Episode Name: 0-8-4
Original Airdate: October 1, 2013
After a quick flash-forward, teasing us with a disaster on the mid-flight the Bus (the plane of Coulson's team), we're taken 19 hours earlier, immediately following the Pilot.
Skye empties out her van, deciding to come aboard the plane and join Coulson's team as a "consultant." Neither May nor Ward want Skye there, both believing her to be a risk and liability (Ward's main concern being that Skye's a member of the Rising Tide, a hacking organization, while May's gripe is that along with Fitz and Simmons, they'll now have a third individual not fit, nor trained, for combat). Coulson defends Skye, stating that the fact she thinks differently than SHIELD is a positive, along with the fact she's extraordinarily gifted in terms of her ability to hack. 'She hacked into SHIELD twice from a laptop in a van', Coulson states. 'Imagine what she can do with SHIELD resources.'
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| May and Ward arguing with Coulson over Skye |
FitzSimmons (technically two people, though it's hard to tell) awkwardly welcome Skye onto the Bus, and lead her to her small room. Over the intercom, May (who pilots the plane) informs everyone to get ready to go airborne, and Ward, clearly unhappy, tersely gives Skye an overview of the safety procedures of the plane, telling her to read it.
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| Simmons and Fitz welcoming Skye |
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| Simmons and Fitz giving a tour of the Bus to Skye |
Upon landing in Peru, we have some cute dialogue between Fitz and Simmons, along with Coulson letting Skye know that one of the reasons she's here is to, if need be, throw the people off the scent of the 0-8-4 if it becomes dangerous (or, in other words, lie to the people, which is something that, as a hacker, Skye takes issue with), Coulson reasons that panic is best avoided to allow professionals to quietly take care of the situation.
The 0-8-4 itself seems to be mechanical in nature, and lodged into a 500-year old Inca temple, though it's been there much longer than 500 years, according to assessment done by FitzSimmons. Simmons suggests it could potentially be alien in nature, whereas Fitz believes it to look almost like German engineering.
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| A side-view of the 0-8-4 |
Meanwhile, Ward briefly speaks with May, calling her the "Calvary", a sort of nickname she earned from her actions in Bahrain. May, however, seems hesitant to accept this tribute, and doesn't want to be referred to by that name. This discussion is shelved, though, as military forces from the Peruvian government converge on the temple, led by Camilla Reyes, a former colleague of Coulson's. While at first alarming Coulson's team, they claim they're here to protect the 0-8-4 from the local rebels in the area.
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| Reyes and Coulson |
Surprised at seeing Reyes here, they talk and reminisce about their past, as Ward goes back into the temple and alerts Simmons, Fitz, and Skye of the new developments, sparking a heated discussion between Skye (who seems to support the local rebels, as they're standing up against the government's mining policies) and Ward (who doesn't like the violence caused by the rebels).
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| Ward's reaction to Skye's support of the rebels |
When local rebels attack, Ward directs them to leave the temple, arguing with Fitz over the procedure to remove the 0-8-4. While Fitz wants a special container for it (as it has a fluctuating power core), Ward, who feels that's a waste of time in this situation, just grabs it out of the wall. After some combat, Ward and May are able to safetly get Simmons, Fitz, and Skye back to the Bus, with Coulson and Reyes close behind. Without major casualties, they're able to take off, bringing Reyes and her men with them.
Beforehand, though, Fitz explains what he's been trying to explain for the past five minutes - that the 0-8-4 seems to be fueled by Tesseract energy (think Hydra and the first Captain America movie), and it's unstable. It's full of lethal amounts of gamma radiation, and could well be a danger to all on board.
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| Fitz explaining the energy behind the 0-8-4 |
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| Coulson's team taking stock of the dangers of the 0-8-4 (contained within the black bag) |
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| Coulson's attempted apology toward May |
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| Ward and Fitz arguing |
Coulson agrees that there's work to be done, and gives them this great quote:
We still need to iron out the kinks, but Ward, you can speak six languages. Simmons, you have two PHD's in fields I cannot pronounce, and Fitz, you are a rocket scientist, so work it out.Fitz and Simmons further look into the 0-8-4, concluding that they're lucky their electromagnetic devices didn't set it off earlier, and that it could shoot out an immensely powerful laser, giving them even more reason to worry for the safety of those on the Bus.
Skye tries to fix up her relationship with Ward, bringing him a drink, and explaining her feelings behind the Peruvian uprising: for the first time in history, the downtrodden are combining their forces and working together for a common goal, each one with one part of the solution, so the whole combined could possess the complete solution, which Skye finds both beautiful and inspiring. Ward admits that the two of them see the world differently, and that while Skye finds it admirable that each person brings a piece of the puzzle, Ward was trained to be the "whole solution."
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| Ward speaking with Skye |
While Skye and Ward are connecting, Coulson is becoming suspicious of Reyes, especially due to the fact she's coming onto him far more forcefully than what he remembers. Ward, after noticing that Reye's men aren't drinking their alcohol, subtly tips off Skye. This is all for naught, though, as May is taken out with sleeping gas, and Fitz is caught by another of Reyes' men - effectively, Reyes has taken over the Bus.
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| Reyes' men prior to taking over the Bus |
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| One of Reyes' men with a scalpel to Fitz's throat |
In bondage, the rest of the teams bonds together - Simmons apologizes to Fitz for pushing him into the field, Fitz claims he should have learned kung-fu, and from both Sky and Ward, FitzSimmons learn that May is the "Calvary," and immediately believe that they're going to be okay (as the name has legendary status among all those in SHIELD).
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| May (off camera), Skye, Simmons, Fitz, and Ward tied up |
We learn from Reyes that Peru commissioned the creation of the 0-8-4, but it was lost during a conflict years back. Reyes wants it back so that Peru can end the rebel conflict and stabilize her country again, or as Coulson sees it, "take control over" Peru.
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| Reyes speaking with a tied-up Coulson |
Meanwhile, working together, the five of them formulate a plan (step one, getting untied, becomes an easy one to complete, as May simply breaks her wrist to free her hands, and easily takes out the guard), and are able to set off the 0-8-4, blowing a hole in the side of the plane. Many of Reyes' men get sucked out, and Ward almost suffers the same fate, but is saved by some quick thinking on Skye's part. May is able to get to the cockpit and stabilize the plane, and Reyes is tied up by Coulson after he saves her life.
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| The five captors discussing how best to get free and save Coulson |
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| Coulson saving Reyes |
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| Ward being saved from flying out the plane by Skye's quick thinking |
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| Coulson, Ward, Skye, Fitz, and Simmons after disaster is averted |
At a secret SHIELD base named 'The Slingshot,' the 0-8-4 is flung into the Sun while the team watches. All seems well; May encourages Ward to become Skye's supervising officer, and the team finally seems united, when Skye receives a text from the Rising Tide (a hacker organization she's a member of), and after a delay, replies, "I'm in."
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| The team watching the 0-8-4 launch off |
In a humorous ending, we get a surprise appearance by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) chastising Coulson for getting the plane blown up after only six days back in the field. He further forbids Coulson from making any additions to the original schematics, after which Coulson quietly informs Fitz that he'll have to scratch the fish tank idea.
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| "Don't talk to me about authority." |
As a whole, 0-8-4 is a pretty fun, albeit occasionally generic, episode.
The plot in itself isn't anything overly special - what really makes it work is the team dynamics and different characters the show has to work with. I discussed my first opinions of the characters in the Pilot, so I'll examine them all again with what we learned from this episode.
Coulson continues to show himself as the type of leader you'd want to be following: he has faith in his team (even when many wouldn't), he has faith in Skye, and he stands up for the actions of his team when push comes to shove. Obviously, the team isn't functioning at it's highest level at the moment, but Coulson consistently believed that his team could work out given time, and he's proven correct. His faith in Skye is well-placed, as she really came through when she saved Ward's life. On a side-note, if she really is working with the Rising Tide, as the ending suggests, I get the sense that Coulson, while believing the best, is aware of the possibility.
His background with Reyes, which seems to be a romantic entanglement, didn't stop him from doing what needed to be done, and while he can harbor emotional feelings toward others, that doesn't make him freeze up when doing his job. At the same time, he shows that he cares about his team - his apology to May, while it ended with a comedic line, was sincere, and one could tell that he really felt bad about the fact May got into a combative situation.
Whatever plot lines down the road Coulson will have to deal with (such as his death, which was alluded to in the pilot), I feel that he'll be strong enough to overcome them, and more so, with his team, I don't see anything being thrown his way that he won't be able to deal with.
As I said in my analysis of the last episode, Ward doesn't see eye-to-eye with Skye at all, though the two of them do connect more in this episode, and if Ward does become Skye's S.O., then the two of them really might be able to connect better. Truth be told, I fully expect some type of romantic sub-plot between the two of them to develop, and it'd probably be pretty cute, given that they're two entirely different types of people, but given the same fact, I don't know if it'd end well. If anything, May's personality is far more in-line with Ward's, and if he ever was looking for some romantic company, he might go in that direction.
All-in-all, though, that wouldn't happen until much more down the road. Ward is a very serious customer, and takes his job extremely seriously. Hopefully he'll grow to have more patience when dealing with Fitz and Simmons, and they really seem to have difficultly communicating (which isn't entirely Ward's fault). Ward was trained in a specific way for a specific task, and breaking that mold will be hard. At the end of this episode, though, when he gives Fitz a friendly pat on the back, perhaps hope is to be had.
We learn a bit more about May, and why Ward looked up to her with such respect in the last episode. Whatever May did in Bahrain, apparently her reputation truly precedes her. At the same time, May seems utterly against the nickname cast onto her, and seems to likely want to forget the whole thing. I don't know if it's some tragic background that we'll eventually get to down the line, but the fact that May's a better fighter than Ward is, yet chooses to pilot the plane, tells us something about her character.
Much like Ward, May doesn't much trust Skye, though it's more due to the fact that Skye's just another untrained individual that May may end up having to protect down the line, which as aforementioned, wasn't in the job description when Coulson recruited her. Mostly, though, May's a bit of a blank slate right now. She's not shown too much of a personality outside of her silent act toward Coulson during his apology, so before much else can be said, I think we really need to know more about May and where she's coming from.
Whatever Skye's up to, I don't know if it'll be too much a concern. Sure, if she's working for the Rising Tide to infiltrate SHIELD, that's a problem, but as she was one of the focus characters of the opening episode, I don't believe for a second that she'll turn away from SHIELD or Coulson during their time of need. Skye's not going anywhere in the long-term, no matter what types of texts she may or may not send out.
Skye's willingness to work with and connect with Ward is an admirable trait. Though the two of them are about as different as can be, she's willing to smooth over their rough beginning and start again with him. If she does train under him, I suspect that she'll quickly begin to harbor romantic feelings toward him, and while Ward, as professional as he is, may avoid a relationship with her, I don't think the same could be said of Skye. She doesn't seem the type to hide her feelings toward others. This may bring an interesting element down the line, in which Ward knows that Skye cares for him, but Ward also suspects that Skye's loyalties are not entirely with SHIELD. Whatever happens between the two of them, it's bound to be interesting.
Lastly, we learn that Simmons pushed Fitz to leave the laboratories and go into the field, a move that Fitz seems to regret given the consistent danger they're in. The two of them are still insanely cute, and I hope we see more episodes in the future with them as the focus, as their mannerisms are deeply enjoyable to witness.
While neither Fitz nor Simmons seems to much care for Ward's personality, Fitz seems to have a more difficult time with him. I suspect that's due to the fact that Ward's a strong, physical man, and if, let's say, Fitz harbors some feelings toward Skye (as seemed to be mildly indicated early on in the episode) or even Simmons, then Fitz could easily see Ward as competition he'd not be able to beat. Like I said, I don't know how much romantic subplots are going to play into the show, but it's something to look out for should they rear their heads.
0-8-4 was a team-building episode, in which a dysfunctional team is given a common goal and finally works together and all become hunky-dory. It's a bit of a played out trope, and for that reason, this episode's on the more generic side, but I still think that it worked out decently well, if only due to the fact that the characters are a hoot to watch. I'd like the show to trend a more unique path down the road, but for the second episode, I think that 0-8-4 is about what one would tend to expect.
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