Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 Episode 2: Heavy Is The Head Recap With Spoilers

The episode picks up where the premiere left off, with Lance Hunter trapped in his vehicle after it crashed into the Absorbing Man, surround by the dead bodies of Idaho and Izzy Hartley. May find him and tries to help, but Hunter sends her after Creel. She leaves him a device to help cut his way free. He does, just as Talbot's soldiers arrive and take him into custody.

May is in pursuit on a motorcycle and reports back to Coulson. They pick up on a stolen vehicle and May follows into a civilian area, despite Coulson's orders to not engage. May want to take a shot at Creel while he's not looking, but Coulson orders her to stand down so they can see where he's going. She grudgingly obeys.

Skye and Tripp arrive back at base with the Quinjet. They ask about Hartley, but Coulson doesn't answer. Skye fills Coulson in on what they know about the object. Coulson tells her that Hunter has been captured, which compromises their entire operation.

Hunter is taken in a car trunk to field somewhere and left their by the soldiers who had him in custody. A helicopter arrives with Talbot on board, and he introduces himself to Hunter. He offers Hunter a lift.

Mac, Tripp and Skye are examining the cloaking device from the Quinjet. Coulson wants Fitz to take a look at it and retrofit it for the Bus. Mac asks for Fitz's help, but Fitz struggles to put words together.

Talbot and Hunter are talking in the helicopter, Talbot recounting Hunter's military past and wondering how he ended up a mercenary. Hunter says a girl is to blame. Talbot tells Hunter he's after Coulson, who he considers a vigilante and a zealot, and says there's a wealthy senator who very much wants Coulson in custody. Hunter is hesitant. Talbot reminds Hunter that Coulson sacrificed Hartley and Idaho for his mission. Hunter asks for $2 million and a proper burial for Hartley. Talbot agrees.

Skye goes to see Coulson in his office and asks about Hartley and Idaho, assuming that they're dead. Skye wants to go back into the field with May, but Coulson says no. Skye wants to help. Coulson tells her to go to the bunk and pack up Hartley's things. Skye says compartmentalizing as much as he has been is not healthy, and he needs to lighten up.

Fitz is reflecting, with "Simmons," about how close he was to cracking cloaking. He realizes he might be able to prove his worth to the team if he can figure out how to neutralize Creel's Absorbing Man abilities. He finds Creel's DNA results sitting in a printer and takes them.

Creel is at a diner, looking at the a part of his arm altered by the obelisk. A waitress accidently touches it and gets a shock. May, keeping tabs outside, hears her scream and comes inside to find the waitress petrified and Creel gone.

May reports back to Coulson. He takes responsibility for what happened. He's absently bending a paper clip into alien shapes when an alarm goes off.

Hunter returns to base and is greeted by a frisk by Tripp. After, Hunter meets with Coulson and argue about what happened to Hunter. Hunter tells Coulson he has 48 hours to turn him over to Talbot, but that he didn't give away the base's location. Hunter tells Coulson about wanting a burial for Hartley, but not about the money Talbot offered him. Hunter says he wants Creel, his pay, and Hartley and Idaho's as well.

Fitz and "Simmons" are examining Creel's genetics and talking to himself when Mac walks up behind him. Mac asks about cloaking, but Fitz becomes agitated and says he's busy. "Simmons" says she likes Mac and that he doesn't talk to Fitz like the others. Mac asks about what Creel is up to offers to help him figure out how to stop Creel.

Skye is cleaning Hartley's bunk. She finds a photo, which Hunter says is of Izzy and her sister, Jane. Hunter takes a medallion that was attached to it, says he's bringing it to Jane, who has breast cancer like their mother did. Hunter says he met Hartley through his crazy ex-wife, that she and Hartley were friends. Hunter says Skye reminds him of Hartley and that Skye could do well as a mercenary. Skye says S.H.I.E.L.D. is her life now. Hunter says it's not a life, just a job.

Creel goes to his truck and searches through the various materials in his catalogue. He absorbs a couple, but is unable to alter the part of his arm altered by the obelisk. Creel hears and finds a phone under his truck. His Hydra handler is on the other end. He complains about him not meeting the at the drop site. Creel gets off the phone is about to go off on some random people when Raina shows up.

Raina says she's a huge admirer of Creel and his gifts. She tells him she knows about and is interested in the obelisk. She shows him a device called carbine, harder than diamond and able to store energy. He tells her she should run from Hydra, but more of his body shifts like the obelisk. He takes the carbine from her and leaves.

Coulson is asking about a solution for Creel's powers, but Tripp says the lab doesn't have anything yet. Skye comes in with a number they're meant to call. They dial it and get Raina. She tells him that she knows Hydra is about to get their hands on the obelisk. She says she's not working for Hydra and doesn't want them to have the obelisk because they don't understand it. She says she thinks Coulson does because John Garrett did and Coulson was injected with the same drug. Raina says the carbine Creel stole has a tracker on it.

Coulson and team make a plan to find Creel and take him down. Coulson is hesitant about sending Hunter out into the field, but agrees to it.

Fitz is trying to explain his fix for Creel. He says he didn't solve this today. It takes a while, but Mac figures out that it means Fitz is looking for an old design. They go looking through the archives of Fitz's old designs and find what he's looking for.

The field team finds Creel meeting for a handoff with his Hydra handler. Hunter shoots Skye and May with his ICER.

Hunter sneaks up on Tripp and uses his ICER on him as well. Creel argues with his handler a bit, before agreeing to comply. Hunter comes downstairs and fire the armor piercing rounds out of Tripp's rifle, but Creel turns to carbine and it bounces off of him. Absorbing Man chases down hunter and is about to use the obelisk on him when Coulson show sup and jabs him with Fitz' device. Absorbing Man turns completely petrified.

Hunter observes Hartley's burial from a far. He leaves Hartley's medallion in Jane's car. Coulson shows up and says he has friends too. He offers Hunter a place with his team, despite the fact that Hunter shot three of his people. Coulson relays that he needs Hunter, someone willing to do the wrong thing for the right reason. Coulson says good people vouched for him. Hunter agrees and Coulson says he needs him to do one thing: sell him out.

Fitz and Mac are discussing the modified device they built for beating Absorbing Man. Mac asks if he built the original with Simmons, and says it's tough to lose a good partner. Skye and May observe from a far, happy to see him talking to somebody but noting that he, and everyone, has changed, including Coulson. Skye says she thinks something is wrong with Coulson. May says he is okay.

May scolds Coulson for going into the field. She says he's stressed and that it's been 18 days since his last episode, meaning he's due for another one. May says she's here, so he can stop fighting it. They seal up his office. Coulson takes out a knife and starts carving the strange pattern into the wall while May takes pictures.

Raina has the obelisk. A man tells her she did well and then tells her to pick the obelisk up. She touches it and it glows, showing symbols all around it. She says it worked. The man so no, it just let her live. Raina asks him to show her. He tells her to bring him his daughter and he'll show them both.

Talbot and several men meet Coulson in a clearing. Coulson says he feels bad about kidnapping Talbot, and offers Creel as a peace offering. Coulson offers to keep dropping off villains like this to Talbot so that he keeps getting promoted, so long as he gives S.H.I.E.L.D. some space. Talbot says Coulson's team is hardly S.H.I.E.L.D., that they don't have the artillery. Coulson reveals that the Bus has been cloaked above them the whole time and then leaves on the Quinjet, cloaked just next to them.