TV Review: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 Episode 8

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

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EPISODE 8: "The Things We Bury"

SYNOPSIS:  Coulson and team find themselves in an epic face-off against Hydra to uncover an ancient secret, while Ward kidnaps his brother, Senator Christian Ward, for a violent trip down memory lane.  Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) returns.

BREAKDOWN: (The following column contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so I don't recommend reading this if you haven't watched this episode).

Ward is on the loose, Dr. Whitehall has the Obelisk, and now Coulson knows the glyphs he was etching were a map of some sort of city (I still bet money it is Attilan),  AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. has continued to gel well this season with the overarching sub-plots planted last season continuing to pay dividends through the first eight episodes of this one.

We even get an opening flashback to Austria in 1945 featuring Whitehall and his first go round with the Obelisk.  Using prisoners as test subjects, Whitehall and his HYDRA compatriots discover an Asian woman who is immune to the object's power.  In modern day, Whitehall meets with Skye's father who divulges that the Diviner is actually a key to a special place that is much more powerful than the Obelisk itself.  The promise that we will actually be getting to see this city sooner rather than later definitely adds to the excitement building over the last few episodes.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. team tries to crack the captive Bakshi and learn that Whitehall is actually over 100 years old.  Researching in the old SSR files at their base, we get a flashback of Peggy Carter interrogating Reinhart (aka Whitehall) who relates the folktale of the mysterious city and the Diviner.  The story involves "blue angels" who come from a fallen star bearing a gift to save all mankind.  Reinhardt believes that the angels come to conquer/end mankind.  This continues to sound more and more like the Kree and the Inhumans, a key part of Marvel's Phase Three.

After 44 years in the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison known as The Rat, a HYDRA sleeper agent frees Reinhardt and takes him to see the same Asian woman who survived the Obelisk all those years ago.  She appears to have not aged a day since we last saw her.  Whitehall vivisects the woman, taking her organs for his own which explains how he is so young despite his advanced age. The reveal feels telegraphed from a mile away, but it is nice to see everything falling into place.  Even the captured Bakshi smashing his face into the table to activate the cyanide capsule in his cheekbone was a perfectly executed and thrilling moment, one of many through this episode.

Ward reappears and attacks his older brother, Senator Christian Ward, in an effort to set their tumultuous record straight.  Ward takes Christian to the site of the well seen in season one and forces him to dig it up.  Ward is convinced his brother forced him to push their brother Tommy down the well, but Christian continues to tell Ward he is lying.  Christian tries to escape, but fails.  Ward holds his brother over the well and before he drops him, Christian finally admits what Ward remembered was true.  The brothers reconcile which can only mean something bad is coming soon.

Coulson, Skye, Triplett, and Fitz deposit some devices in Hawaii and make their way to the Australian outback with a plan to disable a military outpost with an EMP to get more intel on the lost city.  Fitz is given the challenge of assembling a tranceiver which he struggles with but is vital to the mission.  I am getting a bit bored with Fitz and his cognitive struggles, but I am hoping it will be going somewhere worthwhile and soon.  The plan almost works but HYDRA infiltrates the base at the same time.  As Fitz works on the tranceiver, Triplett is shot and a man appears claiming to be a doctor.  It is none other than Skye's father, obviously there with the team given to him by Whitehall.

Skye's father and Coulson have an amazingly tense scene as he explains what he wants to do when he finds the lost city, all while barely keeping the wounded Triplett alive.  Fitz manages to get the tranceiver working but Skye's father escapes, teasing another confrontation is looming between he and Coulson.  The episode comes to a close with Whitehall discussing his vision with a man who turns out to be Ward.  We also see a news report showing Ward murdered his parents and his older brother, posing it as a murder-suicide.  Man, this guy is fifty shades of f*cked up and has the potential to be a big villain on the show.  That is if he is not a mole hoping to prove himself to Skye.

The episode closes with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new system access finding a match for what could be the alien city.  The stinger sequence features Skye's father meeting with Ward and Whitehall.  We also see a flashback to 25 years prior where the mutilated body of the Asian woman is found by Skye's father, revealing her to be Skye's mother.

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE REFERENCES:

Peggy Carter returns during flashbacks and Red Skull is referenced.  Alexander Pierce is name-dropped during the Whitehall flashback sequence.

BEST LINE:

"There's a place and if one of these special people you speak of takes this Diviner to that special place, it won't just kill.  It will do something, scientifically speaking, much, much cooler." – Skye's father.

COOLEST SCENE:

Gotta love the flashback sequences with Peggy Carter as they continue to hint towards AGENT CARTER starting in January.  Hayley Atwell is so damn hot and owns the character.  It is disappointing that the best scene in this episode is basically a tease for another series.

EPISODE CLEARANCE LEVEL: 9/10

This was a great episode for everyone involved.  Every single character on the show delivered with tense, action-packed sequences.  We learn a hell of a lot about Ward and Whitehall as well as seeing Bobbi and Lance get their sexy on.  May and Simmons spent most of their time researching, but I cannot complain about their smaller role this week as it gave room for the great Peggy Carter cameo.  All of this combined with some closure to Ward's back story and the tease of the major reveal coming in the epiodes ahead.

NEXT ON MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.:

Episode 9 "Ye Who Enter Here" (Airs December 2nd) – S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers the ancient city before Hydra, but uncovering the secrets may require one of Coulson's team to make the ultimate sacrifice. May and Skye race to get to Raina before Whitehall takes her

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