Burned
(This review contains
spoilers!)
It seems that this episode was jam
packed with nothing but pure awesomeness. Coulson vs. Robbie in a car chase?
Check. Hellfire returning? Check. Simmons discovering the truth about Aida and not getting super angry at Fitz about
it? Check, check, check!
I’m so glad that, once again,
S.H.I.E.L.D was able to subvert my expectations. I mentioned in my review of
the season premiere that I was worried that when Simmons discovered Aida, a
rift would break between her and Fitz because he didn’t tell her about it. As
it stands right now, it thankfully looks like they aren’t going that route.
Simmons agreed with Fitz that for her job security and frequent lie detector
tests, it would’ve been best if she hadn’t known.
Speaking of Simmons, she had some
great material this week. Elizabeth Henstridge has always been a sort of secret
weapon for the show, bringing both charm and wit as well as some serious acting
chops. I especially liked how she was having none of Daisy’s emo phase,
remarking “Okay, you can go back to that Lone Ranger thing you’re doing now”
after patching up her injuries in the beginning of the episode.
As usual, however, it was Ghost Rider
who stole the show. In bringing back Hellfire, the show took the opportunity to
give Ghost Rider his signature chain, as well as giving us a fight scene
between two of S.H.I.E.L.D’s most iconic fire-users, in a fireworks store no
less. As ridiculous as it seemed, I’m glad they had a sense of humour about the
whole thing. Coulson even joked “You had to see this was coming” when Mack
questioned if it was a good idea to bring Ghost Rider to what must be the most
flammable place in the world.
The episode ended with the reveal that
the ghosts are searching for the Darkhold, a book from the comics responsible
for most of the dark magic in the world, and also belonging to one Doctor
Stephen Strange. I guess that’s how they’re going to vaguely tie into the
movie.
Speaking of the ghosts, we got a
little more backstory on Lucy, the leader of sorts. She built a machine that
seemed to create matter out of nothing, but after an incident involving Robbie’s
uncle, she seemed to have died. She got a brief cameo this episode, but the
effects on her were as laughable as ever. I’ve seen better in cheap haunted
houses.
Despite that, this was a fantastic
episode, and continues to prove that S.H.I.E.L.D Season 4 keeps getting better
and better after its lousy start. The Aida subplot is turning out to be better
than I thought (although it’s still pretty obvious she’s going to turn on
Radcliffe in the end), and while the ghosts are still stupid, I’m interested in
seeing where it goes. The showrunners are somehow taking a bunch of less than
stellar ideas and making good TV out of them, and I must commend them for that.
FINAL SCORE
9/10
Amazing
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