I'm finding Skye (or maybe the actress) less annoying this season, but her storyline confuses me. Her skillset is communications - hacking into computer networks and reading people. So why is she being trained to beat people up and shoot them?

That said, I really enjoyed the ep. Lovely to actually see Simmons again, and damn, the Ward/Fitz scene was powerful stuff.

So why is she being trained to beat people up and shoot them?

Because they're running out of people they trust who can do that.

The Ward stuff confuses me. He's in prison, okay, and he still loves Skye, or thinks he does, and he wants her to be safe. All well and good. Is he repentant? Because especially after that last scene with Skye, I don't get that sense. I really don't get the sense that he wishes he hadn't gone along with whatever Garrett wanted.

No redemption without repentance, IMO.

I liked Simmons' storyline, although of course I'm worried about her.

I also spent a while in the beginning trying to figure out if Agent 33 was Hartley, but it wasn't. I'm still not convinced she's dead, anymore than Donnie Gill is dead.

I like that Ward is owning his evil. He is cooperating, he acknowledges he did wrong. I kind of admire him for being straightforward and not trying to wiggle out of anything.

My main problem with the episode was that every time they said Donnie Gill, I thought they were saying Johnny Gill.

damn, the Ward/Fitz scene was powerful stuff.

I tend to get really annoyed with Fitz (not just this season, but in general) and would have been okay if they killed him off in the finale last season, BUT I was really impressed with the Ward/Fitz scene.

Although the crazy survivalist beard is not Ward's best look. (I realize no one in SHIELD is stupid enough to give him a razor, so I get why the beard, but still.)

BUT I was really impressed with the Ward/Fitz scene.

Yeah. It's almost like we're getting to see the Topher storyline in between present and future Dollhouse. A scientific genius deprived of his mental acuity.

And he knows he's damaged. That's the worst thing. Coulson telling him he's getting better may be the only thing keeping him from supervillainy. If someone bad offers to make him better . . . I believed Simmons when she said her loyalty is to science. Fitz may come down the same way, willing to help someone mostly bad if he can get his brain back. I wonder where Skye's dad is going to come in on the good/bad spectrum.

The hydra hypno-induction sounded so Dollhouse to me that it threw me out of the show. I was waiting to hear someone say, "Are you ready for your treatment."

I never saw Dollhouse, so it never pinged me.