Season 3 of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD looks promising especially after this week’s stellar episode. This recap and probably the first half of this season won’t be as detailed as they have been in the past due to my participation in a Tuesday night floor hockey league where game times vary.

Inhumans Team Stalled

Daisy wants to add Joey to her Inhuman/Secret Warrier squad but Mack says that it’s up to Dr. Andrew Garner, May ex, to determine if Joey is mentally prepared to join. Daisy knows what Andrew’s answer will be and that is Joey won’t be ready. Apparently, Andrew hasn’t approved any of Daisy’s new recruits.

The New HYDRA

Ward is trying to rebuild HYDRA but he needs resources. The form of those resources comes in a young man (Spenser Treat Clark) living up the life in Ibiza, Spain. Thinking that Ward only wants this man’s money, we actually learn that he is name is Werner von Strucker, the son of Baron von Strucker, former head of HYDRA.

Melinda May: Caregiver

So where has Melinda been if her ex Andrew is working with SHIELD. Melinda is in Arizona playing golf and taking care of her dad who was in a car accident that injured his hip and is recovering. It’s fun to see Melinda interact with her parents and her dad keeps on comparing her to her spy mom. We learn a little bit of a young Melinda. Apparently she was really loved figure skating but gave it up because for martial arts as it would hurt less if she fell. Her father notes that Melinda is over protective and always on edge. It takes a visit from Hunter to learn why. Melinda is paranoid that Ward is going to go after the people she loves for revenge. Hunter wants to recruit her to help him go undercover at HYDRA so he can kill Ward. May turns down the offer as she just wants to live a normal life and take care of her dad. However, we see later that Melinda has changed her mind and will be joining Hunter on his mission.

Never Gonna Give You Up

We last left off with Fitz yelling at the monolith. The team is alerted that someone has broken into the monolith room and pull Fitz just in time before it swallowed him up to. The team still wants Fitz to give up but he doesn’t when he notices sand on his fingers. A quick analysis of the sand determines that it is not from Earth but pre-dates Earth by billions of years. Coulson, Fitz and Bobbi go and visit Asgardian Elliot Randolf to help them with the monolith. After breaking him out of jail, they bring Randolf back to the base where he sees the monolith and the scroll. Randolf tells the team that the monolith has been around for hundreds of years on Earth at least. Randolf says its last known location was in the late 1800 in Gloucester, England. We open the episode in this time period where a group of people pull coloured rocks where the unlucky one that pulled the white rock got sacrificed into being swallowed by the monolith.

The team arrive at this castle, find the symbol on the scroll everywhere and also find a hidden room. The team realize that this room housed the monolith. So Mack delivers the monolith and Fitz uses the late 19th century machinery to power up the monolith. The monolith opens up the portal to the unknown planet. Fitz fires a flare in it but it closes as Daisy was not taking the opening of the portal well and her quake powers destroyed the machine.

Unfortunately, the machine cannot be fixed but Daisy realizes that she can use her quake powers to open up the portal, which she does. As the portal opens, Fitz (tied to a rope and pulley) dives right into the portal. On this alien world, a sand storm has kicked up and Fitz is yelling for Simmons. In the distance, he hears Simmons call his name. FitzSimmons are reunited but are having a difficult time holding on to each other as Daisy’s control of the portal starts to fade. When Daisy can no longer hold the portal open, we see the monolith is destroyed and in the rubble is Fitz but also Simmons. We all rejoice that FitzSimmons is back together. The first words out of Simmons mouth is Fitz as he wraps her up in a warm embrace.

Andrew lets Melinda know that Simmons has been found and is going to be alright.

But all is not well with Simmons who definitely suffers from PTSD. Simmons wakes up from a nightmare holding a makeshift shiv. Simmons sees Fitz sleeping by her bedside and goes to him; she rests her head on her leg and manages to fall asleep comforted by his presence.

Coda

We see Andrew being approached by a new student wanting to take one of his psych class even though he is several weeks late. Andrew talks about people on take psych classes to learn more about why their families is so messed up. We see that this student is Werner and he says that his family is definitely messed up.

So Ward is going after Andrew. I guess Ward wants to take away someone Melinda loves because she took away someone he loved. Interesting.

I am looking forward to see how Simmons experience on the alien world will affect her relationship with Fitz and the rest of SHIELD.