Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Providence

• Title: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Providence
• wiki: link

With S.H.I.E.L.D. loosing all but a handful of their facilities around the world to HYDRA and the U.S. Government officially branding it as a spy organization and sending troops to take over control of The Hub, Coulson (Clark Gregg) enacts Odyssey Protocol ordering all loyal agents to go to ground while ordering Skye (Chloe Bennet) to erase any record connecting any member of his team to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Antoine Triplett (B.J. Britt), flying them all out on his damaged, but still (mostly) operational, plane.

In the episode’s other major storyline “Providence” reveals Ward (Brett Dalton) has always been John Garrett‘s (Bill Paxton) handpicked mole within S.H.I.E.L.D. since before Ward joined Coulson’s team (whose various members he’s expertly played for months). Now revealed, and no longer needing to call himself the Clairvoyant, Garrett has Ward break Raina (Ruth Negga) out of prison and puts the scientist back on Project Centipede by testing the vials Garrett was able to steal from the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility before its destruction.

Meanwhile, he and Ward make their way to The Fridge to steal a few of those alien weapons Fury refused to shoot into space and release potential allies (or at least enemies of their common enemy who will help keep Coulson busy). One of those they choose to release turns out to be Ian Quinn (David Conrad) who HYDRA reunites with his confiscated gravity weapon setting up potential big problems for Coulson and his team down the line.

Despite the uncertainties of the members of the team, Coulson leads the group to a series of coordinates he was sure were sent from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to one of Fury’s secret facilities in the middle of nowhere under the command of a single agent (Patton Oswalt). Despite May‘s (Ming-Na Wen) uncertainty, Coulson’s blind trust in Fury proves worth it, but how long until his trust in Ward, sent in to gather needed intelligence by Garrett, gets them killed?

Skye’s reaction to loosing her shiny new S.H.I.E.L.D. badge after working so hard to achieve it, as is Coulson’s unwillingness to let go and give in to any possibility that May could be right about HYDRA controlling him. Ward’s full-time role as a double-agent for HYDRA, paused while away from his team, allows Dalton to breathe some much-needed new life into the brittly-stiff character, relax a bit, and have some fun. Given his mixed emotions for Skye I’m not convinced the character won’t be saved before all is said and done. However, Simmons‘ (Elizabeth Henstridge) vocally vouching for Triplett suggest an alternative member who could be added to the team if Ward chooses to stay on the dark path (or is killed-off/imprisoned).