History Recap / AgentsOfSHIELDS2E16Afterlife

* NoodleImplements: Fitz needs help shaking a tail.
-->'''Hunter:''' You're in a bathroom, with one of those electric hand dryers? You're gonna be okay, mate.

* BackFromTheDead: Jiaying, who we last saw as a corpse [[StuffedIntoTheFridge dumped into the woods]] by Whitehall, is alive and kicking. She has a few scars on her face, but looks no less worse for wear. Apparently her regenerative powers don't stop at "never ages".

* UnexpectedCharacter:
** Did anyone anticipate Deathlok making an [[BigDamnHeroes appearance?]]
** Jiaying, last seen apparently dead in a ditch after Whitehall was done with her, is back.

* AncestralWeapon: When Gonzales offers May a seat on "real" S.H.I.E.L.D.'s board, he presents his grandfather's WW2-era pistol, which he claims was used in combat against [[ThoseWackyNazis the Nazis]].

* AbsenteeActor: Brett Dalton as Ward, [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E2HeavyIsTheHead just]] [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E4FaceMyEnemy like]] [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E11Aftershocks the]] [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E12WhoYouReallyAre last]] [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E13OneOfUs few]] [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E15OneDoorCloses times]].

* ObfuscatingStupidity: [=FitzSimmons=] plays Bobbi and the rest of "real" SHIELD by having Simmons pretend to find a way to open the Toolbox, driving Fitz to leave, only for TheStinger to reveal that she switched out the real Toolbox with a fake and passed it to Fitz.

** Coulson lured "real" S.H.I.E.L.D. to the Retreat, confident that its anti-Hulk reinforcements would protect them until his backup could arrive, but he didn't expect the super ram.
** "Real" S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't expect the two guys they were sent to subdue would be playing a game of cards while their door was being rammed outside. Their momentary confusion allowed the two guys to take them all down with only [=ICERs=].
** Coulson's plan of hijacking the Quinjet was flawless, except for that second cloaked one that had enough agents aboard to easily surround them.
** Finally, the [[SuperStrength super-strong]], [[SuperSpeed super-fast]], [[OneManArmy super-well-armed]] cyborg showing up out of nowhere probably wasn't something Gonzales planned for.
** Bobbi thought she'd scored big getting Simmons to open the Toolbox. Turns out it was all a ploy to get the Toolbox away from Gonzales.

** Overlaps with BaitTheDog: Gordon brought Jiaying to see Cal, only for her to tell him that he's not allowed to see their daughter.

-->'''Honest Eddie''': I look at you and I see a man who's played it safe his whole life but lately feels like he's stuck in a rut. Life lost its thrill. The kids are monsters. The wife's taken to muumuus. And now you're thinking: 'It's time to let the tiger loose!' Am I hitting the mark?\\
'''Coulson''': ''[unimpressed]'' Amazing.
* ShoutOut: Two, possibly both unintentional:

** "Honest Eddie" shares his name with the famous "Honest Ed's" department store in {{Toronto}}, Ontario.
** Colson and Hunter use a hologram to fake out the S.H.I.E.L.D. guards, like Lex Luther used in ''Film/SupermanII''.

-->'''Hunter''': There's the small matter of who's going to fly that thing. Do you even know how?\\
'''Coulson''': I've watched May fly. I know a little.\\
'''Hunter''': How little?\\
'''Coulson''': I can get us off the ground.\\
'''Hunter''': You do know that there's a little more than that, right? Like getting us back on the ground, for example?

** Coulson admits he didn't tell Hunter about Mike Peterson because he wanted to see the look on Hunter's face when he discovered their backup was a super-powered cyborg. It was priceless.

* BrickJoke: Fitz ''finally'' gets to enjoy a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich with "just a hint of pesto aioli".

** Back in "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E8TheThingsWeBury The Things We Bury]]," Cal told Whitehall he was going to be reunited with his family "in the afterlife." Apparently he wasn't talking about dying after all...

* OutGambitted: Both sides of S.H.I.E.L.D. have some very GenreSavvy ChessMaster action going on:

** The fact that Jiaying is still alive paints her character in a very different light. To avenge her, Cal had gone through extreme measures, such as taking a PsychoSerum, sacrificing part of his sanity in the process. Not only didn't she stop him, but her disciple and successor Gordon (whose EstablishingCharacterMoment was him crying in Jiaying's arms, grateful that he had her to guide him) only showed him contempt, calling him an experiment and not "one of them". Also, she apparently charged him with finding their daughter, Daisy, but when he succeeded, she didn't allow him to see her. WordOfGod is Cal stitched her back together so she could use her powers to heal after her vivisection, but she blamed him for the loss of their daughter and left him. Cal got it in his head that finding Daisy would reunite their family.

* KickTheDog: Gordon has gone from putting Cal in his place to being excessively cruel: he's locked up Cal in a room without doors or windows, he gets Cal worked up by saying he can't see Skye so when Cal tries to punch him he can just teleport away, and then he brings Jiaying to see him, and she too turns down his request to see Skye. WordOfGod [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/agents-shield-chloe-bennet-mother-787182 states that Jiaying left Cal because she blamed him for losing Skye, so he convinced himself if he found Skye, his wife would love him again, and they would all be one happy family ]]

* UnexplainedRecovery: Jiaying, who we last saw as a corpse [[StuffedIntoTheFridge dumped into the woods]] by Whitehall, is alive and kicking. She has a few scars on her face, but looks no less worse for wear. WordOfGod is that Cal stitched her back together so her HealingFactor could do the rest.

* {{Irony}}: Skye, who was first introduced trying to convince Mike that he was having a superhero origin story, is still somewhat oblivious that ''she'' is having a superhero origin story.
** HYDRA agents (while continuing to be a totalitarian organization fundamentally opposed to individual freedom) frequently show embarrassment over their Nazi origins. Meanwhile, "real S.H.I.E.L.D."... well, read the next trope on this list.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Lincoln explains to Skye most of how life in the Inhumans' Compound works when asked. He's just used to people knowing this already. What he deliberately doesn't tell her is that her dad is a prisoner there, and that her mentor is also her mother, and that Raina was being transitioned there as well.

* KickTheDog: Gordon has gone from putting Cal in his place to being excessively cruel: he's locked up Cal in a room without doors or windows, he gets Cal worked up by saying he can't see Skye so when Cal tries to punch him he can just teleport away, and then he brings Jiaying to see him, and she too turns down his request to see Skye. [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/agents-shield-chloe-bennet-mother-787182 Word of God states that Jiaying left Cal because she blamed him for losing Skye, so he convinced himself if he found Skye, his wife would love him again, and they would all be one happy family ]]

* ArtisticLicenseFirearms: A trained agent like May should have been able to tell from the gun's weight that it was indeed loaded.

* ArtisticLicenseeFirearms: A trained agent like May should have been able to tell from the gun's weight that it was indeed loaded.

* CurbStompBattle: [[OneManArmy Agent Peterson]] against the "real" S.H.I.E.L.D. agents holding Coulson and Hunter hostage.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Skye tries to use her powers to kill Raina, even though Raina, at this point, is more pitiable than anything. That's not to say Raina hasn't earned the karma, though.

** Jiaying was last seen apparently dead in a ditch.

* GuiltRiddenAccomplice: While Mack is quite comfortable with what "real S.H.I.E.L.D." did and only regrets Fitz considering him a traitor, Bobbi is clearly a lot more conflicted about what's going on. Her co-workers aren't helping matters by doubling down on the FantasticRacism and ignoring her.

* WeCanRuleTogether: Gonzalez offers May a spot on the "real S.H.I.E.L.D." board, arguing that they're going to capture Coulson sooner or later and he's going to need a defender.

* BehindTheBlack: Coulson and Hunter's attempt to hijack a Quinjet goes awry because they didn't notice a second, cloaked, Quinjet filled with "Real" S.H.I.E.L.D. agents less than a stone's throw away. To be fair, it WAS cloaked. They weren't meant to see it.

** Gonzales blames Skye entirely for the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sent after her being injured, regardless of the fact that she was defending herself ''and'' Calderon deliberately ignored orders by firing at her with lethal rounds. Bobbi brings up both points and is just brushed off.

* BehindTheBlack: Coulson and Hunter's attempt to hijack a Quinjet goes awry because they didn't notice a second, cloaked, Quinjet filled with "Real" S.H.I.E.L.D. agents less than a stone's throw away.