At Raina’s secret base, Chan is told that he’ll be injected with a serum that will greatly increase his power, but the effects will only be temporary. He loves the feeling of the extra power, and flings fireballs around, almost hitting a technician but apologizing by saying, “you almost got Scorched.” Raina again speaks of Chan’s “gift”, and Chan is thrilled that “from now on nobody holds me back.”
Skye and Miles are locked up in the interrogation room, arguing about the ideals of the Rising Tide. Miles name drops Eric Snowden in defending leaking Chan’s information. FitzSimmons is going through Miles’s stuff, looking for more information than how much time he spends playing Minecraft. Coulson is angry at himself as much or more than he is at Skye, and when May shows up he assumes she’s there to give him an “I told you so”, but she says she doesn’t do “petty”. She does, however, tell him that “when someone breaks into my home, I don’t invite them to stay.” Coulson says that his instincts have changed since the accident in New York, and that he would have never let Skye join up before. But if he’s looking for comfort from May, he’s not going to get it.
FitzSimmons burst in to share a bit of new information, and they discover that Miles received a million dollar payment for the information about Chan. Skye is furious that Miles would sell the information after all of his blustering about his ideals of freedom of information, because selling that information goes against everything they stood for. He says that he checked things out thoroughly, and that the money came not from some corporation but from a fan of the Rising Tide who told him he had a “gift”. He even checked the bank account the money came from, saying that it belonged to an ecological research lab, doing studies on centipedes. What could be more innocent than that?
We see Raina talking to a familiar looking doctor, who turns out to be the one who injected Mike Peterson with Extremis in the first episode. She confirms that they want Chan for the project, and criticises Raina for giving Chan a nickname, before telling her to “drain him.” She gasses Chan, and he wakes up strapped to an operating table, hooked up to machines. He tries to create a fire in order to escape, but he cries out in pain as it burns his hand. The doctor tells him that the reason he had been protected was that his blood platelets are fireproof, and that they’re removing them from him in order to help stabilize Extremis. Raina tells that he is now going to give that “gift” that he has.
SHIELD has figured that out as well, and have located where Chan is being held. Coulson leaves Ward behind to guard the prisoners while he, May and case agent Quan go rescue Chan. Coulson tells Ward, “My problem, I fix it.” Meanwhile Skye is pissed at Miles, telling him that “an innocent guy might die… for money.” It’s clear that his choice to sell the information has soured her on his supposed idealism, and she’s starting to believe more strongly in SHIELD’s mission. She’s beginning to see that Coulson and crew really are interested in protecting people.
Coulson, May and Quan arrive at the building, and scans show them an area that is drawing the most power which must be their target. Either that or they have the “world’s largest vacuum”, according to Quan. They break in and May does her typical ass kicking, but the building goes on lockdown before they can break Chan out. They release Chan, who injects himself again with the serum before burning a hole right through agent Quan. He tells Coulson that he’s finally set himself free.
Coulson and May hide from Chan, whose attack on Quan left him with burns all over his arms. May tries to talk to him in Chinese, but Chan isn’t interested in what she has to say. He lectures her on how SHIELD and the Centipede group are no different from each other, both wanting to use Chan for their own ends, either by harnessing his power or by suppressing it.
Ward sets Skye loose in order to help break the lockdown, but she says she needs to be in the building in order to do it. Ward and Miles both object to this, with Miles telling her the she’s not Seal Team Six. “No, but he is,” she says, pointing to Ward. Sure enough, he takes out a host of guards and breaks her into the control room, and before he can ask “How long is this gonna take?” she already says that she’s “done”.
May asks Coulson if there’s anything from Chan’s file that would help them, as she didn’t remember there being anything in there about him being a killer, but Coulson says that his file just said that he’s “kind of a tool.” They make a plan to sedate him using the night-night pistol, but as they try to talk him down he tells them that he’s now to be known as Scorch. “Aw crap, they gave him a name,” Coulson moans, before jumping out to fire the tranquilizers, which Scorch burns up before they get close to him.
The lockdown ends, and Scorch flees, while May tells Coulson that the time for sedating him is past and the only solution is to kill him before he kills anyone else. He tracks down the doctor and Raina, who are leaving with Chan’s blood platelets, but as Raina closes the doctor out of the elevator when Scorch approaches. She tries to tell him that they can fix him and make him stronger, but he incinerates her, leaving nothing behind but scorch marks on the floor. Coulson corners him and says that they “don’t want to hurt you… but we have to.” May attacks from behind and injects him with something, and Coulson, May, Skye and Ward flee as the Extremis causes him to explode (since his fire resistant platelets are no longer in his body to protect him from the Extremis side effect), sending a jet of flames into the sky. The only positive is that Skye managed to get a few files from Centipede’s computer before the building blew, which might help lead them to the mysterious group.

Still enjoying this series! (and the blog) As for the tone of the series, I love it. I’m rather done with the Extremisly Grim Apocalyptic Armageddon Realism of (actually excellent but far too grim) of stuff like The Dark Knight Rises (and I love Batman, but, come one already). I prefer the lighter touch of Avengers, and while SHIELD takes itself seriously enough, it keeps enough of a balance with the FUN of the comics.
Was it a big step for the series to delve into a larger, more threatening SHIELD world? I think they’ve paced themselves nicely, letting us know the characters and gradually opening up our field of view. And yes, want to see more superheroes. And it’s sad that we can’t say Mutant because of some (errrrgh, grrrrr ) Fox ownership thingie.
I had a thought that the Clairvoyant might be some psychic part of the Man in the Prison (he doesn’t like getting in touch with that part of himself… or it’s a very dangerous superpower).
I felt as if the “tin soldiers” were Centipede’s version of what would have been an army of supersoldiers if Cap hadn’t ended up being the only viable one. Something odd about that: if i was “speaking in code” or metaphor about some real soldiers, I’d likely say something about action figures… our villainess is using an antique reference: tin soldiers.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I love how our boots on the ground team is made up of several people (Coulson, Agent Quan, Skye) who are not Seal Team Six, or any other typical action hero types. A refreshing change.
Like the reveal of why Skye is there… whew! She’s not a baddie. But now, a bigger mystery….
….who……were……..her……….parents?
ANd does she have superpowers???????????
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The fact that they can’t say “mutant” will probably get pretty old after a while, but contracts are contracts, I suppose. It hadn’t occurred to me that the Clairvoyant might be a part of the man in the prison! I like that theory! As for who Skye’s parents might be, I read someone who suggested that Coulson might be her dad. (It’s possible that you suggested it, and if it was, I’m sorry for forgetting it was you. Also, if it was, you’re brilliant.) It’s my current favorite fan theory. I would doubt it’s true, but anything’s possible. And if Melinda May turns out to be her mom…
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I like the fact that this episode went to some darker place (see my own blog for more on this). Also, totally agree with you that is was good that it wasn’t just Skye Candy wandering around in her pants, her boy was scantily clad too, I’m just not sure either of them needed to be. Having the guy in his underwear to provide a license for having the girl in hers just reminds me of the early episodes of Star Trek TNG when they had men in mini skirts in the background so that Marina Sirtis couldn’t raise a case of sexual discrimination in the workplace.
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Actually, I’m quite pleased with that last point if I do say so myself. I’m going to add it to my own blog. I tend not to read your recaps until commented on it myself so as not to be influenced by your ideas but on this occasion I’m going to roll with the inspiration. Thanks
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Good article, and the TNG point was a great one. I’ve never understood the need to sexualize characters in order to appeal to people, but if they’re going to do it I’d rather them do it the SHIELD way than the Star Trek Into Darkness way. There’s a way to show/imply sex onscreen without taking time to objectify people. Thanks for linking to me, and as always thanks for reading and commenting! I love your blog.
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Thank you, you know how much I enjoy your blog too. I am looking forward to your review of Ender’s Game. It came out here in the UK last week but I’ve not had a chance to see it and to be honest, it isn’t on the top of my list, I’ve not see Thor 2 yet either. The reviews have been mixed here but I am very interested to hear what you think.
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I hope to see Ender’s Game either tomorrow or definitely this weekend. I’m a bit apprehensive about it. I adored the book as a kid, but that was before I knew what I now know about the author. I’m always thrilled to see thoughtful sci-fi, when that’s not the norm these days, but I worry it’ll be a huge flop. I’m not sure what to expect from Thor 2. I think I was the only person who enjoyed the sections of the first film that were set on Earth more than the Asgard sections, but that doesn’t seem to be a big part of Thor 2. I can’t wait to hear what you think of both of them!
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