Hello guys, I attended the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Paleyfest panel today, where they screened the new episode "The End of the Beginning." I wrote up a summary of the episode on Reddit and now I'll give you guys the hookup. Please do not read this unless you want the identity of the Clairvoyant spoiled for you!!!
[blackout]
Victoria Hand is the Clairvoyant.
Here's what happens in the episode.
Garrett and Triplett are at a safehouse. Deathlok attacks and they manage to fend him off.
The bus lands on an aircraft carrier. Victoria Hand, Blake, and Sitwell board. Coulson says they went through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files on possible psychics even though none officially exist, and determine 13 possible Clairvoyant candidates. Skye is made a full agent so she can participate. They decide to pair off and investigate each target seperately. Sitwell gets recalled and sent to a ship which gets hijacked at the beginning of CA:TWS.
Coulson and Garrett investigate one target, Ward and Triplett investigate a second, May and Blake investigate a third, a crippled man in a nursing home. Deathlok is sent a new toy, an arm cannon thing. At the nursing home, Deathlok attacks May and Blake. Blake gets the **** kicked out of him and is put in critical condition but May is unscathed. On the bus, they realize Blake put a tracker on Deathlok. Simmons gets herself transferred to the Triskelion to try and analyze Skye's blood.
A big team attacks the location of Deathlok, who flees. Coulson, Ward, and Garrett encounter the man in the wheelchair who communicates through a voice thing like Stephen Hawking. He says they want Skye and will kill her to extract her secrets. Ward shoots him to death.
On the bus, Coulson is unconvinced that was the real Clairvoyant. He and Skye realize all his inside information could have been gained from inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson starts interrogating Ward, demanding to know why he killed the man. Meanwhile, Fitz discovers May's secret phone. May catches him and he bolts. He tells Skye and Coulson and they confront each other. May insists she is doing the right thing and doesn't want to hurt them. Suddenly the bus starts flying on its own.
They cut to Victoria Hand, who tells her underlings to kill everyone onboard except Coulson, because "he's mine."[/blackout]
[blackout]A few other random notes:
Nick Fury agrees to meet with Coulson at the end of the episode (he doesn't appear). That's where they are headed when Hand reroutes the bus.
They repeatedly told us that the episode after this one will tie in heavily with CA:TWS. As I mentioned, Sitwell is reassigned to escort the Lemurian Star, which gets hijacked by Batroc at the beginning of the movie, so this episode must take place shortly beforehand.
There was no post-credits scene. I don't know if this is because there isn't one or because they didn't want to show it to us.
Deathlok has a full metal plate under half his head, like the comic incarnation. Skye briefly sees it via x-ray imaging.[/blackout]
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