The holiday season approaches, and while folks pull decorations out of the back of the closet, search for the perfect gift, and put party dates on their calendars, the television networks try to hold onto our attention for a day or two more by bringing their fall story arcs to a close—usually with some big dramatic moment, or in the case of superhero and SF shows, some sort of shooting, explosions, flames, or earth-shattering kaboom. And Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is no different. Especially when it comes to this Winter Finale, at least in the flame department. Tonight’s episode is called “The Laws of Inferno Dynamics” and the synopsis from ABC promised we would see “S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ghost Rider find[ing] themselves unlikely allies when the lives of all of Los Angeles hang in the balance.”
[Only Agents who are cleared to observe SPOILERS should proceed beyond this point!]
The Season So Far
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. started this season with a new guest star, Ghost Rider, and a whole new status quo to establish. The previous season had wrapped up a lot of plot threads: Grant Ward was dead, Hydra and Hive defeated, and Fitz and Simmons were finally together. The movies Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War had introduced a registration system for super-powered individuals with the ratification of the Sokovia Accords. And we knew going in that Coulson would no longer be Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I had originally seen the addition of Ghost Rider as a gimmick to boost ratings. But regardless of why he was added to the show, I thought the execution was very good. He and Daisy came together in a way that did not seem forced, due to their vigilante efforts pursuing the Watchdog hate group. Gabriel Luna deserves credit for a strong and sympathetic portrayal of his character. The introduction of magic as a manipulation of other dimensions and devices that we don’t understand was a good introduction of ideas from Doctor Strange into the scientific setting of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And the show cleverly tied the new ideas to the “Zero Matter” that was the McGuffin during Season Two of Agent Carter, which brought Peggy to L.A.
I also enjoyed the introduction of Jeffrey Mace, the new Director, into the fold. At first he seemed menacing and buffoonish at the same time, his dialogue studded with management consultant platitudes. But over time, I have come to believe that he is a good man who is in over his head, without real knowledge of how to lead, and trapped—giving in to blackmail from both the mysterious Senator Nadeer and Jemma Simmons (my wife, however, remains convinced that he is a bad guy).
While Daisy’s transformation into a guilt-driven vigilante didn’t feel very convincing to me, I eventually grew used to the idea, and her interactions with Robbie (aka Ghost Rider) were very well acted, and the scenes played very well.
Coulson is finally back in his element: a senior agent in charge of a team in the field. His clashes with Mace add some tension to the proceedings, and it’s been interesting to see him use the new powers that Radcliffe has built into his artificial hand, including the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo energy shield that was introduced last season. His continued personal loyalty to his old team is very compelling, but also shows some of the flaws that kept him from effectively leading the entire organization.
Agent May has not been well served this season. She did get infected by a ghost spirit, requiring Radcliffe to stop and then restart her heart to “reboot” her system. There were some good scenes between May and Coulson when he was trapped between dimensions, but she did not get a lot of meaningful screen time, and she is too good a character to be left on the shelf.
Fitz and Simmons are finally a couple, but the writers continue to pull them apart. Instead of externally generated drama, I would be happier to see them navigating the challenges of maintaining a normal relationship in an abnormal profession.
Doctor Radcliffe is a fun character, and a source of chaos that can drive many adventures. I enjoy his friendship with Fitz, who is fascinated by his brilliance, but horrified by his recklessness. And AIDA, especially now that she has absorbed the knowledge of the Darkhold book, looks like she will be a major driver for the plot going forward.
The big winner this season is Mack, whose role has grown larger over time. With his trademark shotgun axe, he has become the backbone of the team, their moral compass, and one of my favorite characters on the show. He also gets some of the best lines with his sardonic comments as they encounter the improbable, again and again.
Season 4, Episode 8: “The Laws of Inferno Dynamics”
Uncle Eli’s gang of criminals interrupts him in the middle of working on something mysterious with demands for payment. So he fills the lungs of one of the loudest complainers with diamonds, and the rest decide to follow orders. Mace takes a call from a reporter on scene where the gang is surrounded, and after fussing about his appearance, he authorizes Coulson to use all assets he can, including Robbie, Daisy, Yo-Yo, and AIDA, but he wants Daisy kept out of sight; he also sends May to fetch AIDA. Yo-Yo enters the building where Eli and his gang are holed up to do recon, and the place bursts into flames. Even with her speed power, she barely escapes alive.
Radcliffe is called on the carpet in front of Mace, defending his actions in constructing AIDA. But Mace is more interested in the Darkhold book used to save Coulson in the last episode, and wants Radcliffe to help get it. Outside the warehouse, Mack and Yo-Yo bicker. Robbie heads into the warehouse, wired for sight and sound. He beats up a couple of gang members, and then sees what Eli was working on; some sort of huge quantum battery. Robbie goes in to investigate when Eli confronts him. He starts to transform into Ghost Rider, but Eli skewers him with a carbon knife. The team discovers that Eli has created an atomic bomb as a fail-safe—it’s not just the warehouse that’s in danger.
Eli can’t figure out why Robbie isn’t dead yet. He asks how Robbie became the Ghost Rider. Robbie says that he and Gabe were victims of Eli’s actions, and asks Eli to explain himself. Eli was angry at the way the rest of the scientific team treated him, and says he did it for respect. And now, he says, he is becoming a god. Robbie warns that a devil is coming for him, and tries to change into Ghost Rider, but Eli hits him with another carbon skewer. Radcliffe and AIDA show up on scene with Mace, with the interdimensional gate in tow.
Mace wants to show the public the Director in action. Daisy has new gauntlets, and is also ready for action. Fitz and Simmons bicker, while Mace tasks Yo-Yo with sneaking into the building and removing the plutonium from the atomic bomb. Mack says the idea is stupid, and finally tells Yo-Yo he cares for her, and Simmons tells Daisy that the Director is in league with Senator Nadeer. Fitz figures out that the matter Eli “creates” is actually coming from somewhere else. Mace and Coulson bicker about who is in charge, and Coulson reveals that he knows about Senator Nadeer. Mace is glum, his team isn’t “a team that trusts.” Coulson reminds him that a bomb that can blow up half of L.A. is what is important.
Meanwhile, Eli is graduating to compounds—he can make water. Coulson walks into the room, and calls Eli a petty thief. Eli says he saw Agent Coulson vaporized, asks how he survived, and Coulson makes a quip about being dead before. Downstairs, Daisy quakes bad guys, and AIDA sets up the portal directly below the quantum battery. Coulson asks Eli why he’s torturing his nephew, and tells him that he is really just stealing power from another dimension: he is still nothing but a petty thief. Eli doesn’t believe him. Coulson tries to talk Eli out of his plan, but then realizes that Eli isn’t using the bomb as a threat: he is planning to set it off. Robbie finally completes his transformation into the Ghost Rider. May and Mack burst in and take out gang members, while Yo-Yo helps out at super speed. Mace is there, too, in a cool-looking superhero suit.
AIDA opens the interdimensional gateway. Daisy is buckling under the strain of keeping things from shaking apart. AIDA is shot, and hurt. Eli is finally being consumed by the Ghost Rider, and bursting into flame, when the quantum battery disappears. It looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. has won. It turns out that AIDA is programmed to look like a hurt human when shot, and to feel pain, so that she can act as an effective decoy. Daisy quakes her way high into the atmosphere to check things out, but lands amidst reporters. Mace steps in front of her and tells the press that she is still a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and asks her to go along with his story.
Daisy and Coulson are in the Zephyr’s cargo bay, looking at Robbie’s car. Coulson says not to count Robbie out yet, as the other Ghost Rider survived worse in the past. He then asks Daisy to rejoin the team. She doesn’t like the rules and regulations, but she misses her team members. Coulson says he wishes Daisy was the Inhuman face of S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of Mace, but she snorts, “Maybe in the comic version,” which is an in-joke for comic readers, who know that, yes, that happened. Back at the base, Mack and Yo-Yo bicker, and she starts putting him down again, but then he kisses her, and she doesn’t seem to mind. Everyone gathers in the conference room; the team is together again, and Daisy gets a new official lanyard. Mace tells Radcliffe his research can continue, but only under S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance. Mace sends an agent with AIDA to pick up all of Radcliffe’s stuff, and as he packs it, a door opens. The agent looks in, and AIDA sneaks up behind him and murders the agent with almost no apparent effort.
In the stinger, AIDA goes to the door where she killed the agent, and stoops to render aid to a wounded Agent May. The May currently with the team is an LMD. She and Coulson finally share their whiskey, and she says she is right where she belongs. Coulson doesn’t realize it, but his bonding moment has been totally ruined.
In the preview for the next episode, a new arc called “LMD,” we find that AIDA has gone completely off the reservation, and there is lots of punching and explosions (come to think of it, when isn’t there lots of punching and explosions?). And, we also got an ad for a new six-part digital series, called Slingshot, available December 13 on ABC’s streaming service: while she’s been away from the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., it turns out that Yo-Yo has been busy on her own special mission!
Alan Brown has been a science fiction fan for five decades, especially science fiction that deals with military matters, exploration and adventure. He is also a retired reserve officer with a background in military history and strategy.
I loved the little reference to Philip K. Dick.
Are you sure Daisy went up to “check things out”? I was confused by what happened there.
Okay, now I’m confused. I thought that Eli was pulling matter from the earth beneath which was causing all the earth tremors Daisy felt.
@1 I read elsewhere on the web that Daisy launched herself into the air to bleed off excessive quake powers that were building up. Which makes more sense than my theory. I freely admit that I got a little confused there at the end about which device was exactly doing what, and things were winking in and out of existence.
@2: I’m not sure if Eli was pulling matter per se, but he could have been pulling matter or energy (they’re equivalent because E=mc^2). Either way, if the source was under LA, that could cause the quakes (I guess; the mechanics of that are probably best left unexplained).
I just noticed that I have to check the box which affirms that I am not a robot. Perhaps Mace should have had one of these for AIDA.
The confrontation between Coulson and Mace was long overdue, but I’m a tad irritated that Mace is the one that bemoans the lack of trust, and no one threw back in his face that he hasn’t done much to foster that trust. He loves to say his little ‘team that trusts” catchphrase but he demands daily polygraph tests, hyper compartmentalization (which I get to some degree in a spy agency). I’ve been on the fence about Mace since he showed up. I think he’s a good guy, just a “political animal” like Coulson said. I just wish the big confrontation had blown off more steam.
A quibble: Coulson’s reference to “the other” Ghost Rider is not about the “good Samaritan” on the chopper who gave Robbie the Spirit of Vengeance. Coulson is referencing Mack. When they were trapped between dimensions, Robbie was getting “sucked down” first, so the SOV jumped from Robbie to Mack. Mack escaped limbo while still possessed, so he was the Ghost Rider for part of an episode.
I agree Daisy wasn’t trying to check things out but had been absorbing the energy from the earthquakes she was preventing and needed to release that stored energy as it was hurting? her. Releasing it catapulted her very high and was uncontrolled, hence she didn’t really pick her landing spot.
I agree with @7 Jennifer on Daisy’s motivations, though I do agree with those who have said it wasn’t very clear. They had so much to wrap up and so little time. Having her line be “This is too much, I have to release it!” instead of a vague “This is too much, I have to get out…” might have made it more clear (but rings a bit cheesy, so maybe that’s why they didn’t do that).
I don’t think Eli was pulling anything from below, he was pulling it from the other dimension that the Darkhold Instruction Manual™ told him how to access. The earthquakes were “rumblings of space-time” or some other magic/science mumbo jumbo.
I didn’t think Coulson was referring to Mack when he said that bit about another Ghost Rider – I think it’s a tease to make us wonder if we’re supposed to consider Nic Cage’s Ghost Rider as part of the MCU or not. :)
Prediction time. I believe AIDA is still “good” (or believes she is acting in a “good” way) but believes strongly that her mission is to protect SHIELD field agents. Her logical mind has determined that the best way to keep them safe is to incapacitate them and replace them with LMDs. She killed Nathanson because he’s not a field agent and his discovery of RealMay jeopardizes AIDA’s overall mission.
Your lamentation about Ming Na Wen not getting enough screen time for the Fall Season is accurate. I imagine that will be made up for quite heavily as we’ll be seeing a lot of FakeMay. The teaser banner for the Winter Season seems to indicate it, at any rate.
All in all, quite a wild ride of a Fall Season. The ending seemed a little lackluster and rushed, but the YoYo scene was cool (if a little too reminiscent of the Quicksilver sequences of the last two X-Men movies). I’m looking forward to streaming YoYo’s mission when that is available.
@6: Disagree. While Coulson does know enough to call Mack “the other Ghost Rider”, in context, it doesn’t work, because the quote was “You think Robbie will make it back?” “The last Ghost Rider did.” “Huh?” “Long story.” Mack didn’t make it back there, the demon jumped from trapped Robbie to untrapped Mack, but if Mack was the last Ghost Rider, he didn’t make it back from anything like that. So I’m pretty sure that’s a hint that Coulson knew a bit more about Ghost Riders in general (even if, since he seemed pretty ignorant of it before, it was from some subsequent research into old files)
Alan, I agree with your wife that Mace is not a bad guy. This was a good mid-season finale. I loved how Gemma mentioned Agent Koenig when giving Daisy her lanyard. My worst problem with the episode is having AIDA go evil. That is waaay too cliché, even for me.
@1/3 – It was clear to me from the episode that Daisy skyrocketed to bleed off the accumulated quake power she had absorbed while minimizing Eli’s work.
@6 – rm: I’m pretty sure Coulson spoke of the previous Ghost Rider, he’s someone who would know about these things.
@8 – Kalvin: Yes, they clearly spelled out that Eli was pulling matter/energy from another dimension, and that was causing the tremors.
@8: This kind of things happens in almost all stories about AI: they’re given a mission and accomplish it literally in a way that make it look like they’ve turned evil (and their eyes have become red, as per standards AI regulations). The goal of LMD is to replace agents in dangerous situation, and the agents do a dangerous work, so of course they’re going to be completely replaced. It’s nice that Aida still regretted having to kill Nathanson though.
Daisy and Elena are the only ones with powers (I guess there’s also Joey, somewhere?), and thus the only ones who are going to be hard to replace. Aida’s intelligence proves that she could easily replace Fitz and Simmons for quite a long time; she couldn’t replicate their creativity, but that should be enough to fool most people for a while. As for Coulson, this just amounts to replacing his arm prosthetics with a full body prosthetics: a major upgrade!
I agree with much of what others said:
Definitely agree that Daisy had absorbed too much quake energy keeping the cavern stable for AIDA to do her work, and had to release it. She’s not accomplished enough with that use of her power to control it very well though.
Agree with KalvinKingsley @8, the Yoyo scene was veeeeerrrry reminiscent of the Quicksilver scenes from DoFP and Apocalypse (in fact, a little too much like that; wasn’t her power established as being able to go as far as she could in the time of a single heartbeat, then being snapped back? Was all that intended to have been in the course of a single heartbeat?), but still enjoyable all the same. Also good to see Coulson adapt so quickly to having the gun placed in his hand.
It was good to see Mace in action, the suit looked like a beefed up version of Captain America’s suit from Winter Soldier. Have they given detail on what exactly his power is? Or is it just super strength? Agree that he’s probably on the good side, just a little out of his league.
Coulson’s line to Daisy gives me hope that we might see Robbie again. Definitely looking forward to seeing where they go with the LMD story this spring.
@5 re Coulson and Mace’s confrontation: Since this is just a mid-season finale, I was content to see their argument end inconclusively–there are still a lot of shows to go, and one of the good things about this season has been the tension of Coulson and his field agents versus Mace and his suit-wearing minions.
@8 You’re right, this new plotline solves the problem of Agent May not getting enough screen time. It looks like Coulson may be ready to go in the direction the Philinda shippers want to go, without knowing he has the wrong person (er, maybe, entity) as the objects of his affections. And could we have a newly hatched artificial person attempting to navigate the complexities of a romantic relationship? Romance and mistaken identities are a time honored tradition in theater, and wonderful source of both comedy and tragedy.
@11 Let’s hope they avoid the cliché of evil red eyes on the LMDs! I happen to love LMDs, and they have driven many a good plotline in SHIELD comics since they appeared in the very first SHIELD adventure back in Strange Tales #135.
One example of good LMD adventures is the six issue graphic novel series, Nick Fury Versus S.H.I.E.L.D., which appeared in 1988, and was some of the best stuff since the issues Jim Steranko produced back in the mid-1960s. Unfortunately, it is probably hard to find these days, but the sense of paranoia is palpable as Nick deals with an organization gone rotten, with some of his oldest friends seemingly turned against him. Because of the new LMD plotline on the TV show, I decided to read it again lately, and not only got a lot of background on LMDs, I found a lot of themes that ended up in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I have a feeling the writers of CA:TWS read that series in gathering background for the movie.
For those interested in more background on this episode, over on the Comic Alliance site, their review of this SHIELD episode mentioned a real-world device that looks like it inspired Uncle Eli’s device. Go to Wikipedia and search for “demon core” and you will see something very similar to what Uncle Eli created.
And finally, what do you guys think of the Slingshot mini-series? They did a good job keeping that secret, and I for one am looking forward to it.
An interesting fall finale. However, the Canadian simulcast of the episode did not include the winter teaser nor any reference to Slingshot. I will have to check CTV’s website to see if it will be available, as we are usually barred from US network sites’ contents.
@13: Yes, I too recently reread my copy of Nick Fury Versus SHIELD. This has me concerned as to whether there might already be one or more LMDs in place. Shall we all get a little more paranoid next month?
Mace and Coulson bicker about who is in charge, and Coulson reveals that he knows about Senator Nadeer. Mace is glum, his team isn’t “a team that trusts.”
This was the best scene of the whole episode, and completely validated everything Mace has done this season.
Daisy quakes her way high into the atmosphere to check things out, but lands amidst reporters.
I thought she was shaking apart trying to hold in all the seismic energy she was absorbing from her gauntlets, so had to let it out.
@@.-@ Sophist, I thought the box Eli created was just a larger version of the ones that imprisoned the ghosts. Their function is to trap matter from other dimensions. What I think is interesting is where did the resulting explosion go. THAT’S the story I want to see, the impact of this on other dimensions.
@5 cbb, to be fair to Mace, he has every reason to believe that Coulson’s failure to capture Daisy is feigned, which gives him motive to not want to foster trust. The fact that Coulson was genuinely trying to capture her, when subsequent actions indicate otherwise(the infiltration at the prison) just exacerbates the situation. Mace was perfectly entitled to read the situation the way he had. Especially when you consider he was also just learning that Coulson’s pet mad scientist invented an android.
There is still the mystery about Mace’s backstory that Simmons deduced he was hiding something about. I still wonder if it’s whether Mace is really an Inhuman.
I also wondered when it was stated Mace would go into the fight, if he would wield Cap’s shield, since it’s with Tony who is Sokovia compliant.
I definitely agree we will be getting double duty Ming-Na Wen next season, so that makes up for thin development this season.
While I can agree that AIDA appears to be taking her directives to the logical conclusion, we have also seen that the Darkhold(which MACE NOW KNOWS ABOUT!!!) has shown her how to upgrade herself. So we have the potential here for a really COOL story. At this point, AIDA’s actions demonstrate she isn’t self-actualized yet. She has no sense that what she’s done to May is WRONG, that she is denying her agency. But AIDA has no agency, so it’s easy to see why she’s not comprehending that. With the potential of designing a “true” brain, she(or May-Da[?]) could actually evolve to a point where the realize how their actions are wrong, and they can be redeemed. I like that a lot more than “technology is going to kill us all”.
That makes a lot of sense.
@15 It would be fun to see beings from the dark dimension coming to our world to get revenge for the explosion that was set off. And like you, I am looking forward with great anticipation to what AIDA will do next.
I definitely doubt Mace is an Inhuman, have from the start.
@AlanBrown Will you be doing any posts about the 6-part Slingshot deal? I watched it last week and it was pretty cool, though I didn’t really understand why it had to be done in 6 parts instead of 1 half-hour-ish episode, but I’ll take whatever AoS I can get!
Really missing Agent Carter right now…
Oh, it’s out already, cool.
@19 No post planned until the show comes back after the winter break, but in that post, I plan to give a quick recap of the Slingshot episodes in addition to reviewing the start of the new LMD arc.
Haven’t seen Slingshot yet, but definitely looking forward to it.