Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Season 3 Episode 6: “Among Us Hide…”
Directed by Dwight Little
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen
Starring Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, Luke Mitchell, Blair Underwood, Constance Zimmer, Matthew Willig, Daz Crawford, Andrew Howard, Spencer Treat Clark, Powers Boothe
ABC
Air Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2015, 9pm

It’s been a couple of weeks since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. utilized its full cast of characters as last week’s episode focused solely on Gemma Simmons’ (Elizabeth Henstridge) months long journey on an alien planet, but the show is back in full force this week.

Jumping right into it, here’s your warning for SPOILERS AHEAD for Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3.6 “Among Us Hide”¦”

This episode surrounds three things: Dr. Andrew Garner’s (Blair Underwood) survival story, the team’s desire to capture Ward (Brett Dalton), and what’s really going on at the ATCU.

Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) is understandably on the warpath after Andrew almost died (at the beginning, he is awake enough to tell them what happened “” and I mean awake enough, speaking in full, coherent sentences) and she is out for blood. She’s pissed at Hunter (Nick Blood), who she feels acted impulsively last episode out of revenge. And she’s not the only one.

Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and Mack (Henry Simmons) allow Hunter to tag along with their mission to follow Rosalind’s (Constance Zimmer) second in command. Daisy is convinced he is Lash. Daisy and Mack use this opportunity to safely criticize Hunter for his rash behavior, but the talk abruptly ends with Hunter ices the guy and brings him back to the van. They test his blood, and he’s not an Inhuman. Daisy looks truly disappointed that she was wrong. Thankfully, Mr. ATCU gets a text while he was unconscious and it’s a lead to a location. Here, they fly a little invisible drone to check out what’s going on”¦

And I have to cut to Coulson’s (Clark Gregg) story! Coulson and Rosalind continue to feel each other out. They both have strong personalities and are skeptical of one another. When Coulson insists on going with Rosalind to an “emergency” situation, he finds out that her home was broken into. She orders in a burger from his favorite place, but he accuses her of making up the entire situation to get in his good graces as part of a larger plan to further avoid him seeing the ATCU facility and to lessen the blow when he does go there. She actually looks hurt by this and decides that they should go to the site immediately. What they see is an adult person in the fetal position in a stasis box being transported by a crane across the warehouse. Coulson, along with Daisy and company (unbeknownst to him) see this simultaneously in real time. Daisy thinks that Coulson has a look on his face like he’s okay with what’s happening and she becomes enraged. She is very volatile with her emotions in general and doesn’t ask for explanations. She handles situations quite dissimilar to Coulson, but I think it will be important for her to try to explore the idea that it might not be right or wrong, just different. Sure enough, we see Coulson questioning Rosalind and looking disturbed by what he’s witnessing. It’s then revealed that Rosalind lost her husband to cancer and that she sees this as the opportunity to put people in a peaceful coma while they research how to help the Inhumans. This sounds like a well crafted explanation that even Rosalind has perhaps convinced herself of, but it’s still involuntary for the prisoners and it still feels wrong.

Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons begin to navigate an awkward phase of their relationship as Fitz assists Simmons in looking for her new love, Will (Dillon Casey), on the alien planet. Not much of this is shown, however, we see that the two obviously have a comfortable-yet-tense energy. It’s clear they have known each other for a long time, but this is new territory. What we do learn by the end of the episode is that Fitz has done dozens of simulations to no avail. Still, he’s not willing to give up (presumably because of how deeply he loves Gemma) and he’s also been reading up on Will.

Ward seems disorganized and haphazard in the way he is managing Hydra, but who knows? Could it all be part of his plan? Von Strucker (Spencer Treat Clark) is now on the run from both Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., and he goes to Gideon Malick (Powers Boothe), a man who once worked with his father (former member of Hydra?). Malick vows to help von Strucker, but then calls Ward (who recognizes his voice immediately), and tells Ward he can give von Strucker’s location. An imposing figure, Malick claims that Ward has been trying to get his attention and explains that “sometimes you need to sacrifice a player to save the game.”

Meanwhile, May encourages Bobbi to get back in the field (and by “encourages,” I mean she fakes being mad at Bobbi and stages a physical altercation). Bobbi passes, even though she says her lung isn’t fully healed. Not only is May back with S.H.I.E.L.D., but she is determined to help bring Bobbi’s confidence back. She relates Bobbi’s nervousness to her time after Bahrain and shows a full range of healthy emotions and reflection. Is this the new May now that Andrew has had a near-death experience? Here’s the rundown in the adventures of Bobbi and May: they scam their way into a bank vault to find info about Alexander von Strucker so they can get to him, and ultimately Ward. By the time they find him, they see that Ward’s men have been torturing him, and Ward’s main creep, Kebo (Daz Crawford), stabs Alexander when S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives. A fast-paced action sequence commences, and Bobbi finds her moment when she electrocutes Kebo in the pool. Go, girl! As Alexander dies in May’s arms, he tells her what really happened at the gas station. He did what Ward said, and was willing to kill Andrew, Alexander says. “But I didn’t expect him to turn into that thing,” he continues. May is horrified at this, and denies it at first, but Alexander’s explanation is convincing. We then see the scene as it actually unfolded, and learn that Andrew not only turned into Lash, but also started the fire.

This reveal is especially creepy when considering Simmons’ chat with Andrew about going through a trauma and Daisy’s conversation with him earlier in the episode, where she was wondering why Lash didn’t go after her.

S.H.I.E.L.D.ed Observations:

– Does Simmons only have feelings for Will now, or does she still love Fitz, just not as much?

– Daisy has a brief phone call with Lincoln to show he’s still on the run and to continue the hard-to-believe love story that is blossoming. Why? The only reason I can see is that Lash/Andrew is going to go after Lincoln. He is interested in Lincoln’s location, but thankfully, Daisy doesn’t know it.

Videos

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×06 Promo “Among Us Hide…”

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×06 Sneak Peek “Among Us Hide…”

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×06 Sneak Peek #2 “Among Us Hide…”