ABC
Jeffrey Bell and Chloe Bennet talk with THR about Jaiying's revival and Skye's inevitable conflict between SHIELD and the Inhumans.
[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the April 7 episode of ABC's Agents of SHIELD.]
During Tuesday's Agents of SHIELD, Skye (Chloe Bennet) found herself in Láishì, a remote Inhuman settlement used to train those who are preparing or have undergone the Terrigenesis process. Skye quickly learns that each powered Inhuman is given a mentor to help guide their transformation and master their abilities.
In a shocking reveal, Skye’s counselor ends up being the Inhuman leader Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) — her mother whom everyone presumed was dead thanks to Hydra’s Daniel Whitehall (Reed Diamond). However, Jaiying doesn’t reveal the nature of their relationship when the two meet.
See more Broadcast TV's Returning Shows 2015-16
"Jaiying has thought of this moment her whole life. She’s trying to be a cautious leader and mother as she tries to feel things out in where Skye stands,” Bennet told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s a smart political move on her end because she is the leader of the Inhumans.”
“It’s a huge emotional reveal,” added Agents of SHIELD executive producer Jeffrey Bell. “Jiayang is like her and shares a gifted ability. There will definitely be a natural attraction there.”
Jaiying possesses a special healing ability that stopped her from aging, allowing her to essentially be immortal. However, after being captured by Hydra’s Whitehall, Jaiying was murdered during his experiments in an attempt to acquire her immortality.
How then, is she alive? The scars that now cover Jaiying’s face tell the tale of her revival and that’s thanks to her husband Calvin (Kyle MacLachlan).
“He was the one who put her back,” Bell said. “He was the one who found her and stitched, sewed and put the parts back together so she could use her healing ability to come back.”
“Calvin’s known that she’s been alive, but she was upset with him for losing Skye. They looked and didn’t find her. As in real life, when a couple loses a child, they split in anger,” Bell added.
Bell warns that Calvin has since been driven by one thought: "If I can find my daughter, if I can reunite my family, my wife will forgive me for what happened 26 years ago and she will love me and we’ll be a happy family."
Skye now finds herself torn between two sets of parents. “We have May playing a maternal role as Skye’s supervising officer," Bell said. "Bringing in a different maternal figure will create a little parental triangle. We had this with Coulson and Calvin — the biological parents vs. the adopted parents.”
Bennet, for her part, previewed that Skye’s loyalty to the Inhumans and SHIELD will be tested. “It’s going to be the main struggle for her for the rest of the season and for Coulson. Skye is an Inhuman and a SHIELD agent and it will cause a lot of sticky situations for her. It’ll be interesting once she finds out Jaiying is her mom.”
As Bennet put it, this begs the question, “Who are you loyal to — your blood or to the people you have made to be your family?”
What did you think of the big reveal? Sound off in the comments below. Agents of SHIELD airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.
