Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 4, Episode 8 Review

In the conclusion to this season's 'Ghost Rider' pod, 'The Laws of Inferno Dynamics' sees everyone team up to fight Eli, now imbued with the ability to create molecules out of nowhere (or, from another dimension it would seem). Getting to see a new version of last season's Secret Warriors team is cool, now with Quake, Yo-Yo and Ghost Rider, a trio that works very well with a range in abilities and characters. Sadly, we don't get to actually see this team in action very much, with all of them given one-off scenes or, in the case of Quake, barely that as she grapples with...stopping earthquakes. Not quite as intense as I'm sure it should have been.
I was also disappointed not see Eli and Robbie go head-to-head with their powers, and after being so damn badass in the previous episodes, Ghost Rider just gets stabbed a couple of times and doesn't really do much. But hey, the effect of Robbie's face burning off is pretty cool. Eli as this pod's villain does however become a bit too much of a ranting and raving lunatic, no matter how hard the writing tries to justify his character. Saying that, he works as the antagonist for this pod, even if he isn't particularly memorable. The story has earned some forgiveness on the weak villain front by developing the rest of the characters to a satisfying degree, not to mention concluding this arc very well.
I'm also glad to see Daisy re-join SHIELD at the end of this episode - at long last - and the way it carries over from her talk with May a couple of episodes ago is quite a nice callback. We're reminded why Coulson is such a great character, and also the show's lead. Clark Gregg is always fun to watch, and in this episode got more of his great lines - even if none of them were robot hand jokes (robot hand with a SHIELD shield I might add). Seeing Mace suit up as a new hero was a little odd though, considering how little he did (much like Quake).
Overall, 'The Laws of Inferno Dynamics' (love that title) is a great conclusion to the 'Ghost Rider' arc of these first eight episodes. It's a shame to see the Rider written out of the show for now, but hopefully Robbie and his devil friend will return to light the screen up at some point. While the cliffhanger doesn't make me too excited, 'LMD' should be an interesting second pod for this season. To conclude: 'Ghost Rider' as a pod gets a strong 7/10 from me. A couple of weak points here and there, and the pacing could have been a little better, but when it hits it hits hard.

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