This week’s Agents of SHIELD is really about family.

We have the SHIELD family, which is missing a few agents, the HYDRA family, with Grant Ward determined to be Big Daddy, and Melinda May’s family, or actually her dad, where she is taking an indefinite break from her past (at least for now).

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

Let’s start with SHIELD, where Fitz won’t give up on trying to get Simmons back. He thinks the Kree monolith might be a portal, because it has “impossible sand” that’s much older than Earth. The rock has also been around, including England in 1853, swallowing up people. So, they need help from Professor Randolph (Peter MacNicol), the former Asgardian who recently got in a barfight that rivals Jessica Jones.  Meanwhile, Lance is off to find and put down Ward before he finishes restoring HYDRA. He also prefers Bobbi, who’s still healing,  stay back at the lab. 
Speaking of Ward, he’s busy doing his own version of a Jaguar commercial driving with a guy named Kebo (Daz Crawford) while a guy’s on the hood. Ward thinks HYDRA crumbled due to greed and lust for power. Now, he says, is the time for a leaner generation. After all, what’s worse than HYDRA infecting SHIELD? Clearly the reverse, because it’ll benefit HYDRA way too much. The first step involves looking for a spoiled rich kid (Spencer Treat Clark) and get his assets. Why?

It turns out he’s Werner Von Strucker and, after some prodding, he’s just as mean as his grandfather. He’ll be part of the new HYDRA, with Grant as his new mentor. Somewhere, John Garrett is smiling.
Then we get our first look this season at Melinda May, who is in Arizona looking after her ailing father (James Hong). She claims she wants a normal life, but he knows her all too well. She’s too much like her mother, and he’s certain she’s not done with SHIELD. Scenes with Ming-Na Wen and James Hong are really good, and let’s hope he comes back.

Daisy (not Skye, Agent Coulson) is concerned about her Secret Warriors project. She wants to create something where Inhumans can help the world and SHIELD, just like she is. She thinks Joey, the guy who melts metal  from last week, might be a good choice but Dr. Andrew Garner (Blair Underwood) doesn’t think so. In fact, he thinks Coulson’s getting a bit desperate, but Daisy is slowly becoming a leader, at least. It looks like Garner is positioning himself as a backup leader, which might be a good idea at this point.

Randolph gets his first look at the monolith, and is a bit worried it might throw him back to Asgard. However, since he’s worried about “Amazon Woman” and “Robot Hand” (Bobbi and Coulson), he’ll help but he wants to close the portal for good, too. He’d give the scroll from last week with “death” in Hebrew, and he figures the monolith was in England, as was shown in the flashback.

They soon find themselves in a strange room that could also be the set of Penny Dreadful. It turns out the monolith was kept there, too. The room has a machine that nearly opens the monolith, but it turns out Daisy can do it, too.

That’s pretty risky, but not as risky as what Fitz does. He jumps in the portal, and finds the planet where Simmons is. It looks like he’s fingertips away from bringing her back, but the portal blows up. Fitz, however, makes it…and so does Simmons. Sometimes recklessness works. That’s family for you.
It will take time for her to heal, though. For now, she needs Fitz’s knee as her pillow.

Lance also finds May, thanks to some connections and tracing a few phone calls from her. While she claims she’s out, it’s more apparent she’ll join Lance in the search for Grant Ward.

As for Garner, he just got a new student…and it’s Werner. HYDRA’s plan is taking shape, too.

Despite the victory of getting Simmons back, SHIELD isn’t complete. May and Lance apparently are off to find Ward, and Simmons will take a while to be healed. HYDRA’s revival is actually advancing, thanks to Werner. Add the threat of Rosalind and the ACTF, who apparently will target Lincoln next week, and it’ll be a tough time for SHIELD for some time to come.