Marvel Studios - 2016
Ghost Rider Arc – Part 8
Summary: 6 months have past since the events of season 3. SHIELD has been reinstated as an official government agency, but it’s still rebuilding and has a long way to go before it returns to glory. The world, however, believes Coulson dead and so a new Director is in charge. Daisy has left SHIELD and is now a vigilante working to help others while fleeing authorities. All the while a new supernatural entity has entered the ring: the Ghost Rider. This season tells of a family broken a part in need of being pieced back together.
“The Laws of Inferno Dynamics”
Directed by Kevin Tancharoen; Written by Paul Zbyszewski
[SPOILERS!!]
Review: The last seven episodes have been leading up to this: Ghost Rider vs. Eli Morrow. Only, this episodes really gives us the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. Eli Morrow. Ghost Rider is sadly sidelined for majority of the episode being pinned to a wall by Eli’s carbon spikes. It makes sense in how it plays out in the episode but really one of the less exciting things is that we barely get to see Ghost Rider and Robbie do anything.
The Laws of Inferno Dynamics focuses on S.H.I.E.L.D. laying siege to Eli’s hideout where he’s building a plutonium bomb that will destroy over half of Los Angeles. The team have to put a stop to it without accidentally igniting the explosive. There’s plenty of action and thrills to be had, but I truly was disappointed to see Robbie and the Rider pressed out of the equation for majority of it all.
Highlights however do include, but are not limited to: Daisy is now a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. again. After attempting to stay away from the team for first several episodes of the season Daisy was drug back into the equation along with Robbie after Coulson took them in. After trying to remain a secret asset in their fight against Morrow, Daisy is forced into the spotlight of cameras and reporters where Director Mace – who looks great in his new combat suit – announces that she’s been on a secret mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. this entire time.
There is an epic fight scene that sees almost everyone get involved. Yo-Yo steals the show in a Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past kind of way as we see her changing around everyone’s weapons in a really cool slow-motion scene. I’m so glad to see Yo-Yo getting some more love. She deserves it.
And then there’s the underground scene where AIDA is instrumental in creating another interdimensional portal that sends Robbie/Rider and Eli into the abyss. I’m sure we’ll see Robbie again, especially after Coulson mentions to Daisy that “the last Ghost Rider” was able to escape an interdimensional plane. Of course that begs the question of how Coulson got that information and why he never chose to share it with the class until now.
I hope we get to see “the last Ghost Rider” and especially Robbie again.
Mace and Coulson get into a fight that sees all their cards laid out on the table and coming to a mutual understanding in the roles the two of them now play. I really enjoyed that, and I hope from this point moving forward Mace and Coulson can work more closely together. Although it was to see the two of them play mind games for a short while I think now is the time to make them truly a team that trusts and triumphs together.
Finally, Coulson tells Mace about AIDA being an android and this leads to Mace confronting Radcliffe about his LMD project. Rather than see AIDA put out, Mace decides to bring Radcliffe, AIDA and their lab to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to be supervised. After sending Nathan B. Nathanson to Radcliffe’s lab to pack up all his things, AIDA kills Nathan after he learns her secret.
It’s revealed that AIDA has been keeping May under sedation for an unknown period of time and that the May we’ve been seeing, possibly over the last few episodes, has been an LMD created by AIDA to infiltrate the team. How long this has been going on and how it fits into the current timeline of the events of the show has yet to remain seen.
I was also sad that we didn’t get a crossover with Doctor Strange, perhaps with Wong showing up to take the Darkhold back from S.H.I.E.L.D. which is still in their possession. We may still get one yet but it would’ve been nice to see regardless.
With this opening arc closed out there are still some loose ends that need tying up. One of them is leading to be probably a big part of the final third of this season, I’m sure. The others I’m not so sure about yet:
- Senator Nadeer’s brother whom she black-mailed Mace into getting him to get Jemma to help the guy break out of his terrigen cocoon. What’s that all about? - This one we’ll easily see again by the end of this season.
- What happened to the Watchdogs? The season opens with Ghost Rider taking out some of their thugs and the first few episodes are spent with Daisy trying to take them out as well. After the episode with the prison break we haven’t heard anything else from them. I was rather happy to see them taking on a bigger role this season but perhaps they won’t after all? We’ll see…
- Episode one ended with May being strapped to a plane and being sent off with a bunch of big wigs to a destination still unknown. Only to be brought back into the fold the very next episode. Is this when May was switched? Is Radcliffe not the only one studying the LMD project? This is really the biggest secret I want an answer to: where did she go at the end of episode 1?
- Now that Daisy is seen once again as an official member of S.H.I.E.L.D. to public, what will Nadeer do about her video footage of the prison break involving both Daisy and Robbie? I mean, Robbie is no nowhere to be seen but that doesn’t necessarily mean she can’t use the footage of them working with a known killer against him still… right? Or am I missing something? This is a subplot point that will probably get swept under the rug.
I’m very interested to see where the season progresses from here as we move into an LMD storyline. I sure hope it will be a good one. I know we never got Jocasta with Ultron in Age of Ultron, but AIDA is definitely a good substitute.
We’re also getting a surprising web-series called Slingshot that will be 6-episodes long an focus on Yo-Yo in a secret mission which makes me very happy. Harkening back to I’m glad she’s getting the love she deserves, I think this web-series will be a lot of fun. I’ll definitely be covering it here.
Well, see you again in January when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 returns. We’ve still got a lot of story to cover and I look forward to it all.
Final Score: 3.5 Testy Plutonium Bombs out of 5
Derrick is a born and raised otaku with a love for comics, anime, manga and movies. The full list is pretty long, but that’s just the basics. Stories set in space are his bread and butter.
You can find more of his writing at IndieComix.net
@KazekunForever