"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season Four Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

"Where will we be assigned?"
"Guess we'll have to wait and see."

Wait no longer! Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. moves back an hour to 10 p.m. ET. It will be unaccompanied on ABC's schedule this year, with the cancellation of Agent Carter and Most Wanted failing to be picked up for the second time.

Please note, this thread may contain spoilers and references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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​

"The Ghost" - Season Premiere
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 @ 10 p.m. ET/9 CT on ABC
Coulson and Mack team up to confirm the presence of Inhumans; May needs to train strike teams.

Season One Finale, "Beginning of the End" talkback
Season Two Finale, "S.O.S." talkback
Season Three talkback

ABC.com - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

[Yojimbo]

More thoughts later, but that wraith - could be an Inhuman or part of wondered if it's a GR villain from the comics like Succubus. GR looked awesome. Great start!

 

[RoryWilliams]

Very strong opener. Luna killed it as Robbie.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 4x1 (67) "The Ghost"

As I speculated, nice title of multiple meanings. At least three - Daisy, Robbie/Ghost Rider, and well the ghost woman.

It seems the six month jump as seen a lot of change for the Watchdogs as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. and both are no longer fringe organizations. Local gangs working for them. Chinese with tattoos on their palms. Weird weapon sale for something to fight enhanced with. But with HYDRA gone, the question is suppose is who's funding the Watchdogs and thus, behind their expansion. Hmm. Chen's comment about bringing the Chinese's new enhanced enemies to their knees was intriguing. Almost implying that there would be Inhumans forming up their own criminal rackets now in the least.

Just one episode in, the later time slot seems to lend itself to more blood. And Daisy's booty. With Ghost Rider apparantly the arc of the first half of the season, the up tick in violence is no doubt a coincidence.

Dug they introduced Ghost Rider as a local street legend. Even garbage like the Aryan Brotherhood are afraid of him. The mural, too. Looks like about 30 kills. He's been busy. Nice touch with Robbie briefly meeting Coulson and Mack. Ghost Rider's reveal was well done. VFX is really catching up in leaps and bounds. Totally OMG he stared down Quake and spared her life. Funny, just saw Gabriel Luna on that Harley Davidson mini series on Discovery the other week and here he is with a Charger now, heh. I heard the one playing his brother Gabe was from Fear the Walking Dead. And now brother of guy with flaming skull head. Six degrees of separation.

Daisy going rogue. She kept the S.H.I.E.L.D. suit though. And is accomplishing what she couldn't as an agent just like in season 1 to an extent when she was cut loose by Victoria Hand. It's still sad she doesn't want a connection yet still colluded with Elena and her words echoed with her. "Everyone's attached to something." Though I think it's only a matter of time <cough>mid season finale<cough> when she's forced to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. against Ghost Rider or the Watchdogs or real Big Bad.

So Coulson and Mack are basically first reponse to Inhuman alerts and are pretty much kept away from headquarters on extended tours around the world. Should be fun to see Coulson back in agent mode and we got the pairing with Mack to boot. Hm, I admit, a bit leary though it seems the new administration is keeping Coulson away from decisions. I guess they weren't very lenient after reviewing his short career as Director. But still Coulson high fiving his new prosthetic, for some reason, cracked my up. Great delivery I guess. Be fun to see what new things the hand can do this season.

Mack still trying to get Coulson's permission to work on L.O.L.A. - ha! Never get tired of that. His reaction to Nathanson in the lab was on point. Glad to see Mack is still Mack. Exploding pen for the win, lol. Looking forward to see when that gets paid off. Favorite moment was when he saw May and looked at his walkie in surprise. Great acting.

May, seems like, is leading a revived S.T.R.I.K.E. unit or simply a strike team (dunno, closed captions aren't perfect). Nice to see Piper from last season was on the team, she was in that episode when the Kree Reapers came to town and made that hilarious meta comment about being freaked out cause aliens.

Fitz seems to have gotten the short end of the straw and seems to be just serving as the Q is the show. Simmons being the one of the core team with the most power? That's going to be fun to watch more of -- especially after seeing her and May at odds. Her title's acronym -- heh heh. Good one, Fitz.

It was a relief to see Elena in a guest spot right off the bat this season and we get to see what she's been up to. Playing both sides. Makes sense she'd be the one most annoyed with the return of S.H.I.E.L.D. bureaucracy thanks to the Sokovia Accords. It was nice growth of her I suppose that she went the whole episode not using her ability or at least we didn't see it, lol. Hilarious to see her put the moves on Mack just when Coulson walks in. Hm, and playing both sides helping out Daisy.

Radcliffe will be an interesting addition to the cast. Still a hoot. Sensing the implications of being a pervert - lmao. But it is intriguing, he sort of represents that dangerous side of a scientist or even the friend that always gets you into trouble.

S.H.I.E.L.D. 3.0. Hmm, the bureacuracy that HYDRA used to subtly cripple old S.H.I.E.L.D. is pretty much back with the shadow of the Sokovia Accords looming, the new level system, all the new personnel multiplying like rabbits, and second guessing a cryptic Director.

On ghost lady. While it could be a red herring and she's just an Inhuman with some weird ethereal power -- Robbie/Rider being so interested in the box... She did remind me of the Succubus character from the comics, who in turn was an agent of Nightmare, both enemies of Ghost Rider... hmm. Nice gut punch to see May was now possessed/infected.

References
*Daisy has to bandage herself like when she first started using her powers, has a Watchdog mask, stacks of money - in finale, she started robbing banks
*Black '69 Charger the first tell tale sign of which Ghost Rider host if you haven't watched the news online
*The charger getting hit by an RPG and landing is a homage to All-New Ghost Rider #2
*Mack and Coulson play a game called Backgammon
*Coulson refers to Ernest Hemingway, one of the famous writers of the '20s
*Coulson refers to the Sokovia Accords
*Mack still wants to work on L.O.L.A.
*Not sure if it was intended as a nod to the Agent Carter series, but Davis calls out for an Agent Thompson.
*I think the room May takes Coulson and Mack into is where Malick was killed and blown up by Daisy last season
*The advanced state of the art lie detection is likely a nod to Fury's lie detector device from season one
*Fitz refers to a Aberdeen-Iverness Caley Thistle League Cup Final. Aberdeen and Inverness Caledonian Thistle are football clubs in the Scottish League. The mention of the League Cup Final is fitting. In 2016 it was moved to November 27 and timeline wise because of the 6 month time skip at the end of last season it is ~November 2016 in-universe.
*Mack refers to Fitz with his Turbo nickname from season 2
*Mack mentions Yo-Yo went to Colombia, her home seen last season
*Yo-Yo plans on going to Miami which was visited before on the show like in season 2
*Yo-Yo's turtle pet name for Mack goes back to when the team confronted Hive with the memory device last season, Mack worked too slow to assemble the machine for her liking
*Aida, in digital form, first appeared in the teaser of last season's finale
*Fitz refers to Radcliffe's pardon, which he noted just getting at the end of last season's finale
*Radcliffe alludes to when he first met Fitz and Simmons who tried to sell him a prosthetic under false pretenses to try to recruit his help last season
*Radcliffe mentions crossing the uncanny valley, a nod to the hypothesis that 'human replicas that appear almost but not exactly like real human beings elicit feelings of eeriness and revulsion among some observers' by Professor Masahiro Mori in 1970
*Radcliffe admits Aida wouldn't pass the Turing test - 'a test for intelligence in a computer, requiring that a human being should be unable to distinguish the machine from another human being by using the replies to questions put to both'
*Coulson refers to when Mack chopped his arm off in the season 2 finale with an axe after he was exposed to Terrigen
*Diego mentions the "The Fast and The Furious" movie franchise and "Dukes of Hazzard" classic TV show which was turned into a reboot movie recently.
*Simmons mentions Brigadier General Talbot learning the location of the Playground in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War
*Simmons mentions the President, who appeared, on the show last season
*Radcliffe mentions Ultron
*Aida mentions Lincoln Campbell and Andrew Garner who died last season and Antoine Triplett who died in season 2
*Fitz' wariness of Aida is warranted since Model Life Decoys were misused many many times in the comics
*Daisy got her hula girl back last season

 

[The Penguin]

Definitely not the same as the old boss! Right now on ABC.

​

"Meet the New Boss"
Tuesday, September 27, 2016 @ 10 p.m. ET/9 CT on ABC
Daisy sets out to battle Ghost Rider; the new director's bold agenda shocks everyone.

 

[Yojimbo]

Nice! A Dr. Strange tie-in already - Lucy and the ghosts were messing with the Darkhold.

Great twist that the Director is an Inhuman.

The pacing on this show gets better each season. Glad to see things come together in the 2nd episode but there's still a ways to go. More thoughts later.

68. Meet The New Boss

Was expecting a Ghostbusters homage in the cold open but the Casper nod was all right.

Nice resonance that Robbie passes by the GR mural everyday on his way to work. So he claims to have sold his soul to the Devil. Can't wait for the inevitable flashback origin to see what really happened. That was still kind of lame how he took out Quake in the garage. Great to hear in a way Mack brand him a vigilante, in the wake of the Sokovia Accords.

Hmm, so the box is a power cell and contains advanced out of phase technology with the ability to keep Lucy and the others confined. Yeah, sounds like the person that betrayed everyone is going to be Robbie's uncle, Eli Morrow in the comics. Momentum Alternate Energy Lab. 'Alternate' that can't be good. Nice to hear Simmons name drop the Staticorp incident from season one. Definite shades to it. Then it's all because of the use of Darkhold, basically the big book of black magic. And Robbie thinks he's the connection. So far just 4 of them were turned into "ghosts" and both Joe and the 'backstabber' are MIA. So the other 2 are still trapped or killed in the incident plus there's two branches left. Guess the New York one is next to appear. Maybe a coincidence, but Isodyne Energy from Agent Carter season 2 also in Pasadena.

Interesting to see the duality of Coulson admitting he doesn't miss the meetings and the waiting but Mack is tired of the paper work and long deployments. But Coulson musing they can't take the Zephyr One away is troubling. Still dope to see the Shotgun Axe again. Got to say, I love seeing Fitz and Mack out on field missions together in places that aren't cheery and brightly lit. heh.

May probably had the best line. "Like it was decorated by someone who needs to unclench?" Fitz a close second telling Mack he was "looking a little more feeble than usual." lmao.

The new Director - hmm. Definitely hired to be charming and likeable. Nice twist that he's an Inhuman with super strength and invulnerability. Definitely intriguing that it sounded like Steve Rogers was Coulson's first pick to replace him. But Rogers would have turned it down. It is interesting and a relief to see that they both need each other to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. going and they both know it. He was right about Coulson at the end there -- but oh, "That's classified." Ouch.

Appreciate they haven't forgotten Coulson's love of S.H.I.E.L.D. history and tied that to a nice reference to Agent Carter and telling us when the Playground was built in 1949. Hmm, given events similar to the One-Shot happened probably in the late 40s (readjusted for the Carter series) -- perhaps, Carter was overseeing the construction of the base with the intention of it serving as the main headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D. but the plans might have changed at some point.

References

*The dad asks if the ghost is friendly or not friendly - nod to Casper, the Friendly Ghost

*Robbie passes by the Ghost Rider mural from last episode.

*Fitz refers to the Schrodinger's Cat quantum theory and Nikola Tesla.

*Mack shows them footage of Lucy and Chen from last episode.

*Robbie's client, Mrs. Serrano has a Volkswagen Bug. Incidentally, Steve used a Bug in Civil War to get to the airport 'under the radar'

*Quake mentions Little Tokyo. She also mentions Robbie's uncle who was Eli Morrow in the comics and also was bonded to Robbie.

*The Director refers to Quake robbing banks, which was revealed at the end of the season 3 finale

*Agent Coulson calls the Director by his first name, Jeffrey. It is highly speculated the Director is based on Jeffrey Mace/Patriot/Captain America from the comics.

*Simmons alludes to the Convergence from Thor: The Dark World and mentions Tobias Ford from last season.

*The Director mentions the United Nations and Sokovia Accords and S.H.I.E.L.D. needs approval from the House Appropriations Committee to get their budget approved.

*Quake mentions the Watchdogs and Inhumans to Robbie. He denies he is an Inhuman and said he sold his soul to the Devil.

*The Director and Agent Coulson mention Peggy Carter and reveal she oversaw construction of the Playground in 1949.

*Fitz asks about Elena Rodriguez and Mack admits to Skyping with her.

*Frederick mentions the Darkhold was used. In the comics, it was the powerful tome about black magic and written by Cthon and tied to the Dr. Strange mythos. Its polar opposite, the Book of Vishanti - essentially the most powerful tome about white magic will appear on Dr. Strange.

*Robbie holds out a photo of Lincoln

*Quake refers to the Aryan Brotherhood and Chinatown Crew from last episode

*Mack wields his Shotgun Axe at Momentum

*After Frederick vanishes, Mack mentions he hates disappearing guys - nod to his battle with Gordon, a teleporting Inhuman, in the season 2 finale

*Mack realizes Elena was stealing the rapid bone healing pills for Quake. Last episode, she gave Quake a bottle.

*The Director mentions Facebook and Snapchat.

*The Director makes light of the issue of inforcing the Climate Change Accord which as of September 23, 2016, 190 nations and the European Union have signed.

*The Director mentions the president. Since the arc is after Election Day, it's still unknown if the President is still Matthew Ellis.

*The Director mentions Steve Rogers went AWOL

 

[wonderfly]

So I haven't been following up on SHIELD since last season ended. But I was flipping through Hulu a couple weeks back, and I saw the new title card for "Agents of SHIELD" Season 4 (I'm referring to this image here):

So I saw that, and I'm like..."WAIT A MINUTE, THAT'S GHOST RIDER!!" So I just discovered Ghost Rider was in Agents of SHIELD 2 weeks ago.

Having watched the first two episodes now, I'm intrigued. I was wondering how they were going to cast of the shackles of the Inhuman/Hive story line,and this is a bold departure. Especially when they brought up the "Darkhold" in the last episode, I was like "Oh, wow, they're full fledged embracing the supernatural".

And then I got to thinking "Well yeah, of course they are: 'Dr. Strange' is coming out in theaters soon! This makes for a natural progression for the Marvel Universe!"

Too bad they went with the Reyes version of Ghost Rider, because the 90's Ghost Rider had a lot of "monster of the week" supernatural villains that would make for good opponents here. Unless they're planning on digging up some of those villains anyway! (I mean, they've already brought up the Darkhold book...)

 

[Yojimbo]

They're not going to be slavish to Robbie Reyes' story in the comics so there will be some surprises regarding this MCU version. There's one in particular that's coming up that's a real big difference.

 

[The Penguin]

There's no debate, S.H.I.E.L.D. is back! Tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

​

"Uprising"
Tuesday, October 11, 2016 @ 10 p.m. ET/9 CT on ABC
Coulson, Mack and Fitz try to locate and neutralize a group looking to stop Inhuman registration.

 

[Yojimbo]

4x03 (69) Uprising

Secrets between people never end well.

MIAMI

I thought the line about Elena heading to Miami was a throw away line but nice to see there was a reason it was brought up by Mack. While it was odd to see Elena in a regular thing, it was refreshing at the same time that she had a semblance of a normal life after everything that happened. And as a result, Fitz tries trolling Mack about it. lol.

Hilarious that mook Darryl accused Amazing Mertz of being an Inhuman. Slight of hand! My one gripe, it was too cliche for Maria to end up being a bigot and not accepting Elena.

Like when the team had to rely on old SSR gear in season one, for example, it was reassuring to see the team go even more lo-tech in this episode. Fitz' standing count of chimpanzees was a nice nod to his standing monkey request. lmao. Also, no one else knowing how to make a basic compass. heh.

WATCHDOGS

I'm a little surprised that the mystery figure was...well, kept mysterious and never revealed to be Felix Blake from last season. Though its possible leadership may have changed hands or Felix is using another hologram to hide his identity given his past as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent would undermine his credibility. Still, it was good to see their tactics changed from direct domestic terrorist strikes to a coordinated international operation and manipulating fear by pretending to be an Inhuman resistance.

Another not-that-friendly Senator? Well, Nadeer clearly had an axe to grind just from her first WHiH appearance. So she's the link giving them access to the Inhuman Registration List, military tech, passports and visas. But it appears, her brother was exposed to Terrigenesis but with no Inhuman gene -- he's a statue -- informing of why she hates Inhumans? There's hopefully more to that... But she told this Mystery Figure she was at her brother's place. Implies a close connection between the two. Hmm. Lot's of question marks. All in all, a relief that the Watchdogs weren't just a villain of the week from season 3 to be forgotten.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nice little tribute to Lincoln. And Mack was on fire this episode. So funny seeing him flip out at Burrows even though both had points to make. Even sadder that Elena learned her friend was a bigot, but Mack confronts her about Daisy. At least she's got beer.

Shame we have an instance of the Sokovia Accords being abused with the Watchdogs being supplied the Inhuman Registration List. Still, Coulson's concerns are verified once more.

Great to see Coulson bestow some knowledge to Director Mace. And something he learned from Nick Fury -- remember that guy with the eye patch? Yeah, what's he up to huh? Anyway, nice to finally see an in-universe confirmation the Director is indeed Jeffrey Mace and we got a tiny bit of his back story - he's famous for his work in international affairs. And S.H.I.E.L.D.'s back, baby! Until Nadeer threw shade.

LOS ANGELES

Didn't think much more about the Momentum arc would be said, but glad to be wrong some more. So Eli Morrow is in fact alive but incarcerated at South Ridge Penitentiary on charges of attempted manslaughter from beating up the 'real criminal' who might be this Joe person Lucy was looking for. So money on Joe having the Darkhold but where and what's he been doing for 10 years? Also still not what to make of Lucy's ability to 'scare people to death.' What's up with that?

Amusing that Robbie then Daisy jinxed it. But dug the idea that the Hell Charger came in handy in 'normal mode' during the pulse. I wonder if Ghost Rider can also heal other people's injuries, hmm...

Turned out to such an informative episode, peppering us with info on a little bit of everything -- even Robbie's origin story. Wanting vengeance against the gang who crippled Gabe but Ghost Rider stuck around after so he became a vigilante.

RADCLIFFE RESIDENCE

Nice to see there are limitations to Aida, in this case technical jargon and made up words. Snappy cat.

Also nice to see those transcranial head operators that May's tac team used come into play with saving her life. The mapping of her brain reminded me of Iron Man 3 when Pepper had her meeting with the fake Mandarian not to be confused with the fake fake Mandarian Trevor Slattery.

But jeez, kill May and reboot her brain. Gamey. Though Aida's power source was a bit deus ex machina, eh, it spared May of being the second from the original cast to be killed off. Thankfully. Not like they would. Still, figures she'd wake up cranky. lmao.

 

[Gold Guy]

I really enjoyed this episode. The blackout created some tension that we haven't had for a while, and the scene with Yo-Yo and the mob was the kind of thing I felt the X-Men films should have done better. The scene where Coulson, Yo-Yo, Mack, and even Fitz take out those guards was pretty sweet.

 

[The Penguin]

Rider's revenge?! Tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

"Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire"​

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 @ 10 p.m. ET/9 CT on ABC
Ghost Rider's thirst for vengeance results in an explosive confrontation with S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

[Yojimbo]

4x6 (70) Let Me Stand By Your Fire

The thing I liked about this episode is it was...not anticlimactic in a good way but it went to the point -- "We know this is season 4 already so we're not going to drag this arc on and on." From Simmons simply using her authority to give Quake's drive to Agent Albee, May being told she died, catching Robbie then quickly making a deal, James is James, Coulson connects the dots to the Darkhold, Simmons finds out about Aida. Bam bam bam. To the point. Sixth episode and it feels like they've gotten through so much story already.

Still all about the character pairings - Simmons and Daisy, Coulson and Mack, Fitz and Radcliffe, with May, Aida, and Robbie in the mix. It is interesting that now May is sort of in Coulson's shoes - dying and coming back to life though minus the urge to carve.

Ho, once Simmons said 'email offer' - so obvious Daisy was setting her up. Also hilarious, how annoyed May was at realizing Radcliffe killer her. lmao. As was Coulson's subtle Grease reference after Robbie crashed. Nice one.

Momentum arc - happy to learn even more. Eli helped build the Quantum Particle Generator because the Darkhold told them how, he thought they were nuts. Joseph and Eli survive. Joseph hides the Darkhold somewhere. Eli beats him into an a coma. Charged with manslaughter, put in Stone Ridge. Check.

Nice bonus to learned what happened to James, since that was left unanswered last season. But for him to have a revelation and renounce everything and help the Watchdogs - oi. Real bastard. But so rad to see Robbie take the chain away then "Huh." Another awesome bonus was revealing Whitehall, Red Skull and Fury all looked for the Darkhold themselves but failed. Points to have Radcliffe and Fitz quote Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton.

Leery about Aida and Radcliffe's discussion about lying. We'll see where that leads. That can't be good. So far that's the one arc that's sort of the outlier whereas the Momentum, Ghost Rider, Quake ones have come together. Wonder how Aida will fit in.

 

[Gold Guy]

Ha, I remember last season I joked that it would be neat if James (with his flaming chain trick) went up against Ghost Rider. My dream came true (and Rider owned, as he well should!)

Daisy and Simmons had enough chemistry that I was reminded why I prefer the former on a team rather than a loner. This show is at it's best with the team dynamic, so naturally, I'm stoked that the whole group is back together. Robbie being part of the group (for now?) should prove interesting.

I also really liked how Simmons was able to tell that Aida was a robot with just a glance or two. Poor Fitz almost got a heart attack twice in this episode.

 

[The Penguin]

Prison break-in! Tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

"Lockup"​

Tuesday, October 25, 2016 @ 10 p.m. ET/9 CT on ABC
S.H.I.E.L.D. breaks into a high-security prison to decipher the secrets.

 

[Gold Guy]

Ghost Rider taught us all the most important lesson of all: Revenge is bad.

Daisy once again gets a very impressive action scene all to herself. Seriously, if her powers didn't hurt her, she really would be almost unstoppable. I do hope her self-loathing phase ends soon, though.

The writers actually found a clever way for Simmons to get out of her lying-detector predicament: Blackmail! That seems to be going around a lot though, judging by the ending!

 

[Yojimbo]

71. Lockup (4x5)

DARKHOLD

I hope this season is released on Blu-Ray because I have a feeling that whole basement was a treasure trove of easter eggs. There was at least 2. When Lucy shined her flashlight on the first poster - it was for the Quentin Carnival and a moto stunt racer - a total nod to Johnny Blaze, the original Ghost Rider. Then Joseph takes off a folded black motorcycle jacket. Another nod! Then they say they're in the family home of the man who killed the last person to have owned the Darkhold. So that could have been the Blaze family home?! I'm happy my speculation that other hosts would be hinted at in the least proved correct.

So it turned out it was Joseph who wanted cheat instead of doing the legit hard work only for him to die in this episode at the hands of his own wife. Yikes. And now Eli appears to be enamoured upon touching the book. But I suppose it stands to reason to ask why a Quantum Particle Generator aside from it being a plot device. Was their something specific that Joseph and Lucy wanted to create from it?

And again, Coulson mentions Nick Fury was after it and after all the "Pandora's Boxes" he's opened, even he was scared of the Darkhold. I suppose that helps sell the inherent danger of the book to us the audience, but I couldn't help wonder what all those "Pandora's Boxes" were. Sigh.

GHOST RIDER

I thought they'd save it for next week's episode but okay a few more on Robbie's origin story. I hope they nail down a year as to when this happened. We know the Momentum incident was around November 2006 and there's the photo of Gabe and Eli in which he's not paralyzed yet. So probably after Eli goes to prison is when the shooting takes place. Robbie did now say a 'few years' in this episode. So sounding like it happened sometime in the 2010 decade. Stands to reason 6 years give or take, Ghost Rider becomes an urban legend in east LA and S.H.I.E.L.D. dismisses it as bunk and never investigates, and the Fifth Street Locos are forgotten.

The hit job angle was unexpected. We know from last week the Charger was Eli's originally. Hmm, maybe Joseph and Lucy were trying to get rid of Eli after the generator was built and disguise it as a gang-related crime but Robbie and Gabe were in the car instead. Nice touch that all the inmates went back into their cells after GR wasted Santino. But Robbie's poor decision really screwed everyone over. Lucy got Eli and Nadeer got leverage over Mace.

Hopefully we'll find out who this Devil is Robbie sold his soul to next week. Mephisto is the likely suspect. Luna did mention him in an interview. Would they use him on the TV side though? Or maybe Zarathos. Since the Darkhold plays a role this season, the book's writer in the comics, Chthon could be a candidate.

STONE RIDGE

And again, the theme of trust and secrets rears its ugly head. But Coulson's gut is correct in that they can't trust Director Mace since he's keeping some secret about what he did during the UN Bombing during Captain America: Civil War. And Simmons uses that to blackmail him! Dark for her even. Or progression of her character?

But ah, too bad they didn't just take custody of Eli Morrow sooner, 20/20 hindsight and all. lol. And heh, like last season with Talbot, Fitz is left hanging. No high five from Simmons. On the lighter side of things, with the supernatural aspect of this season, I was wondering when we'd get some Ghostbusters references. lmao. I think Fitz and Simmons could totally build some Proton Packs.

It was a welcome relief to have a bigger spotlight on May now that she's back to being just grumpy. Oh, and the return of Coulson's holo shield. So dope. Unexpected Watchdogs development. Also welcome, using the continuity with bringing back Fury's lie detector, having Simmons refer to her inability to keep secrets and her time undercover as a HYDRA scientist in season 2, Sokovia Accords, Civil War, when Coulson recruited May in season 1, and that door opener device from Iron Man 1. But she saw Coulson when she died?!

NADEER

The ABC News This Week segment was an excellent way to give some much needed characterization to Senator Nadeer and boy did they sell it that she's a total b--well you saw it.

But what Nadeer could want. The Watchdogs already can track Inhumans. The only other thing could be that research Simmons and Fitz did on "curing" an Inhuman using Absorbing Man's blood.

I didn't get Nadeer's mention of "disturbance in Hong Kong" though unless she referenced Doctor Strange and that's the first hint of when that movie takes place relative to this season of AOS. Hmm. Since the rule of thumb is the movie takes place in-universe same day as it releases in theaters, it makes sense the events of Strange are happening since currently, AOS is just about on November 30, 2016 and heading into December in-universe.

 

[The Penguin]

How Robbie became the Rider! Tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

"The Good Samaritan"​

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 @ 10 p.m. ET/9 CT on ABC
The shocking origin story of Robbie's transition into Ghost Rider is revealed.

 

[Gold Guy]

This was a really strong episode.

Robbie's brother didn't take the news well. I think he preferred the secret agent story.

The cameo in the flashback was surprising but welcome. Question is: which Rider was that? Blaze? Danny? Let the speculation begin!

I don't think Mace is completely wrong; harboring a vigilante can't be good for PR. Won't lie, though, seeing Rider rough him up was fun.

Looks like they brought back the dark matter from Agent Carter season 2. Nice continuity nod.

Is that it for the ghosts? Feels like an abrupt end, but at least we got a new villain out of it.

 

[Yojimbo]

4x6 (72) The Good Samaritan

BACK IN THE DAY

Ah, a familiar story. Scientists start out with good intentions, then get power hungry, and there's a mutiny. Though nice twist with Eli causing the incident and being the big bad all along.

Turns out Robbie was right. "All work and no play" turns you into... a power hungry nut bag. But this flashback was definitely were the later timeslot came in handy - for when they got shot up by the Locos. And as I thought, Joseph hired them. Kudos. But dang, the "Good Samaritan"! Yes! The flippin' previous Ghost Rider!! It's a pity, I thought the end credits teaser would have shown us the host's face and someone calling him by name. Ah well. With last week's easter eggs, it's got to be Blaze.

PRESENT DAY

Ulp. So Simmons was what Nadeer wanted when she blackmailed Mace. So yeah, I'm sticking with that research with Absorbing Man's blood is her game. Pity Simmons was sidelined rather quickly and it'll be a long wait to see what happened with her. Heh, at least she got the last word on Mace and his quote.

Speaking of Nadeer, man is Mace playing into her hands. Not just with sending Simmons off but the kerfuffle on Zephyr One -- breaking down the distrust even more. Didn't care for the Star Wars talk. I mean come on. S.H.I.E.L.D. was the Republic with HYDRA as the Empire growing out of it and Coulson's team surviving as the Rebels and saving the day eventually and getting S.H.I.E.L.D. back in business. Ackbar. Really, Coulson? And really the whole video of Quake and Ghost Rider being in the prison. They can totally plus the official field report on that. All three parties just so happened to cross paths, there was a siege, they made the best of it and formed a temporary alliance to get out, but in the chaos the fugitives evaded capture. Done! Eh, at least we got to see Mace whupped.

As I was hoping with the end of Agent Carter season 2, AOS picked up on some threads. Nice to see the SSR mentioned, Peggy mentioned, Isodyne tied in, the Dark Force nod more so with Doctor Strange in theaters, and Roxxon looming its ugly head agains.

Though sidelined, Daisy still had my favorite line of "Coulson, How did anything ever get done back in the old-timey days?"

But in a pretty dumb move, should have take the perpetual EMP with them in the first place. :/ And now, the big bad has revealed himself and can manipulate matter. Plus, hoo boy, it seems Coulson, Fitz, and Robbie might be ghosts forawhile. But the greater shock, a 4 week wait until the next new episode. Groan. I wonder if the plan still is to air up to 10 before the winter hiatus - maybe 1 each on November 29 and December 6 then a 2 episode mid season finale event on December 13?