| "Aftershocks" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode | |||
 "The Art of Evolution" poster for the episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 2 Episode 11 | ||
| Directed by | Billy Gierhart | ||
| Written by | |||
| Cinematography by | Feliks Parnell | ||
| Editing by | David Crabtree | ||
| Original air date | March 3, 2015 (2015-03-03) | ||
| Running time | 43 minutes | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.season 2 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Aftershocks" is the eleventh episode of thesecond season of the American television seriesAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Based on theMarvel Comics organizationS.H.I.E.L.D., it followsPhil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they race to strike back againstHydra after an apparent defeat to the latter, while several characters discover they have gained new abilities following the end of theprevious episode. It is set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledgesthe franchise's films. The episode was written byMaurissa Tancharoen andJed Whedon, and directed byBilly Gierhart.
Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, and is joined by series regularsMing-Na Wen,Brett Dalton,Chloe Bennet,Iain De Caestecker,Elizabeth Henstridge,Nick Blood, andAdrianne Palicki. Palicki was promoted to series regular with this episode, after having a recurring guest role in the first half of the season. The episode also saw the return of Marvel's"The Art of..." marketing initiative.
"Aftershocks" originally aired onABC on March 3, 2015, and according toNielsen Media Research, was watched by 4.48 million viewers.
In 1983, a young man namedGordon goes through a transformation, losing his eyes and gaining the ability to teleport. He is scared of what has happened to him, but is comforted byJiaying, a young-appearing woman who herself is special, having not aged in decades. Jiaying has guided many young people through their own transformations, knowing that without guidance, they would be lost. This is a situation that her daughter,S.H.I.E.L.D. agentSkye, is now unknowingly in, having gained earthquake abilities in an alien city while her friend, AgentAntoine Triplett, died. In quarantine due to the potential effects of the city on her, Skye feels responsible for everything bad that has happened. DirectorPhil Coulson, however, blamesHydra for their misfortune, and devises a plan to get revenge against the rival organization.
Hydra themselves feel like they have been heavily defeated since Coulson killed their North American commander,Daniel Whitehall. In a meeting with several high level Hydra operatives, Dr.List, a representative of Hydra's leaderWolfgang von Strucker, explains that whoever can take out S.H.I.E.L.D. for good will get Whitehall's position, setting up a power struggle between the other members. In the alien city,Jemma Simmons is preparing to flood it to prevent anyone else entering it, but not beforeRaina, who was changed in the temple like Skye, crawls out of the rubble left by an earthquake and kills several agents. Raina's appearance is now monstrous – she is covered in thorns and spikes. Escaping the tunnels, Raina tracks down Skye's father,Cal, and demands he fix her. He reminds her that she got what she wanted, and tells her that if she can not live with who she has become, then she should not.
Coulson makes a deal with Brigadier GeneralGlenn Talbot to give him Whitehall's former second-in-command,Sunil Bakshi, in exchange for assistance with taking down Hydra's forces. En route to the hand over, Coulson and AgentMelinda May are attacked by Hydra forces. After a fire fight, Coulson, May, and all but one Hydra operative are dead. Bakshi escapes with the operative, who is actually S.H.I.E.L.D. allyLance Hunter: The attack was a ruse. Bakshi leads Hunter to the house of one of the top Hydra members, Octavian Bloom. Bloom and Bakshi believe that the other top members are targeting them, and send out an order to have them killed, along with Hunter. Hunter, with the help of AgentBobbi Morse, fights his way into the house, kills Bloom, and takes Bakshi back into custody, to finally be delivered to Talbot. Now, all of Hydra's top level operatives in North America are dead.
Simmons feels that Raina may be the first victim of an epidemic, and should be put down.Leo Fitz deduces that Skye caused the earthquake in the alien city, and so herself has been altered just like Raina. Hearing what Simmons wants to do to Raina, Fitz decides to hide the truth from the rest of the team. Skye believes that there is something wrong with her, but Fitz tells her that she is just different now, and there is nothing wrong with that, and she is released from quarantine. Raina, unable to come to terms with who she is, takes Cal's advice and attempts suicide. She is prevented by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who try to take her in, but before anything happens, a much older Gordon appears, and teleports away with her.
In an end tag, a model car that AgentAlphonso "Mack" Mackenzie built for Coulson scans the latter's office, discovering the "toolbox" that former S.H.I.E.L.D. directorNick Fury gave to Coulson. Mack secretly reports this discovery to Morse while making food, then they join in with the rest of the team having drinks and sharing memories of Triplett.
In February 2015, Marvel announced that the eleventh episode of the season would be titled "Aftershocks", to be written by executive producersMaurissa Tancharoen andJed Whedon, withBilly Gierhart directing.[1] The episode was originally titled "Epidemic".[1]
In February 2015, Marvel revealed that main cast membersClark Gregg,Ming-Na Wen,Chloe Bennet,Iain De Caestecker,Elizabeth Henstridge, andNick Blood would star asPhil Coulson,Melinda May,Skye,Leo Fitz,Jemma Simmons, andLance Hunter, respectively,[1] whileAdrianne Palicki, previously a recurring guest star in the role ofBobbi Morse,[2] was promoted to a series regular with the episode.[1] It was also revealed that the guest cast for the episode would includeHenry Simmons asAlphonso "Mack" Mackenzie,Ruth Negga asRaina,Adrian Pasdar as Brigadier GeneralGlenn Talbot,Henry Goodman as Dr.List,Kyle MacLachlan asCalvin Zabo,Jamie Harris asGordon,Simon Kassianides asSunil Bakshi,Donzaleigh Abernathy as Triplett's mom, Philip Labes as youngGordon,Dichen Lachman asJiaying,Alvin Ing as Yat-Sen,Fred Dryer as Octavian Bloom,Kathryn Leigh Scott as The Baroness,Joel Polis as The Banker, Kyle David Pierce as accountant, Maz Siam as The Sheikh, McKay Stewart as scientist #1 and David A. Jansen as agent.[1] Abernathy, Labes, Ing, Scott, Polis, Pierce, Siam, Stewart, and Jansen did not receive guest star credit in the episode. Simmons, Negga, Pasdar, MacLachlan, Harris, Kassianides, and Lachman all reprise their roles from earlier in the series.[3][4][5] Goodman reprises his role from an uncreditedcameo appearance in themid-credits scene ofCaptain America: The Winter Soldier.[6] Main cast memberBrett Dalton, who portraysGrant Ward in the series,[1] does not appear in the episode.[7]
"Aftershocks" was first aired in the United States onABC on March 3, 2015.[8]
Starting with this episode, Marvel once again ran the "Art of..." initiative, in which an image was released the Thursday before the episode aired, depicting a first look at a key event from the upcoming episode, with the season's title being "The Art of Evolution". The different artists were once again chosen to create the teaser posters, based on their previous work and how it connected to the themes and emotion of the intended episode. The poster for "Aftershocks" was created byGabriele Dell'Otto, the co-creator ofDaisy Johnson, and depicts Skye twice, as she is transforming from theTerrigen Mist and as the person dealing with her powers, as well as a transformedRaina, Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo in the background. Dell'Otto was chosen specifically because of his relationship to the character.[9]
The episode began streaming onNetflix on June 11, 2015,[10] and was released along with the rest of the second season on September 18, 2015, onBlu-ray andDVD.[11]
In the United States the episode received a 1.6/5 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.6 percent of all households, and 5 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 4.48 million viewers.[8]
