“Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” Season 4, Episode 2 Recap – “Meet The New Boss”
Same as the old boss! “Agents of SHIELD” introduces the new Director of SHIELD, some “bonding” time between Daisy and Ghost Rider, and a ghostly subplot.
The Who lyrics aside, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD came in with a reckoning for the second episode of season four. You can almost see the plot wheels creating steam, how much the show lays out in this episode.
Not-So-Short Summary
A creepy haunt lingers in a house, discovered by a little boy. She reveals herself to the boy’s father and inhabits his body, giving him similar
Meanwhile, Daisy tails Robbie in his day life. She does a poor job of it because he sees her van immediately, but she’s a step ahead of him. She’s got the M.O. of his normal, past self and throws in fun lines about how her van caught on fire. And she knows his life back to elementary school. Someone’s done their homework!
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Daisy calls him an Inhuman, but he laughs her off. He sold his soul to the devil (like Robert Johnson!). She mentions his brother and that ticks him off. Their showdown lasts even less than the first one, as Daisy’s arm is shattered due to her tremors.
Ghost Rider calls her out on wanting to die. He just needs proof that she deserves it. “You just feel bad for the dead in your wake,” he says.
She mentions the shut down lab in Pasadena where the Watch Dogs got the mystery box, and that’s when Robbie takes off and leaves her behind. Except we get our badass moment of the week of Daisy flying to catch up and taking a quick ride on the top of his car.
Meanwhile! FitzSimmons studies the box that drove six men insane. They discover some sort of new technology and Mack backs up the dad’s story with video footage of a ghost from the box! FitzSimmons try to science the ghost, but Mack shuts it down. Fitz and Mack head off to Pasadena, but Simmons has to stay behind to give a tour.
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Coulson and May wait for the mystery Director. May makes it sound like Coulson didn’t put up a fight to keep the job of Director, but is that really surprising? The new Director is… very upbeat. Calls everyone by their first name. Is impressed by Coulson’s dedication to finding Daisy.
He goes on a tirade about trust and PR because SHIELD is coming back as a legitimate organization, budget cuts and falling in line with the Sokovia Accords, blah blah blah. And he wants to also put Coulson on this tour.
“I know some SSR history, it’s not a big deal,” Coulson tells said tour group. Of course he immediately name-drops Peggy Carter multiple sentences in a row.
Jumping to Pasadena–our ghost friend is more corporeal than initially thought! She brings a friend out, Hugo, and he gives us her name: Lucy. There are more of them, and they’ve been stuck in boxes for years. There’s a lot of information in their snippets of conversation. The Darkhold? A book? Who is the “he” they keep talking about, the backstabber? Might it be Doctor Strange?
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Fitz and Mack arrive on the ghost scene (with Ghost Rider on his way) and find Hugo wrecking havoc. Mack gets locked in the core. Hugo nearly touches him and that’s when Ghost Rider shows up. And Daisy!
Ghost Rider obliterates Hugo and takes off (not before grabbing a picture of the crew of ghosts), and Daisy stops Mack from trying to go after him.
Mack tries to talk her into coming back with them to SHIELD, only to realize Yo-Yo/Elena is Daisy’s contact. Mack’s upset and Fitz is ticked because she’s turned her back even though they’ve all been through trauma (and I’d say he’s been through worse than her). So I’m with Fitz on this one.
On the May subplot, she’s still seeing the ghosts in people’s faces. She goes to talk to one of the insane prisoners only to get nowhere (and drive him even crazier). Simmons leads Coulson onto May also being sick and Coulson tries to get her task force to take her down. It… doesn’t go so well.
That’s when the Director steps in. Apparently he’s an Inhuman! Super strong, nothing May does hurts him. Here I was guessing he was secretly skrull. He takes May away and keeps Coulson out of it; she’s going insane in a straightjacket on a plane. Is it with the congresspeople or random SHIELD extras? I can’t tell.
Post-Credits Stinger
Daisy comes back to her van, only to find it stalled. Robbie pulls up and offers her a ride. “You want to know what connects all these things? I think it might be me,” he tells her.
Best One-Liner
“Melinda May, now there’s a riddle I’d like to solve,” new Director says.
“Good luck with that,” Coulson deadpans.
Badass Moment of the Week
Surprisingly it’s Daisy! Breaking out of her Ghost Rider bonds, flying up into the air and landing on the roof of his car.
Image Courtesy of Marvel Studios
So… the biggest thing from this episode is the ghosts/spirits and the things they drop. We don’t know who “he” is that they mention. But they mention the Darkhold.
Also known as The Book of Sins in the comics, Darkhold is a powerful book of spells that drives nearly every user of its pages to insanity/death/dark ending. It has fallen into the hands of Carnage, Doctor Doom, and, you guessed it, Doctor Strange. Hey, that’s a movie that’s coming out soon!
Next week’s Agents of SHIELD brings the Watch Dogs into the spotlight and May looks to be taking a turn for the worse. But before all of that, Luke Cage this Friday on Netflix! Get ready to binge-watch!