The Well

The Well is the eighth episode of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Synopsis
The Episode begins with Coulson, The team, and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D cleaning up after Thor's battle with Malekith and the Dark Elves while they clean up Grenwich University which was affected by the battle Coulson explains to Skye about the origins of Asgardians. Jemma gets a call from her parents who want to known if she 's okay but she hangs up on them Simmons assures Fitz she will call them when she has the time. In Trillemarka National Park a couple discover a mysterious staff when the Woman touches it she seems to experience an extreme degree of pain when one of the two forest rangers attempts to question them she effortlessly pushes his into tree killing him. Coulson and his team come to investigate as Jemma begins to climb the tree that the staff was in Ward opts to go in her place but she tells him she'll be fine Coulson talks to the partner of of the deceased forest ranger only for Simmons to discover that whatever was in the tree was not of earth origin woth Fitz confirming that the staff is Asgardian. Coulson tries to get more details from the Ranger only for Skye to call them as something is happening on the news with violence breaking out in the streets of Oslo with event resulting in 20 injured civillians. The news then reveals the riot was started by the same couple who leave a startaling message on the streets: WE ARE GODS. On the "Bus" Ward identifies the couple as Jakob Nystrom and Petra Larsen the leaders of a Norse Paganists aganist hate group. Analzyzing a 3D model of the Staff Fitz and Simmons conclude that that their are two more pices of the staff to find. Skye ask Coulson to call Thor for help but Coulson tells her he did and that Nick Fury told him that Thor went "off the the grid". Coulson then tells them that when Thor's Hammer landed in New Mexico they consulted an expert on Norse Mythology Elliot Randolph and with that the team heads to a university in Seville, Spain. Meeting Randolph, Elliot tells them the stroy of an Asgardian warrior part of an army campaign  who fell in love with Earth and stayed behind possesing  a weapon called the Berserker Staff which grants the user incrediable strenth driving him into an uncontrolable rage.

The Warrior then not wanting the staff to fall into evil hands cut it into 3 pieces and hid it in three different locations one being in: a tree, east of the river son overhead, and one place "close to God". Randolph then suggests looking into Baffin Island in Canada. After finding nothing on Baffin island Coulson checks in on Skye who only finds sly comments people have made after the battle in Greenwich but she does hear perticular chatter about going underground meaning the paganist are searching for the next peace underground with Skye bringing up Seville Spain noting that the Vikings attacked Seville twice in history. Skye and Ward explore underground catacombs in Spain with Ward finding Elliot Randolph with the next piece of the Staff but as he attempts to take it off of him Ward suddenly blacks out flashing back to what seems like a boy drowning. Elliot escapes while Skye goes to check on Ward and is worried when he suddenly backs away from Skye frantically. While above Elliot is confronted by Jakob who takes the staff off of him with Fitz and Coulson following behind only to find Randolph. While on the "Bus" Simmons and Fitz examine Ward who's anger grows to the point of him lashing out on Skye when she ask about his brother and Fitz and Simmons who do their best to brush off the insults. In the interrogation room Coulson tries to get answers out of Rnadolph but he claims he only wanted study it Coulson tells him from his past experiences with Asgardians cases like this are personal to him and tells him to get comfortable. In the Cargo area Wards tries to work off his angers but the flashes continue to haunt to the point that he nearly strikes May who tells him to let her help him but Ward claims that all he needs to do is find thethe Staff before the Paganist hurt anyone else. Meanwhile Petra and Jacob return with the next piece and begin spreading the berserkers staff strenth to the other followers. While in Coulson office Ward tells Coulson that Staff seems to be bringing up his worse memory: The first time he felt hate and claims that the feeling won't go away noting his ouburst to Skye, Fitz and, Simmons. Coulson tells Ward that the fact that he is telling him this makes him feel like he can trust Ward and suggest that Ward let some of his rage out on Dr. Elliot. Ward enters the room and attempts to get answers from Randolph. when he does not cooperate Ward attempts to stab him only for Randoplh to twist and bend the knife confirming Coulsons theory.: Randoplh is the Asgardian Warrior who stayed behind. Breaking free of his bonds Coulson reveals to Randoplh how he find out about his heritage noting he isn't the first Asgardian he had in his custody and claims that Asgardians don't panick when in captivity, he also notes on his pen claiming he  would not being able to get it on his Salary, and how he was not curious on learning how he has met other aliens. While the team is  amazed by Randoplh's presence May locks the interrogation room on Coulsons orders. Ward then tells Randolph that the room is made to hold his kind and Coulson tells him no one will open the door unless he tells them to. With that Randolph reveals that his story was spread because he was "horny" and tells them that in 1546 he met a french girl who loved love stories and so he procceded to tell her his story of why he stayed behind only for her brother who turned out to be a priest to write it down into history.

Coulson then ask Randolph if he knows Thor only for Randolph to tell him that he was only a Rock Mason and only went with the Berserkers to travel and tells them that after he stayed behind went to great lenths to hide it not liking the dark power of the weapon and summarizes that Ward doesn't like it also and tells him that that the staff "shines" the users darkest memorys to light resulting in the unpleasant mental after effect. Coulson ask for Randolph help who is claiming he is a pacifist and also that he does not want his identity to be revealed and tells him not to worry about the Paganist claiming they all settle down and eventualley die. Coulson tells Randolph if he does not help them he will expose his identity. Convinced Randolph tells them that he was once approached by monks in Ireland who gave him a place to sleep, revealing the next location of the Staff "near God". As the team prepares to move out Ward ask Randolph if the effects of the staff are permanent. Randolph tells him that while the strenth will wear off in a few hours the mental side effects might take Decades. Skye ask Coulson if it is a good idea to let Ward into the field considering the effects of the Staff but Coulson and May tell her he will be fine. the group arrive at the Church only for Jacob who beat them to it to stab Randolph with the staff. Ward reluctanly grabs  the Piece and attacks Jakob who he manages to defeat. Meanwhile Simmons is having trouble stopping Randolphs bleeding unable to understand his anatomy only for Coulson to stick his hand into Randolphs wound and tells them since Asgardians heal faster all they have to do is keep him alive long enough for his body to heal itself and Simmons tells him to look for his heart. The other Paganist soon arrive and Ward grabs both pieces of the Staff and fights through both the Paganist and his own dark memory revealing that as a child Wards older brother threw his younger brother into a well and attempted to keep Ward from rescueing him threatning to throw him in too only for Ward to do it anyway.

Coming out of the memory Ward collapses having defeated all the Paganist. Skye and May quickley come to his aid only for Petra and another member to enter Ward attempts to grab the Staff again only for May to stop him and tell him to let her help and so Ward relinquishes the Staff pieces to her and she defeats Petra and the other Paganist with all three pieces for setting the staff down. Meanwhile Coulson finds Randolph's heart and manages to save him by stopping his bleeding. As the group cleans up Simmons finally decides to talk to her parents about her experinces. Ward ask May how she managed to hold all three pieces only for May to tell she deals with her anger ever day. Coulson is tempted to touch the staff to figrue out his ressurection but Randolph convinces him out of it. Later Skye meets Ward at the bar and tells him if he ever needs to talk shes here for him. As Ward is about to enter his room May appears at her door with a bottle and enters leaving the door open Ward soon follows. Coulson wakes up on a masache table and ask his masseuse if he feel asleep to which she replies that it meant he was relaxed and he say that is exsackly how he feels and says that Tahiti is too good to be true. And the masseuse says that she knows and that it's a magical place. At that Coulson wakes up in his bed from the nightmare.

Cast

 * Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
 * Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May
 * Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward
 * Trenton Rogers as young Grant Ward
 * Chloe Bennet as Skye
 * Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz
 * Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons
 * Peter MacNicol as Elliot Randolph
 * Michael Graziadei as Jakob Nystrom
 * Erin Way as Petra Larsen
 * Toby Wilson as Neils
 * Alex Neustaedter as Maynard Ward
 * Sylvia Brindis as Elena

Locations

 * Earth
 * Europe
 * United Kingdom
 * London
 * Greenwich
 * Norway
 * Trillemarka National Park
 * Oslo
 * Spain
 * Seville
 * Republic of Ireland
 * Oceania
 * France
 * French Polynesia
 * Tahiti
 * North America (Mentioned)
 * USA (Mentioned)
 * Portland (Mentioned)
 * Asgard (mentioned)

Items

 * Berserker Staff
 * Spectrographic Analyzer
 * Three Dimensional Scanner
 * Holocom
 * Mjølnir (Mentioned)

Vehicles

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

Organizations

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Norse Paganists
 * Berserker Army (Mentioned)

Mentioned
Battle of Greenwich
 * Thor
 * Director Nick Fury
 * Hulk
 * Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen

Trivia

 * In the final scene of the episode, Coulson has a dream, and he says "Did I fall asleep?", which is retorted by his masseuse with "For a little while", which is a quote from Joss Whedon's previous series Dollhouse, where this is said to the actives every time they are wiped.Contributions licensed as CC-BY-SA.   More details.