Welcome back to my weekly coverage of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD! To catch up on previous coverage click here.
The new director was introduced, Ghost Rider saves the day, and Agent May has gone insane. Those are just a couple of the events that took place in this packed second episode to Season 4.
Daisy continued to confront Robbie Reyes in order to get him talking about himself, his abilities, and the reason why he fulfills his need to get vengeance. This is the side of Daisy that I’ve often forgotten she has in that she possesses hacking skills and already has been on the run for most of her life. This new status quo for her isn’t so much new as it is a reset. Her ability to track Reyes and get all of that information about him is probably just scratching the surface of what she can accomplish, but it was particularly effective in getting Reyes to shed some of his guard; or at the very least provoke him to attack.
I’m quite surprised that Daisy continues to push herself. The injuries that her powers cause her appear to be quite drastic and painful and yet she shrugs it off, willing to let it hinder her even further. I’m curious to see what her breaking point will be. Right now it seems she’ll keep pushing it until her arm literally falls off. It was nice to see Daisy run into Fitz and Mack so early into the season. I felt for sure that there was going to be an effort placed towards keeping her isolated from her friends on the show for the long term. I’m glad that wasn’t the case as we had a tender moment between Mack and Daisy, and subsequently a slightly hostile one between her and Fitz. I was really impressed with Fitz and his ability to express his displeasure for Daisy’s choices. He is taking her leaving as a betrayal and I wouldn’t be surprised if the viewpoint he vocalized is shared by almost the entire team. Fitz has gone through such an incredible amount of growth since his accident at the end of season 1 and I’m happy those experiences have caused him to become bolder and more confident in his own opinions and in his ability to contribute to the team.
It seems like my fears from last week were unfounded. We found out a bit more about this new spiritual threat that is coming out of those canisters and it was enough to satisfy my curiosity for at least until next week. We still don’t know the circumstances but these spirits have been trapped in these boxes for a long time and by an unknown party. The hints point to Ghost Rider, and while I’m starting to be convinced that is true, I need a little more concrete proof that is the case. The fact that as soon as Robbie heard Daisy tell him that those canisters were compromised, he sprung into action, was indicative of his connection to these spirits. Also, Ghost Rider’s saving of Fitz to take care of that spirit was pretty kick ass. It also conveniently made it so Fitz and Mack couldn’t get any new answers.
In regards to the spirits themselves, my guess is that they are the spirits of those people he killed before he killed those gang members in front of Daisy in the premiere. It’ll be interesting to see what their plan is. Yes, they did mention killing the person that did this to them, but it can’t be that simple. Whatever their abilities are it has something to do with coming into physical contact with a human. The effect is being demonstrated through May.
May is in rough shape. Initially it seemed like her training and expertise were going to allow her to ignore the visions she is seeing and eventually work to fixing whatever is wrong with her. Well I could not have been more wrong myself. This illness consumed her. And now she is being carted off to who knows where under the new director’s orders. Right now I’m liking this direction for May. She is a very strong and guarded character that rides on her strengths in the field. Whatever this contact with the spirit did to her, it is taking away her confidence and her sanity.
Speaking of the new director, he made his debut! Jason O’Mara did a great job in putting forth a good impression. His performance made me both respect and despise his character at the same time. His position that Coulson be removed from the May and Daisy situation infuriated me, because from my perspective Coulson’s bias towards those two is exactly what allows him to succeed in situations related to them. On the other hand, though, I do see the Director’s perspective. Coulson can sometimes act irrationally as evidenced by his covert mission with Mack to bring in Daisy for good.
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The Director’s name is Jeffery Mace who in this episode we found out is an Inhuman himself. The only power we saw on hand was super strength and a lack of vulnerability to physical harm. When Coulson and other agents couldn’t get May to stand down, Mace came in and forced her too by knocking her out. May couldn’t make a dent. That was a twist I was not expecting but it is certainly an interesting one especially since Mace directly referenced the absence of Captain America after the events of Civil War and, after some research online, that in the comic books Jeffery Mace is also know as the hero The Patriot. On his own, that title doesn’t mean much, but what is interesting is that The Patriot once took on the mantle of Captain America during the time in which Steve Rogers was frozen in ice. So while it is unlikely that Jeffery Mace will become the Captain America of this show and don the shield and costume, it is cool to know that we have someone like Cap among this group.
Episode Rating: 8/10
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