As May and Tobias fight, they are so destructive that they cause a beam to fall from the roof of the barn, swinging straight at Hannah.  Tobias sees this and uses his ability to appear in just the right place to block the beam and save Hannah.  May sees this and realizes what the rest of the crew has, that he is protecting her, and she quickly gets Hannah to tell Tobias that May is her friend.  Tobias says that everything that has happened was his fault, and that he’s being dragged to hell for what he did.  He says that seeing Hannah was the best part of his day at work, and that he was only trying to cause a way to see her again when he caused the other three workers to be accidentally killed.

He’s “trying to atone for my sin,” he says to Hannah.  “Maybe if you forgive me I won’t go to hell.”  She replies, “Only God can forgive you.”  May jumps in and says, “and he won’t.  You can’t undo what’s been done.  That will be with you forever.  But trying to hold onto this life, clinging to the person you thought you could be, that’s hell.  And you’re dragging her down with you.  Let her go.”  Tobias hears her words and takes Hannah’s hand before disappearing for good.  Coulson and the rest of the crew show up and Coulson asks May what she said to him.  “The same words you said to me in Bahrain,” she answers.

Back on the Bus Hannah is sleeping.  Coulson is sad that his antique communicator watch is broken, and that it’s a lost cause.  Skye says that it may be a lost cause, but May is not, and that if anyone can bring her around, Coulson can, because he knows what makes people tick.  Coulson says that so does Skye, and that he’s convinced one day she will be the one doing the Index Assessments.  She knew how to talk to Hannah, she saw right through Tobias, and she even wants to help May, so she might even eventually be the best, maybe even good enough that she can rename the Indexing procedure.  “Good, cause that name is super stupid,” she says.  Skye heads up to the cockpit, where she asks May if she can keep her company.  When May doesn’t respond, Skye simply says “cool” and takes the copilot seat, something no one else on board would ever have the guts to do.  May even gives a hint of a smile when she sees what Skye is up to.

After the credits, we see Coulson, Ward, Simmons and Skye playing Scrabble Upwords (or the equivalent), as Simmons plays the word “aglet”.  None of the Americans in the room believe that’s a word, but Skye looks it up and says it’s “a plastic or metal tube covering the end of a shoelace.”  Ward objects, saying “she used her Britishness against us.”  At that moment Fitz shows up, his face and hand covered in shaving cream.  He demands to know who put the shaving cream in his hand while he was sleeping, but everyone in the room denies it.  As they argue, May listens in from the cockpit, and smiles to herself at the prank she pulled.

I thought tonight’s episode was a good one.  It had an interesting stand-alone plot that featured several misdirections before the final solution.  I thought Laura Seay did a great job as Hannah.  It was nice to get some background on May, especially about how she got her nickname.  We didn’t get a lot of growth from the actual character tonight, as it was mostly information from the audience.  That being said, I got choked up at the end when it became clear that she had pulled the prank on Fitz.  I want like May, and while I want to see more from her in future episodes I thought that this was a nice first step for the character.  All told, another solid episode of SHIELD, which is nothing less than I’d expect from writers Jed and Maurissa.

  S.H.I.E.L.D. Thoughts

SHIELD has a week off next week and then returns with a special guest.  J. August Richards is back as Mike Peterson!  I got chills during the preview when Coulson said, “We need you to suit up.”  I know a lot of people, myself included, thought/hoped that Mike Peterson would be a recurring character, who the SHIELD crew could call upon when they need more muscle, and it looks like that’s coming true.  However, it seems like May isn’t happy he’s around, and the line about “loyalty will be tested” doesn’t sound like a positive.  It figures that SHIELD would give an exciting promo before a week hiatus.

How do you think this week’s revelations about May factor in to the theories about her?  My guess is that it all ties together.  I’ve speculated that May was the one who dropped Skye off at the orphanage, and that perhaps the dead woman in the photograph from Skye’s file was Skye’s mother.  (I’m abandoning the theory that May is Skye’s mother, given new revelations and May sleeping with Ward.)  I bet the “civilian woman” who was captured with the SHIELD agents was Skye’s mother, and that when May went in to rescue them then the woman died.  Maybe the woman was the person with superpowers they were investigating, maybe she was a follower/worshiper of that person, or perhaps there’s some other explanation.  Also, when May told Coulson that she’d used his own words on Tobias, perhaps she wasn’t just referring to the message about not holding on to what you’ve done, but was specifically addressing her advice to “Let her go.”  Perhaps Coulson told May to let Skye go (and give her to the orphanage) instead of keeping her after the incident.  I’m definitely intrigued at this point.

I thought the scene with Skye and Hannah where they discussed God was extremely well done.  Joss Whedon is famous for being an atheist (though I don’t know where Jed and Maurissa stand), but he’s always done a great job of handling faith.  Look no further than Shepherd Book on Firefly.  The scene allowed Skye to comfort Hannah and genuinely discuss her beliefs, without having to lie to Hannah in order to make things better.  Hannah’s faith was one of the defining aspects of her character, and the way she used it against herself when she thought she was to blame felt true to the way some people genuinely react to tragedy.  Not many shows like SHIELD would take time for two characters to discuss faith like that, and I give full credit to the writers and actors for making it a fantastic scene.

Especially, I love the recurring motif of characters with their backs together on opposite sides of a wall.  It was used tonight with Skye and Hannah and used several episodes ago when Simmons was infected and Fitz was sitting outside the glass of the lab.  It’s a great image and it really helps convey a lot of emotion visually.  It’s not something I’d want them to use every week, but I like what they’ve done with it so far.

Let’s not forget the revelation that Ward and May are sleeping together, and apparently often enough to have a set plan in place for how to deal with it.  We still don’t know if the hookup at the end of last week was the first time this has happened (and what we saw in this episode was another encounter), or if it was just the latest in a line of hookups.  I don’t see a lot of chemistry between them, so I don’t see this being a longterm relationship for the show, but I can definitely buy these two getting together as a way to escape.  They seem to like each other, but it’s not like they’re madly in love or anything.  I’m definitely curious to see how the rest of the crew, especially Skye, will handle it once the secret gets out, as I’m sure it will.  Though, I bet Coulson already knows.

Do you think it’s interesting that the SHIELD crew basically just solved all of history’s ghost encounters?  Everything we’ve seen thus far on the show has been an isolated incident, but tonight’s conclusion seemed to be that not only was Tobias jumping through dimensions, but that every ghost ever seen was probably experiencing the same thing.  It’s a bit silly, but I like that SHIELD as a show is content to just say “this is how it is” with some things.  Obviously, the group is always looking for a scientific explanation for everything they have to deal with, and I wonder how they will react when they find something that they just can’t explain.

What do you think?  Did you enjoy “Repairs”?  What did you think of May’s backstory?  Do you think my theory about her connection with Skye makes sense?  What do you see in the future for Ward and May’s relationship?  Did you like the way “Repairs” found a way to work in a discussion of faith?  Are you excited that Mike Peterson is returning in two weeks?  Let me know in the comments!