After a week off, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns with a new episode before taking a month off.  To quote my mom anytime someone hires a maid, supersizes their fries, or does anything else reminiscent of being rich, “Must be nice.”

The Bridge pulls out all the stops by bringing us back to the beginning with returning guest star J. August Richards who was featured in the pilot.  It also brings in most of the running, seemingly disparate plot threads and connects them in an explosive way.  How explosive?  Read on to find out.

After Project Centipede perfects the Captain America-inspired Centipede serum, it sends Centipede super-soldiers (not actual centipedes) to Havenworth prison in order to break out Edison Po (from episode #5).  Agent Coulson recruits his own super-soldier for support — August Richards’ Mike Peterson character, not Cap.  The team, particularly Agent Ward, mistrusts Peterson since he was on the wrong side of the law in their last encounter.  With his help, however, they track one of the soldiers to an abandoned factory.  Unfortunately it leads to a superhuman ambush courtesy of the other soldiers.

Ready to confront his past.

Edison informs Raina, the devious Girl in the Flower Dress (episode #5), that Mr. Peterson is essential to their plan.  Coulson and company discover that the Centipede soldiers experienced the same eye problem that Akela Amadour suffered through in episode #4.  When Raina inquires into the identity of the mysterious Clairvoyant in charge, Edison reminds her of the slit throat that the last inquirer received.  This shuts her up and the villain hierarchy comes into focus: Clairvoyant on top, Edison in the middle, and Raina — like fruit in a cup of Dannon Yogurt — is on bottom.

Meanwhile, Skye’s investigation into the mystery of her missing parents (established in episode #5) is furthered along when we, the audience, realize that Coulson and Agent May are hiding pertinent info from her.

Edison and Raina abduct Mr. Peterson’s son and demand Peterson himself in exchange for the boy.  The climatic trade, set on a bridge (hence the episode’s title), has Coulson accompany Mr. Petersen, who the team has come to trust.  Naturally this is when he betrays them by selling out Coulson in an effort to get his boy back, a dilemma that Phil sympathizes with and one that could cost a remorseful Peterson his life if the final explosion is as finite as it appears.

This twist ending reveals that the true reason Mr. Peterson is key to the bad guys’ plot is to lure Agent Coulson into custody.  And the reason for that is so the villains can unravel the secret on everyone’s mind, including Coulson himself, which has been the show’s main subplot since inception — How did Nick Fury’s right-hand man return from the dead?

Mr. Peterson!

CHEERS

Lola’s back in action.  Coulson’s little red Corvette has been collecting dust in the belly of the team’s jet since the first episode, so it’s great to finally see her in use again.  Unfortunately it’s only on street level.  When will she take another flight?  Answer: When the show’s special effects budget is increased, i.e. during sweeps week and/or the season finale.

In the scene featuring Lola — a leisurely drive with Coulson, Ward, and a not-so-convincing blue screen background — the script gives us a nice call-back to the “cellist,” Phil’s girlfriend referenced in The Avengers.   He confides to Ward about the personal sacrifices he’s had to make as a spy, including playing dead after being “killed” in order to give the Avengers something to avenge.  Phil couldn’t even tell the cellist he was alive and so, as his dialog implies, she moved on to other paramours.

JEERS

As we near the end of one Coulson mystery, his aforementioned resurrection, the series introduces another — Coulson keeping secrets from Skye about her lost parents.  Subtle hints imply that he could be her father.  This subtext is infused in the way he talks to Mr. Peterson about Peterson’s child.  It’s in the way he talks to Ward about choosing between work and a family life.  If we’re being set up for a red herring, then great.  But if this turns out to be true, then I don’t know how I’d feel about it given that Skye is mostly annoying.

Project Centipede has its moments as far as evil clandestine organizations go, but for reasons unknown the showrunners keep making up stuff when there are plenty of similar entities ripe for use in the M.C.U. (Marvel Comics Universe), some of which have already been established in the M.C.U. (Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Note to Marvel: Change acronyms.)

Returning villains.

A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics), introduced in Iron Man 3, conducts similar experiments with similar nefarious goals, so they could’ve been employed.  This is a fanboy frustration dating back to the pilot where Joss Whedon decided to create his own agents rather than use ones who have existed in the comics for decades — Clay Quartermain, G.W. Bridge, Jimmy Woo, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. (Valentina Allegra de Fontaine!)  At least we have Maria Hill and Jasper Sitwell.

CHEER, JEER, OR MERE OBSERVATION

Coulson refers to Mike Peterson as “Mr. Peterson” so many times throughout this episode that I half expected Woody “Hey, Mr. Peterson” Boyd from Cheers to pop up.  Or Cameron “Mr. George Peterson” Frye from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

So will the resurrected Coulson turn out to be a Life Model Decoy?  Will he be unveiled as Skye’s dad?  If he ends up being both, will Skye be cool having a pops made in China?  We’ll find out next year because in true comic book-fashion, this ends on a cliffhanger.

NEXT UP: Decking the halls and singing Auld Lang Syne since S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t return to work until The Magical Place on January 7^th (must be nice).  Happy holidays.