Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 4 - TV review

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 4

Plot: Robbie Reyes roars into the lives of Agent Coulson and the team as a junkyard mechanic who can turn on a dime into the terrifying Ghost Rider. Will Robbie be a friend or foe to S.H.I.E.L.D. – as well as the world, itself? Meanwhile, Fitz discovers that socially awkward genius and friend Dr. Radcliffe has started putting the finishing touches on a new, secret invention.
Cast: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet
Number Of Episodes: 22
Channel: E4 (UK)/ABC (US)
Certificate: 12 (moderate violence)
Air Date: Tuesday 20th September 2016 - Tuesday 16th May 2017

I know what you're probably thinking - "Isn't this the Marvel show that everyone hates?" If you were judging this show based off of the first half of its first season, I'd be thinking those sentiments exactly. However, ever since its first season hit the halfway mark, initiating a HYDRA twist, Agents Of SHIELD has gone from strength to strength. The first season finished well, the second was brilliant and the third, despite its flaws, had a worthwhile ending. Season 4, on the other hand is quite different to its previous seasons. Instead of being really good, it went a step above. The fourth season of Agents Of SHIELD is sensational. Caution: if you have not completed this most recent season of Agents Of SHIELD, then think twice about continuing. This review will discuss spoilers, both mild and heavy.

Me trying piece together anything that happens in Twin Peaks.

Despite having a ridiculous twenty two episode count, SHIELD decided to switch the usual proceedings up by having three main arcs in their season. All were linked together in an understated manner but they all stood on their own as well. The season began with its focus on Ghost Rider, the Robbie Reyes incarnation, hunting down mysterious ghost-like beings who themselves, are in pursuit of an ancient book known only as the Darkhold. A shift in air-time signalled to me that this season was going down a dark path and I wasn't wrong. In the opening scene, Ghost Rider smashes beautifully onto our television sets in his fiery Charger, burns the souls out of some douchebags and then sails off. In those two minutes, Gabriel Luna proved himself to surpass anything that Nicolas Cage ever did in his two motion pictures. It was also in his relationship that he forms with Daisy/Quake/Skye (whatever her name has become) played by Chloe Bennet, that Luna supersedes just being a cool badass. We discover that there's depth to him with a younger brother who he's tasked with caring for. Even though Luna may only feature in this opening third of the season and then a brief appearance come the finale, he is certifiably the greatest part of this season. For a TV show, the visual effects for Ghost Rider are significantly better than anything we've seen from the character before and in one amazing moment that rivals The Hulk's "I'm always angry" line, that was when I knew that this show had finally found its stride. As for this portion of the season as a whole, it worked really well. The ghostlike figures made for disposable villains that Ghost Rider could slay but it was only when we meet Uncle Eli, that these antagonists go from being putties to actual threats. However, it was within this arc that we are introduced to AIDA, an artificial intelligence creation made by Dr. Radcliffe. Now, I don't wish to brag but I've seen a heck of a lot of films and I've come to realise that whenever someone creates an artificial robot that is sentient, IT NEVER ENDS WELL. Fortunately, the show lets you know from the offset that AIDA has sinister intentions. As for how this arc concluded, Ghost Rider taking out Eli was amazing of course, but once seeing him disappear into this mystical portal, I was filled with a mixture of confusion and sadness. Seeing him gone meant that there would be no more reducing criminals to ash with a flick of a chain but I was now fearing that the rest of the season wouldn't be at the same high standards that has just come.

Ghost Rider wasn't happy about not being invited to the End of the World party.

FACT: The opening scene in the first episode of the season, where Robbie Reyes' Charger is hit with an RPG, flips in the air, and lands on its wheels is a direct reference to All-New Ghost Rider #2.

To my utmost joy, the quality continued and as the second arc drew to a close, it even improved. Instead of Ghost Rider now being the focus, we now witness the LMD (Life Model Decoy) phase of the season. After AIDA delved too far into the Darkhold, she and Radcliffe had begun replacing our beloved SHIELD agents with robot substitutes. Seeing as Marvel don't have the rights, this arc was about as close to the comic line 'Secret Invasion' featuring the Skrulls as we're going to get. In places, it even had me guessing as to who was a real agent and who was an imposter. After Quake had quite a prevalent role in the Ghost Rider plotline, she took a backseat in this instance as characters like Coulson (Clark Gregg), May (Ming-Na Wen) and even newcomer and brand new head of SHIELD, Jeffrey Mace (Jason O'Mara), take centre stage. Coulson and May's relationship has always been a "will they? won't they?" type pairing and with May being replaced with metal and wires, that kind of posed a problem as they seemingly got closer. It was this infiltration aspect that made this plotline entirely compelling and gripping. Unfortunately, the only issues that I found within this season all became unearthed in the LMD phase. With a twenty two episode count, it is inevitable that some episodes feel very unnecessary or to put it simply, are just filler because the showrunners lacked enough material for their main plot to last twenty two episodes. In season four of SHIELD, we do come a cropper of some episodes feeling just a tad pointless. There's a few episodes dedicated to an Inhuman Simmons finds in a secret base but that all turns out to be pointless when he's killed and his murderous sister is killed too within the space of a couple of episodes. All in all though, the LMD portion of this season was yet another indication that this was gearing up to be the greatest season of SHIELD yet. But, as always, the proof is in the pudding. And what a pudding it was!

She makes for an amazing lollipop lady.

As the LMD storyline was coming to a close, every episode began feeling like it could have been a season finale in itself. The episodes were all of a consistent quality with twists and turns around every corner and the action being of something like a high budget action movie. Quake's powers have never looked more terrific and believe me when I say that Mack (aka the single greatest member of SHIELD there has ever been) swing his shotgun-axe around is the most incredible thing I think Marvel television has ever produced. I would put it on par with Daredevil's hallway sequences. Up until this season, my favourite episode of SHIELD was the 'Turn, Turn, Turn' episode from season one in which we discover HYDRA had been pulling the strings all along, tying into The Winter Soldier. That is no longer the case. The episode entitled 'Self Control' is by far and large one of the best hours of television I've seen this year. My nerves were through the roof as I began questioning if certain adored members of SHIELD would make it out alive. By setting the episode in the confined SHIELD base with only Daisy and Simmons against everyone else, it made for great tension filled television. Perfect, even. And then, to top it all off, we enter the much talked about Framework, where our real SHIELD agents had been plugged into. In this fake world, we discover a 'What If...?' scenario suggesting that HYDRA had taken control. Coulson was now an elementary school teaching warning pupils of Inhumans. May was a high ranking HYDRA operative as was Daisy, who finds herself paired with a no longer evil Ward (Brett Dalton). I was a fan of non-evil Ward and seeing him return as, what is revealed to be, a double agent working for an underground SHIELD, was great to see that writers were giving his character some redemption. Gemma is revealed to have died in this world yet she does break free from her grave. However, the two most heartbreaking revelations involved Fitz and Mack. Fitz is now second in command at HYDRA, in charge of experimenting on Inhumans under the spell of AIDA posing as Madame Hydra and Mack has been reintroduced to his daughter, his daughter who passed away in the real world. 

This gives a whole new meaning for Hot-Rod.

The Agents Of HYDRA arc was easily the most emotional as Daisy and Gemma are tasked with having to convince their former colleagues that this world isn't real. For some, like Coulson and May, it wasn't too much of a challenge. Fitz and Mack were a different kettle of fish altogether. I won't lie and cover my tracks when it came to Mack's story because him reconnecting with his daughter is soul destroying and did cause a few of my tears to fall as you realise she's just codes and numbers. As the season drew to a close and Mack is told the truth and then decides to stay, it was a crushing blow. I thought we might lose Mack but that didn't stop it from hurting. Thankfully, come the end, he does come back to the real world but watching him leave his daughter broke me. From memory, anything produced by Marvel Studios has yet to make me cry but Mack's storyline in this season of SHIELD is the first time it's happened. The Fitz-Simmons storyline was also beautifully played out. Never, since Ross and Rachel, have I wanted to see two television characters get together. Ian De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge are the best actors on the show but here, they stray into award worthy territory. Upon returning to the real world, Fitz is emotionally distraught after realising what he could be capable of if seduced by evil and Caestecker is flat out incredible. They have never been better. And of course, as the season draws to its eventual conclusion, Ghost Rider comes back to ensure that AIDA dies the most painful death imaginable, yet we then realise it isn't Robbie Reyes doing the soul burning and this is why I love Agents Of SHIELD. They end each season with the audience wanting more and asking questions. So; what deal did Coulson make to become the Rider, who abducted the agents from the diner and why the hell are they in space? And that's how a good series should work. Wrap everything up but tease what is to come.

I guess you could say she was...blown away.

Easily their best season so far. Part of that has to do with the introduction to Ghost Rider and the awesomeness he brought with him. The team dynamic between the agents has never been stronger and some of them give series best performances. The simple three act structure worked to its benefit and made the elongated episode count less troubled. The Ghost Rider portion was terrific, the LMD portion was brilliant but the Agents Of HYDRA plotline was faultless. Words cannot describe how overjoyed I am that this show has been renewed. Of the superhero based shows on network television (excluding any Netflix shows) this has now joined the discussion of being one of the best.

My Verdict: 9.5/10

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