Coulson and Peterson go into battle.
Coulson takes the war back to Centipede, and this time he brings in Mike Peterson for some super-soldier support. As they get closer to the truth, startling secrets are revealed and an unexpected twist threatens the team.Tropes in this episode:
- Being Personal Isn't Professional:
- May calls Ward out on taking a punch for her. Ward reassures her that he was just protecting the faster member of The Team.
- A minute later, May chews out Skye for bothering her for information about her parents while they're in the middle of a mission.
- Big "NO!": Skye when Mike gets caught in an explosion.
- Brick Joke: When the team first researches Edison Po, Skye reports that he went to jail for gouging a man's eyes out. Later on, Edison tells Raina that he had to do it to a guy who learned too much about the Clairvoyant.
- Brutal Honesty: May lays Skye out, finally telling her that she and Coulson aren't actually looking into finding her parents and that there are more important things to do.
- Call-Back:
- The eye technology used on Akela was being used on one of the Centipede soldiers Coulson and Mike Peterson were fighting.
- Coulson and Ward have a brief chat about Coulson's cellist girlfriend.
- Clingy MacGuffin: The Centipede implant on Mike's arm can't be removed without killing him.
- Continuity Creep: This season becomes significantly more serialized beginning with this episode.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Mike Peterson. Fitz-Simmons designed the weapon and Ward took the shot, but he's happy to work with them because he knows they could have simply killed him instead, and the tranq stabilized his serum.
- Dissonant Serenity: Edison calmly continues eating his prison meal as Centipede soldiers bust in through the ceiling and brutally dispatch anyone who gets in their way, even going so far as refusing to get up from his seat until one of the soldiers addresses him as "Sir."
- Downer Ending: Coulson's been kidnapped by Raina and Mike Peterson fails to save him when he gets caught in an explosion occurs on the bridge, and Raina gets away with Coulson.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Simmons is very clearly enjoying taking Mike Peterson's measurements by hand.
- Evil Duo: Raina and Edison Po working together under the Clairvoyant.
- Explosive Leash: The eye implants are back, being used to keep the Centipede soldiers in line.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Mike tries to go back and save Coulson, but is caught in an explosion. He may or may not be dead.
- Hollywood Tactics: Ward picking a sniper nest in which the view of the bridge is obstructed by a cement mixer. Given later revelations that he's working with Centipede, that may have been deliberate.
- Hour of Power: The Centipede soldiers are extremely strong, but burn out after one mission and require constant maintenance. Mike is similar, but his serum is stable thanks to the Night-Night gun's tranquilizer formula and/or getting hit with it just as he was about to blow. He still burns out after using his powers, but just needs to eat a lot to regain his strength.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Raina kidnaps Mike's son and demands an exchange. The team is led to believe they want Mike to figure out why he can retain his strength without regular injections; they in fact want Coulson and want to know how he survived the Battle of New York.
- I'd Tell You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You: In so many words. Edison Po tells Raina that the last time someone asked about his experiences with "The Clairvoyant," Edison was forced to stab the man in the eyes.
- I Have Your Wife: Centipede kidnaps Mike's son to force his cooperation.
- It's All Junk: Skye tearfully rips up the leads she has regarding her parents. After her conversation with May, she sees giving up her search as the price she has to pay to stay on the team. Coulson considers comforting her, but doesn't want Skye to learn the truth about her parents.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Melinda chewing out Skye. While it's true there was no real reason for lashing out at Skye, other than her getting burned by Ward, and Melinda probably just needed someone to project her anger out, what she says to Skye is technically true. There are bigger things at stake, and if Skye wants to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent she's going to have to learn how to not let personal matters get in the way of work. However, it's also hypocritical, as Melinda had just done that with Ward moments earlier.
- Living MacGuffin: Mike is able to retain his powers even though the serum is supposed to be temporary. Edison suggests that studying him might allow them to overcome that problem.
- Meaningful Echo: Mike says to watch his boy in a point of time around an explosion.
- More Expendable Than You: Ward gives this rationale for taking a super-strong fist for May, insisting that she's faster and thus was more valuable to the team at the time.
- Mythology Gag: The high-tech field suit Fitz-Simmons design for Mike bears a close resemblance to the one-piece item worn as standard by all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the comics. (A similar, but less intricate, design was worn by the crew of the Hellicarrier in The Avengers.)
- Never Trust a Trailer: Promos for the episode showed May saying "You shouldn't be here" and heavily featured Mike. She's actually saying "If you can't put aside your personal attachments then you shouldn't be here" to Skye, when May finally gets tired of lying to her and tells her that they are making no effort to find her parents.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Mike's expression when he finds out that Raina has taken his son hostage.
- May also has this expression when it appears Coulson has been killed. She goes back to her usual serious look once she sees the helicopter fleeing the scene.
- Redemption Equals Death: Mike tries to rescue Coulson after trading him for his son, but (seemingly) gets killed when Centipede blows the bridge to cover their escape.
- Right Behind Me: Ward makes no secret about his discomfort with having Peterson being part of the team. The look on his face when he realizes the latter is right behind him is priceless.
- Ship Tease:
- Simmons evidently has a bit of a crush on Mike, which she either can't conceal or isn't bothering to try.
- Fitz finds her transparent attempts to flirt with Mike really irritating... but only because he's embarrassed for her, obviously.
- Shout-Out: Simmons was quite too "hands-on" in dealing with Mike's physiology - not unlike Agent Peggy Carter when she first interacted with a recently Super Serum-ed Steve Rogers. Which is quite appropriate, considering Mike was apparently trying to break Captain America's record at moving a tractor with his bare hands during physical training.
- Tranquil Fury: While it's more or less May's default state, as she sees Centipede get away with Coulson you can tell from her Death Glare that she's just seething.
- Wham Line:Raina: I need you to tell me about what happened the day after you died.
- Worf Had the Flu: The Centipede soldiers are said to be needing both constant food supply and serum injections to keep their powers or they would wear off. This partially explains how May and Ward can get into physical combat with them. Also, they are nowhere as strong as Mike.
- Would Hurt a Child: Centipede has no problems about taking Mike's son Ace as a hostage. Raina points out that if Mike chokes her to death, the Centipede higher-ups would kill Ace in a much worse manner.
