Clearly SHIELD’s budget is not dependent on congressional approval, because Agent Coulson and his crew are back with a new case this week, despite the government shutdown.  This week’s episode gave us a much better look at our characters, and a closer glimpse at what we can expect from the show going forward, all while building on the promise of last week’s premiere.  And while it may not have lived up to the brilliance of Joss Whedon’s “Pilot”, “0-8-4” (written by showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, J-Mo, and Jeffrey Bell) was a solid entry in the young series, building on some of the things that were hinted at last week.  Plus, in Marvel Cinematic Universe fashion, it had one hell of a post-credits scene and a big-ticket cameo.  But let’s take it from the top!

We open on an impressive shot of “The Bus”, our slick, black base of operations for Coulson’s Crew (that’s the nickname I’m going with for the group, until something better comes along).  The Bus, going by callsign “SHIELD 616” is asking for permission to land at “The Slingshot”, when suddenly a hole is blown in the side of the plane.  Air begins rushing out, as Coulson hangs on for dear life.  Things seem desperate, but we’ll have to wait until later in the show to find out what happens, because things flashback to 19 hours earlier.

It’s the classic in medias res trope, but it’s a classic for a reason.  Things jump back to right where we left off last week.  Skye has decided to join on for the time being, and we see her clearing out her van/home, making sure to grab the hula girl off the dashboard.  FitzSimmons welcomes her onboard, but Skye feels like it’s the “first day of school.”

Meanwhile Ward is extremely not happy about Skye joining on.  He objects because she’s a member of the Rising Tide (I guess that’s one mystery solved; Skye is not the entirety of the hacker group), and represents everything he’s been fighting against.  He tells Coulson that she “doesn’t think like us”, which Coulson points out is one of the best parts about her.  He clearly appreciates her hacking skills and the new points of view she’ll bring to the group.  Melinda May, however, objects to her lack of combat experience, which when combined with FItzSimmons means that half the group are incapable of defending themselves.  Coulson overrules them, having anticipated all of the points they’ve raised, and tells Ward that “your frown will be on record.”  They have more important things to worry about, like the 0-8-4, which means… “we don’t know what that means.”

Ward gives Skye an airplane safety pamphlet that looks hilariously like the ones we see every time we fly, but Coulson tries to make her feel welcome.  She asks him about his past, and he gives the standard line about recovering in Tahiti (“It’s a magical place”), while bragging about the Bus.  He even makes her use a coaster when she sets down her bottle of water, like a homeowner with new furniture.  He tells her that an 0-8-4 is an object of unknown origin, and that the last one was “a hammer”.  (The references to the MCU just keep coming, this time being Thor’s weapon, Mjolnir, which was found in the middle of the New Mexico desert.)

After some impressive airplane effects, Coulson’s crew arrives at an Inca archaeological site in Peru.  Fitz and Simmons banter adorably about monkeys and snakes in the area, while Ward continues to complain about Skye, telling Coulson that she’s “everything that I’m against.”  Coulson simply replies, “Yep,” and the group heads into the pyramid.  They find a mysterious device wedged into an ancient wall, that appears to have been there for 1,500 years and Fitz thinks is vaguely German.

Ward and May guard the perimeter, and Ward questions May about her background, all while wondering why she didn’t bring any guns.  She tells him that if she needs a gun she’ll take one, while Ward makes a reference to the “cavalry”.  May gives him an icy, “Don’t ever call me that,” but their discussion is cut short by a group of soldiers, who Ward and May handle easily before being surrounded.

Ward calls Coulson to defuse the standoff, and Coulson gets to show off his Spanish skills, but is surprised to find a familiar face leading the soldiers.  He greets Camilla Reyes warmly, and it’s clear that the two have quite the history together.  Reyes is a Comandante in the National Police of Peru, and she’s come to check on SHIELD and the mysterious device.  She tells Coulson that he looks good, and he answers “Yeah… I work out.”

As the investigation continues, Skye tries to contribute, but only gets strange looks from FitzSimmons.  She tells Ward some of the local politics, that the people are joining together to fight against mining in the area, and that she’s pleased and impressed by it.  Ward is dismissive, and makes a dig at Skye by questioning what her purpose is in the group.

While Coulson and Reyes are catching up, a group of rebels attack.  The soldiers fight back while FitzSimmons try to pack up their equipment.  Fitz gets mad at Skye when she tries to put one of his flying robots (Sleepy, I think) in the wrong slot in their case.  They debate about what to do with the 0-8-4, but Ward just pulls it out of the wall, earning a “What is the matter with you?” from Fitz.  The non-combat members of the group are pinned down in the pyramid, but Ward leaps out with a stun device straight out of the movie Serenity, and buys them time to escape.

As the crew and some of the Peruvian soldiers flee back to the Bus, Fitz observes that the 0-8-4 is overheating.  Simmons helpfully starts to roll down a window, but Skye points out that they should leave the bulletproof windows up while they’re being shot at, before mumbling “I miss my van” to herself.  They make it back to the Bus, with a handful of soldiers and Reyes, before Fitz reveals that he thinks the device runs on Tesseract energy, just like the cube that opened the portal during the attack on New York in The Avengers.

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