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“Making Friends and
Influencing People (2x03) is the episode when Hydra’s methods start to come
into clearer focus. We find out how Hydra
“Influences People,” even as Simmons starts working to “Make Friends” with
Hydra. Wait… what? Hold on tight; this is a wild one!
The episode begins
with Whitehall talking about patience:
He is used to waiting long periods of time. He bought a case of liquor while he was in
the service during World War II, and since then it has become an incredibly
rare and precious commodity. As we know
now, he has had to wait decades to escape S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, reassert his
power, and reacquire the Obelisk. And
today, he is waiting for Kara—S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 33—to succumb to his
brainwashing method. This is only the
first appearance of brainwashing on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but this
became a major plot for all of season 2 and even tied in very closely with Agent
Carter: Whitehall calls his
brainwashing method the “Faustus Method,” a clear reference to Johann Fennhoff,
aka Doctor Faustus, the main villain for Agent Carter season 1, who
taught it to Arnim Zola while they were in a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison together. By this method, the subject is strapped to a
device and forced to stare at random swirling shapes and colors until they
“comply.” It’s a slow process, but then
again, Whitehall is accustomed to waiting.
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This episode also
answers a major fan question: what’s
been happening with Simmons for the last 2 episodes? We know that she left S.H.I.E.L.D., but where
did she go? The answer is pretty
obvious: she’s working in a lab with a
giant Hydra logo painted on the wall. I
remember seeing some complaints last year about Hydra being so obvious when
they’re supposed to be underground, but I don’t have a problem with them
putting their logo on the wall of the super-secure office building or on the
backs of the strike team uniforms. After
all, the people who see the strike team uniforms are most likely either
S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, or about to die—and anyone else probably isn’t observant
enough to notice or realize what they are seeing. And as far as the office building is
concerned, that lab is secured by at least 2 levels of active security measures
(the guard and scanner at the entrance), and who knows how many forms of
passive security measures. No one is
going to wander into that room by mistake—or if they do they’re not going to
get out to tell anyone. Besides, why
shouldn’t someone like Whitehall, who is used to Hydra being able to operate in
the open, take pride in being able to do so (to a small extent) once again?
However, Simmons is
not a turncoat; she is actually deep undercover for Coulson trying to
infiltrate Whitehall’s Hydra cell. She
is currently working on “Project Blizzard,” which is analyzing samples from Donnie
Gill to determine the source of the ice powers which he manifested at the end
of “Seeds” (1x12). Once Simmons realizes
that Gill is the subject of her research, she contacts Coulson and informs him
that Hydra is trying to recruit Gill.
This gives us a glimpse into the “arms race” between S.H.I.E.L.D. and
Hydra: both sides are trying to scoop up
bases, agents, and other assets for use in their fight. S.H.I.E.L.D. has lost a lot of ground—the
first S.H.I.E.L.D. loss of the episode was Agent 33, who had been captured by
Hydra, and Coulson does not want a repeat with Gill.
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Both sides learn that
Gill is on a Hydra ship in Morocco, and both sides arrive in Morocco around the
same time. Whitehall’s lieutenant, Sunil
Bakshi, decides to bring Simmons along because he discovered her past
connection to Gill and wants to use it against him. Simmons succeeds in getting close to Gill and
engaging him in conversation—something that every other Hydra agent who tried
getting close to him failed to do.
Coulson sends Skye, Hunter, and May to make contact with Gill, but they
are too late and Simmons reaches him first.
Meanwhile, back at the
Playground, Fitz discovers the cell where Coulson has been keeping Ward, and
the two of them have an interesting reunion.
I think this scene might be one of the best of the episode: Fitz’ reaction to finding Ward is incredibly
believable. His subsequent attempt to
kill him by depriving him of oxygen is completely unexpected, but I think it
shows just how much Fitz has been affected by not only Ward’s betrayal but also
his attempt to kill them at the end of season 1. Considering that Fitz suffered from brain
damage as a direct result of Ward’s actions, it might actually have been more
surprising if he didn’t react badly to finding Ward as the monster under the
stairs!
Before he passes out
from oxygen deprivation, however, Ward manages to explain to Fitz that Donnie
Gill is actually a Hydra asset. At the
Sandbox, Gill was taught to control his abilities, and at the same time he was
also brainwashed to serve Hydra. When
S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, Hydra activated Gill and used him as their secret weapon to
take over the Sandbox. The loyal
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents never stood a chance.
I really like this addition to the S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra story. Even while Hydra was working within
S.H.I.E.L.D., it was already planning for its future uprising by recruiting and
brainwashing gifted individuals to serve their needs. And this was going on under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s
nose without them ever suspecting a thing.
Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. would never consider brainwashing people to do
something they didn’t want to do—or killing a gifted individual who refuses to
cooperate with their goals—and according to Ward that is why Hydra is
inevitably going to win: Hydra is
willing to anything to complete their mission, even when it is absolutely
horrible and inhumane.
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When Fitz passes this
information along to Coulson, Coulson orders the team on the ground to prevent
Hydra from talking to Gill to keep them from reactivating his
brainwashing. Unfortunately, the Hydra
agent reactivating him is Simmons, and Hunter is about to shoot her before May
notices and shoots him instead. They
arrange for Simmons to escape with Hydra with her cover intact, but Hydra
succeeds in reactivating Gill and turning him against S.H.I.E.L.D. Skye is forced to shoot him to prevent him
from icing the entire ship and killing Hunter and May. Gill falls into the ocean and his body is
never recovered. S.H.I.E.L.D. escapes
and succeeds in bringing a lot of Hydra artifacts and intel back to base from
the ship.
At the end of the
episode, Simmons’ cover is intact and she has gained Bakshi’s trust, Agent 33
has been brainwashed into serving Hydra, and Fitz knows that Ward is their
prisoner. He and Coulson actually have a
heart-to-heart about Ward in which Coulson explains that keeping Ward around is
a necessary evil because he can give them information about Hydra.
Donnie Gill really
hasn’t gotten a lot of character development over the course of his two
appearances on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In his first appearance he is a troubled loner without any friends and
whose only friend takes advantage of him.
In this second appearance he is a troubled loner without any friends and
whose only “friend” (Hydra) brainwashed him into using his abilities to kill
people and attack S.H.I.E.L.D. This
episode essentially treats him as a MacGuffin which both sides are trying to
acquire. For this reason I really hope
that he survived getting shot—perhaps his body naturally placed him into
cryostasis while it healed—and that he will get an opportunity to return in Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3. And if he
does return, I really hope he will get more development.
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The episode does make
up for this by letting Simmons spread her wings and expand her character beyond
being the biologist-half of Fitz-Simmons.
She displays the ability to lie (or at least tell half-truths), even if
she doesn’t have the whole “undercover” thing down. I was actually disappointed that her
undercover mission inside Hydra was such a quick thing: we see her undercover in episode 3 and her
cover gets blown in episode 5. However,
season 2 still did a good job of separating out Simmons and Fitz.
We also saw a little
development from Fitz in his scene with Ward and from Skye as she continued her
training under May’s guidance. I saw
quite a bit of foreshadowing for her arc in the second half of the season when
she kept checking her pulse throughout the episode and also with May’s
continual insistence that she needs to “maintain control.”
The biggest goal of
the episode, I think, was to introduce the brainwashing, build up some more
Hydra techniques and plots, and start developing Whitehall as the big bad for
the half-season. I thought they did okay
with Whitehall—he’s certainly crazy enough and evil enough—but he wasn’t nearly
as complex as Jiaying in the second half of the season. I really hope that Ward in season 3 will be a
better villain than Garrett or Whitehall.
What did you think of
“Making Friends and Influencing People”?
Do you think that Donnie Gill is gone for good?
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