Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S2E3 - "Making Friends and Influencing People" Recap
Finally, we see the real Simmons, as opposed to the one bouncing around Fitz's muddled brain. Unfortunately, she's working for HYDRA. Is this sort of deep undercover situation or has Simmons gone just as much off the deep end as Fitz, albeit in a different way. The subject in her superior's file is Donnie Gill, the young boy from SHIELD academy who ended up with ice powers.
May is training Skye on using guns. Skye is imagining the targets are Ward but May tells her she needs to just see them as targets. May commends her for keeping her pulse steady. Lance stops by and apologises again for shooting them. May tells him to not be sorry… just wait. Hunter wonders if Skye has ever killed anyone, and she hasn't.
Meanwhile, Coulson is back from a failed mission to find Agent 33.
Donnie is Marrakech, Morocco, laying low. He's trying to hide from HYDRA but then he kills a man for revealing his location. It's then that some HYDRA agents immediately reveal themselves. He kills one and the other one runs off scared of suffering the same fate. He's interested in joining HYDRA and wants them to lave him alone.
Simmons returns to her apartment where she finds Coulson waiting for her. He's brought groceries for her, disapproving of her diet. Yes! Simmons is in fact working undercover. She tells Coulson about Donnie and her suspicions about his freezing powers. She's trying to move up in HYDRA's ranks but they're not promoting her. Coulson tells her that undercover is about the relationships she makes so she needs to make friends. She's already likeable, so just use half-truths. Simmons asks about everyone and Coulson replies that Fitz is doing okay.
Coulson debriefs the team on what he has learned, leaving Simmons' name out of it. Skye is tasked with interrogating Ward, who says that he was never loyal to HYDRA but Garrett. Ward says that HYDRA's recruitment tactics are to convince their targeted gifteds to join, capture them, or kill them. Skye disapproves of HYDRA's quickness to kill but Ward says this is why HYDRA has the advantage.
Donnie takes a ship hostage, based on information he took off the phone of one of the agents he killed.
Simmons is brought upstairs to be questioned by Whitehall's assistant Bakshi. She's concerned at first but learns that the reason she's there is because they're upset she didn't say she knew Donnie Gill. She keeps cool under the pressure, saying she just didn't want to corrupt her analysis, only having learned of Donnie's identity yesterday, far after she had done her research. She's questioned about her loyalties and said that her loyalties are with science. So long as HYDRA allows her to do her work, she will carry on there. Simmons is later told she is being brought along with the team to Morocco to get Donnie.
Agent 33 is still being tortured.
The team track the ship down, as it has frozen solid despite being in the middle east. They need to get to Donnie first or HYDRA will kill him. Fitz is upset he doesn't get to go with the team. He thinks the team are keeping things from him but Mack tells him they're just trying to keep him safe. Donnie is wreaking havoc on the ship and promises to kill every HYDRA agent that bothers him.
Fitz goes to visit Ward and confront him. As soon as Ward sees who has come to visit him, he begins to have a panic attack. Ward says it's good to see him but Fitz tells him to stop talking. Ward says he didn't want to hurt them and that Garrett expected him to put a bullet in Fitz and Simmon's heads. He gave them a fighting chance and they were able to get out, just as he'd hoped. Fitz begins to struggle with his words so he decides to show Ward hypoxia, which is what Ward had done to him. He begins to suck the oxygen out of Ward's cell. Ward struggles to breathe and asks where Skye is. Fitz says they're all gone, after Donnie. He feels he should be there with them but he's been left behind because he's been damaged because of Ward. Ward begins to panic further at the mention of Donnie, telling Fitz they don't know what they're walking into.
HYDRA arrives on scene in Morocco and Team SHIELD aren't far behind. Skye's heart rate is staying level, something she's able to keep track of using the monitoring device on her wrist. Simmons goes to meet Donnie on the ship. Donnie asks who sent her and she says she's on his side. Bakshi is in her ear, telling her to get close to him. She tries to use science to bond with him but Bakshi tells her to tell him to take a deep breath, surrender and you will find meaning, surrender and you will find release.
Team SHIELD is on the ship. Skye takes a sniper spot on the roof. Lance prepares to shoot Simmons, not knowing who she is, but May spots Simmons and shoots Lance to save Simmons, knowing that she is working undercover. Coulson orders May to maintain Simmons' cover, even if it means taking out Donnie. Donnie had knocked Simmons over, getting angry at the words she was saying. Fitz gets Mack to help him reach the Bus and tells him what he has learned from Ward: Donnie was working for HYDRA when he took out the Sandbox.
Donnie is right behind Simmons when she reaches Bakshi, who re-hypnotises Gill using the phrases she had been ordered to relay. Donnie replies that he's "happy to comply" and helps them to make their way out. Bakshi tells Donnie to ice everyone on the ship; no one leaves alive. He begins to freeze it but Skye takes him out from her sniper spot. Donnie falls into the ocean and freezes, as Simmons and Bakshi get away in a helicopter. Everyone on the original Team SHIELD now seems to be in on Simmons' cover.
Back on the Bus, Skye admits she isn't happy about Simmons being undercover. She's scared for Simmons, who she sees as a terrible liar. May says Simmons can handle it. Both Skye and Simmons have come a long way. May also admits to Lance that the two of them are even, but Lance and Trip are not (yet).
Coulson speaks with Fitz about his actions. Fitz says he wouldn't have killed Ward, as he's not a killer. Coulson hates that Ward is there but they need him to get information on HYDRA. Fitz asks if there's anything else he should know. Coulson says that Simmons is on an assignment. That is why she hasn't been in contact. That is why she left. Coulson promises that what Simmons is doing is very important.
Agent 33 has now been brainwashed. Bakshi asks Whitehall for authorisation to promote Simmons and bring her upstairs. He trusts her now but says if he's wrong, they'll make her comply.
Skye visits Ward. She asks if he's relieved it's not Fitz. He's happy it's her, and that she's okay. He's glad he could help. Skye asks about brainwashing. HYDRA doesn't use it often, only on high-value targets. Skye asks if he was. Ward wishes he could say he was but everything he did, good and bad, he did of his own free will. He's being honest, like he said he would. He won't lie to her. He asks if she believes he's telling the truth. She does, though she doesn't understand why. It's then that he drops a bomb on her. Her father's alive and someday, if she'll let him, he will take her to him. Skye is done for now. She goes upstairs and checks her pulse, watching it shoot upward.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs on Tuesdays on ABC at 9PM.
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