“Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” Season 4 Episode 8 Recap: “The Laws of Inferno Dynamics”
In “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD’s” winter finale, everything is on the table. Everyone comes together to take down Eli Morrow in a showdown with big stakes
Well, we’ve made it to the winter finale for Agents of SHIELD. How did it go? Any fun cameos? (I can always hope!) Let’s not waste any more time than we need to!
Not-So-Short Summary
Eli’s base is under siege from SHIELD and the cops, but he doesn’t seem to care. He’s building a mysterious box. More on that later.
Director Mace is running PR on the scene while Coulson and May try to get him to look at the situation and their pieces in play. Their assault team includes Daisy, Yo-Yo, Robbie… and possibly Aida. FitzSimmons runs thermal imaging to see what’s going on, and all of Eli’s men are inside the building. How odd.
Elena does some recon of the situation before they go in too far and sets the hallway on fire. But of course, the fire doesn’t stop Robbie. Daisy and Elena retreat back to the van to watch Robbie’s body camera and assess the situation.
The place is a little too empty for the small army Eli had minutes before. Robbie finds the mystery box and walks in, only to have Eli show up and tell him he needs to go home. Robbie attempts to go flame head, but Eli stabs him with carbon, sticking him in place.
Eli, of course, figures out who Robbie is. We get a heartfelt speech from Robbie about loving Eli like he was their father and how he threw it away. Eli had no respect at the Momentum lab, not anywhere else either, and he was sick of it. Look at what he can do now! He’s becoming a god, but the devil is on his trail.
Back with the rest of SHIELD, FitzSimmons tell the rest of the crew what exactly is in the box. It’s The Demon Core, both a failsafe and power source. Both Eli’s power and a bomb in case things don’t go well. Time for Plan B. Except there isn’t a plan B.
On the side, Radcliffe begs for Aida’s life from Director Mace. Mace wants to know about the Darkhold. And everyone converges together on the Bus (or whatever it is now?).
Mace has a plan B. But before we can get to it, we get our Coulson/Mace showdown. Who wants to be Director? Who’s going to give up their secrets? Well, as it turns out, Mace made that deal with Senator Nadeer to protect SHIELD. So it wouldn’t crumble again.
They make up with enough time for Coulson to show up to Robbie’s rescue… with the rest of SHIELD downstairs. They’re going to have Aida make another portal.
Turns out he’s not creating something out of nothing. He’s stealing his quantum energy, and every time he steals the energy, it causes a bigger rift. It’s a big, big problem. Downstairs, Daisy attempts to absorb the quakes with her new, fancy gauntlets, but it’s not enough.
Eli is beyond crazy at this point. He claims the Darkhold told him how to make life after death. The bomb is his endgame.
Plan B is a go. Mace charges in, everyone takes their places, and Elena does her thing. She glides through the scene in a heartbeat, putting a gun in Coulson’s hand, moving the direction of Mack’s shotgun axe, and placing the other magnet in Eli’s hands. Robbie becomes Ghost Rider, and Coulson throws a chain to him to pull him to safety, but instead, he grabs Eli and takes him with him.
The plutonium bomb goes off. The box they’re in disappears.
Daisy takes off outside to get away from the quakes, launches herself up into the air, and falls back to earth, only to land right in front of all the television cameras. Thankfully, Mace walks in to save the day, calling her Agent Johnson and telling her just to go with it.
Coulson doesn’t believe we’ve seen the last of Robbie or Ghost Rider and he assures Daisy that he’ll be back. He also apologizes for Mace putting her on the spot to rejoin SHIELD. And while she isn’t completely sold, there’s enough to get her to stay. She’s also a fan of the Director being Inhuman and asks if that was Coulson’s idea.
Of course it was, but he didn’t want that particular Inhuman. Daisy scoffs at it being her. “Right, maybe the comic book version,” she replies. HEY! THAT’S TRUE!
Aida’s performance keeps Radcliffe’s program alive. Now where’s that Grant Ward LMD?! Back at Radcliffe’s lab, Agent Nathanson is packing up all of Radcliffe’s research, only to run into Aida, who snaps his neck (though she is polite enough to apologize beforehand).
Post-Credits Stinger
Aida enters her broom closet, where she’s keeping Agent May. That seems ominous…
Except that May is also cracking into that bottle with Coulson back at base.
Badass Moment of the Week
You know what? I’m going to go with the Mack and Elena kiss. About damn time!
Best One-Liner
“You should be dead.”
“I get that a lot,” Coulson replies.
Other good ones include Coulson’s comment about being drunk on Powerade, and Aida’s response to feeling pain, “It’s quite awful.”
Now, Coulson says that Robbie/Ghost Rider isn’t gone and also drops hints about the last one came back as well. Does that mean we’ll see him grace Agents of SHIELD once more? Or will he be resurrected in his own spinoff showcase? I’m fine with either option. Or both. Both is good.
In the preview for the second half of the season, our big baddie is none other than Aida, running amok and making her own upgrades to her system. Will scientists ever learn not to make androids that can outsmart us humans?
Agents of SHIELD returns Tuesday January 10th, this time with the subtitle LMD. And I repeat: where in the LMD of Grant Ward? With no Agent Carter to give a longer break, we only have to survive just over a month with no new episodes.
I think we can make it. Stay tuned to BSP for plenty of brainstorm sessions and theories on more ridiculous cameos and plot devices. But most of all, enjoy the holiday season. We’ll see you back here for new episodes in the new year!