T.A.H.I.T.I.

T.A.H.I.T.I. is the fourteenth episode of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Plot
Coulson goes on the attack to save Skye--enlisting the aid of Ward's former S.O. John Garrett--and uncovers shocking truths about his own life and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Summary
After being shot and on the brink of death, Skye struggled to survive. The team entered a hospital and Simmons explained to the doctors what happened. The doctor said that the only reason Skye was still alive was because they put her in a Hyperbaric Chamber.

Next the team argued about whose fault it was while Phil Coulson tried to contact Nick Fury for "answers that only he can give." Melinda May ended the argument, saying that only Quinn was at fault for having shot her.

Later, Dr. Jazuat returned to bear bad news. The damage was too great and Skye would only remain alive on life support. In grief, May returned to The Bus and began to beat Ian Quinn senseless to his utter dismay, saying she "can't do that." May responded "Why? Because you're defenseless? Like she was?" Coulson ordered her out, and ordered that they would now look for a way to save Skye's life, like the doctors did to him. Coulson explained to Ward, Fitz, and Simmons what "actually happened" in Tahiti. After they started the mission, the Bus received a transmission from nearby planes that they would be boarding and taking control because of their failure to relinquish Quinn to The Sandbox.

Coulson greeted Agent Grant Ward's former S.O. John Garrett as he boarded the plane and asked for Quinn. Coulson explained to him the situation and convinced him to help them save Skye, but not before a fight broke out between Ward and Garrett's new trainee Agent Antoine Triplett. Coulson and Garrett stopped the fight, explaining that Garrett convinced HQ to let him interrogate Quinn on the Bus itself.

Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons read Coulson's file and were shocked by the process that brought him back to life. The process that was almost unbelievable to them because it utilized many drugs that Simmons didn't even recognize. Simmons wondered if the price for bringing Coulson back was too much, and if they really should try it with Skye. Fitz pointed out that Skye wasn't actually dead yet. Simmons received a call and got some surprising news.

Garrett and Coulson entered the box to interrogate Quinn, who explained that he wasn't feeling very cooperative because his "head is still buzzing from the last visitor." Garrett showed he was not playing games by grabbing Quinn's tongue as he was speaking. They began to question him regarding a newer project called the "Deathlok" program.

Quinn told them that the last person to ask about that program wounded up with "two in the stomach", to which Coulson almost punched him. Coulson asked if he shot Skye because she saw what they were delivering to him, and Quinn responded that he did it because the Clairvoyant told him to.

May was called in by Simmons, who told her that Coulson's doctor, Dr. Streiten, had gone off the grid. Next she explained that Coulson was never treated in Bethesda, because the room, doctors, everything about the operation didn't actually exist. The file was full of lies.

Back in the interrogation room, Garrett wondered why Quinn would believe in psychics. He explained that he didn't at first, but then he realized it would be mutually beneficial. Coulson argued that the Clairvoyant must have had something pretty deep on Quinn to make him shoot an unarmed girl. Quinn explained several occurrences about Garrett's Team as proof of The Clairvoyant's powers. He explained that The Clairvoyant saw everything, except how Coulson returned. It was revealed that The Clairvoyant planned all of it so that Coulson would dig deeper into his death and return in order to save Skye.

May and Simmons explained to Coulson that they were not sure that they should dig deeper, partly because Fitz and Simmons only partially understood the file. Coulson explained that they had to do everything possible, even if it meant giving the Clairvoyant what he wanted. May told Coulson that she thought they should do whatever it took to save Skye. Simmons explained to Fitz that Skye was deteriorating, and only a drug known as GH.325 seemed to regenerate Coulson's cells. Simmons said she didn't believe it was possible to find it, and Fitz said he may be able to help with that. They used the Echo Chamber, to acess the Triskelion's archive. Fitz explained that they may be able to find travel records in what seemed to be a large electronic library.

They found a place called The Guest House that may have been where Coulson was taken, because it was opened only once by a level 10 operative, who would have to have been Nick Fury himself. They next found themselves trying to open an encrypted file, wondering what Skye would do in their situation. They realized it was not an encryption, but a location hidden within the location of the numbers.

Garrett, Coulson, Fitz, and Ward prepared to enter the Guest House, which was not a S.H.I.E.L.D base, figuring that there might be hostiles. Agents Triplett and May were left aboard the Bus in case their skills were needed there. They reached the doors, only to be greeted with the protocol sentence, "How was the drive from Istanbul?" but, after many attempts to convince the occupants to help (while they repeated the same sentence three times), they decided they needed to ask "pretty please" and entered even into a hostile situation. Communication went down, and they continued in spite of it.

Fitz said he was not afraid and Garrett said, "If the job was easy" as Ward finished the sentence with, "it wouldn't be any fun." They entered a sealed bulletproof glass room to receive hostile gunfire. Ward shot one hostile and Garrett killed the other. They followed the trail of blood of the first injured hostile, who, while dying, said he recognized Coulson and told him about the "timer." Garrett found a bomb, and began to disarm it with Ward. Coulson and Fitz searched for some way to help Skye. Back on the Bus, Simmons explained to Agent Triplett that she hadn't known Skye for long, and that they were totally different, but that she couldn't live without her. May explained that the Comms were down, and she would go in within an hour if she didn't hear anything. Skye worsened and they all rushed to help her.

Coulson found the operating room where he was resurrected, and experienced flashbacks of the horrific procedure. Garrett and Ward continued to look for the triggering device after figuring out that the timer was separate from the actual explosive. Coulson entered an area marked for radiation, and refused to put on a suit despite Fitz's warning because there was no time.

They searched for something to save Skye. Fitz wished that they were with Simmons, because she would know what everything was, or "at least what not to touch." They found a medicine cabinet and searched for the drug, and found a substance marked "GH-325". They were able to remove it with just four minutes to spare on the bomb, when Coulson found a door marked "T.A.H.I.T.I."

Garrett explained to Fitz that putting too many explosives to blow the door could blow the whole place down. They were able to leave, but Coulson stayed behind. Garrett stayed behind when Fitz and Ward left to save Skye. Garrett found Coulson in a daze, telling him not to let Skye take the drug. They barely made it back on the Bus, which took off to a huge explosion. Coulson entered the medical pod yelling, "Don't give it to her!" It was too late.

Skye began to stabilize, only to worsen considerably, before stabilizing again. Simmons said she didn't know what was given to Skye, but it saved her. Coulson left and Garrett said to May that something happened, because one minute Coulson was fine, and the next he seemed as if he had seen a ghost.

Garrett explained to Quinn that the Clairvoyant was a "no-show" and the place he wanted them to find was buried beneath the explosion. He also explained that Skye would live to testify that he had shot her. Garrett took Quinn off the plane. He conversed with Coulson asking what would have happened if Skye had died. Garrett also commented that they may see each other again soon, because agent Triplett had taken a shining to Agent Simmons.

May confronted Coulson, congratulating him for doing the impossible in saving Skye, and asked why he wasn't happy about it. Coulson reminiscenced to entering the room marked T.A.H.I.T.I. and finding that the drug  was being extracted from half of a corpse of an unknown alien in a cryotube. He concealed this from May, saying that he just didn't want Skye to suffer as he had, and went to sit with Skye as she recovered.

Elsewhere, a beautiful woman in exotic clothes wandered through the desert. She found a motel where newlyweds Jimmy and Nicole Mackenzie were asking for a map. The woman snatched the bottled water from Jimmy's hand and drank as she asked him where she was. As the two conversed, the woman noticed that Jimmy was a newlywed and began to enthrall him. Jimmy drove off with her, abandoning his new wife. The woman told him that her name was Lorelei.

Cast
Main Cast:
 * Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
 * Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May
 * Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward
 * Chloe Bennet as Skye
 * Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz
 * Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons

Guest Stars:
 * Bill Paxton as Agent John Garrett
 * Elena Satine as Lorelei
 * David Conrad as Ian Quinn
 * Rob Belushi as Jimmy Mackenzie
 * B.J. Britt as Agent Antoine Triplett
 * Sarayu Rao as Dr. Jazuat
 * Michael J. Silver as Alpha
 * Jake Newton as Beta
 * Julie Civiello as Nicole Mackenzie
 * Brandon Kolpack as G.H. (uncredited)

Locations

 * Zurich, Switzerland
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Trauma Zentrum
 * The Guest House
 * Death Valley, California
 * Bethesda, Maryland (mentioned)
 * Malta (mentioned)
 * Italy (mentioned)
 * Berlin, Germany (mentioned)
 * Morocco (mentioned)
 * New York City, New York (mentioned)
 * Istanbul, (mentioned)
 * Tahiti (mentioned)
 * Bandung, (mentioned)
 * Hunan, China (mentioned)
 * Shangri-La (mentioned)
 * Egypt (mentioned)
 * Coventry (mentioned)
 * The Triskelion (mentioned)
 * The Fridge (mentioned)
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters (mentioned)

Items

 * Hyperbaric Chamber
 * Medical Pod
 * GH.325
 * Holotable
 * Bulletproof Vest
 * Night-Night Pistol
 * Flash Bomb
 * Semtex
 * Memory Overwriting Machine
 * Echo Chamber

Vehicles

 * The Bus
 * The Cage
 * Lola
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Jump Jet
 * F-35 Lightning II

Sentient Species

 * Asgardians
 * Kree

Organizations

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * HYDRA
 * Cybertek (mentioned)
 * Strategic Scientific Reserve (mentioned)

Mentioned

 * Director Nick Fury
 * Dr. Streiten (mentioned & archive footage)
 * Dr. Goodman (archive footage)
 * The Clairvoyant
 * Project T.A.H.I.T.I.
 * Battle of New York
 * World War II
 * Project Deathlok

Trivia

 * Leo Fitz mentioned the Triskelion which appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.