Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S2E17 - "Melinda" Recap

Seven years ago, May is still married to her ex-husband and they're trying to have a baby. Coulson arrives to take May on their next mission to head after a gifted individual, Eva Belyakov, a woman with enhanced strength. The team heads to Bahrain, where they must approach Eva in a public cafe. If she doesn't agree to come in, the military plans to take her out. Eva is determined only to cause pain and with some hired muscled, she's able to escape from SHIELD with one of the men taking a little girl hostage. Eventually, May sneaks into the building herself to handle the situation since there seem to be no other options left. She finds Agent Hart brainwashed and saying he needs her pain. All the other agents trapped inside are saying the same thing. Eva is controlling all of them, saying that she needs pain. May traps the men in the room and goes after Eva. Eventually she finds her and after a fight, kills her. She also ended up shot in the leg in the process.

In present day, Agent Weaver and Bobbi question May about Coulson's involvement with Mike Peterson as well as his wide-reaching connections to gifted people, plus something known as "Theta Protocol." May claims to not know anything on the matter, saying every SHIELD director has their secrets. Bobbi tries to reason with her later on about the pain she feels at being left out, but May seems set on staying loyal to Coulson.

Jiaying advises Skye that her ability comes from being able to hear/sense objects' frequencies and by resonating with them which causes them to shake. She guides Skye to resonate with a small rock but instead, Skye resonates with a nearby mountain. She is able to cause some snow to come crashing down the side of it and feels more secure in her ability. Jiaying tells Skye she's done good work before heading off. Lincoln tells Skye it's unusual for Jiaying to take anyone under her wing and that he's never seen her do it since he arrived, and that she is the one in charge of everything.

Lincoln later goes to check in on Reina who is being tended to by Gordon. Lincoln thinks Gordon should allow Reina to vent her frustrations and asks her not to give up on them just yet.

Skye is instructed by Jiaying on holding some frequencies in wine glasses. Skye creates music before giving out and then all the glasses break. This causes old wounds to surface as Skye opens up to Jiaying about being sent away by a foster family after breaking a glass vase and all the times she was made to leave a home just as it was starting to feel like home, much like how Afterlife is beginning to feel now. Skye is sad about not even knowing her birthday. Jiaying is remorseful hearing about her daughter's pain and promises her that they won't abandon her and have things go wrong they way they always have. Skye doesn't trust this, questioning why Jiaying even cares. It's then that Jiaying tells Skye that her birthday is July 2nd and admits to being her mother, something she believes Skye already knew deep down. Jiaying says that her only hesitation in reaching out to Skype is because she was forced into getting abilities that led to her being brought to Afterlife and is remorseful that she didn't have a choice in the matter. She shares how she was pieced back together by Cal and the two went on a rampage hunting for Skye and one day, Jiaying woke up realised that this Cal was no longer the good man she had fallen in love with and left him. She believed that Skye was gone. She then tells Skye that she needs to keep her lineage secret because their people have very strict rules and could perceive her as a threat.

Simmons is thrilled to see May again and is shocked to learn that research she was working on was actually a super-charged battery pack for Deathlok. They need to figure out what Coulson was up to with Theta Protocol and know that he wouldn't have gone off the reservation without a good reason. Simmons lets May know that Coulson had been meeting with Garner, May's ex, and together they're tracking his movements. Mack comes in and shares with them his theory that Coulson is preparing an army for gifted people. May then demands that Simmons open the box because underestimating people with powers never ends well.

Raina wants to leave Afterlife but Gordon says it's too dangerous for her to go back into the public right now.

Jiaying tells Skye that protocols need to be followed and their relationship kept secret because once before, a member of their group didn't trust Jiaying's judgement so she stole Terrine crystals to give to her daughter Katya, who then forced her mother to hurt others to feed on their pain. The woman was Eva, whom May killed seven years prior. May was also forced kill little Katya to stop all the men. Jiaying had sensed darkness in the girl and thus didn't think it a good idea to put her through the mist. Katya could leach off emotions like a parasite with a simple touch. This is also why May was so lost and changed after going into that house, and how she gained the nickname, "The Calvary." This is also what lead to the demise of her marriage and the reason for her asking to be transferred out of the field.

Jiaying says it had been her responsibility to stop Katya. Skye is understanding now of keeping secret their true relationship. Jiaying then asks Skye to come with her to have dinner with Cal because Jiaying owes a debt to him. He was the one who never gave up on Skye and for that, he deserves at least this much. But Jiaying promises Skye that she'll have Cal taken away after this and she'll never have to see him again. Skye thanks him for the fact that she was no able to be reunited with her mother and be taught by her. Cal is elated to be able to tell Skye about the night she was born. Skye then learns that she's actually 26 instead of 25, like she originally thought. The family toast together in a rare moment of peace. Lincoln sees the trio having dinner and recalls Raina describing that exact situation as something she'd seen in a dream. So it seems that Raina also has the ability of foresight/precognition!

Finally, we see Fitz opening the toolbox and using it to contact Coulson who is still hiding out with Hunter. He wants to come meet up with him but knows he's being followed by new "SHIELD" agents. But Coulson and Hunter are more than ready to tell him how to shake a tail so he can meet up with them.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs on Tuesdays on ABC at 9PM.