“Not another origin story” wails the moodier corners of the Internet whenever another hero’s beginning comes around (like for Doctor Strange). Yes, we may have been given a lot of them in this modern comics/superhero adaptation renaissance and yes some have been redone too often but that shouldn’t devalue their content. From Batman Begins to X-Men and more a good origins story is wonderful to watch. Not to mention that you can’t get to your Dark Knight’s and X2’s without taking that all important first step. So this week Agents of Shield adds another name of the list of origin stories and deliveries a great episode in the process.
The Good Samaritan – When Gabe is brought to Shield Robbie finally tells him how he become Ghost Rider while Mace catches up with Coulson’s recent actions and Lucy Baurer sets up a new procedure to make her human again at a deadly cost to everyone else.
So a good part of this episode revolves around telling the origin story of the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider. Firstly the use Gabe makes it nicely coherent to the narrative; Robbie is finally telling Gabe everything while we observe. Secondly it sheds some good light on the emotional states of both brothers. We now we understand why Robbie is so protective of Gabe. Not just because of brotherly instincts but out of guilt for talking him into the car that night they were gunned in the drive by. From Robbie’s perspective, he talked Gabe into that wheelchair. While the visuals of the car crash feel TV show generic the Robbie tumbling cam looks fantastic and really highlights the idea of a man making a desperate plea. Downplaying the visual spectacle somewhat keeps the focus on the emotions of the pair in aftermath, “I thought you were dead... I was”. This is where things really heat up as we glimpse a very comics familiar figure. Someone I don’t think anyone expected would actually make it on screen but is now officially a part of the MCU. Gabe’s reaction is interesting too in that it’s not his brother’s transformation that concerns him but he takes genuine offence to being used as his justification for vengeance. It’s like although he now understands that Robbie is the Ghost Rider he still can’t differentiate their Banner/Hulk “the other guy” symbiotic relationship.
Robbie isn’t the only one getting the flashback treatment as the episode delivers some good looks back at the full Momentum Labs team before their disaster and ghost transformation. It’s a follow up to last week when we saw Lucy and Joseph first finding the Darkhold. Speaking of which the actions of Joseph imply book has a definite One Ring seduction vibe to it as he goes more than a little Gollum. However, the best material comes from the present day scenes of this story and a very surprising MCU connection. Crikey o’ riley chaps, this links back to Agent Carter! More specifically the events of Isodyne Energy and their dark matter experiments which are referenced as the initial precursor to the tech Momentum Labs was cooking up. As a bonus we even learn that both Momentum Labs and what was Isodyne Energy are now owned by the Roxxon Corporation; a company long featured in Captain America’s comic and also featured in Agent Carter.
The episode does get in danger of derailing itself by devoting most of its first two acts to character flashbacks before focusing solely on the action showdown of Lucy’s power plant experiment. It could have felt very disjointed but surprisingly it works just fine. Things like the tension over Robbie’s character (Mace Vs Rider!) carry over to bridge the gapand there’s just enough setup work in the brief scenes on board the Zephyr to make us understand what’s going on. Then there are some good stakes involved. We’ve all seen enough movies to know that power plants going boom is a really bad thing even without mystical mad science involved so the threat and urgency of the mission is very apparent. Then there’s the fact that it plays out very well with some good dramatic moments and cliff-hangers to chew on as the show takes a week off for the election. It even serves a purpose within the growing Coulson/Mace power struggle as teased in last week’s ending (“Jeff... Phil”). It’s a good argument too as Mace favours the greater good and preservation of Shield while Coulson prioritises the immediate danger to the public. Coulson wants to fight the battle in front of them but Mace is fearful that without keeping public happy with Shield they won’t be around to fight potentially bigger battles in the future. Both men are looking firmly at the bigger picture in their own way so even if Mace comes off more as the antagonist we still sympathise with him.
The Simmons sideling feels a frustrating dead end. By all means take her off somewhere mysterious but at least give us a vague end reveal about where she’s gone. Agent May feels somewhat of a passenger too this episode; being more of the plot’s go to gal than getting her own arc which she really needs now her ghost infection has past. Overall though, it’s an entertaining and very intriguing episode from the show. It distinctly feels the end of chapter 1 this season as many factors change and definitely makes you want to keep watching.