Violet recaps Season 1 Episode 17 of Agents of SHIELD, titled Turn, Turn, Turn, which comes on the heels of the Captain America: The Winter Soldier release, and proves that when it comes to the Marvel universe, “it’s all connected!” In this episode, “everything changes” as the agents try to figure out who they can and can’t trust. Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts on Turn, Turn, Turn.
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Episode Recap of Agents of SHIELD, Season 1 Episode 17: Turn, Turn, Turn
- The episode begins with Agent Garrett coming under attack by missles shot by two SHIELD drones, but he is able to maneuver his plane to make the missiles crash into each other. Meanwhile, Coulson tries to make Agent May talk. She says that it’s not her that made the plane turn, and that the secret phone line was a direct line to Director Fury. Fitz admits that he needed an encrypted line to talk to Simmons at the Hub.
- As Simmons works on analyzing Skye’s blood, Agent Triplett walks into the lab. She eventually tells him what she’s working on and that she wants to contact Agent Weaver at the Academy. He volunteers to help her. Back on the plane, Skye discovers that their communications are jammed. However, they get a signal from Garrett that he’s under attack by SHIELD drones. Coulson shoots May with the sleep gun, then brings her to the cage with Ward, telling him that she’s been reporting on them the whole time.
- Fitz is able to bypass their system to get access to their guns. Garrett flies toward Coulson, and Coulson is able to shoot down the drones. Garrett docks his plane on top of Coulson’s plane, and joins the SHIELD team inside. Coulson tells Garrett he thinks Agent Hand is the Clairvoyant. Skye decodes an encrypted message: “Out of the shadows, into the light. Hydra.”
- When Simmons contacts Agent Weaver, Weaver warns her that the Academy is under attack, that Hydra is inside SHIELD and taking control, and not to trust anyone. Ward gives May a piece of his mind when she wakes up. Fitz is able to repair May’s direct line as the plane is landing in the Hub, but when May tries to call Fury, someone else picks up and informs her that Fury is dead. May gets shot as SHIELD agents outside shoot at them.
- Coulson removes the bullet from May as she explains her side of the story. Fury wanted her to keep an eye on Coulson and report any signs of physical or mental deterioration. She reveals that she is the one who assembled their team. Coulson has Skye wipe the system, which she is keeping on a backup hard drive. Inside the Hub, Hand’s guys find Simmons and Triplett.
- Heavily armed SHIELD agents enter the plane, but the team already cut a hole in the bottom of the plane and escaped into the Hub. Skye gives Ward the hard drive to hold onto. Skye and Ward head to the nerve center to disable their systems, and Coulson tells them to use icers only. The others go to rescue Simmons and Triplett.
- Meanwhile, Simmons and Triplett have been brought to Hand, who offers them the choice to swear loyalty to Hydra or share Fury’s fate. Triplett fights back and holds a knife to one of her men, but it turns out it was only a test, and that Hand is not Hydra. However, Hand tells them that Coulson is Hydra.
- Garrett and Fitz dress up as Hub SHIELD agents, and pretend to have captured Coulson and May in order to gain access to a control room. Hand lists off the evidence to Simmons that Coulson is Hydra. Ward and Skye hide in a supplies closet to strategize. He asks her to get a drink if they make it out of this and she agrees. She pulls him in for a kiss before he heads out into the hallway, where he fights off 12 men. However, Skye doesn’t plan to hack the system, but blow it up.
- May spots Hand’s location on the monitor, and Garrett suggests dropping in and killing her – without questioning her, which Coulson disagrees with, and May says they could just as easily ice her. Garrett fervently argues his side, but when he mentions the girl in the flower dress, Raina, having been in the machine, Coulson points out that he never told anyone that. Garrett tries to play it off, but Coulson doesn’t fall for it.
- Hub agents enter the room, and Garrett announces that he knows Sitwell was in charge of filling their ranks, so at least a few of them know what to do. A few Hub agents shoot the other Hub agents, and they all proclaim, “Hail Hydra!” Coulson says he would die before serving Hydra, so Garrett agrees that death is the only alternative for him and May. He offers Fitz a high rank in their tech division, otherwise he’ll have no rank and a lot of pain, but either way they’ll require his services.
- Just before the Hub agents open fire, Skye’s bomb goes off, turning off the power, which gives Coulson and May the distraction they need to fight back. Fitz gets ahold of a loose gun and shoots one of the agents. The final fight comes down to Coulson and Garrett, and Fitz tosses his sonic device to Coulson, which throws Garrett off of him.
- Hand comes in with her men and Simmons, and they have heard everything. Hand’s men round up the numerous traitors. Triplett is upset to see Garrett was part of it, and Ward appears devastated when Coulson breaks the news. Hand informs Coulson of all the SHIELD bases they know of that Hydra has taken control over. Hand plans to head to the Fridge, which is still secure. Ward insists on accompanying her there to turn the key on Garrett’s cell.
- Coulson orders Skye to restore the plane’s firmware, and Fitz-Simmons to get a crew together to help May patch the holes. Coulson tells May she’s not a friend, but he considers her an ally. Their plan: survive. On the plane to the Fridge, Hand asks Ward if she wants to shoot Garrett. Ward pulls his gun and shoots Hand’s men and Hand. Ward zones out as Garrett shares a story about one time when he was deep undercover.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 17 of Agents of SHIELD: Turn, Turn, Turn
HO. LY. WOW, that was an awesome episode! Hands down the best of the entire season. It kept my full attention from the very beginning up until the very end. This episode exemplifies the Agents of SHIELD that we’ve been waiting for. It’s just a shame that it took 17 episodes for it to get this good! I know lots of people bailed on the show early on, and we were tempted to do so too, but we stuck it out, hoping that it would eventually get better. My friends, all that waiting has finally paid off. Excellent tie in with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I think many of those people that jumped shipped early are going to come running back. Let’s just hope that the show is able to keep it at this level from here on out!
When the episode began with the opening riff to Blue Oyster Cult’s (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, that set the tone for the entire episode. It kind of gave me chills, and I just knew that this episode was going to be a good one. With the title of the episode being Turn, Turn, Turn, you can’t help but hear the song Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season) by the Byrds in your head, which is a light and airy song. But don’t let that fool you. This episode has a dark tone and is filled with lies and betrayal. You don’t know who to trust. Everyone could potentially be the enemy. Not gonna lie, this episode had me fooled and guessing up until the end.
Is Ward really evil? Or is he playing double agent? Upon a second viewing of this episode, it is clear that Ward is on HYDRA’s side, and that he and Garrett are working together. The first time watching it, you don’t think much of Skye giving Ward the backup drive to hold on to, but knowing that Ward is a bad guy, it’s obvious that he’s trying to get it away from the SHIELD team and into his own hands for HYDRA. There’s also a scene where Garrett and Ward are talking, and Garrett asks Ward if there’s anything left in there that he doesn’t want “them” to have. During your first viewing, you think he’s referring to HYDRA as “them,” but knowing what we know now, “them” is the SHIELD team. Since Garrett was Ward’s supervising officer, and Ward spent so much time with Garrett being trained by him, it makes sense that Ward would fall under Garrett’s influence. At the same time, you can’t help but wonder, having made such close friends in SHIELD, is he just doing what he’s doing in order to infiltrate further into HYDRA and bring it down from the inside out? The final scene of the show where Ward is just zoning out while Garrett is telling a story seems to suggest that there is something not right with Ward. Oh, and I have to mention his “romantic” scene with Skye. Does he really care about her like that, or was it all for show?
I have no idea what’s going to happen next, and I can’t wait to find out!
Josh’s Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD, Season 1 Episode 17: Turn, Turn, Turn
This week’s Agents of SHIELD was the best episode of the show so far. What is awesome is how last week’s episode makes so much more sense now after seeing Captain America: The Winter Soldier as well. Agent Ward’s decision to shoot the “Clairvoyant” also makes so much more sense now (if you saw my last week’s recap, I hated on Ward about that a lot due to it being nonsensical).
I have to say, beginning to end, this episode was great. I had no real qualms about anything. This isn’t normally the case, as I usually have a problem with every episode to some degree or another. I am really happy, and hope that this show finally turns into what I had hoped it would be.
The episode did a good job of fooling me as well. While I knew Agent May was working with Nick Fury (I think I mentioned that last week), I was certain Agent Hand was the Clairvoyant. Then when she was revealed as not the Clairvoyant, it became clear–it was Agent Garrett. But then of course at the very end, we see Agent Ward make his move–ending Hand, revealing he is HYDRA.
What I really do not want to happen now on Agents of SHIELD is to have Ward be a double agent. I have seen this discussed in social media and various podcasts I listen to, but in my opinion it really makes no sense. Agent Ward has killed a fairly high ranking SHIELD member, to which Coulson in no way could accept. I expect for Ward to be a part of the team still, but it should be to his own end.
I guess the twist they could try to throw into the mix, is that Ward has the messages in his head like we have seen with other people forced to kill (like Deathlok), but we haven’t seen an opportunity for this to happen, so it would be a weird thing to throw in.
I am all in though, and hope that this season finishes with a bang, now that we have the wheels turning in the proper direction.
Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Season 1 Episode 18: Providence
Here are scenes from the next Agents of SHIELD episode, titled Providence:
I couldn’t figure out whether him zoning out there at the end was because he was conflicted or if it’s because he’s just really unstable mentally. Like a sociopath or something.
This was a great episode. It’s definitely cool that the Marvel universe across television and movies is all connected. It’s always been cool how the movies have tied in to each other, and now we have the tv show as well.
It just seems to me that Ward was being perceived as a boring character and so they had him turn heel to make him gain popularity or to elicit SOME kind of reaction in viewers. It’s like what they do in wrestling. Now they just have an uninteresting villain.
I pretty much figured Ward was Hydra from the previous episode.