It seems that Nash’s condition wasn’t greatly exaggerated, as he’s stuck in a wheelchair unable to move, with a breathing tube in his mouth.  The rest of the team arrives, and Nash assures them that their meeting is not a trap but is instead destiny.  Garrett questions whether he’s the Clairvoyant, but Nash says that Mr. Poe was the one who gave him that name, “a bit dramatic for my taste.”  Nash used Deathlok to lure them here (and then sent him away) so that he could look at them with his own eyes.

He tells Coulson that the reason he could not see Coulson after he died was that Coulson himself couldn’t see.  “You were simply a broken man, who did not know he was broken.”  They’re all a little disturbed by the whole situation, and threaten to take Nash in, while Garrett wonders how they shut off his speech device.  Nash tells them that even if they lock him away he’ll still see everything, just like he saw Coulson holding Skye as she was dying, knowing that it was all his fault.  Coulson gets angry, and Nash informs him that he’s been betrayed and is afraid of what happens next.  “A force beyond your comprehension is coming for you.  You and Skye… she has something we want and she will die giving it to us, I have seen it,” Nash says.  “Go to hell,” Coulson tells him.  “No matter where I go, or what you do to me, I will always–“

BANG!  Ward shoots Nash in the chest, killing him in moments.  Everyone is shocked, but he surrenders himself and his gun and comes quietly.  Garrett tells Coulson that Ward let his emotions get the best of him, and offers to escort Ward to the debriefing, but Coulson declines and Garrett sets out to continue hunting for Deathlok, telling Coulson to take it easy on Ward.  May informs Coulson that Nick Fury is finally back and is wants to meet with Coulson.  “About damn time,” Coulson responds.  “You can talk to him about what’s bothering you,” she says.  “A lot’s bothering me.”

On the Bus, Skye goes to Ward in the Cage.  She wants to know why he did it.  Ward says that he got angry, and that Nash pushed all of the right buttons to bring his emotions out.  Ward reminds Skye of everything bad the Clairvoyant did, saying that he wasn’t going to stop, not until he did something bad to Skye, which he wasn’t going to let happen.  He says he’ll accept whatever punishment SHIELD decides to throw at him, but that he doesn’t regret what he did as long as it means she’s safe.  Her, and the rest of the team.

Fitz heads down to the communications room to set up his encrypted channel with Simmons.  However, there’s some interference and Fitz discovers that someone else has tapped into the line.  Simmons leaves abruptly as a bunch of agents rush into the situation room, leaving Fitz to investigate his discovery.

Meanwhile, Coulson is worried and confesses to Skye that he’s not sure that Nash was really the Clairvoyant.  He thinks Ward might have killed the wrong man.  He thinks the whole thing could have been a setup, in order to make them think they’d caught the Clairvoyant.  When he mentions that the Clairvoyant could still be in their heads that triggers something in Skye’s mind.  She realizes that she discovered while going through the files that all of the secrets the Clairvoyant claimed to have gained through psychic powers actually might have come from SHIELD psychological profiles and other information, meaning that they’re not facing a super powered individual but instead a mole.  The reason he couldn’t see what happened after Coulson died is because Fury refused to release that file to anyone.  They think the Clairvoyant must be an Agent of SHIELD.

Coulson confronts Ward, wanting to know whether he killed Nash on his own or whether he was ordered to do it.  Fitz tracks the line to a secret communication panel with a fingerprint scanner hidden some flight masks in May’s area.  She almost catches him, and he makes the most unconvincing excuse/dodge ever.  He runs right into Skye, leading to this awesome exchange:

Skye: Fitz!

Fitz: What?

Skye: I was just looking for you.

Fitz: Why?  I didn’t do anything

Skye: What?  I didn’t say you did…  What’d you do?

He explains what he found, and he’s pretty scared.  Skye, however, is more scared, thinking that May has been working with the Clairvoyant.  She tells Fitz to cut the hard line before she can call out, and he runs off to the communications room.  May searches the room where she found Fitz, and goes to make another report on her secret line, but before she can provide any information Fitz cuts the line and her phone goes dead.  She looks pissed and grabs a gun, never a good sign, particularly if she’s coming after you.

In the Cage Coulson and Ward are arguing, with Ward saying, “I wasn’t put on your plane so you could make me a better person.  You put me here to make the hard call and I made it.”  Coulson doesn’t believe that Ward was acting alone (or at least he has to make sure), but Skye interrupts before things get too out of hand.  May heads to the cargo bay, and when she sees Fitz she immediately fires at him, but thankfully there’s bulletproof glass between them.

Coulson shows up with his gun pointing right at her.  She explains that it was just an ICER she was shooting at him with, but he points out that his gun is real, with real bullets.  She says she can’t put her gun down.  Skye appears behind her and now May has two guns trained on her, which even the badass Melinda May isn’t fast enough to take care of.  She tells them that they don’t know what they’re doing, but eventually lowers her gun, saying she can explain everything, but “not here.”  Coulson wants to know who’s on the other end of the encrypted line, but May refuses to say.

Coulson thinks he knows, though, which would explain why Deathlok injured Blake but let May leave unharmed and why he lead them to the racetrack only to leave without defending his boss.  Coulson thinks May knows who the real Clairvoyant is, but May seems genuinely confused and even a little hurt that he would suspect such a thing.  Coulson’s sick of being lied to, but May doesn’t have any answers to his questions.  Before they can sort everything out, however, the Bus gives a lurch, changing direction in midair on its own and heading to a new destination.  May swears that she doesn’t know what’s happening or where they’re heading.  Back at the Hub, it seems that Agent Hand was behind the redirection, as she orders her team to take out everyone onboard the Bus once it lands, except she wants them to leave Coulson for her.

Wow, what an episode.  The title was very appropriate, as it really felt like the “End of the Beginning,” with the season thus far ending and a new, mini-season beginning.  Everything is coming to a head in conjunction with this weekend’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  In fact, the post-credits scene is simply a clip of some action from that film, with Nick Fury driving an SUV and being chased and shot at.  He shakes them off but the Winter Soldier appears and blows up Fury’s car, sending him crashing into the asphalt.  I’m definitely excited to see how everything ties in with the movie and the remaining episodes of the season.  The producers of the show have promised big things each week from here on out, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

 S.H.I.E.L.D. Thoughts

So who do we think is the Clairvoyant?  That’s obviously the big mystery for the season.  Coulson and Skye seem pretty confident that it’s a SHIELD agent, which means anyone, including Skye, May or Ward.  I don’t believe that it’s anyone on the Bus, but anything’s possible.  I also don’t think that it’s Garret.  However I could definitely see it being Hand.  Given the fact that she ordered her team to take out the crew when the Bus lands, clearly she’s not on our heroes’ side.  Whether that means she’s the Clairvoyant I don’t know, but I definitely think it’s possible.

How about May?  Who do we think she’s talking to.  My money is still that she’s reporting to Nick Fury, and she seemed genuinely shocked that Coulson would accuse her of working with the Clairvoyant.  If she is reporting to someone higher up in SHIELD, we’ll have to see what effect the outcome of the Captain America events have on her mission.

I‘m glad that Skye is now a part of SHIELD, even if she didn’t take a traditional route to get there.  She’s been an outsider long enough, and she can still bring her outsider’s point of view while being an official part of the team and having access to greater resources.  I like that Coulson gave her an official vote of confidence in front of not just his team but the other agents, which I’m sure meant a lot to her, and did a lot to quiet dissent among the other agents.

Exactly what is happening to Mike Peterson?  Is there any way he can come back from what Deathlok has done to him?  The x-ray view from the golden retriever made him look like a T-800 from Terminator.  Between the metal skull, the glowing red eye, and the information he gets through his eye, there’s a definite Skynet feeling to him.  I hope Mike is still in there somewhere, and that he has an opportunity for redemption before the end, but it’s hard to see a happy ending for Mike when all is said and done.  I’m afraid Deathlok might be close to taking over for good.

Let me take a minute to praise Brad Dourif.  I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, going back to his Oscar-nominated performance in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, through Alien: Resurrection (written by Joss Whedon) to playing Grima Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings.  He has a lot of range, and he brings a lot of depth to roles where you might not expect it.  As Nash, confined to a wheelchair and speaking through a computer, he still managed to be threatening and menacing while also human.  I’m glad they used his voice for the computer, as he’s so good at using his delivery in creative ways.  Combine that with the minimal work he was able to do with his eyes and it was a really good performance especially considering the limitations placed on him.

Don’t forget the “Uprising” subtitle that Agents of SHIELD has gained in the past few weeks, leading up to the movie this weekend.  Clearly there are different factions within SHIELD, the question is who is uprising.  Just as it seems in the previews for The Winter Soldier that Steve Rogers is uprising against aspects of SHIELD that he doesn’t support, we might have an uprising on the show as well.  The Uprising could mean Coulson and crew doing the same thing as Steve in rebelling against SHIELD command, or it could mean that Hand has already staged an uprising of her own and Coulson and crew will have to put it down.  Things have gotten complicated quickly, and there are so many ways it could go from here.

What do you think?  Did you enjoy “The End of the Beginning”?  Who is the Clairvoyant?  Who has May been talking to on her phone?  What happened to Simmons when the agents swarmed into the situation room (as part of Hand’s uprising?)?  What will become of Mike Peterson?  How will Captain America: The Winter Soldier affect the events of next week’s episode, “Turn, Turn, Turn.”  Let me know in the comments!