TV REVIEW: Agents of SHIELD “The Things We Bury”

By Felicia Kudronowicz

The title for last night’s episode, “The Things We Bury,” is appropriate in so many ways as we discovered many hidden pasts from both SHIELD and Hydra over the course of the hour.

The episode even opens in the past with a few familiar faces. We see the present head of HYDRA, Daniel Whitehall, circa 1946, seemingly untouched by time and sporting a distinct Austrian accent. He is trying to research the obelisk and forces people in the village they are camped in to touch it. Most die but one young woman lives. He plans to experiment on her to see why she is immune. Then Skye’s father shows up and explains that the obelisk is not a weapon, but a key. It’s all very cryptic.

Back in present day at SHIELD, Bobbi is questioning the prisoner that Ward left them. She is working to get information on a HYDRA but pushes too hard and he ends up nearly killing himself.

Meanwhile, Ward finds his senator brother and has a few choice words with him. He takes him to the well we learned about last season where Senator Ward forced younger Ward to push their younger brother into. Ward wants the senator to admit that it was his fault. Eventually he confesses and Ward gives him a big creepy hug. Even though Ward is playing the forgiver, we know payback is on the way.

The rest of the team is out trying to find the secret SHIELD location where Peggy Carter was when she first captured a bunch of HYDRA agents, including the Whitehall lookalike. They come up with an intensely complicated plan that I couldn’t even follow. Just as the mission starts, things start to go wrong. They are ambushed and Triplett ends up getting shot. Out of nowhere, springs Skye’s dad as he announces himself as the doctor. He starts taking care of Triplett when he reveals his true identity. Coulson and the doctor have a little face-off, which seems to be about who is more of a father to Skye. It gets heated but eventually the SHIELD team makes it to the base where Skye is waiting while her father disappears again. The good news is that SHIELD found the secret location but the bad news is, they don’t know what they are going to find.

We then get another flashback now in 1989 in Austria. A HYDRA agent is breaking the Whitehall lookalike out of a prison he has been in for the last 45 years thanks to Peggy Carter. Not only that but they have found the girl who was immune to the obelisk. She is alive and still looks as young as the day she was tested. The Whitehall lookalike experiments on her and operates on her, basically stealing her DNA so that he can be reborn (and if you haven’t realized it yet, we discover that he is Whitehall, having used . this young woman’s DNA is stay young forever and basically leaving her to die.)

In the very end we discover that this woman is most likely Skye’s mother. Her father finds her mangled body and vows that he will get revenge. Flash forward and he is meeting with Ward who has convinced HYDRA that he wants to rejoin their team. I think it is a trick and soon Ward and Skye’s father will be working to take down HYDRA.

SHIELD continues Tuesdays on ABC.