Duck Fox

Secrets have a way of getting out. If you work in retail, or data entry or some other position that doesn’t regularly place your life in the hands of others, it’s easy to live with this fact. When you work as a spy? It’s a little harder to get used to. I really hope you read that in Michael Westen voice, because the espionage elements were about as front and center in “A Hen in the Wolf House” as they were through the entire run of the fantastic Burn Notice. But even better, tonight’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. manages to finally move several storylines forward while introducing a new badass character. No mean feat, especially for a show which only three weeks ago was starting to sink into a sophomore slump.

Tonight’s episode starts with a happy event: the wedding of a naval officer who is assigned to hunt HYDRA operatives. If you were wondering how long before Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. attempting to rip off Game of Thrones’ “Red Wedding”, then wonder no more. Turns out, the champagne had a little bit of “Obelisk” in them. The toast turns everyone at the party to stone. For most organizations bent on murder and mayhem this would be a good day, but Whitehall holds a meeting with all the sciency peeps and seems unimpressed. So he tasks Simmons, who he’s still suspicious of, to solve the many riddles of the Obelisk.

Meanwhile, Skye’s still unnamed father is having a conniption fit when Raina asks for him to give up the Obelisk. Choking a woman marked for death is pretty upsetting for both the audience and Raina, and even Mr. Skye appears to be having some issues with it. Whatever is going on in this guy’s head, it isn’t good.

Our heroes are trying to figure out how the wedding party was killed. Thankfully the ever faithful Jemma Simmons has them covered via a self encrypting deaddrop. Unfortunately, Raina is looking for any way to solve her problem, and takes some pictures of this treachery.  

From here, the episode takes a deep dive into the high stakes, thrilling espionage I had been hoping to see since the series started. Raina attempts to play on Coulson’s fear of Simmons being discovered, calling to meet him and showing him the evidence she’s ready to email to every employee in HYDRA. Bakshi enlists HYDRA’s head of security, Bobbi Morse (the fantastic Adrianne Palicki) to start looking for a mole, and the tense conversation between her and Jemma is perfect setup for the “twist” the comic fans saw coming. Raina’s meeting is tension filled, especially before Coulson rejects her offer with smooth confidence. When he rejects her deal, it’s clear he’s not going to throw Simmons to the proverbial wolves, but we also aren’t quite sure if his plan is what we think it is. Of course, it is, and Bobbi Morse reveals she’s a double agent working for S.H.I.E.L.D.! The predictability of a twist like this can sometimes make it feel hollow or perfunctory, but by interspersing scenes of Simmons running from security with Coulson and Raina’s high stakes conversation, it leaves one genuinely wondering if things are going to go to plan. When they do, and Bobbi (who insists on being called that) finally saves the day, it’s a moment worthy of fist pumping the air. And not just because Adrianne Palicki has clearly mastered Bobbi’s close combat skills as well as her casually crafty demeanor. Seriously the swagger she had when heading towards HYDRA security guards she was ready to beat into the ground is enough to make you hope Mockingbird gets her own film.

The incredible sequence of Simmons’ escape ends with a leap off HYDRA’s rooftop onto an invisible plane. So yeah, in addition to playing Mockingbird, who kicks all kinds of butt, Palicki gets to tap into her inner Wonder Woman. It’s a satisfying conclusion to an arc that didn’t really pan out. While it seems like the show is taking a shortcut here, attempting to get Simmons back into the fold so they can revert completely to the status quo, I think the “undercover Simmons” plot never really worked. Not when HYDRA is supposed to be full of geniuses and paranoid evil bastards. It was even lampshaded earlier when Simmons was asked about her loyalties. Why is it that she didn’t have any HYDRA affiliation until after HYDRA was revealed to have infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.? It’s much more satisfying to simply have this arc serve as an introduction to Bobbi and setup for when Simmons’ hypnosis comes back to bite the team later in the season.

Simmons arc wasn’t the only one to receive payoff, though. Skye also finally found out that Coulson is scribbling strangeness regularly, a hobby which Garrett had also taken up prior to being dispatched. It’s really when he went over the deep end, according to Ward. The running theory for why Skye, who also received the Kree blood isn’t writing all over the walls is that she already had alien insides. It’s a fantastic way to further Skye’s arc while simultaneously reviving her faith in Coulson, who has come clean. One of the first relationships the show asked us to care about was the relationship between Skye and Coulson. While never quite father-daughter, there was that paternal tint to Coulson’s connection to Skye. Because she stood as the everywoman—the relatively unskilled, uninitiated individual who Coulson sees greatness in—it’s important that Skye also sees a reason to believe in Coulson, now more than ever because he’s literally the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The final twist of the episode comes when Skye’s father uses his skills as a madman to approach Daniel Whitehall. After an epic takedown of Whitehall’s guards, he takes a moment to clean blood off the guy’s desk before asking for a position. Coulson’s crew have tracked down his lab and come to the conclusion he’s crazy, so it’s nice to see this scene remove all doubt. Kyle Machlachlan is set up for a fantastic run on the series. Almost as fantastic as Bobbi Morse.

Now that the show is starting to answer some questions and has created some real, compelling characters, there’s no need to think of it as the goofy little brother to the standalone films. The show has finally found its groove and it’s great!