Last week on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., we went back into the world of the Inhumans with The Watchdogs. The “humans first” militia group, staged terrorist attacks throughout the world in the hopes of fleshing out Inhumans. It was also revealed that the Watchdogs also had some deep pockets helping them out in their quest as well. What would happen this week? Would we see more Inhuman related activities, or would we get back to the mystical ghost stories?
This week it was a bit of both. A great deal of time was spent with Daisy and she continued her investigation into the terrorist group, but we also continued exploring the ghost scientists who are after the mystical Darkhold book.
The episode begins with our favorite marvel couple, Fitz and Simmons as they are planning on taking their relationship to the next level… moving in together. Simmons is house hunting for a property that would fit in their budget, but Fitz cannot join her because he’s still secretly working with Radcliffe on his Life Model Decoy, Aida. As Simmons seems to have found the perfect house she wants to take a look at, someone else is already there waiting to meet up with her.
Daisy, looking very damaged thanks to not having her S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment to ensure her powers don’t break her bones, is waiting for Simmons, and she needs her help. We forget that before Daisy gained her Inhuman “quake” powers, she was a skilled hacker, and just by hacking into Simmons’ browsing history was able to determine that she was house hunting. Daisy isn’t there to give her a housewarming gift, she needs her help. She knows that The Watchdogs must have access to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s database because they keep hitting Inhuman targets. Since S.H.I.E.L.D. has the location of all registered Inhumans, thanks to the Sokovia Accords from Captain America: Civil War, Daisy needs that information. Off the two of them go to try and download the information and save some Inhumans.
Meanwhile, Robbie Reyes' uncle Eli is getting a visit in prison from Coulson. For the first time since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, S.H.I.E.L.D. is back, and Coulson is more than happy to flash his badge so he ca investigate what’s going on at Momentum Alternative Energy Lab and how it related to the ghost scientists. He reveals to Eli that the people who worked there aren’t dead, but have become the ghosts we saw a few weeks ago (that made May almost go crazy). Eli still doesn’t want to become involved and shows Coulson the door. As he and Mack discuss their next steps outside the prison, Robbie also shows up driving in the prison parking lot. Then it’s a Fast and Furious style chase between the Hell Charger and Lola as they go after Robbie. Without its flying capabilities, Lola is no match for the Hell Charger. Lucky for Coulson and Mack, they have a roadblock in the form of an invisible Quinjet which stops Robbie dead in its tracks.
Elsewhere, May is still in recovery from Radcliffe “killing” her to save her life from the hallucinations from being touched by the ghosts. In addition to Radcliffe treating her, the Life Model Decoy he and Fitz have been working on, AIDA is also there. AIDA’s presence makes Fitz nervous as she HAS to remain a secret. Radcliffe sees it as the ultimate Turing Test. If AIDA can fool May (the best S.H.I.E.L.D. agent) and pass for a human, then they are making great progress. There are few moments where AIDA almost slips up, namely when she speaks Chinese and reveals that almost all her parts are made in China. Fitz and Radcliffe are able to play it off. AIDA later asks Radcliffe why he wanted her to lie to May since it’s not in her programming to lie to another human. He explains to her that sometimes lies are necessary. This will probably come back in a bad way when AIDA masters the art of lying.
When Robbie in S.H.I.E.L.D custody, Coulson comes up with the idea of working with him. After all, he needs to get some information from uncle Eli about the laboratory and find out what they are up against in regards to the ghosts. Robbie agrees to help them and we get an exposition dump about what the scientists were doing. They were trying to create matter using a quantum particle generator. Uncle Eli was the engineer who built the machine they used that turned them into ghosts. In the aftermath of the explosion, Eli lost his cool and beat one of the scientists into a coma and then ending up in jail. Eli reveals that the source of the whole ordeal was a book called Darkhold that contains all the knowledge ever needed. It’s now a race to find this book between the ghosts and the agents.
Daisy has Simmons hack into S.H.I.E.LD. databases to determine who the next target for the Watchdogs will be. Turns out their next target is a blast from the past. James, AKA Hellfire who joined up with Daisy when she was under the influence of Hive last season has been in an Inhuman “witness protection/relocation” program and is now working a dead end job at a fireworks store.
Daisy recruits him to take on the Watchdogs. Little does she know that Hellfire has become so disgusted with being an Inhuman that it was he who helped the Watchdogs hack into S.H.I.E.L.D systems and hunt Inhumans. Daisy and Simmons fall for the trap and are quickly surrounded by Watchdog militia. In the firefight afterward, Coulson, Mack, and Robbie join the battle and come and save the day. We are treated to an interesting fight between Hellfire and Ghost Rider where Reyes takes Hellfire’s chain and adopts his signature look (holding a flaming chain). Of course, two super powered beings with powers of fire, fighting in a fireworks store is not the best of ideas, and the store goes up in explosive flames. Surprisingly, Ghost Rider doesn’t kill Hellfire. Hopefully joining the agents doesn’t neuter him. After all, he’s the “spirit of vengeance.” He needs to be killing folks!
Coulson recruits Ghost Rider and Daisy to work with him in search for the Darkhold. They don’t have to trust each other, but they do have to work together. Afterward, the agents meet up at Radcliffe’s where AIDA passes the Turing Test as she convinces even Coulson that she’s a regular human being. The only one who’s not fooled is Simmons. Fitz apologizes for lying about it, but he didn’t want her to get in trouble from the Director’s lie detector test, which is coming soon.
Overall, this was a solid episode as we got to see a little bit more of Ghost Rider and the mystery of the ghosts as well as deal with more Inhuman fallout. Now it looks like the show is going towards the mystical realm as the plot is now about getting this book, which comic fans will know is connected to Doctor Strange. There will surely be an upcoming episode which will connect with next month’s Marvel movie
Next week looks to explore the Darkhold, but we’re also going to have to deal with a prison riot!
