Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Recap: Marvel's Frozen

This is thanks, in large part, to how the threat presented by the Villain of the Week prompts several characters to confront hard truths. In particular, it's a rough episode for Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Skye (Chloe Bennet), albeit a necessary one. More than any two characters in the series, Fitz and Skye have changed from their Season 1 counterparts, becoming something much darker and sadder than what they were before. It's a rich characterization that provides the episode with its emotional anchor: through conversations with Ward (Brett Dalton), Fitz comes to realize he's stronger than he thought, while Skye recognizes she's less in control than she'd like to be. Of course, these are just two plots in what is a pretty dense narrative fabric, as much of the promotional material for this episode has been teasing that Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) is working for HYDRA. And while that is, in fact, the case, there's a caveat: she's deep undercover on the orders of Coulson (Clark Gregg), because of course she is. What we're left with, then, is a story about discovery, as Simmons comes to recognize her capabilities as a field agent while Fitz and Skye face their own questions of adequacy. "Making Friends and Influencing People" is as close to a slam-dunk as the show has had so far this season (although, granted, it's only three episodes in).

Credit: ABC/Marvel

So Donnie Gill (Dylan Minnette), the Marvel Comics villain known as Blizzard, has returned to the series after his stint in the Sandbox last season. He's escaped with all the other high-value targets in the mass breakout from the Fridge, yet it's not just S.H.I.E.L.D. who's hunting him this time, but HYDRA. He's a high-value target, and his past friendship with Simmons makes her a crucial instrument in getting him on their side. Thus, Simmons is put on the mission to apprehend Donnie, which is easier said than done since he now has complete control over his ice powers, and he's not the least bit afraid to use them. Naturally, HYDRA's goals intersect with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, as they're trying to bring Donnie in alive. Throughout all of this, we learn a bit more about how HYDRA is operating, as Dr. Whitehall (Reed Diamond) is shown to be actively brainwashing former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and repurposing them for use by HYDRA. It's pretty chilling stuff actually, as Agent 33 (whom Coulson refers to as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "best and brightest") is systematically broken down over the course of the episode through bombardment by audio and visual stimulus, lack of sleep, and Whitehall's sinister rhetoric. We may not know much about Whitehall, but we know enough to get a sense of his meticulous villainy: he's not brainwashing these people so much as he's selling them on a potential future. While the subjects of the brainwashing do ultimately end up as unthinking robots once activated by their activation phrase, Whitehall seduces them in the first place by calling on them to rise from the ashes like a phoenix, to reclaim the promise and potential they've wasted in their lives. It'd be downright inspiring if it weren't so creepy, and that's what's so striking and memorable about these scenes.

But they ultimately take a back seat to the characters we do know well. On the one hand, Simmons understands that infiltrating HYDRA is her mission. On the other hand, she's admittedly not the best person in the world when it comes to espionage, and it's clear from Henstridge's body language that Simmons hasn't stopped considering herself a fish out of water. So the episode ends up being as much about Simmons's blossoming capability as a field agent as it is about anything else. Granted, she's not exactly what I'd call a good field agent or anything, but she's shown to have an aptitude for negotiation. When sent to speak to Donnie on HYDRA's behalf, Simmons is almost able to get Donnie to turn away from his violent path and embrace a second chance. Donnie is naturally suspicious, but he seems open to hearing Simmons out. Coulson makes note early in the episode about Simmons's innate likability, and she uses it here to great effect. Her failure to reach Donnie isn't really her fault either, as Coulson orders May (Ming-Na Wen) to take the shot when it becomes apparent, through what Simmons's HYDRA handler is having her say, that Donnie is a sleeper agent for HYDRA who's being activated by the words Simmons is speaking. It all builds to a pretty exciting climax, as Donnie attempts to kill May, Simmons, and Hunter (Nick Blood) by freezing the massive ship they're all on. And he likely would have succeeded had Skye not taken the shot: after spending the better part of forever training to kill her first man, Skye finally does so here. Using a sniper rifle, she's able to nick Donnie from a distance, sending him crashing into the icy waters below, and sinking to the bottom in what may be the show's most haunting image to date.

Credit: ABC/Marvel

Skye has unlocked her darker nature due largely to what Ward did to her last season. But he's still having an affect on her now, as he attempts to tell her about her father. He even says he can take her to him some day, if he'll allow her. But Skye doesn't want to hear any of it, barging out of the room and away from Ward. She takes her heart rate around the corner, and it's been an effective visual cue throughout the episode: Skye has had a consistent heart rate of 61 beats per minute, which she was able to maintain even while taking the shot on Donnie. However, after Ward reveals that her father is alive, her heart rate climbs to over 100. In short, the show doesn't have to explicitly tell us how deeply Ward's statement affected Skye -- if it isn't written on her face, it's definitely all there in her heart rate monitor. Skye may think she's got herself emotionally under control, but it's clear she doesn't. And that could make for some interesting television, considering the darker Skye we have now.

Credit: ABC/Marvel

But the best moment of the episode goes to Fitz, who discovers that Ward is Coulson's "Asset" from HYDRA, and confronts him in an utterly devastating scene. De Caesteck knocks it out of the ballpark, releasing all of Fitz's pent-up frustration and hurt over Ward's betrayal, all while Brett Dalton portrays Ward as someone who is almost wearily-penitent. He knows what he did was wrong, which is why he allows himself to be taken to task for it so frequently. Doesn't make him a better person, but it does make him far more self-aware. Similarly, Fitz has his own level of self-awareness, admitting to himself that the Simmons apparition he's been seeing everywhere isn't actually her. He also has the good sense to call out Ward on his nonsense when he insists that, by trapping them in a container at the bottom of the ocean, he was trying to protect FitzSimmons. Fitz breaks down, having a panic attack as he laces into Ward for robbing him of his intellect. Hell, Fitz even goes as far as to briefly remove the oxygen from Ward's cell in order to give him a taste of what Ward did to him. Yet he stops just short of actually killing Ward, since Fitz feels that this is what separates men like him from killers like Ward. And that's character growth -- Fitz recognizing his limits and his own inner strength. If nothing else, it contrasted nicely with Skye discovering she might not be as calm, cool, or collected as she'd like to be.

"Making Friends and Influencing People" is a very solid episode, and I'd love to see the show do more installments where the big, climactic action setpieces are rooted in some kind of larger character study. For example, Fitz finding the strength to confront Ward is what leads to the team discovering that Donnie is programmed, which in turn aids Skye, whose episode-long heart rate training pays off, as she calmly takes the shot on Donnie, presumably killing him (no body is ever found after he falls into the waters off the side of the ship). The steadiness of her hand belies the instability of her heart, and this was an interesting way of weaving that character arc into the action, so that the solution to each week's problem doesn't just fall out of the sky (no pun intended), but is instead the culmination of a journey for one or more of the characters. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. might be a darker show now, but it also comes across as being far more confident in its storytelling. And that can only be a good thing.