What Happened In “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Season One?

It’s been almost four months since Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  wrapped up its first season and left us with a pretty good cliffhanger to while away the summer months.

With Season Two premiering in just a handful of days (finally!), it might be time to review what happened in Season One, plot threads that may pop up, and where we left our team of misfits way back in May.

For a thorough review of the season finale, you can hop back in time a few months and read my episode review. Also, I need to get into practice for typing S.H.I.E.L.D. again. Rather than giving you a bullet by bullet rewrite, how about I pose questions that remain/need to be answered that will also catch you up? Good? Good!

Where Does S.H.I.E.L.D. Stand? They can’t call themselves “Agents of Nothing” because there has to be something to continue. Plus, Agent Coulson had a lot of emotional, inspiring, heart-wrenching speeches about it. Nick Fury showed up to make Coulson the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and gives him coordinates to another secret base where we get another Patton Oswalt. Everything is underground and will remain so for quite some time. Will we see S.H.I.E.L.D. in another movie? That depends on how much groundwork Coulson gets done before next May.

Fitz? FitzSimmons were sent to their inevitable deaths by Agent Ward, trapped at the bottom of the ocean. They discovered a way out, but it would only work for one of them. Fitz told Simmons to take it, leave him to die, but she dragged him with her. Nick Fury made a quick stop to help them out of the water and bring them salvation. Where does that leave Fitz? All Simmons says is, “He’s alive.” That could mean a multitude of things. I’m interested to see what his status is as well as his relationship with Simmons.

Ward? Oh, Agent Grant Ward, how I love you being mercilessly evil. Aside from a fractured larynx, a nail in his foot, and numerous other injuries thanks to May, he is now in the custody of the US Military. They can’t send him to the Fridge because he, Garrett, and HYDRA broke everyone out of it. They can’t really drop him from a main character, especially since he’s still featured in the promo posters. Will they give him a redemption arc or make him into an overarching villain? I’m praying for the latter. NO REDEMPTION ARC! I’m going to start a Twitter campaign. #NoWardRedemptionArc

Garrett? Oh, he’s most definitely dead.

Coulson? He became Director Coulson, but it didn’t end on that happy note. No, we got a fun, creepy, weird cutaway to him drawing/carving an alien language (we assume) into the walls. Did he know he was doing this? Was he in more of a sleepwalking state? He has yet to exhibit any signs that his mental state is degenerating because of the GH-325 used to revive him, save for this scene.

Skye? There’s the question of her parentage. There’s the question of whether she has hidden powers or not. And there’s the question of how the GH-325 will affect her. Let’s leave it at that for now.

Raina? Where do I even begin with Flowers and all her creepiness? She had a lot of talk with Ward and Garrett about evolution and what she will become. She finished off the season finale by revealing a picture of Skye to a man with an oozing hand and arm, saying she found his daughter. You can bet she’ll keep popping up this season.

The Blue Alien In The Guest House? It still is not confirmed what exactly the giant alien creature thing was in the T.A.H.I.T.I. room. The educated guess is that it’s a Kree, and with how much focus was on the Kree in Guardians of the Galaxy and all of the rumors flying around about the Guardians showing up in Avengers 3, Kree seems to fit the bill. How long before they tell us what it was?

GH-325? This goes hand in hand with said blue alien up above. We still don’t know what GH-325 really is. With all of Raina’s talk of evolution and Marvel Studios’ inability to use the “m” word, the rumor mill is churning out talk of the Inhumans. There was a fake list of future Marvel Movies that included it on there. Fans speculate that the GH-325 may have something to do with the Terrigen Mist, which ties into the Inhumans. But really, it’s all speculation at this point. They will have to give us answers at some point, especially if Coulson is losing control of his mind.

Miscellaneous Ones In No Particular Order: Skye’s father will be showing up; the Gravitonium (Ian Quinn has it); when will Quinn come back, because you know he will; Donnie Gill aka Blizzard (he’ll be in the third episode); the Rising Tide, since they kind of just disappeared after the second episode; Deathlok/Mike Peterson.

And don’t worry about any tie-ins to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that may have happened over the summer. Guardians of the Galaxy was on earth for about six minutes during a time when Coulson was probably still in high school; anything that happened in the movie won’t directly affect S.H.I.E.L.D…. not yet, at least.

It will be more interesting to see the end of Season Two and how it will tie into Avengers: Age of Ultron, especially since Triplett has been seen on set. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Tune in Tuesday, September 23rd for the start of Season Two! It has been far too long since I’ve seen Coulson on my television screen.