Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4 (Ghost Rider) episodes 4-5 review - Let me stand next to your fire/Lockup

Once again we return to Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider

Let me stand next to your fire

Actually, I’d rather not thanks

So, today the threat of the Lucy and the Ghosts is rather in the background (again) whilst we get the plotline for Robbie joining up with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Daisy rejoining up with S.H.I.E.L.D.

On Daisy’s side the watchdogs are back and as usual they’re pretty much cannon fodder. They have little sense of leadership that would make them a legitimate threat, even if they do have inside intel from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the ability to co-ordinate schemes like the one from last episode. Sure, Nadeer could be involved but she’s not in this episode so…

Speaking of their inside intel, turns out James, the guy with the fire powers from the last season who provided some decent comedy if nothing else totally hates the idea of being an inhuman after spending most of last season pining for it… You just can’t please some people and has joined forces with the watchdogs which they’ve agreed to for some reason.

But the interesting bits of this episode are happening on the other side as Robbie Reyes and Coulson finally meet since they both want information out of his uncle about the ghosts. Turns out they were created when they attempted to manufacture a quantum field generator using instructions from the book of all evil aka the Darkhold, which many important people have sought after and only these random people managed to find it.

Anyway, the Chase between Coulson and Robbie was funny at the very least and the action scene at the end between Robbie and the watchdogs was pretty cool if admittedly brief.

Daisy’s drama is starting to become an annoyance. Her motivations of not relying on S.H.I.E.L.D. feel pretty flimsy at this point. I’m certain there is more to this but they seem very intent on not explaining what it is? I know that daisy’s an introverted person, I can relate but there is point where you have to sacrifice realism in characters to stop bringing the plot to a halt, this is that point.

Oh yeah, and May and Ada have a talk, no biggie. Simmons works out that Ada’s an android immediately upon seeing her (awesome btw) and the lie is exposed and now she has to lie to the director. Goody

It’s a strong episode to move things forward and bring in some old faces, I just wish the watchdogs had a proper face to them.

Rating 8/10

Lockup

It’s certainly a rough time to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent right now…

This season has thus far been an improvement over the back half of last year, the biggest problem right now to me is structure. In the first half of season 3 there were subplots but they built up progressively and I felt like things were getting more interesting with every episode. This season… not so much really

The plotlines feel very scatterbrained, to the point where I don’t know who the main villain of the story is yet. Yes, Lucy, the Darkhold and the ghost plotline seems taking focus but the problem is that since only Ghost Rider can touch them, he’s the only one who can actually engage and once he does he can kill them in two seconds. These guys are pussys for Ghost Rider and unstoppable for everyone else.

Which I guess is why the Watchdogs are still a thing. And I will grant you the action in the cafeteria is very good, even if some of the dialog got a little corny in places. But yeah, the watchdogs are there to provide the physical that people that aren’t Ghost Rider can combat.

Then we have the political villain. This episode cast a shadow over the director for telling lies to the media and it turns out he at least has connections to Nadeer, the senator that was providing information to the watchdogs possibly. Mace as director is still more concerned with holding approval ratings and leaving Coulson to do the actual threat combating. I hope we see what they’re hinting at here.

A team that trusts is a team that follows is Mace’s motto. However, a team that resorts to blackmail is a team likely to have some issues down the line. I’m looking at you Simmons and whilst I’m glad it wasn’t built on too much; I was far more impressed with her reaction to Fitz last week.

Robbie also gets a lot of focus this week, again (but his name is now a tagline, so…) as we see that he struggles to control his inner demon which lead to him not only failing the mission but also screwing himself out of answers as to who ordered a hit on him and his brother. I mean I could make a good guess but this show has played with my expectations before.

It’s a strong episode, but it particularly highlights my personal issues with the series thus far.

Rating 7.5/10

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Images/clips used are from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider All images in this review are subject to fair use