Calvin Zabo did say he wanted to reunite his family, and that dream just took a huge step towards becoming a reality. Tuesday's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. revealed that Skye's mom is alive and living in the Inhuman community known as Afterlife. Jiaying is youthful as ever, but not without some wear and tear. She has some major scratches on her face. This implies that something bad happened to her. However, despite the place being called "Afterlife," she appears to be as alive as you or me.
I'll say this too, Jiaying knows how to make an entrance. Skye and Raina were fighting in a transition room when Jiaying burst through the door and broke them up, instantly recognizable to viewers as Skye's presumed dead mother. She scolded her daughter for her bad 'tude and offered to be Skye's guide to discovering her Inhuman gifts. Poor Skye. Is anyone going to tell her that this woman gave birth to her? Hasn't she earned that by now? Jiaying then went to Cal and their reunion confirmed that Daisy is her daughter. So Dichen Lachman is definitely playing only one character, not a twin or a clone or a life model decoy.
Cal seemed pretty nonplussed to see his wife teleport into his holding cell alongside Gordon. What gives? Has she been alive this whole time? How is that possible? Did he know? What was up with his revenge mission against Daniel Whitehall if he knew his wife was, as Lincoln might put it, being kept "secret and safe" in Afterlife? Was Cal working with the Inhuman elders to bring back his wife? I didn't think that much time had passed.
This development may raise a lot of questions, but that doesn't it make it any less fantastic. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. just took Jiaying in a creative direction that was completely different from what I anticipated when we first met her earlier this season.
In Afterlife, Jiaying is a guide, which is different from transitioner, the title Lincoln Campbell has. I'm still getting used to the Inhuman hierarchy. However, if it means we'll be seeing more of Skye's mother on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I am not complaining!
Image: Eric McCandless/ABC
