On this week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. three super soldiers break into a prison and help a man escape. S.H.I.E.L.D. identifies him as Edison Poe, a former US military man. Because of the inclusion of these super soldiers, Coulson is bringing in Mike Peterson to help in the case.
Skye is still trying to find the agent that dropped her off at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters as a baby. Coulson tells her that May is looking into some of the more classified documents. This is a lie, as Coulson does not want Skye to know the truth about her parents.
Peterson is happy to help S.H.I.E.L.D. as he is trying to be a better person and do some good. Coulson tells him that everyone deserves a second chance, but he will not get a third chance.
The team is able to identify one of the super soldiers as Brian Heyward. They find that his sister is a teacher in Ohio. Coulson and Ward go to pay her a visit. Ward pretends to be a member of the gaming commission claiming that Brian has won the lottery. His sister is immediately suspicious and calls Brian, allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to track him to Oakland, California.
While driving, Coulson reveals to Ward that he has a lost love that moved on when everyone thought he was dead. Ward mentions the option of dating within S.H.I.E.L.D. and Coulson says that’s an even worse idea.
Skye finds that Poe had one visitor while in prison, the girl in the flower dress. Lip reading technology reveals Poe saying to the girl that “the clairvoyant doesn’t like to be touched”. Mike recognizes the girl as Raina, the woman who convinced him to join the Centipede Project.
Raina tells Poe that she needs the clairvoyant’s help to achieve stage 3. The soldiers are drained after every mission, and require injections daily. Since S.H.I.E.L.D. has broken up their last two labs, they continually have to change locations. Poe tells them they should stop running.
Coulson, Mike, Ward, and May check out the location that they tracked from Brian’s cell phone. It appears to be an abandoned warehouse. However, the super soldiers are hiding in shipping containers. Mike helps fight the soldiers off, but a kill switch is activated in one of the soldiers before he can tell them anything.
Raina and Poe are looking through the dead soldier’s eye and see Coulson and Mike. Raina identifies Mike as a prior test subject who appears to have become stabilized. Poe says he is the key to stage 3.
The team is amazed to find that the people behind the Centipede Project also invented the backscatter eye implant. The new implants are untraceable, so they cannot find where the controller of the camera is.
Every time Skye goes to tell May something, May snaps at her about her parents. Skye isn’t even asking for May’s help, but May yells at her, telling her Coulson doesn’t want her to know the truth. If she can’t put aside her personal issues, she shouldn’t be there. Skye rips up her research and hides in her room.
Coulson convinces Mike to go see his son. When Mike calls his son to tell him he’s coming home, Raina is there with his son. Mike goes to Coulson to let him know that Raina wants to trade Mike for his son.
It needs to be a barebones operation with no electronic devices of any kind. It has to be just the trade, no funny business. While the others stand back, Coulson and Mike meet with Raina and Poe for the trade. It’s a double cross, however. The trade wasn’t Mike for his son; it was Coulson for Mike’s son.
Coulson seems surprisingly understanding about this turn of events. By the time the team realizes that Coulson is being taken away instead of Mike, it’s too late. Mike tries to go after them, but the bridge explodes. Coulson and Mike are feared dead, but a helicopter flies away, at least assuring Coulson’s safety for now. Ward, who was hiding in a sniper position, is shot by the helicopter as it flies away.
Coulson tells Raina that whatever she is after, he’ll never give it to her. She tells him that he will, and all she wants is for him to tell her what happened the day after he died. The trailer for the second half of the season (starting in January) promises a lot more detail behind what happened to Coulson after he died.
