Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. New Episode Review: 'One of Us' Marks Another Step for Skye

Season 2 of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returned tonight with a brand new episode entitled "One of Us" that featured a host of characters with powers, including the debuting Drea de Matteo as Karla Faye Gideon. By the end of the hour, more of the pieces had been shuffled around the board, and another threat loomed large.

Let's start with Skye, who spent much of the hour in therapy sessions with May's ex-husband, Dr. Garner. Skye/Daisy is still coming to grips with her powers, and she doesn't have complete control of them yet. She was even unleashing her powers in her sleep because instead of trying to control them, she was repressing them. We can thank the Melinda May School of Not Dealing with Your Emotions for that.

Garner tried to get her to take control of her abilities by forcing her to acknowledge how terrifying and dangerous this situation is. Everyone around Skye is walking on egg shells for fear of setting her off and unleashing an earthquake. Fitz tried to keep her secret. May is essentially telling her to suppress her emotions and is trying to turn her into a fellow cyborg. Simmons is already on record as saying that she thinks powered individuals are dangerous, and Mack has agreed.

But Garner went for a more direct approach, which was refreshing. We got some nice interplay between the two characters, as Skye kept trying to deflect with humor or sarcasm or questions about May, and the doctor kept calling her on it.

At the same time, Skye's father, Cal, assembled a team of powered individuals and brought them to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, the hometown of Phil Coulson. He staged a showdown between S.H.I.E.L.D. and his crew with the hopes of retreiving Daisy and humiliating the organization. Coulson made it seem like this was an extremely public display, but it didn't really play that way. How many people could possibly be listening on AM radio in a small town in Wisconsin anyways?

But just when Cal seemed poised to make his move, Gideon zapped in from out of nowhere to whisk him away. From there, Coulson, May, and Bobbi took down the rest of Cal's team. But Skye, who had been struggling with her powers all episode, started to lose control and managed to turn her powers on herself, which caused bruising and dozens of fractures all along her arms. It's clearly going to take Skye a long time to control and focus these powers, if she can even do so at all.

The other major development in this episode came courtesy of Mack, who had Hunter tied up so as to prevent him from telling Coulson that he and Bobbi were in league together on something secret. Mack finally revealed the truth (or part of it, at least) that he and Bobbi are working for "the real S.H.I.E.L.D.," whatever that means. It looks like we'll have to wait until next week to find out.

Notes:

- The transition between Skye's scene with May about not wanting to see Dr. Garner and then immediately asking him questions about May and her wedding earned a solid chuckle out of me.

- Garner said S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't changed. Is he right?

- What did Gideon mean when he said Cal was making too much noise? It seems the man with no eyes is working for someone, but who?

- The scene in which Angar knocked all those kids and birds unconscious was creepy and extremely well done.

What did you think of "One of Us"? Let us know in the comments section.