Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Who You Really Are Recap

Synopsis of 2×12: Coulson and the team help Lady Sif, who lost her memory after a fight with a mysterious warrior; Bobbi and Mac continue to keep their true mission hidden.

Rating: ★★★½☆☆

Jaimie Alexander returns to reprise her role as Lady Sif and brings with her guest star Eddie McClintock from Warehouse 13 playing the Kree, Vin-Tak.

It was really exciting to see Jaimie Alexander return to Agents of SHIELD if only as a guest star. However her arrival is tainted as SHIELD pick her up from a Portuguese jail where she has been found after attacking someone on the beach. Dazed and confused, an amnesic Sif barely remembers who she is. She doesn’t remember Thor, but the name seems to make her smile, and she can’t recall why she even came to earth.

The truth is revealed when they capture Vin-Tak, a Kree with a truncheon that when activated allows him to basically obliviate a person’s memories. Giving Sif back her memories, he introduces SHIELD and the audience to the idea of terrigenesis and the true intention of the Diviners.

Like in the source material, the Kree did a lot of genetic tests and experiments on members of different races in order to turn them into weapons to aid them in their massive intergalactic wars. While some of these experiments failed, the ones they conducted on humans were successful. So successful that they needed to shut it all down. Vin-Tak reiterates multiple times the severity of this situation as well as the dangers of the “abominations” that the Kree created.

Upon hearing that Raina has been changed, he turns on Skye, and questions her about the events of the chamber. I have to commend the writers and creators for not stringing us along with Skye’s abilities, it’s nice to have the secret out so we can deal with it. It’s clear Skye’s abilities are all connected to her emotions, and bubbling very close to the surface. We see her disintegrate a gun and send the windows of the base crashing in.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Vin-Tak and Sif turn on Skye and May, Coulson, and Fitz rush to her defense. It culminates to Skye being cornered within Vault D and icing herself herself when she realizes she can’t get a handle on her abilities. Her character continues to take on a more “outsider” role, when she confines herself into an interrogation room after her abilities are revealed.

It’s clear by the end of the episode that not everyone is ok with Skye’s powers. Fitz’s fierce loyalty seems to be the only thing shining in the entire debacle. Coulson and May have doubts about their abilities to control Skye, despite both caring about her. Mac not only feels betrayed by Fitz for his lying, but he also feels the need to protect himself from her. Henry Simmons does a great job of making me really start to hate Mac, his character grows more and more interesting every episode.

Simmons, to her credit, doesn’t seem to recoil at the idea of Skye’s powers, stating that they are friends and it would be different with her. But as Fitz reiterates, they want to do the same thing to Skye as Sif and Vin-Tak do. They want to lock her up, to try and force control on her. Like I said last week, Fitz knows first hand what it feels like to be treated like an outsider, and despite the promises they might be making, actions speak louder than words.

Speaking of Mac, he and Bobbi get a much more elaborate storyline this week, when Bobbi approaches Mac about the idea of bringing Hunter in on their plan. Although Mac seemed ready to include Hunter before it is made clear that something has been set in motion, Bobbi’s opportunity to bring Hunter in has definitely passed. Mac encourages her to push Hunter away, and Bobbi seems to begrudgingly agree.

To Hunter’s credit, he doesn’t fully believe Bobbi’s cold shoulder and confronts Mac. To his discredit, he underestimates just how important the secret they are keeping is. It’s interesting to see Mac reject going out into the field with Coulson, stating that he doesn’t enjoy violence, and then see him turn around at the end of the episode by putting a chokehold on Hunter.

This pretty much signs the death warrant to whatever secret their keeping, at least from Hunter. Obviously the guy is going to have to wake up, and what’s going to happen then?

We see our favorite insane dad come back next week along with guest stars The Sopranos‘s Drea de Matteo as a super powered super villain working with Cal, and Blair Underwood, as May’s ex-husband who might be able to help Skye out.