Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire (4x04)

Daisy's back with the team, and it feels so right. Let's dive straight in.

Cons:

This was a pretty flawless episode, other than one "plot twist" that I found a bit ridiculous. Daisy and Simmons pair up to try and figure out how the Watchdogs have been tracking down and killing Inhumans. Their search leads them to James, aka Hellfire. Then, the twist is that James has been working with the Watchdogs, allowing them access to the tracking bracelet that S.H.I.E.L.D. makes him wear. The twist was obvious from a mile away, and that always bothers me. James is a cool enough character that I was a bit disappointed to have him used in this way.

Pros:

But that's a small thing. Things are escalating, and all of our plots are coalescing in really neat ways. Daisy "recruits" Simmons to help her with the Watchdog problem by luring her to a house and then holding her at gunpoint. Simmons is willing to help, even if she can't officially comply. Meanwhile, Coulson and Mack are hunting down the secret about the Darkhold, a mysterious book that the weird ghost-like things are after. This connects them with Robbie, since Robbie's uncle used to work with this guy Joe, who was the head of the team that all got turned into ghosts. After an awesome car chase, Coulson and Mack get hold of Robbie, who agrees to help them by talking to his uncle. Meanwhile, Daisy and Jemma end up in James' trap, as a group of Watchdogs show up in the fireworks factory where James works. Luckily, Coulson, Mack, and Robbie show up in time to save them. The team reunited, Coulson tells Daisy and Robbie that the vigilante stuff needs to stop. They've got to work to save people from the Darkhold, and whatever else that entails.

Lots of moving parts in this one, and I love the way it's all coming together.

Daisy and Jemma make a good team here, even if this plot thread starts off with Daisy tricking Jemma into coming to an abandoned house, and then holding her at gunpoint once Jemma has patched up her wounds. Still, Jemma knows that Daisy is only doing this so that Jemma will be able to say that her assistance was involuntary. I loved the moment when Daisy concocted this elaborate plan to get information out of S.H.I.E.L.D., and then Jemma just walks up to a lady and asks for the information. She's the boss. She can do stuff like that.

Mack and Coulson make for a great duo, and I'm glad we're doing more with that this season. The car chase was awesome, especially the way it ended with Robbie running straight in to the invisible Quinjet that Coulson had left as a trap. I think I'm going to enjoy seeing Robbie work with S.H.I.E.L.D., however reluctantly. In some ways, he's like a better, more developed Lincoln. Sort of a bad-boy, reluctant to follow the rules, powers that he's afraid of even as he uses them. I don't want a romance for Robbie and Daisy necessarily, but I think he'll fulfill Lincoln's function better than Lincoln himself. (Sorry, dude.)

The climax of this episode was everything we could have hoped for. On one side you've got Jemma, Daisy, and James, embroiled in the Watchdog plot. On the other, you've got Coulson, Mack, and Robbie, searching for answers about these weird ghost things, and the Darkhold, whatever the heck that is. And then they come together for an explosive final moment. And I mean that literally. It may have been on the nose to have Robbie and James, two people with fire-based powers, fight it out in a fireworks shop. But the resulting explosion was really awesome. I love how the rest of them get out, and Robbie and James are still apparently inside when the whole shop goes BOOM. Then, Robbie walks over, dragging James by his own recently flaming chain. "You wanted him alive, right?" He's such a bad ass.

As I think I mentioned in an earlier review, the whole ghost thing is the one element that has the potential to disappoint me the most. However, now that S.H.I.E.L.D. has recruited Quake and Ghost Rider to their ranks, and now that we have a concrete goal in mind, I'm more interested in what this plot arc can bring.

In subplot news, May is being treated by Aida, to Fitz's horror. Radcliffe assures him that Aida needs to be tested out on people. It looks like May is fooled, and when Coulson shows up at the end with the others, everybody else seems to believe she's human as well. Everybody but Simmons. She immediately deduces that Aida is an android. Fitz admits that he wanted to tell her, but her lie-detector tests with the new Director make that difficult. An anxious Simmons reveals that she has such a test tomorrow. She'll need to lie.

The stuff with Aida is building in such a subtle way. There was a key moment in this episode where Radcliffe told her that it was okay for her to lie to people if it would save a life, including her own. This is a dangerous, dangerous thing to tell an android, no matter how innocent it may seem. I'm really excited to see the repercussions.

Also, Simmons gets MVP for this episode for sure. Not only was she awesome when teaming up with Daisy, she's also awesome here, when she sees Aida for the first time. I love that she figured it out right away. That girl is one smart cookie. It's so refreshing that Fitz keeping this secret didn't cause some big rift between Fitz and Simmons. He had a reason, and Simmons understood that reason. They're fine. In fact, they're better than fine. The beginning of the episode reveals that they're looking for a new place so they can move in together! That's adorable. The casual "I love you"s on the phone just made my heart sing. Also, how precious is it that Daisy hacked Simmons' search history, and lured her with the promise of a great property... and then actually provided that property? Daisy was being tricky and all that, but at least Fitz and Simmons get to keep the place!

That's where I'll stop. Daisy is back, but that doesn't mean that everything is forgiven. This episode featured James' return, which I greatly enjoyed, even if the twist was a bit weak. It featured some Fitzsimmons love, the escalation of Aida's relevance in the story, an awesome car chase, and so much more. This was Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at its finest.

9/10