to strike a deal. He mentions that they’re keeping his brother in the basement and that he’s mentioned Christian a great deal in fear that he’ll be found. Christian then tells Coulson that Ward has always been a master manipulator as long as he had someone to believe his lies.

While this is going on, Skye goes to Ward to ask about her father (which Coulson has stopped her from doing earlier in the episode). Ward tells her what he knows, which is that her mother was the one killed in the Hunan province after she was kidnapped by HYDRA agents. Her father went bezerk and killed all the agents there. Of course, he could tell her more if she lets him out and goes with him. It appears that Skye falls for it at first, but she reveals that they’re having Ward transferred to US Government custody and that his brother will be taking care of him from there. The editing on this scene was super suspenseful and probably the best part of the episode. Plus, it just goes to show how much of player Skye has become.

Simmons tries to reconnect with Fitz as they search the acquired hard drive for clues, but struggles to do so since Fitz is still convinced that she left because he admitted his feelings and because he’s changed so much. However, Mack manages to help Fitz find what’s needed later in the episode and they discover that a HYDRA scientist who worked with them in the 40s is the grandfather of Julien Beckers. Beckers is not the victim in this case, but rather leading the team into a trap. The team manages to get a hold of May, Hunter, and Bobbi in time leading to an awesome beatdown, but they still lose six agents from the Netherlands.

In the safe house, Bobbi gives Hunter this whole speech of “If you want to go, go, but if you want to stay, stay” and Talbot gives May his condolences after they come to apprehend the agents behind the UN attack. Maybe the gruff bastard is coming around? Or the real Talbot died back in the UN and this is HYDRA manipulations? Because we didn’t actually see how Talbot got injured, so I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Simmons goes to thank Mack for being a friend to Fitz when he needed it. Mack admits that he likes Fitz and that Simmons is probably expecting him to be someone he isn’t anymore. In fact, she actually makes him worse whenever she’s around. Simmons admits that Mack is right and that is the reason why she left. Considering the times I have had to turn my eyes away from someone at a party because my heart hurt too much, I like that response to why Simmons left way better than because Fitz admitted his feelings for her.

Senator Ward gives a speech about Grant and how he will be brought to justice as he’s transported out of the Playground. The team looks on, with specific focus on Trip and Fitz. He tries to appeal to Skye as he passes by her, but Simmons blocks his view of her and tells him that if she ever sees him again, she will kill him. I hope she lives up to that promise.

However, in predictable fashion, Ward escapes custody. Oh lord, I guess this will be a thing too this season.

In the stinger, we see a man getting the carvings tattooed on him. The artist asks if he really wants to do it since the other tattoos he got haven’t healed up yet, but the man insists, saying that the pain helps him remember.

You know, with the announcement that came on the same day ‘A Fractured House’ aired that Marvel will be releasing an Inhumans movie in November 2018, I really would not be surprised if Comic Book Resources’ theory that all of this is connected to the Inhumans is true. Skye believes the carvings are a map. What if they’re a map to Attilan? Does Raina have powers that could link her to being Inhuman, which is why she’s drawn to Skye’s father in the first place? My understanding of Inhumans only comes from Wikipedia and the more recent issues of Ms. Marvel, but the Kree origins of the race would certainly explain why Skye was unaffected by the GH-325.

Really though, I just want to know if the former computer hacker is the character based off of Angelina Jolie in Hackers.

And not be Carol Danvers, but they could easily pull a fast one on us and make the Diviner a part of the Psyche-Magnitron. I really hope not.

Am I off course? Well, it’s only because this episode was more of a middle stepping stone to bigger ideas and it shows. Is Ward a bigger manipulator than his brother? Is Skye Inhuman? Is Hunter REALLY going to stick around in be useless still? We’ll find out more in two weeks!