FZZT

FZZT is the sixth episode of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Synopsis
When floating bodies turn up, Coulson and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D must hunt down an elusive killer. No one is safe–not even the team.

Summary
In Wrigley, Pennsylvania, a group of boy scouts sit around a campfire while being told scary stories by their camp counselor. As the counselor finishes his story, the second counselor, Mr. Cross, becomes concerned by a humming noise, that only he seems to hear, and walks off to investigate the nearby area.

The first counselor reassures the kids that Mr. Cross is only trying to scare them, until they are alarmed as a mug raises into the air on its own, hanging in the air for a moment with a faint electrical current before dropping back to the ground. This event is soon followed by several screams from Cross and several bright flashes of light from the woods, causing the scouts to take refuge in a nearby truck.

Several electrical discharges occur, one of which rips the battery from the truck. The counselor and scouts search the nearby area for Mr. Cross only to find his dead body, left ominously floating several feet above the ground.



On the "The Bus", Coulson is taking several physical tests which Simmons questions, claiming that he is not due for a physical for another three months. Coulson responds that it was his fault claiming that he got a call from his physical therapist and told her that he had been feeling "rusty".

In the lab, Ward is testing the Night-Night pistol and tells Fitz that it's an ounce too heavy and that it needs to be fixed. After he leaves Fitz imitates Ward, which amuses Skye. Happy that she is laughing again, Skye claims that after her betrayal she has been doing anything she can to regain the team's trust. Jemma comes in and imitates Ward, as Fitz had done earlier, only for Ward to interrupt, telling the team that they have a new mission.

At the camp site, the team investigates the earlier incident as Fitz and Simmons discover mysterious electrostatic anomalies and examine a hole in Cross head. As Simmons gets closer to examine Cross' corpse, static discharges from his body before falling to the ground. On the "Bus" Skye researches Adam Cross but claims that he is clean of any criminal record, but Ward claims that everyone looks clean on their first "go around". Coulson then tells Ward he's being to hard on Skye but Ward claims that if she wants their trust back she has to earn it with Coulson claiming that what she had just done is a good start.

In the Interrogation room May intimidates the young counselor. Coulson comes down to the lab with Simmons, analyzing the victim's body while Fitz stays out of the lab, expressing a general apprehension and disgust for being around dead things. Simmons shows Coulson the brain of the victim which had been struck by 2,000 mega jolts of electricity. May enters and says the Counselor is good. Fitz then alerts the team he's detected another electrostatic event.

Coulson, May, and Ward quickly drive to the new location with Skye pinpointing the event to a farm house not far away. Coulson then tells Skye to do a background check on the owner of the farm. The energy signature then suddenly disappears with Ward, May, and Coulson arriving too late to save the owner, Frank Whalen. Skye then finds out that victims Adam Cross and Frank Whalen were part of a volunteer fire truck sent to New York after the Chitauri Invasion of New York, and the group determines that a killer is targeting them.

Coulson, Ward, and May travel to the local fire house where one of the firemen, Diaz, exhibits strange behavior before retreating to the kitchen. Diaz claims to hear a noise similar to the one heard by Cross earlier. Coulson claims that he hears nothing before noticing a pan lifting in the air causing an alarmed Coulson to hold Diaz at gun point. May radios Coulson, reporting her discovery of a Chitauri Helmet.

Coulson ask how they got it and Diaz claims it's a souvenir from their clean up work in New York. He claims that he, Adam Cross, and Frank were only cleaning it, leading Simmons to realize that Diaz is infected, and that the helmet must have had an alien virus on it. Diaz, realizing he is going to end up like his friends, slowly becomes erratic and frightened. Coulson tells Ward and May to evacuate everyone from the building and comforts Diaz during his last moments, sharing his experience from his own brief death, before leaving Diaz to his fate.

Later at the fire department, Fitz scans the others to make sure they're not infected while the fire fighters are taken into quarantine. Coulson tells Simmons to begin developing a cure. On the Bus, the team is delivering the helmet to The Sandbox, a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility for dealing with biological threats. May assures Coulson he did everything he could for Tony Diaz.

In the lab Simmons tells Coulson that the infection spreads through electrostatic energy as a lab tool hovers behind Simmons. Coulson apologizes and locks her in the lab: Simmons is infected.

Coulson reassures the others that Jemma can cure herself. Coulson contacts Felix Blake to find out more about the virus but Blake tells them they have no record of it and tells Coulson that to stop the virus he needs to get rid of the infected Jemma Simmons. However, Coulson tries to buy time to avoid this protocol by hanging up on Blake.

Quarantined in the lab, Simmons works to test her antiserum on a lab rat only for it to fail. Fitz and Simmons argue and the two realize that they need the only things to have survived the virus--the Chiturai. They summarize that the only reason the Chituari soldier itself never died from the virus was because it was immune.

Fitz goes to get the Chiturai helmet and enters the quarantined lab, despite risk of infection, and the two work on the serum together. They make a new serum from skin cells taken from the Chituari helmet and inject another lab rat with it, only for the rat itself to stabilize briefly before dying. Jemma, having lost all hope and knowing the procedure for these situations, ask Coulson to tell her dad that her mother will take the news better from him, she then asks for a moment alone with Fitz.

Fitz is not willing to give up and encourages Jemma to keep trying only for Jemma to knock him out. Fitz wakes up and finds the rat to be fine, having only been knocked out by the last serum. He sees that Jemma is attempting to save the team by jumping off the plane. Fitz struggles to get through the door as Jemma falls from the plane.

Fitz grabs the antidote and fumbles to put on a parachute to save Simmons only for Ward to grab both and go instead. Ward manages to catch up to Simmons, curing and rescuing her just in time.

In Coulson's office, he reprimands Simmons on the trouble that her stunt caused and tells her to never do that again, as they would hate to lose her. Later, Coulson reveals to May that he ordered the physical for himself, because of his own doubts. She tells him to unbutton his shirt revealing the scar left by Loki and reassures him that he feels different because he is different. In Fitz' room Simmons tells him that while Ward did save her he was the one at her side the entire time and that he's the hero.

Later at The Sandbox, Blake tells Coulson that if he keeps pulling stunts like this the higher ups will take the team away from him, but Coulson brushes the comment off and tells Blake he'd like to see them try. Blake leaves, jovially noting the change in Coulson's disposition.

Cast

 * Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
 * Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward
 * Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May
 * Chloe Bennet as Skye
 * Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz
 * Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons
 * Titus Welliver as Agent Felix Blake
 * Vincent Laresca as Tony Diaz
 * Robert Maffia as Baker
 * David Michael Paul as Justin
 * Rick Gifford as Adam Cross
 * Thomas Robie, Trevor Larcom, Caleb Burgess, Jake Brennan and Troy Glass as Scouts
 * Unknown Actor as Frank Whalen

Locations

 * Wrigley, Pennsylvania
 * Sandbox

Items

 * Chitauri Helmet
 * Tracking Bracelet
 * Night-Night Pistol
 * D.W.A.R.F. Drones
 * Holocom
 * Anti-Serum Delivery Mechanism

Vehicles

 * The Bus
 * Lola
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV

Organizations

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * HYDRA

Mentioned

 * The Index
 * Captain America
 * Iron Man
 * Phil Coulson's physical therapist
 * Battle of New York
 * Typhoid Mary
 * The Big Lebowski
 * Chitauri (mentioned)
 * Rising Tide (mentioned)

Trivia

 * Titus Welliver reprises his role as Agent Felix Blake from the Marvel One-Shot: Item 47.

Quotes

 * Fitz: Here's the new Night-Night pistol.
 * (Ward tries it out)
 * Ward: Sorry, Fitz. It's close, but it's just not right.
 * Fitz: (Quietly) 'Cause agent Coulson had no problems.
 * Ward: It's an ounce too heavy.
 * Skye: (Sitting nearby) An ounce? Seriously?
 * Ward: It's the difference between success and failure. When you're on a rooftop with a 15-mile-an-hour wind, Your target is 500 yards away...
 * Fitz: Yeah, but we do have a rifle.
 * Ward: (Looks at Fitz) Lose the ounce.
 * (Leaves)
 * Fitz: Yeah, okay. On it. "Lose the ounce".
 * (Imitating Ward)
 * Fitz: I'm Agent Grant Ward, and I can shoot the legs off a flea from 500 yards, as long as it's not windy.
 * (Skye laughs)
 * 'Simmons: (Jemma Enters the Lab) So, Ward was here? Let me guess the night-night pistol again?
 * Fitz: Yeah, and he said it was off by an ounce.
 * Simmons: Of course he did.
 * (Also imitating Ward)
 * Simmons: I'm Agent Grant Ward, and I could rupture your spleen with my left pinky... blindfolded!


 * Skye: Phys-Ed teacher at the local high school and varsity baseball coach and troop leader and volunteer firefighter. This guy makes Captain America look like "The Dude" (blank stares) The Big Lebowski? (more blank stares) Seriously?


 * Blake: That's the best you could come up with, you got a bad connection?
 * Coulson: I was pressed for time.
 * Blake: Bold move. You know our chat wasn't exactly private.
 * Coulson: They never are.
 * Blake: I don't know what happened to you in New York, if you really flat-lined or that's just what they tell us when we reach level 7; but whatever did happen doesn't give you license to disobey a direct order from HQ. You keep pulling stunts like that, someone might decide to take this little dream team away from you.
 * Coulson: I'd like to see them try.
 * Blake: That doesn't sound like the Phil Coulson I used to know.
 * Coulson: No, I suppose it doesn't. Get used to it.