One Door Closes has very strong sense of déjà vu, between the flashbacks to the day SHIELD fell and the events of the present as the ‘Real’ SHIELD makes its move against Coulson’s team.

The flashbacks mainly revolve around Bobbi, Mack, Gonzales and Hartley (Lucy Lawless reprising her role) on the day SHIELD fell and how they banded together to take back the ship that ‘Real’ SHIELD uses in the present. It goes a long way to make the characters who are positioned as the antagonists more sympathetic. Granted, they’re still shitbags who are hassling our team so it’s not THAT effective but it’s nice to see how they met. I wonder what is on the ship that was deemed dangerous enough for Fury to order Bobbi to sink it and if it will be used in the near future.

Back at The Homestead, tensions are high between Fitz and Simmons and I’m still backing Fitz all the way. Simmons has been out of bloody order ever since she got back from HYDRA, though she‘s clearly grown as an agent when she effortlessly outsmarts Bobbi and incapacitates her. Coulson confronts Mack as Bobbi returns and the shit hits the fan and ‘Real’ SHIELD storms the base, capturing everyone except May. Ming-Na Wen is on top form this episode, wearing both her badass cap as she fights Bobbi and her Mom hat as she warns Skye and stays behind and gets captured so she can look after FitzSimmons. She helps Coulson escape via a secret elevator even he didn’t seem to know about too!

Meanwhile, in the house that Banner built, Skye is struggling with her isolation but soon gets an unexpected visitor in the shape of Gordon. This is the first real, prolonged, interaction we’ve seen from him and he’s quite the emissary of his people. He breaks the ice with humour, stresses the gravity of the situation that Skye finds herself in but doesn’t force the issue, only offers a hand if she requires it. Once the ‘Real’ SHIELD head to The Retreat and in spite of Bobbi’s orders to only use Icers, Agent Tomas “Dickbag” Calderon packs a real piece.

This dickish plan goes awry as he fires on Skye and she focuses her powers into a shockwave that destroys the forest around them and knocks back Bobbi and Calderon, the latter getting skewered with a shard of tree for his troubles. Gordon pops in when Skye calls to him and takes her, presumably, to the Inhumans haven.

Stinger shows Coulson holed up in some seaside bar (is he literally in Tahiti!?) when Hunter rolls up and signs a napkin, finally accepting Coulson’s job offer.

One Door Closes should feel like the darkest chapter for the team since HYDRA but it doesn’t and that feels weird. Maybe ‘Real’ Shield isn’t REALLY a threat or maybe because we have other threats that are far cooler to contend with coming. Either way, it’s a pretty good episode and we’ll see where Skye went and what the fate of the team is in Afterlife.

Apart from a bone fide Avenger showing up! Bobbi “Mockingbird” Morse makes her debut in this episode and is easily the highlight. Adrianne Palicki, best known for her failed Wonder Woman performance and being Lady Jaye in GI Joe 2, and her role in the latter is definitely going to help her as she first shows up as She-Wolf of the SS, menacing Simmons as Hydra’s security chief but it’s soon revealed that she was a double agent too and breaks out her weapons to beat on guards in a daring escape. Palicki is a brilliant actress in this role and I’m glad we’ve got a proper Avenger on the team now and Simmons practically swoons in her presence which is fun.

Fitz also has a bit of a homoerotic experience as HeadSimmons makes not of how attractive Mack is and Fitz owns it, pointing out that she’s a part of his sub-conscience and agrees with her. It really shows Fitz’s progress that he can freely admit that HeadSimmons isn’t real and she’s a crutch to help him when he gets flustered. The real Simmons shows up and we’re bound to see a real heart-to-heart between the two in the coming episodes.

The alien writing and Skye’s father form the A-Plot and bugger me, it’s dragging. Coulson finally reveals his affliction to Skye and his concerns that she isn’t scribbling too, given that she was exposed to the GH.325 too. Raina is in a tough spot and this once great manipulator is relegated to little more than a mewling quim, BEGGING for help from Coulson when she’s threatened by both Hydra and Skye’s father. Kyle Maclachlan gets a little more to do in this episode and he’s portraying The Doctor (that’s still weird, going to keep calling him “Skye’s Dad”) as a man barely in control of this monstrous rage inside him. He’s clearly a bad guy but when it comes to his daughter, he wants to be something better, though that image is shattered when she finds a pile of bodies. In typical psycho fashion, he blames Coulson and goes to Hydra for an alliance, as long as it means Coulson’s death.

A good episode, nothing outstanding but a solid episode with some fun new characters. Next week we’ll get to see Mockingbird suit up and I don’t think it’ll disappoint!