History Recap / AgentsOfSHIELDS5E1OrientationPartOne

* MotiveMisidentification: When they realize they're near Earth by the stars, Simmons and May assume this is a staging ground for a Kree invasion of Earth. It's only when they realize the debris field around them ''is'' Earth that it hits them the Kree are just salvaging what's left of the planet.

* WhamLIne: Simmons looking at the mostly destroyed planet before them.

* WrittenInInfirmity: Creator/MingNaWen was recovering from knee surgery, so the writers gave her a leg wound for this and a few following episodes.

** As Vergil stays knocked out, Coulson asks Mack how hard he hit him. Mack responds by saying it was as hard as he could, because that's what you do when you punch someone.

* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: Deke gets Jemma, May, Coulson and Daisy out of custody by convincing the Kree guardian that they were set up by Vergil.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Vergil gets his head split open from behind ''on camera'' and it's ''not'' pretty.

* KilledMidSentence: Vergil, unhelpfully. Coulson's ''really'' having trouble getting full sentences out of the guy.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Vergil's partner tries to bail when Vergil insists on waiting for the rest of Coulson's team, but it just gets him eaten.

** Mack turns over Vergil's postcard and sees a note written on it: "Working on it -- Fitz".

* WriteBackToTheFuture: Fitz, apparently -- a postcard in Vergil's pocket has a note from him reading, "Working on it -- Fitz," implying that he's aware, in the past, of what happened and is trying to get them back.

* AsteroidThicket: Justified. It's remains of a planet that was destroyed only relatively recently.

** The second comes from the fact that they are, in fact, in space. The monolith they were put through, however, only brought them a relative short distance, around near the same orbit the moon would be (if it didn't drift off into space from a lack of the Earth's gravity keeping it in place, and/or wasn't destroyed by Earth's debris), playing with the expectations again, in that everyone assumed they were in at least another star system or in the interstellar medium.

* AliensAreBastards: The Kree allegedly saved the human race from their destroyed planet, but as payment keeps them in colonies at their mercy, forced to fight in gladiator matches or used in experiments, killing each other for food and laboring to survive, under constant threat of death by alien beasts, all with their history erased ostensibly so they don't lament the past.

* ClarkesThirdLaw: When Mack suspects that they are in a magical place, Simmons states that magic is just science they don't understand yet. Mack is fully dismissive of that argument.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Quite literally. The Kree torture Elena by spraying her arms with a liquid nitrogen tube, trying to see how long it will take for them to break. Daisy saves the day.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Vergil gets his head split open from behind ''on camera'' and it is not pretty.

* GenreSavvy: Mack is adamant that the team not [[LetsSplitUpGang split up]] with hostile aliens about. He's fairly confident BlackDudeDiesFirst will surely follow.

** The second comes from the fact that they are in fact in space. The monolith they were put through, however, only brought them a relative short distance, around near the same orbit the moon would be (if it did not drift off into space from a lack of the Earth's gravity keeping it in place, and/or wasn't destroyed by Earth's debris), playing with the expectations again, in that everyone assuming they were in at least another star system or in the interstellar medium.

* KilledMidSentence: Vergil, unhelpfully. Coulson is really having trouble getting full sentences out of the guy.

* LetsSplitUpGang: Defied by Mack, who's seen enough movies to know this is a bad idea and will probably lead to him dying first. They move as a group.

* ShoutOut: When Mack laments about the lack of cool tools in Coulson's robotic hand, the man replies that he is not ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget''.

** Jemma and May are flying the ice trawler through the debris field, and Jemma mentions that the constellations are familiar. Then she realizes they're ''all'' familiar, and May points out something much more ominous: half a bus floating through space. And then the camera shows an all too well-known, but not-so intact anymore blue planet: The debris field isn't near Earth, ''it is Earth''.

** Jemma and May are flying the ice trawler through the debris field, and Jemma mentions that the constellations are familiar. Then she realizes they're ''all'' familiar, and May points out something much more ominous: half a bus floating through space. The debris field isn't near Earth, ''it is Earth''.

* InSpace: Played Straight with a LampshadeHanging, then DoubleSubverted and PlayedWith in the WhamShot described below:
** The first subversion comes from the fact that the Monolithe moved them through time along with space, playing with the audience's and character's expectations that it was only space.
** The second comes from the fact that they are in fact in Space. The monolithe they were put through, however, only brought them a relative short distance, around near the same orbit the moon would be (if it did not drift off into space from a lack of the earth's gravity keeping it in place, and/or wasn't destroyed by Earth's Debris.), playing with the expectations again, in that everyone assuming they were in at least another Star System or in the interstellar medium.

** The second comes from the fact that they are in fact in Space. The monolithe they were put through, however, only brought them a relative short distance, around near the same orbit the moon would be (if it did not drift off into space from a lack of the earth's gravity keeping it in place, and/or wasn't destroyed by Earth's Debris.), playing with the expectations again, in that everyone assuming they were in at least another Star System.

* SpoilerOpening: Averted handily. Creator/IainDeCastecker is listed in the opening credits despite not appearing on screen in the entire 2-hour episode.

* MythologyGag: Elena asks Phil if S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have some sort of outer space division called ''S.P.E.A.R.'' in an obvious reference to S.W.O.R.D., from the comics.

** Jemma and May are flying the ice trawler through the debris field, and Jemma mentions that the constellations are familiar. Then she realizes they're ''all'' familiar, and May points out something much more ominous: half a bus floating through space. The debris field isn't near Earth, it ''is Earth''.

* MythologyGag: Elena asks Phil if S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have some sort of outer space divison called ''S.P.E.A.R.'' in an obvious reference to S.W.O.R.D., from the comics.

* OhCrap: Coulson when he realizes he's in front if a soon-to-activate portal obelisk.

-->'''Coulson:''' I think we're in space.
-->'''Mack:''' That makes sense. It's the one thing we haven't done yet.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Coulson arrives on the outpost just as its current occupants are spacing a threat.

* ShoutOut: Elena asks Phil if S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have some sort of outer space divison called ''S.P.E.A.R.'' in an obvious reference to S.W.O.R.D., from the comics.

!!TropesInThisEpisode:

* OutTheAirlock: Coulson arrives on the outpost just as its current occupants are spacing a threat.