Agents of SHIELD - 'One Door Closes'

Seriously; why have we not been watching this series instead?

Events come to a head as the real SHIELD makes its move against Coulson's SHIELD, interlaced with flashbacks to the day SHIELD fell.

We learn that Bobbi and Isabelle Hartley - Lucy Lawless's frankly wasted cameo from 'Shadows' - rescued Mack when HYDRA tried to take over a SHIELD aircraft carrier. They were there to get Gonzales out and sink the ship, but changed their mind and, rather than condemn their fellow agents, led an heroic takeback of the carrier. In the here and now, Coulson's team move against Bobbi and Mack, but are surprised by an all-out attack on the base.

Highlights of this section include Simmons taking down Bobbi ("Here; just hold this...") and Mack risking serious injury to protect Fitz during the breach. Gonzales tries to persuade Coulson to get on board with his more democratically run SHIELD, but Coulson not unreasonably has some trust issues with the organisation that infiltrated and spied on his team in the name of no more secrets. May busts him loose before surrendering herself, telling him as she puts him in a lift 'there is no SHIELD without you'. Honestly, this is the sort of demagoguery that makes me want to root for the other guys, along with the revelation that Agent Weaver basically went mano a mano with a HYDRA 'enhanced' to defend the SHIELD Academy.

Just to keep us from getting too sold on the real SHIELD, Agent Calderon gets all bullet happy when he and Bobbi go to collect Skye, disregarding Bobbi's ICER only ruling. Forced to use her powers to defend herself, Skye then calls on an offer of help from Gordon, who is still kind of awesome.

In the stinger, Coulson sits at a tropical beach bar, obviously about to meet with someone significant who will help him take back SHIELD. Fury, perhaps? Hawkeye? Surely not Widow?

Curb your expectations, folks; it's Lance Hunter. Woo.

'One Door Closes' is a step up from the last couple of weeks; at least something is happening. On the other hand, it is kind of a similar beat to the Winter Soldier events in Season 1, and the Skye issue detracts from the more significant issues between the two sides.

Also, there is as yet no explanation of what those stars on the Real SHIELD logo mean; it's bugging me.