How resourceful is Director Coulson at this point?

Question

In the recent episode S02E19 of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Director Coulson needed to infiltrate a HYDRA base to obtain some intel (and, rescue some supernaturals).

So, he surrendered himself to Robert so that he could convince the Real S.H.I.E.L.D. for the mission (at the cost of Fury's cube). They were going to provide agents and back-end support.

But, why was it needed? Director Coulson was free and he had Fury's cube. He had lost only one base. He was director of S.H.I.E.L.D. which was spread throughout the world. Why couldn't he simply pick another base to get agents and support?

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Just after his base was attacked and he became free, why didn't he attacked his base to gain its control again? What was the point of inviting them to Banner's safe house type rat things? I mean, he was the director of the S.H.I.E.L.D. How could a small rebel alliance strip him out of power?

Answer 1

Coulson is far more resourceful than he appears. In fact, as of the end of S02E19 we find that he

still has the backing of Maria Hill & Nick Fury.

We also see that he used his own team for the HYDRA infiltration, and did not use any resources provided by Gonzales. We can assume that Coulson involved Gonzales for three reasons:

• Coulson's plan required the use of The Bus, which was in Gonzales' possession
• Surrendering to Gonzales allowed Coulson access to his team members May & Simmons
• Surrendering to Gonzales allowed Coulson access to Gonzales' base & computers