'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: Skye Commits To The Team And Supervillain Graviton Is Born

by uInterviewOctober 9, 2013, 12:00 amNews >

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. witnessed the birth of a supervillain in “The Asset” as the team tried to rescue missing scientist, Dr. Franklin Hall (aka Graviton), and Skye proved her loyalty.

Skye (Chloe Bennet) and Agent Ward (Brett Dalton) grow closer while Ward attempts to teach Skye how to be a real field agent. Skye tries her best, but ends up making up spy language no one else in the team understands. Skye is still somewhat of a S.H.I.E.L.D. wildcard: she remains loyal to the Rising Tide, is skeptical of the government and Fury questioned her commitment to the team.

She asks Ward what made him commit to being a field agent and agree to join S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward reveals that the truth serum he was injected with in the pilot was actually all made up, and his moment of honesty was simply an act used to manipulate Skye into helping the team.

Meanwhile, Quinn (David Conrad), a businessman who conducts scientific experiments outside government regulatory reach, kidnaps Dr. Hall (Ian Hart) in an elaborate car chase. After reviewing the crime scene, Coulson (Clark Gregg) finds an intriguing piece of tech that forms an electromagnetic field and theorizes that someone inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. must have leaked Hall’s location to the kidnappers. Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) examine the tech while Skye researches Quinn. Skye manages to get herself invited to Quinn’s stockholder meeting at his lab.

Ward is skeptical about sending Skye into the field: he doesn’t trust her yet, but Coulson tells him that they have no choice and advises Ward to begin to see Skye as an equal.

In Quinn’s lab, he shows Hall his “theoretical” device powered by a “theoretical” element, Gravitonium. He needs Hall to stabilize the machine. At the stockholder’s conference, Quinn announces his Gravitonium plans, and is so taken with Skye, he offers her a job in risk analysis.

Armed with fancy spy gear – a compact that doubles as an electronic device to break into Quinn’s computer system – Skye tries to break into Quinn’s computer rooms, but he catches her. In an effort to turn the situation around, Skye breaks protocol, turns off her communications with S.H.I.E.L.D. and signals to Quinn that S.H.I.E.L.D. is listening.

Skye sweet talks Quinn, trying to convince him that she is actually on his side, and Quinn warns her that S.H.I.E.L.D. is just using her. Meanwhile, Coulson and Ward are fighting with Quinn’s security guards outside. Skye manages to take out her compact and allow Coulson and Ward access to Quinn’s home.

Coulson quickly finds Hall, but Hall does not want to be found. He wants to destroy the Gravitonium machine – he was the one who leaked his location to Quinn. To destroy the machine, however, would mean destroying the entire island and every living thing on it. Coulson tries to reason with Hall, but Hall does not trust S.H.I.E.L.D., and accuses them of being culpable in the alien invasion that occurred in The Avengers.

With time running out, Coulson throws Hall into the machine to stabilize it and keep it from exploding. Meanwhile, Quinn held Skye at gunpoint, but, using techniques Ward taught her, Skye managed to escape with Ward.

Back on the plane, Coulson and Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) talk about Coulson’s decision to enter into the filed for combat. Coulson is having trouble handling his gun, something that should be muscle memory, and May announces that she will be going into the field next time.

In the final scene of “The Asset,” the Gravitonium machine is being placed in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. vault, when suddenly a hand appears to be pushing out of it.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.