Marvels Agents Of SHIELD Episodes 16-17 Recaps: OH NO YOU DIDNT

Two more excellent episodes of "Agents Of SHIELD". I'm so happy the show has reached it's stride after a shaky start. Below are the Wikipedia overviews since they do a much better job of going over the details of the Marvel Universe than I could.

In "End Of The Beginning" Deathlok is back. Skye becomes a full agent. The guy in the wheelchair (Thomas Nash) is NOT the Clairvoyant. May is not a baddy after all (I dont think). Agent Hand may be a baddy since she ordered everyone on the Bus killed (except for Coulson).

Can This Man Be Trusted?

In "Turn, Turn, Turn" it's impossible to tell who to trust. First I thought Hand was definitely a baddy (since she took over the bus and ordered everyone but Coulson killed). Then I thought May was a baddy since she was spying on Coulson. Then I thought Coulson was a baddy (as did Hand). Then we find out Garrett was part of Hydra all along. Hes is the Clairvoyant. Ward asks permission to escort him to prison because he feels responsible. Then in the shocker of the season, he shoots Garrett's guards and fills Victoria Hand full of bullet holes. RIP Hand. I definitely didnt see that coming. And is Nick Fury really dead?

RIP Victoria Hand, If Only Our Time Together Could Have Been Longer

May "What are we planning to do next? Coulson: "Survive"

Wikipedia:

Episode 16: "End Of The Beginning"
Garrett and Triplett are attacked by Mike Peterson, who has been reborn as Deathlok, at a S.H.I.E.L.D. safehouse. Several weeks later, they along with Agents Hand, Sitwell and Blake join the team in their hunt for the Clairvoyant. The agents split into teams to pursue leads on different Clairvoyant candidates. At a nursing home searching for Thomas Nash, a catatonic man who once claimed to be a psychic, May and Blake encounter Deathlok. Before critically injuring Blake before escaping, he claims that "Mike Peterson is dead" upon being reminded of his son. However, Blake manages to tag him with a tracker before he flees. Concluding that Nash is the Clairvoyant because of Deathlok's presence along with the falsifying of his nursing home records, the team converges on Deathlok's next location, an abandoned horse racing track, while Triplett and Simmons stay behind at the Hub with Hand. The team briefly encounters Deathlok again, but he flees into the sewers. However, they discover a hidden room where Thomas Nash (Brad Dourif), a vegetative man on life support who must speak through a computer, is hiding. Nash surrenders and boasts that as the Clairvoyant, he will always be watching them, but when he says that Project Centipede will kill Skye, Ward shoots him dead. Meanwhile, Fitz attempts to create a secret phone line so he can speak to Simmons from the Bus, but he discovers a bug that leads him to May's secure line. Coulson realizes that Thomas Nash was not the Clairvoyant, and when Skye presents the results of her studies on the S.H.I.E.L.D. psychological files of the potential Clairvoyants, they realize that the Clairvoyant is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. with access to the same files, giving the Clairvoyant knowledge of how to manipulate the agents. Coulson accuses the detained Ward of working with the Clairvoyant and shooting Nash to misdirect away from the Clairvoyant's true identity, but they are interrupted by Skye, who learned of May's unapproved phone line from Fitz. Coulson and Skye end up in a standoff with May in the Bus's hangar. But as May tries to explain that she cannot identify who the line goes to, control of the Bus is hijacked. At the Hub, Victoria Hand orders everyone aboard to be killed, except for Coulson.

Episode 17: "Turn, Turn, Turn"
Garrett's jet is attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. drones after the Bus is hijacked, and he rejoins the team. At the Hub, Simmons and Triplett begin working together to secretly upload Simmons's research on Skye's blood, only for a HYDRA assault on all S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities to begin, forcing them into hiding. Coulson locks May up in the interrogation room with Ward, still believing she is the traitor. Skye discovers a secret code in a signal on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network that she deciphers to reveal HYDRA's infiltration. When the Bus arrives at the Hub, the group splits into teams to capture Victoria Hand, whom they believe is the Clairvoyant, and save Simmons. Simmons and Triplett are captured by Hand, but she reveals that she is not actually part of HYDRA but believes that Coulson is, and recruits the two to aid her in stopping HYDRA. Coulson, May, Garrett and Fitz manage to capture a computer room in the Hub, but while talking with Coulson, Garrett begins urging him to kill Hand without a trial and accidentally reveals information about Raina that Coulson never disclosed to anyone, unwittingly outing himself as the true Clairvoyant. In the ensuing battle, Coulson and May manage to kill the HYDRA agents and capture Garrett. The Hub is retaken and Captain America defeats HYDRA's trio of armed Helicarriers, but Nick Fury is presumed dead in the aftermath and the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are forced to go on the run. Ward volunteers to accompany Hand to the Fridge so he can see to Garrett's imprisonment personally. However, in transit, Hand offers Ward the chance to execute Garrett to atone for killing Thomas Nash by mistake. He at first appears to accept the offer, but then instead kills Hand and the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with them, freeing Garrett.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). I give episode 16 four Monsters and episode 17 five Monsters. It was excellent.