Turn, Turn, Turn (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

In March 2014, Marvel revealed that the seventeenth episode would be titled "Turn, Turn, Turn", and would be written by executive producers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, with Vincent Misiano directing.[1] The triple "turn" in the title refers to Hydra, Garrett, and Ward.[2]^:7:19

On the stakes of the overarching story at this point, executive producer Jeffrey Bell said, "if you look at a 22 episode season as a movie, we’re in the 3rd act of the movie. And from here on, its just full on action and urgency and momentum, and sometimes it takes awhile to set everything up, but we think we’re going to bring all those dominoes together really nicely for here through [episode] 22."[3] Whedon explained that from the start, the writers knew the Hydra twist would need to have "a personal price to it" either with a death or a turn. Supervising producer Brent Fletcher felt it would have been "disingenuous" if a member of Coulson's team did not turn out to be Hydra, and added there was greater impact revealing it in this episode opposed to in the final episode of the season.[4]^:162

Brett Dalton first learned of his character Grant Ward's allegiance to Hydra during the shooting of "Yes Men", when the executive producers and writers told him of the twist, on which he said, "I just sat there with my jaw open for the next 20 minutes, and they just did all of the talking because I couldn’t say anything. It was a huge turn. I didn’t see any of that coming, so I was just shock [sic] for about the next day. Then it sank in and I started to think wow, what a cool opportunity. Because the Ward I thought I was going to be playing for the next few seasons, the whole thing just changed....I think it fulfilled a promise of his past. We got from the very beginning, [when] he’s talking to Coulson about how he has a troubled past and the whole revelation that he doesn’t play well with others. [In "The Hub"], we get bits and pieces of this troubled past. This delivers on it in an interesting way that nobody sees coming."[5]

In March 2014, Marvel revealed that main cast members Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge would star as Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Grant Ward, Skye, Leo Fitz, and Jemma Simmons, respectively.[1] It was also revealed that the guest cast for the episode would include Bill Paxton as Agent Garrett, Saffron Burrows as Victoria Hand, Christine Adams as Agent Weaver, B.J. Britt as Agent Triplett, Charles Halford as Agent Shaw, James Macdonald as Agent Jacobson, Dayo Ade as Agent Barbour, Kylie Furneaux as Agent Shade, Alex Daniels as Agent Chaimson, Braden Moran as Agent Jones, Cameron Diskin as Agent Baylin.[1] Halford, Furneaux, Daniels, Moran, and Diskin did not receive guest star credit in the episode. Paxton, Burrows, Adams, Britt, and Halford reprise their roles from earlier in the series.[6][7][8]

Filming occurred from January 30 to February 7, 2014.[4]^:161

For the episode, composer Bear McCreary had to make sense of several character themes that he had created throughout the first season. The Centipede theme, also known as the Clairvoyant theme, was introduced in the pilot episode to represent the Centipede organisation and its mysterious leader. With the introduction of Paxton as John Garrett in "T.A.H.I.T.I.", McCreary wrote a Garrett theme representing his "cocky, confident and...militaristic energy". When "Turn, Turn, Turn" reveals that Garrett is actually the Clairvoyant, McCreary "had a bit of a thematic mess on my hands. The Clairvoyant Theme and the Garrett Theme are completely musically dissimilar, and are now representing the same person! Complicating matters, up to this point in the episode, every mention of Hydra was being accompanied by quotations of the Big S.H.I.E.L.D. (or Victoria Hand) Theme, because she was the target of Coulson’s suspicions. From the moment Garrett admits he is loyal to Hydra I had to make sense of these themes and redefine the musical rules moving forward." McCreary decided to essentially retire the Big S.H.I.E.L.D. theme (introduced in "The Hub"), helped by the fact that Hand is killed in the episode. McCreary then made the Centipede/Clairvoyant theme serve as the theme for Hydra, given that organisation's introduction in this episode and its ties to Centipede and Garrett in the story. Garrett's theme continues to represent that character in scenes just about him, with McCreary finding "Paxton’s performance after being revealed as the Clairvoyant [to be] even more fun and energetic. So, his theme still fits him perfectly, it just shows us a different side of his personality."[9]

McCreary also introduced a new melody, "a simple piece for guitar and rhythm section", in the scene where Garrett and the other members of Hydra are taken away while the series' main and recurring characters react to the revelation of their betrayal. On the piece McCreary said, "I’m not sure we’re going to hear this melody again, so I haven’t even bothered to give it a name. It works so well in this singular moment." For the final scenes, in which Ward reveals his true allegiance by killing Hand, McCreary used only "deep, horrifying synth tones", as he and the producers did not want to "clutter these scenes with themes, melodies or emotions. We just wanted to emphasize the pure shock, and leave the audience feeling dazed at this final unexpected turn."[9]

Because the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier depicts the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D. following the revelation that the terrorist group Hydra has infiltrated the former, the episode and those following it are significantly affected by it, showing the series' characters dealing with this turn of events themselves. Executive producer Jeph Loeb noted that "It's an extremely unique experience that doesn't exist anywhere else out there in the entertainment business."[10] The episode also reveals that a device, dubbed the "Mouse Hole" here, that was used by several characters in the film was created prior to the start of the series by the character Leo Fitz.[11]

"Turn, Turn, Turn" was first aired in the United States on ABC on April 8, 2014.[12]

Beginning with the episode "T.A.H.I.T.I.", all episodes leading up to the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the series' crossover with that film were marketed as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Uprising.[13] For the final six episodes, Marvel began the "Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Art of Level Seven" initiative, in which a different image was released each Thursday before a new episode, depicting a first look at a key event from the upcoming episode. Bell stated that the initiative was a way to tie the series back to its comics roots, and was thought of at the beginning of the season. The production team tried to pair specific artists to the teaser posters based on their previous work and how it connected to the themes and emotion of the intended episode.[3]

The poster for "Turn, Turn, Turn", created by Mike del Mundo, depicts a maze forming the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo and show title, with a rat inside, hinting ominously at S.H.I.E.L.D.’s corruption and a possible traitor.[3] Del Mundo said the idea for the poster "was to tell the story of mistrust, confusion and S.H.I.E.L.D. being compromised without giving away too much". Including the rat helped to tell "that part of the story" without spoiling the episode's events.[4]^:158 Bell added that from the previous episode "the team came to some realizations and conclusions where we think it's a high level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and so the idea of S.H.I.E.L.D. being a maze and that there’s a rat in the maze and no one trusting anyone...[does] a great job of capturing that."[3]

The episode, along with the rest of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first season, was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 9, 2014. Bonus features include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel.[14] On November 20, 2014, the episode became available for streaming on Netflix.[15]

In the United States the episode received a 1.9/6 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.9 percent of all households, and 6 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 5.37 million viewers.[12]

In June 2016, IGN ranked the episode as the seventh best in the series.[16]