Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Meet the New Boss (4x02)

Things are heating up (no pun intended) in this season, and I'm loving it. So many interesting developments to talk about! I'll try and keep it brief.

Cons:

Unfortunately, the least successful part of this episode was one of the potentially more compelling mysteries: the weird ghosts. Basically, the "ghost" at the very beginning of the episode was very successful indeed, appearing in a family's home and attacking a man. Later, when we see things from this ghost's point of view, things start to fall apart. She wakes up other ghosts being held in containment fields and they all talk about finding a book and killing the man responsible for their current conditions. Lucy, the main ghost, thinks that she can reverse whatever it is that's happened to them. Fitz and Mack, investigating the lab where these ghosts were held, get into an altercation with one of them. I'll talk in a minute about the many good things that came out of this plot thread, but I think the actual effectiveness of the incorporeal beings was really undercut the second you started having them talk to each other. Ghosts and things like that are always scarier when you view them as an outsider, unable to gain access to their thoughts. This is a case of "less is more." I didn't want things spelled out for me quite so clearly.

Pros:

The new Director gets introduced, as the title of this episode would suggest. He goes by the name "Jeffrey," and is about as bland and affable a government agent as one would expect. I love all the stuff with him and Coulson. Jeffrey treats Coulson with just a touch of condescension, but still generally seems to be a nice guy. Forcing Coulson to give tours of the base to congressmen might have been insulting, but you have to admit that Coulson does know his stuff when it comes to the history of S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course, we then get the lovely plot twist: Jeffrey is Inhuman. Turns out, Coulson stepped down, wanting an Inhuman that the public could trust to head the new S.H.I.E.L.D. There's a very complicated dynamic being set up here, and I love it. Coulson is used to being in charge, but he's not annoyed at having lost power. He's annoyed about the man who now has said power. Jeffrey may be someone the public can trust, but Coulson and the rest of the original team don't seem able to trust him at all.

So, I complained about the ghosts, but everybody else's connected role in events was awesome. May has been contaminated, which seems to happen whenever one of these ghosts touches you. As a consequence, she thinks everybody else around her is infected with something. She gets more and more paranoid, and ends up attacking Coulson and a bunch of other agents. Jeffrey steps in and restrains her, revealing his super strength. Jeffrey sends May away, strapped down. We don't yet know her destination, or her fate. I'm touched by Coulson and May's friendship, and I also applaud the bad-ass scene where May takes out Coulson and a bunch of other agents. Even when she's sick and confused, May still kicks some serious butt, and I can respect that. It breaks my heart that Coulson doesn't know what's going on with her. Damn you, Jeffrey!

Meanwhile, Fitz and Mack go to research the lab, and are attacked by one of the ghosts. They end up getting saved by Robbie Reyes and Daisy, which I'll get to in a minute. I loved all the stuff with Fitz and Mack. Lots of good banter and moments of camaraderie. I particularly liked Fitz describing Mack as both "an engineer" and "a small tank." And of course I'm a sucker for the bromance, so I love the fact that Mack calls Fitz "Turbo," but then yells out "Fitz!" in a panic when he sees his friend in trouble.

The best material in this episode was with Daisy and Robbie. Basically, Daisy tracks Robbie down again, which he doesn't take well. He ties Daisy up, and when Daisy mentions the power plant where the ghosts were being held, and where Fitz and Mack have gone to investigate, he rushes over there. Daisy follows. They get there in time to stop the ghost from killing Mack and Fitz. Robbie rushes off (as Ghost Rider) while Mack helps Daisy to set her sprained arm (courtesy of Robbie). Mack then discovers that Yo-Yo and Daisy have been in contact, and that Yo-Yo has been giving Daisy medicine to regenerate her cracking bones. Mack is crushed that Daisy has been hiding from them, and Fitz angrily says that all of them have been through bad things, but none of the rest of them have turned their backs on the team the way Daisy has. Daisy leaves her friends, and as the episode ends, Robbie shows up and says he might be the link connecting all these strange events. Daisy gets into his car with him.

So much to unpack here. The coolest thing about Daisy and Robbie in this episode is that for the bulk of the episode, Robbie is presented as the protagonist, and Daisy as the villain. Think about it. Daisy shows up unannounced to Robbie's place of business and insinuates her way into his space, revealing that she knows a lot of personal and private information about him in order to get into his head. If someone watching this didn't know who Daisy was, it would seem as if Robbie was the hero with something to hide, and Daisy was the unsavory villain, come to intimidate the hero into spilling the beans. Their brief fight was pretty awesome, as was Daisy grabbing on to the hood of Robbie's car as he raced off towards the facility.

I love that Daisy gets in the car at the end, too, effectively condoning Robbie's actions. He's a vigilante who claims to have sold his soul to the devil, so aligning with him might not be the best idea, no matter how charming he seems to be. Mack is incredulous at the thought that Daisy is aligning herself with somebody who thinks he has the right to decide who lives and who dies. But it's not that simple. Whatever is happening with Robbie might be connected to a lot of bigger questions, and Daisy needs answers. I think Daisy and Robbie make an awesome and bad ass and very unconventional team, and I'm beyond excited to see where they go with this.

Heartbreak of the episode goes to the moment when Mack realizes that Yo-Yo and Daisy have been in communication. It was surprising to have Daisy in a scene with members of S.H.I.E.L.D. so soon in the season, but I think it worked really well in highlighting how emotionally invested everybody is in Daisy and her current activities. I think that Elena and Daisy are two of the people that Mack cares for most in this world. Daisy was his partner. Yo-Yo is supposed to be on his side, and they even have a romantic relationship going on. To learn of this betrayal is clearly gut-wrenching for Mack. Fitz, too, is hurt by Daisy's behavior. He understands that she doesn't want their help in dealing with what happened. But given all that Fitz has been through, all that he's lost and suffered, it's reasonable that he'd be upset with Daisy for being unable to turn to the team for help. It's certainly not a black and white issue!

This season is shaping up to be something really special. I admire the way this single hour managed to weave together so many moving parts. I'm anxious about May. I'm worried that Daisy is going to fall further down the rabbit hole than ever before. And I'm with Simmons on this one: I do not trust the new Director.

9/10