In Norway, the leaders of a pagan hate group obsessed with Norse mythology find part of a staff, hidden within an ancient tree, that grants them superhuman strength.
agents, having recently assisted with the cleanup of London following the Convergence,[a] investigate the tree and deduce that it contained an Asgardian staff.
They follow one of the poems to underground catacombs in Spain, where Randolph forces agent Grant Ward to touch a second piece of the staff, unlocking painful memories of a young boy in a well.
Ward manages to defeat the pagans, with the help of agent Melinda May, who can control the staff after learning to live with her own bad memories.
In October 2013, Marvel revealed that the eighth episode would be titled "The Well", and would be written by Monica Owusu-Breen, with Jonathan Frakes directing.
"[3]: 97 Main cast members Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge star as Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Grant Ward, Skye, Leo Fitz, and Jemma Simmons, respectively.
[1] It was revealed that the guest cast for the episode would include Peter MacNicol as Professor Elliot Randolph, Michael Graziadei as Jakob Nystrom, Erin Way as Petra Larsen, Toby Wilson as Neils, Alex Neustaedter as Maynard and Sylvia Brindis as Elena.
[3]: 97 Dalton broke a bone in his hand during the filming of a fight sequence, hitting it against the hard foam prop of the Asgardian staff.
Instead, McCreary composed his own Asgard theme, which introduces "a new tone to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., one that embraces Marvel's fantasy roots".
[7] The anarchist group that opposes the protagonists in the episode is represented musically by "a snarling distorted synth bass, oscillating in minor thirds", which McCreary designed as a metaphor for "how their minds are altered when they touch the staff and absorb the Asgardian rage".
For the series of flashbacks revolving around the titular well, McCreary used "a recurring cluster of pitches that rings disturbingly hollow.
Though he didn't consider it a theme, referring to it as the "Ward Chord", McCreary said that "it does function thematically because it recurs with each flashback, and increases tension each time.
Bonus features include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel.
[15] Following the airing of the episode, Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, called for an apology for its insinuation that the Hindu god Vishnu could be an alien.