Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has gotten so good lately that nearly every episode offers a sterling specimen of skillful storytelling. (Take THAT, Stan “Admiral of Alliteration“ Lee.)

Last week it was the May-on-May catfight. This week it’s Coulson’s bluff, which sounds like a location from a Hitchcock thriller (“If you want Ms. MacGuffin back safely, then bring the microfilm to Coulson’s Bluff.”), but isn’t. In fact, it isn’t even a real bluff. Despite this, it satisfies on multiple levels. To wit…

Hold off on the “to wit” for a bit. First, let’s examine the rest of A Hen in the Wolf House. Spoilers to follow.

FITZ-SIMMONS REUNION

Fitz finally reunites with Simmons. The real Simmons. Just as she returns to the fold, he acknowledges that the Simmons he’s been talking to is not unlike my aunt’s fur coat — faux.

FITZ: “I’m not going to have this conversation with myself again.”

But maybe he will. It’d be interesting to see mentally unbalanced Fitz unsure of which Simmons he’s talking to about Mack’s muscles. Otherwise Fitz ditching Faux Simmons just before Real Simmons comes home feels a little too convenient.

Don’t make him angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

SKYE’S DAD

Another reunion is on the horizon, this one between Skye and her long lost father played by Kyle MacLachlan. We learn that Skye is not her real name and she learns that she may be an alien. An alien who fell from the… sky(e).

“Wherever she goes, death follows” is a line uttered last season about Skye. This season, Coulson and May ponder if Skye’s dad, who’s been searching for her for years, is that death. He sure fits the description with sudden rage that appears to boost his strength, as well as his daughter referring to him as a “monster.” Factor in MacLachlan’s face lit with a green glow and we could have a possible Hulk on our hands. Or is that green light a red herring? Only Raina knows.

One thing’s for certain — MacLachlan smashing Dr. Whitehall’s henchman into a desk and then apologetically rubbing henchblood off of it is priceless. It’s also reminiscent of The Captain from How I Met Your Mother. Too bad Maria Hill wasn’t in this episode for an H.I.M.Y.M. reunion.

Wouldn’t you like to be a Sgt. Pepper too?

NEW MARVEL CHARACTERS

Adrianne Palicki plays new agent Bobbi Morse with enough verve and conviction to make one wonder if David E. Kelley’s aborted Wonder Woman series could’ve been saved by Palicki’s performance as everyone’s favorite Amazon.

In the comics, Morse is an Avenger (albeit West Coast) who goes by the name Mockingbird. She wears a mask and sexy costume. In live-action, she’s dressed like Grosse Pointe Blank’s Joan Cusack dressed like The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper. Bobbi’s signature battle staves and personality, however, survive the transition from page to screen.

Will her romance with Hawkeye survive as well? If she proves popular on the small screen, then maybe she’ll be brought up to the majors, i.e. major motion pictures co-starring Jeremy Renner. If not, then the reveal of her as Hunter’s ex-wife could prove to be a fun substitute.

Mockingbird isn’t the only new character making the jump from M.C.U. to M.C.U. There’s also the verbal introduction of…

SIMMONS: “What sort of Hellcow produces carmine milk?”

For the uninitiated, Hellcow (Yes. Hellcow.) is a Marvel Comics creature that makes Howard the Duck’s intro in Guardians of the Galaxy look silly, which had previously made Rocket Raccoon’s Guardians intro even sillier. (Scratch that last part — we all know Rocket is cool.)

COULSON’S BLUFF

If you haven’t seen A Hen in the Wolf House, then the plot can be summed up in 4 steps:

1) Whitehall threatens to kill Raina unless she gives him the Obelisk.

2) Raina can only give the Obelisk to Whitehall if she first gets it from Skye’s psycho dad.

3) Psycho dad will only give it to Raina if she gives him Skye.

4) Coulson will only surrender Skye if Raina doesn’t expose Simmons’ undercover status within Hydra.

Mockingbird in live-action…

Or so Raina thinks.

After all, Coulson is a softie, right? Not necessarily. And that brings us to the “to wit…” part of this article.

Raina’s plan to expose Simmons is simple — a pre-programmed delivery of mass e-mail, with incriminating photo attached, to all Hydra employees (including any studying Hellcows). Confident Raina even presents Coulson with a dramatic countdown.

18 seconds… 17 seconds… 16…

Skye is ready to surrender, but not Coulson.

…and comic book action.

9… 8… 7…

Raina thinks he’s bluffing. Surely he won’t expose his hen in Hydra’s house of wolves.

2… 1… 0.

Bam! The photo goes viral and all Hydra eyes are on Simmons, who’s horrified that she’s been outed. Or has she? As it turns out, Coulson has a plan B and the “B” stands for Bobbi, but let’s get back to the countdown.

James Bond. Mission: Impossible. Get Smart. They’ve all done the countdown cliché countless times. It’s a staple of the spy genre, though we haven’t seen it done like this before. What’s superior about Coulson’s bogus bluff is the placement and context of it.

Typically in television, these moments are placed just before a commercial break to achieve maximum cliffhanger status. Will the hero make the right choice or wrong choice? We’ll find out after this message from our sponsors! Yet we all know he’s going to make the right choice, right? Not this time. Or at least not this time in appearance.

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Everyone is shocked when Coulson lets the clock run out, including Raina. And when the villain is shocked, so too is the audience. What makes it even more shocking and tense is the uninterrupted countdown. Because we expect the usual cut-to-commercial-then-cut-back-to-clock trope, we’re doubly surprised when it all happens at once, which leaves our jaws agape during the latest ad for Progressive Insurance.

Of even more importance than the positioning of the countdown is the context of it. When Skye wants to give herself up, Agent May reassures her that “Coulson has a plan.” Unfortunately Skye has her doubts given that Phil’s psyche could be unhinging due to the alien DNA in his system. Suddenly May has her own doubts, as does the audience.

To further drive those doubts home, Skye compares Phil’s possible unhinging to Garrett’s definite unhinging. Both men were infused with alien DNA. Both carved alien symbols into anything they could. We saw what became of Garrett, so we fear the same could happen to Phil.

What could’ve been a been-there-done-that cliché is instead a taut nail-biter worthy of the master of suspense himself. Maybe Coulson’s Bluff is a Hitchcockian location after all. If not, then it should be.

NEXT MISSION: A wolf in the hen house, i.e. Ward gets out of prison.

Plus, the “world-premiere” of The Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer! (Psst, ABC marketing — this would be cooler if the trailer wasn’t already online.)