TV review: Skye reunites with father, ‘SHIELD' makes major reveals

Note: Major spoilers ahead.

Way back in one of the earliest scenes of the pilot episode of "Agents of SHIELD," there was uttered the tongue-in-cheek line, "This is an origin story."

Now, at the midseason finale of Season 2, we know whose origin story it is.

Before getting into it, let me just say that, not only has this has been brilliantly set up, but now, the viewers who have stuck through since the beginning are continuing to be rewarded.

On a personal level, Skye always has been my favorite character. She had the emotional tug of someone finding her way after being left for adoption as a child. She started causing trouble with RISE, a hacker group, but eventually made her way into the graces of SHIELD. Skye had that can-she-be-trusted story going for a while. By the end of Season 1, she was the one who ended up getting betrayed by someone she trusted, Agent Ward, who defected for Hydra.

As Season 2 has progressed, her dedication has become unquestioned, even though she's known for some time now she's different, like Agent Coulson. She knew she had the 0-8-4 in her. And as Tuesday night's winter finale finally unveiled those secrets, Skye was willing to do whatever was best for mankind, even if it meant giving up something special. That's true character development, right there.

Thank goodness she didn't have to do that. Because what transpired was nothing short of amazing.

Skye became a superhero. Her name is Daisy, aka Quake. She has strong abilities that can cause, well, earthquakes.

Let me back up, first. Skye found out her real name after she finally encountered her father, Cal. He arranged for her to be picked up (at gunpoint), which already put her on edge anyway. But when they were reunited, there was definite tension, almost at a hostile level. Yet Cal couldn't help but turn fatherly when he talks about silly things like bringing almonds to her, which he knew was her favorite. He let down his guard for a brief moment, became vulnerable to her, and even wept a little as the emotions ran over him. Skye (Chloe Bennet), of course, tried not to let her emotions get the best of her. She had built-up anger, but she couldn't let him see. Let me tell you, this scene was a long time in the making, and both actors nailed it.

Ironically, perhaps, Bennet's best scene was shortly after their meeting. While with Coulson, Skye eventually lets loose her emotions as she admits she couldn't kill her father the way she planned to.

Her father gets another emotional scene - an outburst, really - when Coulson kills Whitehall in a gunfight. Cal hinted in last week's episode that he wanted to kill Whitehall, the true enemy; Cal revealed he was just using Whitehall to get to Skye. But when Coulson took that revenge moment away, Cal didn't react too kindly.

Skye got her own revenge moment with Agent Ward, and she didn't hesitate in the least. She shot him at point blank range and didn't even look back. It was such a redemptive moment, and the humorous style was an unexpectedly awesome touch. Of course, Ward later is crawling away, so he isn't dead yet. Heck, with Whitehall dead (apparently; remember, no one really dies in these comic things), Ward might be in line to lead this operation for Hydra.

Skye eventually makes her way down through the bottom of the city that Coulson and SHIELD discovered in recent events with the alien drawings. She and Raina, the flower dress girl who also is special like Skye, eventually find the long-lost chamber where the obelisk belongs.

When it gets activated, magic happened. The obelisk formed this misty haze that turned into a rock cocoon around Skye, Raina and Agent Trip, who wandered aimlessly down the chamber behind Skye in an effort to save her. But because he isn't a "chosen one" like Skye and Raina, his fate becomes sealed. Personally, I thought his effort was useless. He already knew something big was going down, but he was way too overzealous in trying to help. He kind of deserved to die. Which is sad, because his character never truly got fleshed out, anyway. Maybe this why?

When the rock cocoon breaks, there is a sublime moment of realization. Skye is different. She feels different. When she sees that Trip tried to save her, she had a moment of sorrow, then took her new superpowers for a spin. It became apparent that Skye is no more. She is now Daisy/Quake. It'll be interesting to see how she adapts to her new situation and how much the character will change.

The directing and special effects for this scene were great considering the limitations of a television budget. The slow-motion camerawork, the close-ups, it all captured the scene's essence quite nicely.

Much like a Marvel movie would do, there was a post-credit scene of sorts. A mysterious man with no eyes revealed that there was at least one more piece of the obelisk, and that he was able to touch it, as well. All things are pointing to the Inhumans, the bi-product of experiments the Kree did on humanity thousands of years ago. Inhumans undoubtedly will become a staple in the Marvel movies (hopefully Skye/Daisy/Quake does, too), and viewers of "Agents of SHIELD" will continue to be rewarded even further.