Agents of SHIELD - 'One of Us'

Hey, yeah; everyone look at Skye. Again.

This week's episode of Agents of SHIELD really serves to showcase what a bunch of losers populate SHIELD's Gifted Index, as Calvin Zabo gathers a force of those 'contained' by the old SHIELD in his quest for revenge on the man who robbed him of his revenge (and his daughter.)

Zabo's hit squad consists of Francis Noche, an idiot bruiser on sub-Cap super-steroids; Wendell Levi, a creepy genius; Karla Fay Gideon, a woman who grafted scalpel blades to her fingers; and David Angar, a dude whose voice causes complete catatonia in all who hear it. The Dark Avengers they ain't, and in some cases they are pretty head scratchy. Even if Levi is on the index for being super dangerous, why is Gideon locked into metal gauntlets? Why didn't SHIELD just remove the blades? Also, in what way is this more deadly than a knife?

Meanwhile, Skye is getting her psych eval from May's ex-husband, who points out that there may be more to controlling phenomenal cosmic power than a bit of yoga and some snarky comebacks. It's clear that Skye is treating the whole thing like a joke, right up until it turns out that suppressing her quake powers is just turning them inwards where they shatter her own bones. Skye is... actually becoming interesting as she realises that her usual blase approach to life won't cut it here.

Fair play, this is probably what your mouth would look like
if your jaw had been wired shut for years.

In the final showdown, Skye chooses SHIELD over her father and his quirky miniboss squad, but before Zabo can flex his chemically-enhanced muscles and vent his chemically-enhanced rage at Coulson, Gordon does his patented drop and collect, whisking Zabo away for risking exposure to those altered by the Diviners. The rest of the team last about thirty seconds against May, Morse and Coulson, although they do seem to have slaughtered a stadium full of kids while they waited for SHIELD; or were they just unconscious?

And then Mack reveals to Hunter that he and Morse are working for 'the real SHIELD'. Oddly he doesn't mention that they are working for Edward James Olmos, which you would think would have more weight. Maybe they were saving that spoiler for the trailers.