'Agents of SHIELD': Loyalties will be tested as real SHIELD takes over

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Warning: This story contains major spoilers from this week’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The real S.H.I.E.L.D. has officially taken over.

During Tuesday’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Gonzalez (Edward James Olmos) and the real S.H.I.E.L.D. gassed Coulson (Clark Gregg) & Co. in order to infiltrate their base, steal Fury’s toolbox and basically takeover—but it’s OK, because a flashback to the day S.H.I.E.L.D. fell actually made you feel bad for them. No? Yeah, they’re still jerks.

Being the astute agents that they are, Coulson and May (Ming-Na Wen) had already deduced that there was something amiss with Mack (Henry Simmons). Once they questioned him, it wasn’t hard to figure out that Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) was also working against them as she stole Fury’s toolbox from Coulson’s office. But May ultimately got the upper hand, taking down Gonzalez and his lackeys to provide Coulson and the toolbox with a quick escape.

May then warned Skye (Chloe Bennet) that the real S.H.I.E.L.D. was coming for her, though that resulted in disastrous consequences. Calderon (Kirk Acevedo) set his sights on putting down Skye for good, but Bobbi was able to warn her—which caused Skye to take out half a forest before calling for Gordon’s help to make a quick getaway. What’s next for the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, both real and otherwise? EW caught up with Palicki to get the scoop:

Were you excited to finally see some backstory for Bobbi Morse and where the real S.H.I.E.L.D. came from?

ADRIANNE PALICKI: Absolutely. Especially in the Marvel world, they can only give you so much information because there are so many secrets. They sometimes will keep things from you. So even reading the episode and going, “Oh my God, this is who she is, this is where she came from, this explains so much of Bobbi!” She’s a true soldier and she’s not doing anything wrong in her eyes. She’s doing the right thing. For Bobbi, she’s always going to do what she thinks the right thing is.

Does she really think she’s doing the right thing?

Right now, she really does. This was a choice she made. She’s been through hell with these people. She does care about Coulson’s team. She’s torn because of Hunter and she has a soft spot for Coulson. But at the end of it, she really is a true soldier and she feels there has been a compromise and she needs to take care of it.

Calderon tried to actually shoot Skye, which Bobbi warned her about. But could that make Bobbi see that maybe the real S.H.I.E.L.D. is going too far?

It’s a possibility. With anything, there will be cracks. She’s in the middle. She’s constantly going to be a fighter for Coulson’s team as well because she really genuinely cares about these people. She’s going to be the middle man and split back and forth. That’s a really interesting struggle for her

When Skye destroys half of that forest, how does Bobbi feel in that moment? Is that a look of fear on her face?

I think it’s shock. That’s the moment where she goes, “This has gotten way too out of hand. We don’t want to hurt these people. She’s a SHIELD agent.” But also seeing the level of her power is one of those moments for Bobbi that’s like, “Holy crap, I had no idea how serious this was.”

Calderon was stabbed with a tree branch during that scene. He already didn’t like Skye, so I have to imagine he’s determined to take her out.

He deserved that branch. [Laughs]

Will Bobbi make it her mission to try to convince everyone that Skye isn’t necessarily a bad person?

Oh, absolutely. She cares about these people. That’s where the struggle comes from. She’s really struggling with the balance of, “What is the right thing?” She started off knowing what the right thing was, but now she’s going to start having the struggle of, “OK, you guys have to understand. I know Skye. You guys don’t know Skye like I know Skye. She’s not a bad person. She’s a SHIELD agent first.” It’s going to be a lot of those moments where she’s trying to convince people who just don’t want to hear it.

Is real S.H.I.E.L.D.’s first goal to track down Coulson and the toolbox?

Yes, that is their goal. it’s going to be an interesting next few episodes, that’s for sure. This is the episode where everything starts getting crazy intertwined. Different characters are working together that you don’t see coming. There are twists and turns. This show is going exponentially better and better every episode, but it makes it that much harder to talk about things. Coulson is pretty much the prize right now. That’s going to be a big part of what we’re searching to do.

Hunter is actually now working with Coulson. Will we see the formerly married couple face off at some point in the future?

That’s definitely a huge possibility. Hunter is not happy. The thing about their relationship is that it’s ongoing. It’s the back and forth. It’s that funny Mr. and Mrs. Smith thing they’ve got going on. They love each other and they want to kill each other. This is that “I want to kill you” portion of their relationship. There’s definitely going to be some tension and some struggle with those two. But at the end of the day, they love each other.

Will the Franny’s Saloon keychain come back into play again?

Yes, it’s a part of their relationship. That’s the diamond ring, that’s the thing that matters. It’s going to be ongoing.

Bobbi totally got played by Simmons.

I know, that bitch! [Laughs] I’m such a fan of the show, so I loved seeing that side of Simmons.

What does their relationship look like moving forward? Will Bobbi try to convince Simmons and Fitz to join the real S.H.I.E.L.D.?

It’s going to be interesting to see, with Coulson’s team, where loyalties lie. It’s definitely going to split some people up. It’s really going to put people in different positions as information comes out, loyalties will be divided in certain places.

I doubt that May’s loyalty will waver. Now that May has been captured by real S.H.I.E.L.D., is there anything you can tease of what’s next?

People don’t like Bobbi right now, just in the world in general. She’s not a bad guy! I was so excited when I read we had a fight together because they’re the most similar characters in the sense that they’re both soldiers and they’re both trained to do the absolute right thing, it just happens that they both think the right thing is a very different view of what the right thing is. It’s also a match-up in a really cool way. It’s going to be interesting to see how the group goes about navigating who to trust and who not to trust from now on.

Have fans been expressing their disappointment that Bobbi isn’t necessarily a good guy?

Yes, absolutely. Definitely on Twitter. “I don’t even know who to trust!” It’s hilarious. It makes me so sad, because I’m like, “Just wait until the next episode!” Things are going to come out. You’re going to understand her a little bit better. You’re going to start to see her defend Skye. You’re going to start to see her be torn and be put in a situation where she’s vulnerable as well. People will start to get it as it goes on. They’re not going to hate her so much.

We got a little glimpse of where Bobbi came from in this episode, but we don’t really know her origin story just yet. Is that something that’s on the horizon?

That’s a possibility.

I’m sure you can’t say much about the finale, but can you share your reaction to the scripts as we get closer to the end of the season?

I sometimes can’t breathe when I’m reading these scripts. They’re so crazy. I cannot wait to read the next one. Of course, we have to and they won’t tell us anything until the next script comes out. I just need to know what happens next! Things are getting so heated and crazy. I don’t think there’s going to be a fan out there who will be disappointed in where the show is going.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.