Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1E13 - "T.R.A.C.K.S." recap

The agents are hot on the trail of Quinn, a businessman helping to fund their enemies, and have tracked down a recent purchase of his to be transported by train. The team is split up into pairs. Coulson and Simmons pose as father and daughter, May and Ward pose as a couple, as do Skye and Fitz. May informs Ward that she has told Coulson about their sexual relationship. Skye and Fitz agree to both pose as Americans following a dreadful attempt at a Scottish accent by Skye. Transition into a cameo by the legendary Stan Lee, who scolds Coulson for his prostitution vice as loudly advertised by Simmons. The coms go down, leaving the pairs unable to communicate with each other. Ward grabs Coulson and tells him they've been made. He grabs Coulson and they jump off the train. The Cybertek security then throw some sort of advanced cloaking bomb that explodes and makes the train invisible to Ward and Coulson in a puff of blue smoke.

We briefly flashback to Ward pre-train-jump. He's disguised as a worked on the train and is asked by a woman to help her with her bed. He tries to blow her off, but she is insistent. He heads inside and we see she has a gun. When she enters the room, Ward attacks her and is jumped by both her and other anonymous bad guys. He is injured on his arm but still wins and knocks them all out. He passes by Simmons and tells her that they've made and to go to the luggage compartment where Skye and Fitz are. The scene then catches up to Ward meeting Coulson and them jumping off the train.

Coulson and Ward are able to get back to "The Bus" after luckily stumbling across an already hotwired car. Once aboard, they hilariously struggle to use the holotable that Fitz and Simmons have been seen using in each episode. This transitions to an awkward conversation about Ward's relationship with May. Coulson threatens to send him to Alaska if he allows the sex to endanger any of their team. It is also mentioned in passing that the Abomination is being held in a cryo-cell there. May returns, bloody but still badass as always, and kills Russo right as he shows up to meet Coulson and Ward.

We flashback again to the train, this time to see May's perspective. She is on top of the train when the coms go down and is shot at by a perp before she jumps off the train. She discovers Coulson and Ward, who are frozen in place following the explosion of blue gas. She first checks for a pulse from Coulson and the relief on her face is potent when she realises he's not dead. Though May is stuff, it's evident that her team means a lot to her, particularly Coulson. She goes and hotwires the truck before being picked up by Russo. She learns he is actually bad, despite the fact that he helped the team to get on the train. Russo ties her up and tries to get her to join the Centipede, and upon stabbing her in the shoulder as a means of torture, she goes and pulls the knife out, cuts herself free and stabs him! After killing Russo, she is reunited with Coulson and Ward and fills them in. She prepares to stitch herself up but Coulson comes in and helps her. They get word that the train has stopped in the Italian countryside and when they reach it, they are briefly attacked by Simmons as she wakes from being unconscious, before she realises that it's her team come to rescue her and she asks where Skye and Fitz are.

Flashback again and this time we begin with Skye and Fitz hiding out. They realise the coms have gone down and are then attacked by anonymous bad guys. Fitz and Skye fight them off for a bit and Simmons runs in telling them they've been made. She grabs hold of a guy right as he is going to set off a stun grenade and is knocked out. Fitz notes that the grenade is a more advanced version of the team's stun guns and shoots the mercenary twice with his stun gun, despite him being unconscious, saying it was for Simmons. They find that the package is being transported and they follow it to a mansion. Skye sneaks inside and finds that the package being shipped was none other than Mike Peterson who is in a Cumberkhan-like cell. Skye is caught by Quinn and watches as Quinn gives Mike a new robotic leg, beginning his journey to becoming Deathlok. Quinn unleashes a basket of creepy and begins goading Mike to kill Skye. However, Mike says he won't because he is following orders from the Oracle and apparently Skye is not who he's supposed to kill. After Mike walks out, Quinn shoots Skye twice in the stomach and says he has his orders, too.

Mike/Deathlok kills a room of mercenaries for leading S.H.I.E.L.D. to them. As the rest of the team shows up, Deathlok receives orders from the Oracle not to engage S.H.I.E.L.D. When the team finds Quinn, Coulson is alarmed to find blood spatter on his hand and demands to know where Skye is. He storms the mansion like a panicking father and shouts for the team to come down. Simmons says that she's lost too much blood and insists that they put her in the tube previously holding Peterson and turn it on.  The team is emotional and we see Skye release a breath. They get her back on The Bus and Fitz privately comforts a crying Simmons, and May tells Ward he is not to blame after he angrily punches a table. Then we see Coulson looking at a pale, bloodied Skye still in the tube. Simmons has stated that if they don't get her body temperature back up within a few hours, she may suffer brain damage. In the episode's final scene, we see Peterson hiding in some bushes, watching some children at a playground. He writes a message, "Can I see my son?" The Oracle replies, "Not yet" and Peterson angrily crumples up the paper. It would seem his humanity isn't entirely gone yet.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD airs on Tuesdays on ABC at 8/7c. It will return on March 4, following the Olympics with none other than Bill Paxton appearing as a guest star!