‘Agents of SHIELD’ season 4, episode 6 review: Ghost Rider’s past; Eli Morrow’s future
Coming into Tuesday night’s “Agents of SHIELD” episode, you can easily argue that there was fire in the air. It was a chance to learn the devastating origin story of one Robbie Reyes, the man who became Ghost Rider, contained the Spirit of Vengeance, and drives a really awesome car. The expectation was that this would be the best episode of the season.
Was this met over the course of “The Good Samaritan”? We’d argue so, and for a number of different reasons. First and foremost, Gabriel Luna was powerful, angry, raw, and horrified over the course of the hour. At one point, we saw his tender side as we learned more about how an accident involving him and his brother Gabe caused him to become Ghost Rider in the first place. On paper, you could argue that the transformation was somewhat lame given that it was so simple: Robbie made a deal with the devil in order to save his brother’s life. The emotion of said deal and the buildup of the relationship is the reason why it worked. At another moment, we saw the rage come out as the Spirit of Vengeance realized that it was about to be trapped by Jeffrey Mace, who determined that Coulson was not being altogether forthcoming when it comes to his plans on the Zephyr.
After Ghost Rider took Mace within a minute away from losing his life, we started to feel as though this flaming-skull version of Icarus was flying a little too close to the sun. Here was the moral conflict for Jeffrey: SHIELD needed him to take down Lucy Bauer, but at the same time he also deserved punishment for his actions.
Playing God – Behold the secrets of the Darkhold: The ability to create life. Sound pretty dangerous? We weren’t exactly sold on a book being at the center of most of the season during the early going, but we’re certainly happy that our feelings have since turned around. Robbie’s investment in stopping Bauer was in part personal (Eli Morrow was also there), but that was fine for SHIELD since it was a means to the same end. Here’s the problem: Morrow wasn’t exactly willing to cooperate with Coulson when he arrived. This was the twist behind everything: Eli was far more the villain than Lucy ever was, even if she wasn’t of an angel in her own right.
Ghost Rider obliterated Lucy, but did that really matter? The cliffhanger to this episode is a massive one, given that we saw Morrow utilize the Darkhold in a devastating fashion, and at present, the fate of many characters lies in the balance. Coulson was still in there, Fitz was doing his part to turn the tide, and Robbie hasn’t quite made an escape, either. Potentially, Morrow is more dangerous than ever, and while SHIELD may be aware of it now, there’s a pretty stark (no, not Tony Stark) difference between awareness and resolution. This is a team in for a world of mystical hurt moving forward.
Grade: A-. A fantastic episode lifted significantly thanks to a performance from Luna and some well-crafted intensity. We sometimes hate cliffhangers that are this big, but with this show, and the right idea, it totally works.