TV RECAP: ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Ep. 102 – ‘0-8-4’

This episode should have been titled ‘Treachery Afoot.’ One twist that I should have seen coming from a mile away, and another that was a good little feeder for a secondary storyline.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plane suffers an explosion, and Coulson is hanging on for dear life inside the plane. Flashback to 19 hours earlier, when the team is boarding the plane for a mission to Peru. They are responding to a 0-8-4, which is code for an unidentified object.

Skye will be joining the team as a consultant, even though Ward has some reservations about it. Skye asks Coulson what’s so important about an unknown object. Coulson tells her the last one was a giant hammer.

The agents arrive at an Incan Archaeological site, where they find some kind of metallic bomb looking object stuck to the wall. It is emitting energy. Ward and May are confronted outside the site by the Military Police, who happens to be head up by one of Coulson’s former partners, Camilla Reyes.

The team is attacked by rebels, and they manage to escape to the plane with the 0-8-4. Fitz and Simmons finally are able to tell the rest of the team that the object is some kind of weapon filled with gamma radiation (they called it a teserac fuel cell). It is capable of creating a super powerful laser beam (insert Doctor Evil quote here, I immediately thought of liquid hot magma).

Ward, Fitz, and Simmons are arguing about their differences in communication. Skye tries to make peace with Ward by telling her what the Rising Tide is all about. It is about getting a group of people together to work on a common idea. Even if they only come up with 1% of the solution, at least it’s a piece of the puzzle.

Camilla has been hitting on Coulson something fierce ever since she saw him at the site. It is clear they have a history, but she is coming on very strong. At the same time that Coulson realizes Camilla is playing him, Ward has already figured out that her soldiers pose a threat.

The soldiers overtake the plane, tying up Coulson, and leaving May, Ward, Skye, and Fitz/Simmons tied up in the cargo area of the plane. Camilla tells Coulson that Peru commissioned that weapon years ago, but it had been lost. They were on the verge of finally recovering it, but S.H.I.E.L.D showed up first. That weapon is a chance to once and for all turn away the rebels in her country.

While Camilla is describing her master plan to Coulson, the rest of the team is coming up with a plan to save him. They decide to set off the 0-8-4, as the explosion should cause a drop in cabin pressure, opening all of the automatic doors on the plane. Camilla tells Coulson to authorize their change in course when ground control calls to confirm.

The plan works, but now there is a hole in the side of the plane (as we saw at the beginning of the episode). Ward manages to fight off most of the guards, as Fitz/Simmons retrieve the 0-8-4. May retakes control of the plane, as Skye inflates a rescue raft to block the hole in the plane.

Coulson saves Camilla from being sucked out of the plane, and the crew heads to Slingshot (classified location) to have the 0-8-4 destroyed. Camilla will be sent back to Peru to face whatever punishment she awaits. The crew is enjoying watching the rocket launch sending the device towards the sun, when Skye receives a text. Rising Tide is in a holding pattern until they hear from her. She texts them back saying she is in.

So it appears Skye may be a spy for Rising Tide, but I’m sure Coulson has already expected that. In the meantime, Samuel Jackson makes an appearance as Nick Fury to yell at Coulson for wrecking the plane. He warns Coulson that the new girl (Skye) is a risk.