A Fractured House
Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, and is joined by principal cast members Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Nick Blood.
"A Fractured House" originally aired on ABC on October 28, 2014, and according to Nielsen Media Research, was watched by 4.44 million viewers.
As Glenn Talbot makes a speech to the United Nations warning of S.H.I.E.L.D., they are attacked by mercenary Marcus Scarlotti and his team, disguised as S.H.I.E.L.D.
agent and Hydra mole Grant Ward, who wants a multinational task force targeting S.H.I.E.L.D., and would rather do it without people discovering who his brother is.
team arrives and defeats the mercenaries, with May besting Scarlotti, and the bickering ex-spouses Morse and Hunter having to work together to take down the rest.
Meanwhile, Simmons is trying to treat her former close partner Agent Leo Fitz the same as she always has, but struggles due to the injuries he previously suffered at the hands of Ward.
She confesses to Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie that she left to infiltrate Hydra for Coulson when she realized that her presence was only making Fitz's condition worse.
Later, Senator Ward makes a speech informing the world that his younger brother was a member of Hydra, and vowing to bring Grant to justice, while also offering public support for S.H.I.E.L.D.
In an end tag, a man is having a design tattooed all over his body – it is the alien symbols that Coulson has been carving since being injected with the GH-325 drug.
In October 2014, Marvel announced that the sixth episode of the season would be titled "A Fractured House", to be written by Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc, with Ron Underwood directing.
"[2] In October 2014, Marvel revealed that main cast members Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Nick Blood would star as Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Grant Ward, Skye, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, and Lance Hunter, respectively.
[1] It was also revealed that the guest cast for the episode would include B. J. Britt, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, Adrian Pasdar, Tim DeKay, Falk Hentschel, Joe Marinelli, Liberte Chan, Parisa Fakhri, Michael Enright, Melanie Cruz, Brian Tee, Darrel Cherney, Brian Van Holt, and Chris Wolfe.
[7] Van Holt's character, simply called "stranger" here, is revealed in "The Writing on the Wall" to be Sebastian Derik, a patient of Project T.A.H.I.T.I.
She praised the guest cast for all being "on-point in terms of what they bring to the table", the ambiguity created between the Ward brothers, and the development of Coulson into a "stronger, more diligent, and more skillful leader".
Club graded the episode a "B", calling it "solid", and finding the season to be "starting to settle into a nice groove ... maintaining strong forward momentum while delivering the intrigue, action, and humor fans expect from a Marvel Studios property."
"[20] James Hunt of Den of Geek labeled the series "now a reliably competent piece of television", praising the Morse/Hunter, FitzSimmons, and Ward brothers relationships, but being disappointed in the lack of follow-up from the ending of "A Hen in the Wolf House", saying "one would assume [that] would be top priority, even if they do get distracted from it.
He called the technique a "trick" and "cheap", and said "it's never a very satisfying reveal because it makes the audience feel stupid ... Misdirection is fine, but if everyone did it this way it'd be impossible to follow the chronology of any televisual narrative.
Certainly, regardless of what Christian may or may not have done, Ward breaking free and killing the innocent men guarding him erases any chance of him being on the path to redemption right now, which I'm glad to see."
Goldman was also positive about the development between Fitz, Simmons, and Mack, as well as the final action scene, but criticized some of the early banter as "forced and trying too hard", and felt that "Talbot's sympathetic side didn't feel earned.
