Flashback
Post Captain America: The First Avenger, HYDRA in 1945 is capturing some old relics. The main relic that they protect more than anything is an obelisk, which one of the HYDRA agents (whom we will reveal later) says “May hold the answer to death itself.” Before they can pack the relic away. Agent Carter and Cap’s Howling Commandos unit bust in and break up the party. They put the relic away and lock it in a box marked SSR 084.
The Mission
A team of what we find out later to be the newest SHIELD operatives, including Isabelle Hartley (Lucy Lawless) and her band of mercenaries are going undercover to get intel from a turned ex-SHIELD agent (Browning). The turned ex-SHIELD agent is selling intel on the location of the 084, which is later revealed by Coulson to be the original 084. The party is broken up by a man posing as the ex-SHIELD agent’s bodyguard. May and Skye drop in (under the orders of Coulson) to be Hartley’s back-up. The bullets reflect off of this mystery man and he leaps out a window and escapes with the information on the 084. Agent Hartley’s group survives, but the man killed Agent Browning. Hartley is upset that their cover was blown, especially when her team wasn’t even supposed to have any back up.
The Playground
Since the finale of the last season, we find that Coulson has been working on rebuilding SHIELD. The gang has taken refuge in Fury’s latest hideout, a place called The Playground. The team goes back to debrief and Coulson asks for May. May complains that, even though Coulson has been tasked to look over SHIELD, that she is in charge of looking after him. Coulson has been trying to find new SHIELD operatives that they can trust, which has been hard since Coulson has to fly to meet each person. This he puts on hold when finding out that the first 084 has been discovered.
The Villain
The mystery man goes to a van to link the intel he stole to his HYDRA handler. His handler sends the man a diamond that he was told will be quite pleasing to him. The man takes the gem, puts it in his hand and “absorbs” it.
Back at the Playground
Fitz and Simmons are trying to figure out what the material is that Skye brought back from the mission. Fitz is having a hard time conjuring up a thought, let alone figuring out what this metal is. Simmons has to help him finish his sentences. May enters the lab to find out what the metal is. The metal starts to bleed and turn into a skin like property. When they get the DNA match back, they find out that the mystery man is a one Carl Creel (The Absorbing Man). Coulson takes this information to Skye.
Agent Coulson wants Skye to go down to the vault to talk to Grant Ward. This is an activity she isn’t exactly too keen on doing. While talking to Ward, he tells her a little about Creel and more importantly how HYDRA communicates with each other. Before Ward finishes all the personal stuff he wants to tell her, Skye closes a field between them to shut him up. Ward was planning to tell Skye about her father.
Ward’s info was correct and they find out that Creel is going after Gen. Talbot. Coulson calls Talbot to warn him, and he basically tells Coulson where to shove it. Talbot calls in his own back up as Creel attacks him. Creel grabs a ball and chain (symbolic of Creel’s ball and chain that he was wearing while in jail originally, when the potion that Loki made that gave him this power took effect).
Not the Playground
May came in to save Talbot’s ass and Skye shoots Creel with an icer 2.0. Talbot’s security puts him in a car to secure him, but May is in the car with a gun. Talbot is taken to the box, similar to the one that is on the BUS. Coulson again tries to save Talbot from his own doing, revealing that Creel wanted to get into the location that the government sent the 084 to. Talbot’s men putting Creel in that same location just helped Creel instead of hurting him. Talbot tells Coulson to kiss off again and Coulson has to take things into his own hands.
Hartley and her team, May, Triplett and Skye go to the location where Creel and the 084 is located. Using Talbot’s fingerprints they lifted from him, as well as a voice modifier they used to duplicate his voice, and Skye’s hacking methods, they get in. Inside the facility, Creel has disappeared. The guards that are supposed to be keeping him a prisoner open up his clear bullet proof cage. Creel, who absorbed the glass to make himself almost invisible, attacks them and gets out.
While the team is in the storage facility looking for the 084, Hartley finds it, opens it, and touches it like a jackass. Hartley’s hand becomes connected to the shiny metal oddly shaped object, turning it black in the process. Creel, now blended in with a wall, sees this and runs from the object and its undeniable force. The team communicates over coms to Coulson about how they should proceed since Hartley’s life seems to be in danger. Coulson tells them to press on and continue the mission. Hartley’s team says screw this and takes her back to the truck to get her to help.
May and Skye run to the roof to get a Quinjet, which turns out to be the main point of this whole mission. Fitz has had trouble developing the cloaking system in order to provide the necessary cover that the team needs to function, which is why they needed the Quinjet. Coulson then reveals that Fitz has not been the same and his brain isn’t functioning properly since his near death last season. Coulson also says that Simmons left a while ago, which made Fitz completely break down. So basically Fitz has been talking to himself this whole episode. Coulson gives a great speech about how they must live in the shadows and help the helpless and other good guy filled quotables.
Hartley feels that this thing is killing her and orders her men to cut off her arm. She tells them they she may die if they don’t. She also psychoanalyzes it by saying there is such great advancements in robotics she could come out better than ever. They cut her arm off, but it doesn’t matter because Creel absorbs the concrete in the street stands right in their way, causing the vehicle to crash into him and flip over. Creel, not being an idiot like Hartley, touches the rubber on the tire to make his hand rubber in order to pick up the 084 and leave. In the truck, Lance Hunter is the only one of the three left alive.
Post Credits Scene
Creel’s handler informs a man that he did escape with the obelisk. Creel’s hander tells the man that he would have had Creel come in, but he is keeping this operation under lock and key because the man whom he is talking too has been searching for this object for a very, very long time. Creel’s handler addresses the man (the man from the opening HYDRA sequence) as Dr. Whitehall – Dr. Daniel Whitehall aka The Kraken and one of the founding members of HYDRA.
Afterthoughts
OMG where do I start. I was wondering and expecting a little G.o.t.G. ties but this episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD didn’t really need it. We start the party off with Agent Carter. Then we go in the episode with The Absorbing Man and General Talbot. Not only does Creel (The Absorbing Man) get away so we will indeed see him again, but we finish off the episode with The Kraken. Not with his mask or anything, but he will be a mainstay and main villain throughout season 2. This season started out on a excellent note!