Like all good AGENTS OF SHIELD episodes, the episode started out with three separate story lines and brought them all together by the very end, even if that end was the “end credits scene.” The first of which was Simmons attempting to find an apartment for her and Fitz to move into. It was sweet to see what Simmons had her heart set on, breakfast nook and all. But of course nothing is ever as it seems. The apartment was a trap set by Daisy in order to lure Simmons to her.
It was a bit odd to open the episode with Daisy so wounded and not go back in time to see what had happened, but I’m glad that didn’t happen. Too often we’re given the “flashback episode” where we start with some character in danger and go back several hours in order to find out what happened. So it was a nice change of pace to see we just moved on. It was also clever to see how both Simmons and Daisy got around the fact that Simmons can’t lie to her boss. It isn’t a lie to say that she helped Daisy under gunpoint.
Meanwhile, we had Coulson doing some digging on the energy plant and what was going on with Robbie’s uncle Eli. It doesn’t seem like this is the Eli from the comics (who was a serial killer and eventually became the spirit that possessed Robbie). Instead it looks like this Eli was put in prison for a more understandable reason. He also seems to care deeply about Robbie and his brother. So it’ll be interesting see where his character goes, if anywhere. Or if this is the one and only time we’ll see him.
What happened next was pretty awesome. As Coulson and Mack left the prison, they spotted Ghost Rider and a car chase ensued. I couldn’t exactly tell you how or why the jet was there when it was, but the scene itself was pretty fun. Can’t blame Coulson for wanting the car after that though.
This was the beginning of bringing everyone under one banner. Now that Ghost Rider was ready to help Coulson and team, it was time to bring Daisy into the fold. That’s where James came in. If you don’t remember who James is, he was also known as the Inhuman Hellfire. Or the proto-Ghost Rider because he used a flaming chain. It wasn’t exactly a secret that he was the one who was feeding the Watchdogs information because he seemed fairly shading from the get go. At the same time, I’m glad it wasn’t some total stranger or a random mole within SHIELD itself. It was better to bring back a character the audience knew.
As usual on SHIELD, not everything goes as planned and with Simmons and Daisy. But none other than Ghost Rider comes to the rescue! It was pretty cool to finally see him get his chain. My only hope is that he keeps it from now on. Considering this interpretation is a combination of both comic book Ghost Riders, keeping the chain seems like a strong possibility.
Lastly, the third storyline was about the aftermath of May’s “death.” Having been killed and brought back from the dead, Fitz and Radcliffe needed to work on fixing all the other people infected by the ghosts without having to kill them too. Next time they might not be so lucky. The drama though, was the fact that Aida was involved. Fitz nearly had a panic attack when he saw her taking care of May, but Radcliffe thought this was the perfect test for her. And with one exception, she passed. She fooled even May and Coulson into believing she was a real human.
The only person she couldn’t fool was Simmons, who knew Aida before she had a body. Of course now that she knows about Aida’s existence, she’ll be forced to tell the boss about her during her next mandatory polygraph. I have to imagine this is something of a faked cliffhanger and Aida won’t be so quickly dismantled or taken by SHIELD. Aida’s role in this story is only beginning.
Written by Peter Freeman, AGENTS OF SHIELD Beat Writer -- Click to read Peter's posts
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