History Recap / AgentsOfSHIELDS2E2HeavyIsTheHead

Hunted and running out of solutions, Coulson puts his team right in the line of fire in the hopes of saving them all. But with General Talbott, HYDRA and Creel all on the attack, can they possibly survive? Meanwhile, a mysterious Doctor (Kyle [=MacLachlan=]) harbors some dangerous secrets that could destroy one of our core team members.

* DueToTheDead: One of Hunter's terms for betraying Coulson is for Talbott to arrange for his fallen teammates to be buried with full honors instead of being treated as deceased terrorists. Coulson ends up doing so when Hunter goes back on the deal.

* GunshipRescue: More accurate to call it "Gunship Backup Plan". Coulson delivers Creel to Talbott as a peace offering, hoping to make a deal. When Talbott refuses, he has the Bus with its very big nose cannon decloak. He then boards the Quinjet nearby, which was also cloaked.

* TheManBehindTheMan: When Talbott is enlisting Hunter's help in catching Coulson, he mentions that he has the backing of a senator with enough financial resources to let Hunter name any price for betraying SHIELD.

* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Coulson offers Talbott the chance to become this -- he deliberately fails to keep up with the fugitive Coulson, and Coulson allows him to take credit for his team's work with the press and the Pentagon. Talbott refuses.

** Coulson has familiarized himself with holographic interface technology since the events of "T.R.A.C.K.S."

* PowerIncontinence: Creel's trick of rubberizing his hand in the last episode didn't quite work, and now he's slowly being turned into the Obelisk.
** His HYDRA handler speaks a TriggerPhrase that seemingly snaps him out of it.

* [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout-Out: To Shakespeare]]: Sort of. The title of the episode is a common misquotation of a passage from Theatre/HenryIVPart2, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown".

* ExactWords: "I didn't solve this today." Fitz keeps repeating this, and everyone assumes he's just upset at his failure. Mack then realizes that Fitz is trying to say that the solution is something he previously worked on, namely the Overkill device.

'''Skye:''' I doubt it, the guy's [[MrFanservice jacked]], and he can turn [[FreudWasRight any body part]] into ''any'' material...\\

* AbsenteeActor: This is the first episode so far in which Brett Dalton (Ward) doesn't appear.

* GenreSavvy: Even though he was apparently killed by the Obelisk, Coulson still cryogenically freezes Creel, since turning to stone is a trick he's capable of.

Hunted and running out of solutions, Coulson puts his team right in the line of fire in the hopes of saving them all. But with General Talbot, HYDRA and Creel all on the attack, can they possibly survive? Meanwhile, a mysterious Doctor (Kyle [=MacLachlan=]) harbors some dangerous secrets that could destroy one of our core team members.

* DueToTheDead: One of Hunter's terms for betraying Coulson is for Talbot to arrange for his fallen teammates to be buried with full honors instead of being treated as deceased terrorists. Coulson ends up doing so when Hunter goes back on the deal.

* GunshipRescue: More accurate to call it "Gunship Backup Plan". Coulson delivers Creel to Talbot as a peace offering, hoping to make a deal. When Talbot refuses, he has the Bus with its very big nose cannon decloak. He then boards the Quinjet nearby, which was also cloaked.

* TheManBehindTheMan: When Talbot is enlisting Hunter's help in catching Coulson, he mentions that he has the backing of a senator with enough financial resources to let Hunter name any price for betraying SHIELD.

* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Coulson offers Talbot the chance to become this -- he deliberately fails to keep up with the fugitive Coulson, and Coulson allows him to take credit for his team's work with the press and the Pentagon. Talbot refuses.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Raina broke away from HYDRA because she thinks their [[TakeOverTheWorld goal]] is "[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger so]] [[WorldWarII 1945]]".

'''Coulson:''' [[SarcasmMode Thank you]] [[TooMuchInformation for that]].

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: Sort of. The title of the episode is a common misquotation of a passage from Theatre/HenryIVPart2, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown".

* WhamEpisode: We finally get to see Skye's father in the flesh. He ''looks'' human, but we really don't know what he is.

* AbsenteeActor: This is the first episode so far in which Ward doesn't appear.

* GenreSavvy: Despite him having apparently been killed by the Obelisk, Coulson still cryogenically freezes Creel, since turning to stone is a trick he's capable of.

** His Hydra handler speaks a TriggerPhrase that seemingly snaps him out of it.

Hunted and running out of solutions, Coulson puts his team right in the line of fire in the hopes of saving them all. But with General Talbot, Hydra and Creel all on the attack, can they possibly survive? Meanwhile, a mysterious Doctor (Kyle [=MacLachlan=]) harbors some dangerous secrets that could destroy one of our core team members.

*** Coulson has familiarized himself with holographic interface technology since the events of "T.R.A.C.K.S."

* TheManBehindTheMan: When Talbot is enlisting Hunter's help in catching Coulson, he mentions that he has the backing of a senator with enough financial resources to let Hunter name any price for betraying SHIELD[[note]]Tim [=DeKay=] was cast as Senator, and Grant Ward's older brother, Christian Ward, shortly before this episode aired[[/note]].

* TakenForGranite: Creel, like every victim of the Obelisk. Coulson isn't entirely convinced it will stick.

'''Coulson:''' [[SarcasmMode Thank you]], [[TooMuchInformation for that]].

* TheManBehindTheMan: When Talbot is enlisting Hunter's help in catching Coulson, he mentions that he has the backing of a senator with enough financial resources to let Hunter name any price for betraying SHIELD. Considering ''The Winter Soldier'' saw at least one senator in HYDRA's membership, this may be important down the line.

-->'''Handler''': Compliance will be rewarded.
-->'''Creel''':....I am happy to comply.