"What They Become" is the tenth episode of the second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Coulson and Whitehall's forces meet in an explosive confrontation that dramatically alters everyone's fates. Meanwhile, Skye discovers shocking secrets about her past
Plot[]
The Bus carrying May, Triplett, Hunter, and the Koenigs try to get away from HYDRA's jets after handing over Raina and Skye to Ward. Agent May notices the jets are flying back at them and realizes they are about to be shot down. Using the Bus' decoys and cloaking technology, they are able to escape. They regroup with Coulson in Puerto Rico, where he Morse, and Fitz and Simmons are about to enter the tunnels that lead to the alien city, and inform him about what happened with Skye. Fitz and Simmons meanwhile try and figure out how to save Mack, theorizing the city might only be using him to protect it from those it does not want to enter.
Meanwhile, Ward is taking Skye, his prisoner, through HYDRA's base in Puerto Rico where they are attempting to drill into the city. Ward insists he is not loyal to HYDRA, but only captured her to fulfill a promise. He cuts her out of her ties and opens a door to reveal her father. Ward gives them time alone, and Skye's father introduces himself to his daughter as Cal. Skye at first wants nothing to do with him because he kills people and works for HYDRA, but Cal says he was only working with HYDRA because they had the means to reunite the two of them. When she tries to leave, Cal tells her she is exactly where she needs to be to transform and fulfill her destiny.
Skye then asks about what happened to her mother, and Cal tells her the story of how Daniel Whitehall had her butchered. He then promises his daughter he is about to kill Daniel Whitehall and have the best day ever. He and Ward meet with Raina in the chamber where Hydra has their plasma drill. Dr. Whitehall and Agent 33 enter soon afterwards, congratulates them all on their success, and then asks Ward why he brought Skye back with him. He then has Skye escorted into the room by heavily-armed Hydra guards, and he forces her to pick up the Obelisk. She grabs it and it lights up like when Raina grabbed it earlier, but she attacks one of the Hydra guards with it. She, her father, and Ward open fire on Hydra, but they are outnumbered.
Dr. Whitehall has Ward and Skye tied up and a shock collar put in Cal's neck that he can use to paralyze him. While Ward tries to talk Agent 33 into letting him go, a gunshot forces her to leave her watch and put another Hydra guard on them. Coulson, May, Hunter and Bobbi have barged into Hydra's location in an attempt to prevent them from reaching the city. Ward tries to get the new guard to let him go, but Cal uses the distraction to kill him anyway. Ward wants him to untie him, but Cal leaves both Ward and his daughter behind because he needs to do this alone and doesn't want Skye to see what he does to Daniel Whitehall. He eventually finds Whitehall in the commotion, and just as Whitehall points a gun at him he is shot from behind by Agent Coulson, killing him.
Cal is furious Coulson would take his revenge from him and starts attacking him. Meanwhile, Ward has gotten out of his ties and begins cutting Skye out of hers. Once she is free and Ward turns her back to him, she shoots him. Agent 33, who is devastated over the death of Dr. Whitehall, eventually finds him, and Ward offers to get them out of there and figure out what to do next. Skye finds her father viciously beating Coulson and asks him to stop. When he doesn't Skye points her gun at him and threatens to shoot. He gets off of Coulson and promises to leave, and says goodbye to her daughter and calls her by her real name "Daisy".
Meanwhile, Raina has made her way into the tunnels that lead to the city. Skye goes in after her to prevent her from placing the Obelisk inside the temple and unleashing whatever power it has. Coulson goes in after her. Raina comes across Mack, who is still alive despite his fall, and he leads her deeper into the ruins. Triplett has also entered the city to place bombs throughout to destroy it and prevent its powers from falling into Hydra's hands. Skye finds Raina at the temple as she is about to put the Diviner in place. Once she places it on the altar, the walls of the temple start to move.
Trip runs into the temple as it is closing, trapping him inside with Skye and Raina. Coulson is left outside with Mack, who starts to attack him. The Obelisk opens to reveal a crystal inside, and a strange mist pulses out of the crystal. Skye and Raina start to turn to stone, while Triplett is unaffected. Skye calls out to Trip for help, who can do nothing else but smash the crystal. Skye and Raina have already turned completely to stone, and now Triplett starts to turn to stone as well. However, Raina and Skye start to hatch, revealing their "changed" forms inside. Skye seems to be unchanged, but Raina has some sort of barbs covering her face. Skye watches as Trip crumbles into dust.
Elsewhere, a man takes out another Diviner, which is glowing. He makes a phone call saying there is "someone else," and that he is on it. The man has no eyes.
Cast[]
- Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
- Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May and Kara Palamas/Agent 33
- Maya Stojan as Agent 33's voice
- Brett Dalton as Grant Ward
- Chloe Bennet as Skye
- Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
- Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
- Nick Blood as Lance Hunter
- B.J. Britt as Antoine Triplett
- Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse
- Henry Simmons as Alphonso Mackenzie
- Reed Diamond as Daniel Whitehall
- Ruth Negga as Raina
- Kyle MacLachlan as Calvin Johnson
- Patton Oswalt as Sam and Billy Koenig
- Jamie Harris as Gordon
- Hunter Seagroves as HYDRA Agent
- Carlos Rivera Marchand as Diego
Continuity and References to the Marvel Cinematic Universe[]
- Daniel Whitehall returns.
- Calvin Johnson returns.
- Raina returns.
- Billy Koenig returns.
- Sam Koenig returns.
- Kara Palamas/Agent 33 returns.
- Diego returns.
- Inhumans are introduced.
- Terrigen Mist is introduced.
- Terrigen Crystals are introduced.
- Several Quinjets appear.
- HYDRA appears.
- The Howling Commandos are mentioned.
- Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan is mentioned.
- The Diviners appears.
- Jiaying is mentioned.
- John Garrett is indirectly mentioned.
- Theta Protocol is introduced
Trivia[]
- Jamie Harris' character was rumored to be that of "Reader", an Inhuman.
- Skye and her father's origins were revealed to be Daisy Johnson, aka "Daisy Johnson/Quake" from the comics, and Cal aka "Dr. Calvin/Mr. Hyde", as well as Skye being an Inhuman.
- Cal calls Skye "Daisy". This is a reference to SHIELD agent Daisy Johnson who also goes by the superhero Quake in the comics.
- Hunter's line "Join SHIELD. See exotic places. Meet new people. And, kill them." is taken from a similar line from Full Metal Jacket.
- It is revealed in this episode that Skye's father is named "Cal", as in "Calvin Zabo", who is better known as Marvel villain "Mister Hyde."
- This is the first time the Inhumans are shown on screen, given that Skye transforms into earthquake manipulating person, and Raina transforms into a creature. All through the Obslisk's Terrigen mist.
- Skye finds out from her fatherthat her mother is Chinese. In real life, Chloe Bennet has a Chinese father and Jewish-Caucasian mother.
- Skye's full name is Daisy Johnson.
- This episode confirms existence of the Inhuman race in MCU. The Obelisk contains Terrigen Crystal, that put in surface various abilities for every Inhuman.