I both love and dread the feeling I get after watching a SHIELD episode like this one. On one hand, I just watched a fantastic hour of television. On the other, I have to wait three freaking weeks to see what happens next. Gives me some time to come up with some totally legit fan theories though, am I right?
From the promos and clips, I was under the impression that Ghost Rider’s origin story would take center stage in“The Good Samaritan,” and it did…for the first half. Before we get into what the second half focussed on, let’s talk about the origin story. As I’m saying week after week, Ghost Rider is being handled remarkably and Gabriel Luna is fantastic. It was eerie to see a different version of Robbie, pre-Ghost Rider. A Robbie who is carefree and happy, as opposed to driven and angry. Seeing a pre-wheelchair Gabe also added to the foreboding-ness of the flashbacks. Then, of course, that previously mentioned “accident” comes along, and a desperate, and…dead, Robbie is given a second chance and visited by another Ghost Rider (believed to be the original, Johnny Blaze). It was an intense sequence, and though I think it’s far from the best we’ve seen of Ghost Rider this season, it was still great to finally witness his origins. What really added to it was the emotion behind Gabe hearing all this from Robbie for the first time, and it appears that the Reyes brothers have some air to clear when the show returns from it’s freaking three week break.
While Gabe and Daisy were listening to Robbie’s campfire story, Mace boarded the Zephyr to confront Coulson. Mace’s “wrath” towards Coulson concerning the events of last week wasn’t as fiery as I’d expected, but we did get to see a more intense and aggressive side of the new director. After an awesome scuffle with Ghost Rider, Mace and Coulson reached a compromise. And now we come to the second half of the episode.
Fitz tracks down Lucy and Eli, who are trying to re-perform the experiment that ghost-ed Lucy. The team moves in to stop them. Robbie confronts and kills Lucy (oh so satisfying), Fitz and Mack attempt to shut down the facility’s power, and Coulson and May try to extract Eli.
But…it turns out that Eli is the real bad guy here, and he attacked Joe and ghost-ed the other scientists to try to get the matter-making powers for himself. What a twist! The old “unfortunate pawn is really the man behind it all” trick. In all seriousness, it was a good twist. I mean, it wasn’t earth-shattering or anything (I did think I saw a smile on Eli’s face when he laid eyes on the Darkhold last week. Not to brag), but it added a huge wrinkle to the relationship between Robbie and his uncle. Their inevitable battle should be…intense.
We might have to wait a while for that, though, and I’m not just talking about the freaking three week break. No, I’m talking about the twist that really shattered everything. As Eli gives himself his matter-making powers, a shockwave ripples out and catches Coulson, Fitz and Robbie, and the three vanish. I was completely on the edge of my seat as this was happening, and leave to SHIELD to leave us on a note like that just before an extended break. Like I said before, I was left with the joy of having just watched something great, but also with the frustration of having to wait 21 days before I get my questions answered. Aaaagh!
So…where did they go? I’ve heard some speculate that the three are ghosts now too, which seems plausible. However, the fact that they’re seemingly nowhere to be found suggests they thrown somewhere else. And, hey…Doctor Strange is dealing with different realities, so perhaps they’re in another dimension? That could be the tie-in to Doctor Strange for the series. In summary, THIS IS GOING TO DRIVE ME INSANE. Hopefully some hints will be thrown to me when I see Doctor Strange on Tuesday.
Other Thoughts:
- Another thing that has me desperate for answers: Where did Mace send Simmons? I’m thinking that it has something to do with Nadeer’s blackmailing of Mace last week. If that’s the case, it more than likely involves Nadeer’s cocooned brother.
- Speaking of Simmons, I’m hoping for a reversal of Fitz rescuing her from Maveth. This time, she punches a hole in the universe to rescue Fitz and the others.
- Quote of the night: “Gabriel…like the angel.” “No. I’m the other one.”
- Loving the Star Wars/Marvel synergy, Disney! Loving it.
- I’m changing my whole Aida theory from a few weeks ago. It seems like she will somehow get abilities from the machine and go crazy, rather than get affected by the ghosts since, you know, they’re all dead now.
Rating: 8.9/10 homework assignments
Next week Three weeks from now, the team investigates the disappearances of Coulson, Fitz and Robbie…
Noah
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