After last week’s premiere episode of the 4th season of Agents of SHIELD, we were left with a lot of questions and possibilities. And, truthfully, there are many times when this show has slow played and dragged a plotline along slowly. Is that going to be the case this season?
A Recap of Agents of SHIELD Episode 402: Meet the New Boss
First, at SHIELD HQ, May and Coulson eventually meet the new director. Coulson and Jeffrey clearly know each other. There is some talk about Coulson’s unapproved tracking of Daisy but the Director seems quick to forgive. May is still infected and seeing ghosts versions of people while Coulson is recruited to be a part of a tour of the base, which is necessary for their funding as an agency.
May eventually makes her way to the infected gang member, who freaks out and begins smashing his own head against his containment cell wall repeatedly before Simmons tranquilizes him with some gas. But May runs away before Simmons can talk to her, and eventually, they have to fight her. Of course, May is ‘the Calvary’, so she is pretty much running through everything SHIELD can throw at her until the Director demonstrates super abilities and knocks her unconcious.
Coulson and the Director have a discussion about what happens next to May. The Director very much wants to be on the same team as Coulson but says there are two places/people where he can’t trust him: May and Daisy. And with that, we see May strapped down on a gurney, flying away in a Quinjet.
As for Daisy…
Daisy has discovered the Ghost Rider’s identity and shows up at his auto shop job, pretending to be a high school friend. Eventually, they are left alone and once she mentions Robbie’s brother Gabe, a fight breaks out. Robbie wins, in part because Daisy is very badly wounded, as her powers seem to be hurting her.
He ties her up as he searches for a reason to justify killing her. He clearly recognizes the name Momentum Alternative Energy Center, after Daisy reveals her intel that something related to that is uniting all the gangs. He takes off toward it, Daisy busts out, and she attempts to ride on the roof of his car until the demonic fire shows up.
As for the Momentum Center, throughout the episode, we see a woman ghost, including in the opening scene where she haunts her old house and a family there. But what we discover is that she and others were part of some kind of experiment gone wrong. She eventually frees 3 other ghosts, all men, including her husband. There is some argument about who is to blame and they all seem to insinuate that she is at fault, because of her fascination with the Darkhold. The ghosts eventually part ways with some going after the book and one staying to destroy the nuclear reactor at Momentum.
Which is what brings Mack and Fitz and, most importantly, Shotgun Axe, to the scene. They are investigating when the ghost shows up and they manage to dodge and evade but Mack gets stuck in a containment cell. Fitz has to choose between releasing him or stopping the nuclear meltdown. But then Robbie as the Ghost Rider shows up and deals with the ghost. Daisy then shows up, frees Mack, and then the reactor is stopped.
Mack, Fitz and Daisy discuss why she is running with the Ghost Rider, why she ran away from them and Mack deduces that Yo-Yo has been helping Daisy and getting her the meds she needs by stealing them from the quinjet. They part ways at the end, Robbie picks up Daisy after telling her that he think he may be at the center of the Momentum issue and she makes what appears to be an uneasy alliance.
A Review of Agents of SHIELD Episode 402: Meet the New Boss
A solid 8 out 10. Quite frankly, I was shocked at how quickly they moved along some of the plot. It felt like we would get a solid 5-6 episodes of May seeing the weirdness but they moved that plot along really quickly. Now, here is hoping that they don’t just drop it for 5-6 episodes since she has been removed from the picture. Coming out of this episode, here are some thoughts:
- Who is the Director? Clearly, he is superstrong and supertough. If he is playing an existing Marvel Universe character, I haven’t figured out who he is yet. Overall, I do like him and the approach he is taking with SHIELD and Coulson. Not everyone in charge can be bad, right? Also, an origin episode with him would be great!
- The mix of science and magic is going to be interesting to watch play out. A nuclear reactor being where the ghosts were housed is a new idea but it bridges well in this show, especially with Fitz and Simmons.
- It feels like they clearly are setting up that Robbie’s parent(s) were a part of Momentum and likely died there somehow. Especially since he took a team picture off the wall while he was there and he knew about the place when Daisy mentioned it.
- An easy way to write Hunter and Bobbi back into the show? Have Coulson hire them to go find May after she is missing for a few episodes.
- Always, always more Shotgun Axe.
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