Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “T.A.H.I.T.I.”

Garret and Coulson head in to interrogate Quinn, and Garrett’s methods seem to have a lot in common with May’s.  He tells Quinn that he has no rights, and grabs a hold of his tongue, threatening to tear it out if he doesn’t get the answers he’s looking for.  He wants to know about Deathlok, which he says sounds like a wrestler from the 80s.  Quinn doesn’t cooperate, but eventually confesses that he didn’t shoot Skye to cover up what she saw, but instead simply because the Clairvoyant ordered him to.  He tells them (and reminds us) that the Clairvoyant sees everything except what happened to Coulson after he died, and that he’d do anything to find out.  The three of them come to the realization that shooting Skye was a way to force Coulson to dig further for answers, just so the Clairvoyant can finally see what he couldn’t see before.

FitzSimmons investigate the file, which Simmons says makes SHIELD seem almost diabolical.  They’re shocked that they would keep Coulson alive after he begged to die.  In their research they learn that Dr. Streiten has gone missing, and that the Bethesda facility doesn’t actually exist.  It seems that Fury still wasn’t willing to give Coulson the truth.  They tell Coulson, who remarks that “there are always secrets.”  FitzSimmons says that they can only understand 70% of what’s in the file, but they wonder whether they should be submitting Skye to the same procedures used on Coulson.  He says they’ll do whatever is necessary, but that no one is talking about doing everything to her that was done to him.  May wonders whether they’re playing exactly into the Clairvoyant’s hands, but Coulson doesn’t care.

FitzSimmons discover a drug in the file named GH-325, which seems to have had a regenerative effect on Coulson.  However, they don’t know anything about the drug or about the secret facility.  Fitz fires up his 3D imager, and the two set out to find a virtual paper trail that will lead them to the facility.  They go through travel records and a variety of other files in seemingly the most inefficient way possible, before discovering a supposedly collapsed World War II bunker, know has the “Guest House,” which might be what GH stands for.  The file for its location is for level 10 only, meaning Nick Fury, and it’s seemingly encrypted.  But as Fitz examines the 3D numbers he realizes it’s not a code but is instead topography for the Guest House location.

Once they arrive, Coulson, Ward, Garrett and Fitz suit up, with lots of weapons, and prepare to enter the unknown bunker.  They don’t know what’s inside, they’ve received no communications from it, but Garrett assures them that if they won’t open up, “I’ll say pretty please” with his big gun.  The quartet heads to the bunker entrance, as we see them approach from a control room where two men are watching.  They ask the quartet, “How was the drive from Istanbul?” which means nothing to them.  Coulson tries to explain that they’re from SHIELD and they need medical assistance, but all they get in return is the same code phrase.  “Pretty please, it is,” Garrett remarks, as they break inside.

They head down an elevator shaft, and Fitz is disturbed to discover that comms are down and he can’t contact Simmons.  Garrett says this is good, as “You don’t want them hearing the horrible danger we’re walking into.”  Fitz is a bit disturbed by this, but Garrett says it’s just a little humor.  Fitz hacks them through some bulletproof doors, which close behind them as a firefight erupts between the quartet and the two guards.  Coulson uses “one of those flash things” to distract one guard, who he shoots, while Garrett takes out the other one with a firm “no hard feelings, Bob.”  The guard Coulson shot flees, bleeding all over the place, and they find him quickly.  He seems to recognize Coulson, who admits that he might have spent some time there before.  The guard asks if they know about the timer, and they discover that the entire bunker has been rigged to explode in less than 10 minutes.

Onboard the Bus, Trip and Simmons are watching over Skye.  Trip asks if the two of them were close, and how long they’ve been together, and Simmons tells him just a few months.  She says that they have “nothing in common… couldn’t be more different.”  “But you couldn’t imagine life without her,” Trip says.  It’s clear he understands exactly what Simmons is going through, but before they can discuss it Skye starts coding, and the two of them and May rush in to intervene.  Trip has medical knowledge, and knows how to help Simmons before she can even get her orders out.

Inside the Guest House, Fitz and Coulson head off to look for GH-325 while Ward and Garrett stay behind to try to diffuse the bomb.  As they search they stumble across a familiar machine, triggering a flashback to Coulson lying on a table with the top of his skull missing and a machine altering his mind.  Meanwhile Garrett and Ward decide that they can’t disarm the bombs and the best way to get out is to blow the doors.  Fitz and Coulson find a room labeled “Biohazard”, and the two head inside, with no time to put on protective suits.  They search and search and just as time is running low Fitz finds GH-325.  He heads back up to the entrance, but Coulson stays behind, as he’s just spotted a door labeled “T.A.H.I.T.I.”

Garrett and Ward blow the doors, and Fitz and Ward dash out to take the mystery drug to Skye.  Garrett goes to search for Coulson and finds him wandering down the hallway in a daze.  As they meet, Coulson seemingly comes to his senses and urgently tells Garrett, “Don’t give it to her!”  Fitz arrives with the drug, which Skye is reluctant to give, as she doesn’t know what it is, what it does, how much to give her or where to inject it.  May starts the Bus into the air just as Garrett and Coulson arrive onboard and the bunker is reduced to a crater behind them.  Coulson rushes to Skye, calling out for them not to give her the drug, only to arrive just in time to see that they’ve finished the injection.

“I was losing her anyway, what harm could it do?” Simmons asks.  Skye’s vitals spike to dangerous levels as she starts to spasm, but almost as quickly they settle down to a normal range and she starts to stabilize..Simmons is proclaimed as a miracle worker while Garrett observes that Coulson looked like he’d seen a ghost.

Inside the cage, Garrett tells Quinn that the Clairvoyant played him, giving him to SHIELD in the hopes of finding answers that are now buried under a mountain.  He takes Quinn with him as Coulson thanks him for his help and his understanding.  Garrett wants to know if Coulson really would have thrown Quinn out of the plane had Skye died, but Coulson won’t confess to that, reminding Garrett that that was his suggestion in the first place.  Garrett tells Coulson that he doubt’s it’ll be too long before they see each other again, especially since Trip seems to be rather taken with Simmons (as all the FitzSimmons shippers yelled at their TVs simultaneously).

May corners Coulson in his office, saying that he accomplished the impossible by saving Skye.  So why isn’t he happy?  She wants to know what is going on, but Coulson stares blankly ahead as we flash back to the T.A.H.I.T.I. room.  Inside the room are a bunch of vials labeled with numbers, just like GH-325, which are being filled via tubes coming out of the wall.  In the wall there’s a round door labeled as the Guest House, and with the push of a button it slides out to reveal a large tube filled with liquid.  Inside the liquid is a humanoid figure, or more exactly, half a humanoid figure.  The blue skinned, bald and slightly alien creature is missing its lower half, ending at the torso with its organs exposed.  Coming out of his open body are tubes running into the wall, seemingly feeding into the labeled vials like the one which saved Skye.  Back in his office he tells May that he simply freaked out and panicked after being in the place where he was brought back to life, but after she leaves he heads to Skye’s side, looking like he won’t move anytime soon.

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4 thoughts on “Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “T.A.H.I.T.I.”

  1. Pingback: Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Yes Men” | Love Pirate's Ship's Log

  2. I really hope this show will stay on air long enough to continue to develop its characters and concepts. This is how TV was in the 60s, stuff that was given years to develop into awesomeness, not expected to rake in ratings the first episode. We need more quality like this.

    Keep bloggin.

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    • I saw an interview where the producers of SHIELD compared it to the X-Files, about how in that series they waited 7 years to resolve one of the big mysteries, but how modern viewers aren’t interested in that kind of slow burn. All signs point to the show getting renewed for a 2nd season, but it’s not a sure thing.

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  3. Pingback: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Looking back at season 1 and forward at season 2 | Love Pirate's Ship's Log

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