Wednesday, September 21, 2016

The Geekcap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "The Ghost"

A gang of crooks speed down the streets at night. Their tires suddenly blow out by an unseen force. As they stop to survey the area, Daisy emerges to fight the men. Facing one, he suddenly crumples to his knees, warning her that he’s been marked for death as he continues to bleed. The men continue to fire, forcing Daisy to move back to protect a local witness. Before they continue, a Dodge Chaser races near the group. One man fires a missile at the vehicle, but the vehicle only engulfs the flames in itself. The car rams into the gang’s car, and a figure pulls two men from the scene. Quickly, it kills two of the men before taking one of them hostage. Police begin to arrive on the scene as Daisy evades being seen.

Meanwhile, Coulson and Mack pass their time crossing borders on the Zephyr One by playing backgammon. They talk about their previous missions, finding nothing but abandoned homes. Suddenly, an agent informs them they were requested back at the base, though the information is classified. Although they are wary of the news, they are each interested in seeing their old members like May, Fitz and Simmons.

Coulson and Mack return to the base to meet May herself at the gate as she trains new recruits. She tells them about a disturbing development of two men gruesomely killed in Los Angeles. When pressed further, she also admits that a third witness claimed that Quake was responsible for the attack. Coulson argues that Daisy has only been going after Watchdog finances without harming anyone directly, but May warns him that she is only seen as a threat in the news. Since the new director believes that Coulson and Mack have been compromised in their search from their relationship with Daisy, he has taken them off of the case with new orders to capture or kill Daisy on site. To save their old friend, they have to find her before the reinforcements do, starting with their Inhuman asset in Los Angeles.

Piper: What? You've never seen the biggest plane ever built before?

In a local hospital, Daisy fights off guards and barricades the room of one of the gang members. She interrogates him, knowing that they were hired to transfer weapons. The man maintains that they were only hired to hijack a truck with no other motives, but Daisy then asks about the man hunting them. He then remarks desperately that it’s too late for him as he begins to bleed profusely once again. Before he dies, he warns her about the Rider. The guards then break down the door as Daisy breaks through the hospital walls and escapes.

Back at the lab, Fitz and Simmons test out Fitz’s latest virtual reality stimulus that produces an exact copy of the lab using brain stimuli. He remarks that with Radcliffe’s help they can eventually create a virtual reality projection almost directly into the brain. Before they go further, the two are interrupted when Coulson and Mack are detained by a new lab worker. After six weeks, the four reunite as they catch up on the past six weeks. Simmons reveals that she has been promoted to assist the director who has installed new security protocols to prevent any future insider takeover. Though they’re happy to see each other, Coulson and Mack move quickly to Fitz’s new weapons including an exploding pen for Mack and a new hand for Coulson. Simmons asks what their latest mission is about, but Coulson replies that the news is classified before they leave. Fitz laments that they hardly see the two anymore, but Simmons remarks that at least they are among the friends they still see. Unfortunately, though, she regrets to tell him she can’t join him to watch a football game with Radcliffe.

Daisy then moves into the field using a new van after receiving a text with a new location. In the meantime, the figure chains up his hostage and demands to know where they were transporting their supplies. The hostage begs that they were only there for hire as the figure beats him. Giving in, the hostage reveals the location of a warehouse where the weapons would be traded off eventually.

Coulson and Mack go over their intel, learning that the gang, who work for hire, were planning to trade-off a box of supplies in a nearby rig. Knowing Daisy may be close nearby, the agents try to learn more about the deal as they start to check in on their Inhuman asset: Elena. Though she was planning to stop in Miami, Mack had moved her check-up early to see if she knew anything about Daisy. Elena, however, sees through his act and instead tells him to ask her to dinner again rather than spy on her with satellites. Nevertheless, she realizes his policy not to fraternize with the assets but bemoans the new Sokovia Accords forcing SHIELD to move too slowly for her tastes.


Fitz arrives at Radcliffe’s apartment to watch the game but is surprised to find a naked woman standing in the hall. Radcliffe explains that this is a body made for his A.I. voice AIDA whose sensors are nearly identical to a human being though she malfunctions on introducing herself. Fitz warns Radcliffe that this experimentation isn’t allowed, but Radcliffe stated that he was simply inspired by Fitz and Simmons’s developments with Coulson’s hand. Before Fitz can report the development to SHIELD, Radcliffe offers to show Fitz what AIDA can do.
Daisy gets on a bus the next day to cross paths with Elena, who has been secretly giving SHIELD intel to Daisy on the side. In addition, Elena has been acquiring pills for Daisy’s benefit, noting that Daisy has been splintering her bones once again by overusing her powers. Daisy reveals that she is tracking the serial killer behind the gang’s murder, but Elena reminds her about the team searching for her, noting that they still care about her. Still, Daisy refuses to contact the team. Nevertheless, Elena asks Daisy to send her a photo so she can help as well, though Coulson will not stop searching for her.

Back on the base, May signs off for new technology from Simmons based on the new regulations. Though May sees it as frustrating, Simmons insists on following the new protocol set by the new director. However, Simmons follows up with discovering the report of men killed by extraordinary means and asks if Coulson or Mack were assigned to investigate it. May instead responds that she could ask the director of that knowledge since she is the only one with that privilege.

Daisy continues her search for the serial killer and comes across a graffiti image of the Dodge Charger and a flaming skull. She asks a nearby street painter what the image is, and he reveals that it is the Ghost Rider. She questions where she can find him, but he says that anyone who has ever met him has ended up dead.

Daisy: “I think I stumbled onto a serial killer.”
Elena: “Ooo fun!”

Coulson and Mack track down the truck and use their SHIELD backup to investigate the area. Using Coulson’s new hand, they see two bodies in the back covered in blood. Examining them, they see that the victims apparently killed each other in a bloody battle. Though they have no idea what happened, Coulson notices a symbol on one of their suits.

Unbeknownst to them, the serial killer snuck around the area to search for the smuggled object. He returns to his garage to confront his hostage. With no other lead, he finally takes his vengeance on the hostage. Meanwhile, Daisy gets a lead on the serial killer from an auto dealer informing her on a junk dealer that contained parts of a Dodge Charger.

At the lab, Simmons then turns on May upon discovering that Daisy was a suspect in the Los Angeles attack. She quickly deduces that May secretly sent Coulson and Mack on the mission without the director’s approval in order to find Daisy before SHIELD does. May fired back that the director cannot be trusted since he seems to have purposely split the original team apart to keep watch. Simmons admits that she knows the director cannot be trusted, but, in order to maintain some control over the massive changes in their lives, she chooses her position with him. To prove it, she orders May and her team to extract Coulson and Mack from the area, just as they move in to observe a trade.

In the meantime, Radcliffe describes his purpose for making a Life Model Decoy. Though Fitz fears that the model could be used as a weapon, Radcliffe lets AIDA explain for herself what she can do. Following the loss of Lincoln, Andrew, and Trip, she insists that she can be used as a decoy for real agents. Instead of sacrificing real lives, they can sacrifice her to save their friends in the field. With this in mind, Fitz considers helping Radcliffe perfect the model under the condition that they don’t tell Simmons until AIDA is complete.

Coulson and Mack observe a gang preparing to make a trade with gang’s contraband: a crate. Though Mack suggests moving in, Coulson advises them to wait in order to see what may happen and whether Daisy may appear. In addition, he is curious to see what’s in a package that could force two men to kill each other, especially when the leader states it could bring an enhanced person to their knees.

Meanwhile, Daisy finds her way to the junk yard where she unknowingly meets the serial killer who introduces himself as Robbie. Though he protests that he hasn’t seen a Dodge Charger around, he offers to let Daisy look through his office for any leads.   

Once the box is opened, a translucent spirit seems to break free, bursting around the men. A female spirit appears to fly by a man whispering about “a breath of fresh air” before disappearing. All the men seem to develop ghoulish faces. To make matters worse, Coulson and Mack’s feed of the action seems to cut off mysteriously before the criminals begin to kill each other.

Daisy: Everyone's attached to something.

Robbie leads Daisy to an area where he plans to take her out, but Daisy quickly fights back with her powers. Using his own, Robbie ignites a lead pipe and charges towards her.

Before Coulson and Mack fight against the men, May and her recruits quickly arrive under Simmons’s orders. Moving fast, the agents make short work of the criminals, icing them and taking them into custody. However, when May passes by the box, the spirit appears to fly through her.

Robbie and Daisy continue to fight as Daisy accuses him of being a killer. Robbie, however, argues that he only goes after those who deserve it. Although he appears to be killing at random, he actually reveals that those he killed had done evil deeds. Nevertheless, Daisy argues that he doesn’t get to choose who dies for their acts, but Robbie reveals that it isn’t him who chooses. He then transforms into the Ghost Rider with a flaming skull at his head and fights off Daisy, forcing a shelving unit to almost crush her. In holding it off, Daisy goads him into killing her at this moment, believing that she deserves it as well. The Ghost Rider, however, leaves her alive as he escapes.

The SHIELD team returns to the base as they prepare to examine the criminals for anything extraordinary. In the meantime, Fitz and Simmons spend some alone time together while Elena receives a text of the Ghost Rider image from Daisy. The next day, Daisy spots Robbie in public from her van. Secretly, she watches him help his handicapped brother from a car and wheels him home.


After the backfired mission, Coulson and May pass some time playing a game of backgammon. Coulson realizes that he will need to speak with the director about his actions, but he also relishes the moment he has with May now. Unfortunately, May sees Coulson’s face turn dark and ghoulish, suggesting a lingering effect from the spirit.

N.O.T.E.S.

  • Robbie mentions that he dropped out of school in 11th grade. This matches Robbie Reyes's actual age in his comic incarnation.
  • According to the credits, the name of the spirit is Lucy.
  • If you look closely at the people on the bus that Daisy rides, you can see the back of co-creator Jed Whedon's head. 
  • Elena remarks that Daisy is splintering her bones from using her powers too much. This first occurred in the season two episode "One of Us" when Daisy splintered the bones in her arms to control her powers.
  • Daisy once again uses a van for transportation, the first time she's used one since the show's pilot.

Photo Credit: ABC

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