Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "One of Us" Review: Go Home, Cal

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S02E13: "One of Us"

I suppose Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was bound to hit a bump in the road at some point. After a string of incredibly well-done episodes focusing largely on Skye and her secret, "One of Us" stumbled by shifting its focus to Cal and his desire for vengeance. The hour's B-story—which involved Skye undergoing an assessment by a psychologist who also happened to be May's ex-husband—was strong, but nearly everything about Cal's ragtag band of misfits was wholly unsatisfying. From the violent supervillains Cal recruited from the Index (including Drea de Matteo in her S.H.I.E.L.D. debut as Karla Faye Gideon, who surgically attached razors to her fingers; say goodbye to wearing contacts ever again!) to his misplaced desire to expose S.H.I.E.L.D. for crimes against the exceptional, the story left me feeling agitated and bored.

Cal's personal vendetta against Coulson isn't a bad plot in and of itself; it certainly has the potential to produce deep conflicts on a character level if Skye is ultimately forced to choose between her biological family and the S.H.I.E.L.D. family that's adopted her. But so far we haven't really seen her experience that type of internal struggle, and Cal's attempts to bring a handful of random people who were wronged by S.H.I.E.L.D. along for this ride took away screentime from the characters we actually know and care about. Given that we're already invested in ongoing stories about Skye, May, Fitz, Simmons, Bobbi, Hunter, and Mack, the result was a little overwhelming and scattered.

And let's not forget that we haven't even seen Ward since S.H.I.E.L.D. returned from its winter hiatus. That's a creative decision I support, because the series currently doesn't have the bandwidth for him, but if there's already not enough time for a series regular with impeccable grooming habits, there's definitely not enough time for manmade villains who add nothing new to the story. Kyle MacLachlan's scenery-chewing can only get you so far.

What really drives this point home is that the people Cal recruited didn't even care about taking down Coulson or S.H.I.E.L.D.—they merely wanted to the escape the S.H.I.E.L.D.-enforced imprisonment they'd been subjected to as a member of the Index. That premise fits within S.H.I.E.L.D.'s comic-book context, and if the series wasn't already in the middle of introducing the Inhumans and another secret organization that's working not against, but also not with Coulson's team, maybe "One of Us" would've been a fun, supervillain-filled hour. But I think we're past that point. At the very least, the episode's time could've been better spent elsewhere.

However, if there was one bright spot to "One of Us," it was the episode's end tag, in which Gordon told Cal to STFU because he isn't even gifted, he's just a science experiment gone wrong. That was a lot of fun. But did we need to sit through the rest of the hour to get to that point? I don't think so.

For a few minutes at the beginning of the episode, I thought I was also going to have to include Skye's story in my discussion of Cal's dumpster party, as it initially seemed like Skye was suddenly able to control her powers like it was no big deal. It wasn't clear how much time had passed between "Who You Really Are" and "One of Us," but it appeared that Skye had been living in the Bus and that Hunter had been missing for at least a couple of days. Still, there was no way Skye could've gotten a grasp on her quaking that quickly, and I was ready to call so many shenanigans—but as it turned out, I let myself get worked up for nothing. Skye hadn't learned to control her powers, and she wasn't dealing with the emotions that produced the quakes, either; she was just pushing them aside by focusing intently on something else. It was a quick fix, the equivalent of using duct tape to repair your leaky toilet, but it wasn't an actual resolution. It also wasn't healthy.

Which makes it not so surprising to learn that it was a tactic Skye picked up from May. If we didn't already know that May grappled with balancing her work as an agent with being a fully functioning human with emotions, "One of Us" would've proven it. May has pushed away everything that isn't related to her job at S.H.I.E.L.D.—including her ex-husband—because as she put it, she makes mistakes when she tries to multitask. "Mistakes" is code for "sleeping with Ward and not realizing he was playing me and betraying our entire team at the same time," of course. But you know, "mistakes."

May has a lot to offer—she's skilled, she's smart, and she's strong—but she's not even close to being qualified to offer advice on how to deal with something like Skye's powers, which are rooted in her emotional state. May represses everything to a harmful degree, and Skye was doing the same. It's why her powers came alive while she was dreaming, and it's why she ended the episode in a cast. Every time she thought she was in control of her powers, she was actually just bottling them up inside, which resulted in busted capillaries and hairline fractures in both of her arms. Bring on Luke Mitchell already so that we can get this under control, show! Skye needs guidance!

Which brings me to Bobbi, Mack, and Hunter. I know some S.H.I.E.L.D. fans haven't quite taken to Hunter's character, but I'm incredibly fond of the guy. While everyone else on the show seems to have an allegiance that drives their actions, Hunter's still largely an outsider whose only loyalty is largely to himself. It allows him to bring a unique perspective to certain situations—like the "real S.H.I.E.L.D." that Mack revealed at the end of the episode. Considering that Mack knocked Hunter out and dragged him to a safehouse where Mack left Hunter chained to a bathroom sink in the dark (at least turn on a light, you know?), I won't be surprised if Hunter doesn't believe a word Mack says. He thought he'd found a family in Coulson's team, but now he's back on the outside looking in... at his two closest friends who've been lying to him for as long as he can remember.

Like Skye, Hunter masks his feelings with humor and sarcasm, but he's still only human, and betrayal isn't easy to overcome. Look at how Ward's betrayal still hangs over the team. Look at Simmons, who ignorantly told Bobbi that Fitz's betrayal has forever changed their relationship, when in reality she abandoned him long ago. Betrayal is serious business, y'all. Will Hunter side with Coulson and his team instead of with Bobbi and Mack next week, when we finally get some real answers? And which secret Marvel organization is this "real S.H.I.E.L.D.," anyway? More importantly, who's running it?

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DECLASSIFIED CASE FILES

– Simmons, I love you, but please look in the mirror. You think Fitz betrayed you because he didn't tell you the truth about Skye? He thinks you betrayed him months ago, when you couldn't deal with the fact he was different. So why would he tell you, with all your crazypants anti-alien ideas, the truth? I didn't have an issue with Simmons' anti-alien agenda, but I do have an issue with her being too blind to see she's partially responsible for her rift with Fitz. They seemed to bond a bit over May and her husband this week, and hopefully that will lead to some movement on this front, but man, Simmons. Get it together.

– Bobbi said she was going to bring Coulson in on their plan, but it doesn't look to me like she did anything except paint Hunter in an even worse light.

– Apparently May loves Vegas. Someone go write that fanfic right now.

– "He listens for a living and she doesn't speak."

– "I taught her how to fire an automatic. Of course she likes me."

– "You're an interesting fella."