With the lives of everyone in Los Angeles hanging in the balance, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ghost Rider find themselves working together.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wraps up the with the midseason finale that feels like sound and fury signifying nothing.

There’s a lot that goes on here as SHIELD and Ghost Rider take on Eli. And the Inhumans step up as a team including the director who straps on his own costume. A lot of the episode deals with Yo-Yo, Ghost Rider, and Quake stepping up as a unit. There’s lots of action and lots of special fx, but overall it feels pretty empty.

Stories wrap up nicely and a lot of new ones begin and overall there just feels like something was missing. We finally get an idea of what Eli’s plan is and it’s… something. I’m still not quite sure the point other than his being nuts. And when it’s all wrapped up it kind of feels like the writers weren’t sure where they were going with it all either.

Thrown into all of the action Mac and Yo-Yo’s relationship is really pushed. It’s something thats been danced around all season, but not really addressed in a long way, but it feels like it’s a major issue in this episode. Since it just is thrust front and center it feels really out of place due to that.

And the episode really feels like it’s a way to wrap up the rather listless plot for the first half of the year and moving us onto the next which will have more to do with ADA and LMDs. For fans of comics, that has potential and while this season generally feels improved it still has shown some major issues when it comes to the plotting.

Hopefully we’re done with this mess of a story… on to January!

Overall Score: 7.95

After losing half of their team, the remaining members look for answers as time begins to run out for Ghost Rider.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is back after a bit of a break and some of the team has been sucked into the ghost world (not sure what else to call it). That leads to one of the more interesting things of the season where the episode is split between color and black and white depending on whose perspective it is.

It’s a bit of a distraction storywise, but the bigger aspect of it is its focus on Robbie and Ghost Rider. Robbie was sucked in which causes Ghost Rider to jump to Mac. Some coolness is a nod to classic Ghost Riders as he drives around on a motorcycle with a shotgun on his back. Fans of Blaze and Ketch Ghost Riders will notice the nod.

It also forces us to get a better idea of the relationship between Robbie and Ghost Rider and the deal they’ve got between them. It hasn’t been fully explained, but here it’s laid out pretty well. It also gives us a bit question mark as to what’s next for the character who is rumored to get a Netflix spin-off at some point. There’s also the fact Mac has now experienced the Ghost Rider, so he and Robbie are tied together in some ways which should play out nicely.

There’s also the reveal of Ada to a bunch of folks and she steps up to help save the day in a way. For those that have seen Doctor Strange, some of what happens there looks and feels very familiar and it’s a nod to the movie without directly tying into the film.

Overall, a not bad episode with some interesting new aspects thrown in. It feels fresh in many ways, both visually and storywise. Though the danger doesn’t every quite gel and feel like it’s a big deal, it’s better than the villain of the week fights we’ve seen over and over. It also moves along the story while setting some other things forward as well. One of the stronger episodes of the season.

Overall Score: 7.95

The shocking origin story of Robbie’s transition into Ghost Rider is revealed as the lives of Coulson and the team hang in the balance.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is much improved after a rather dull previous episode as it really focuses on the origin of Robbie as Ghost Rider and stopping whatever happens with the Darkhold.

As the new Director looks for Robbie and Daisy to arrest them we’re given flashbacks as Robbie recounts what happened on the day he turned. It’s a really solid story as we get the same story from his and his brother’s perspective. It’s a really good way to go about it as we get where Robbie’s guilt comes from.

What I think is really solid though is all of the winks and nods the episode gives fans of Marvel. Robbie’s origin involves a certain motorcycle riding character. We’ve been told he made a deal with the devil, but it’s not the devil you’d expect. I know I got super excited to see it on screen and something I wasn’t expecting. There’s also references to Agent Carter and the Dark Force from the second season. It’s another nice wink that makes that series a bit more relevant. Finally, we get a Roxxon reference!

All of that, plus adding in some twists and turns and the episode is one of the strongest of the season by a long shot. What’s impressive is it was able to do all of that but also really move the story along the way. We have motivation for why folks want the Darkhold and some solid confrontations. A lot is packed into the episode and it all comes together smoothly as well as feeling like nothing gets short shrift.

This was a nice bounceback from last week’s episode which had me falling asleep. More of this please!

Overall Score: 8.15

Robbie Reyes attempts to control the Ghost Rider; S.H.I.E.L.D. breaks into a high-security prison to decipher secrets.

Eli Morrow Robbie’s uncle

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is rather boring in its fifth episode as Robbie and some of SHIELD head to grab his uncle Eli Morrow from prison before the other ghosts get him instead.

The whole episode plays off of the fact people lose it when they’re infected by the ghost-like beings. That of course, gets the prisoners riled up for the eventual moment when everyone is let loose to fight the agents as they try to make their escape.

And that’s my issue with this episode. That’s about it when it comes to what happens and the whole build up until the end. It’s predictable and you can see where it’s going the entire time. There’s very little that’s exciting or shocking. Call it writing by numbers.

There is a cool moment that involves Robbie channeling his inner Ghost Rider and taking up a flaming chain. It’s something so many of us have been waiting for and we got the payoff.

But for me, that’s about it for the episode. It got us to the next thing where the end needed to be so we can get to the next episode and move the story along. For the season though, this was the most boring episode so far. Here’s hoping the next one is a bit more interesting.

Overall Score: 6.70

As Ghost Rider’s quest for vengeance brings him into an explosive confrontation with S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson and Mack must rely on an unlikely ally in their time of desperate need; and Daisy reunites with a familiar face to stop the Watchdogs.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings some things together as we finally get an idea as to what the main goal of the bad guy is (sort of) and Ghost Rider, Daisy, and Coulson’s SHIELD come together.

The episode has Daisy and Robbie/Ghost Rider going after the Watchdogs and need to help of a familiar face from last year. There’s a twist to that little plot and it’s absolutely the worst thing of the episode. It’s a plot twist that’s not explained and so far just thrown out there. We don’t quite get why this particular thing happens and it the Watchdogs basically become a side story for the season based off of what is revealed. Hopefully they weren’t just a macguffin to get characters to this point, but we’ll see.

There’s some cool moments. Coulson and Robbie get into a drag race with some solid humor and entertaining back and forth between Coulson and Mack. It’s cool to see the two power cards take each other on and how Robbie is stopped got me to laugh pretty good. So, the action is decent.

We also get some more with Ada and I have no idea where the plot with the life model decoy is going. I’m interesting in seeing it, because this is a concept that’s really ingrained into the Marvel universe and opens up a lot of possibilities. Again, there’s some humor there too.

But, the biggest reveal is what the ghost is after and it’s an item that really takes the series and Marvel Cinematic Universe into some spiritual territory. It’s something familiar to comic fans, or at least those who read Marvel’s horror comics of the 90s. I don’t want to ruin it, but it’s a cool blast from the past for me. It’s also clear the show is going to tie into Dr. Strange somehow.

Again, the episode is a decent one. It’s not bad in any way, but it also doesn’t quite jump out to me. There’s some good. There’s some bad. Thankfully more good than bad. The episode had a goal and that was to bring together some of the characters and it pulled that off in an interesting way. We also have a direction going forward and out of everything, that’s the most interesting aspect of the episode.

Overall Score: 7.70

May fights for her life as her illness worsens and Simmons and Dr. Radcliffe try to save her. Also: Coulson, Mack and Fitz attempt to thwart a rogue group looking to end Inhuman Registration.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gives us a pseudo stand-alone episode as a group sets off electronic magnetic pulses and demands the end of Inhuman Registration. There’s an obviously different motive for the move and it’s pretty clear what their plan is. It’s all convoluted, so not sure what the overall point is to it all, but it’s an episode that doesn’t dive too deep into everything else going on, but sets things up for what’s to come down the road in the series.

The rogue group really feels like it’s more meant to give some drama to May’s recovery and also put Daisy and Robbie closer together.

The loss of power expands around the country forcing some of the SHIELD team to deal with the EMP source and also Daisy and Robbie to deal with issues locally. It’s all decent with some team building but overall, kind of boring. There’s some great special fx using Yo Yo, but overall, nothing jumps out too much as far as the rest. In fact, seeing her in motion really emphasizes how boring the rest of the episode is.

Then there’s May’s condition. Simmons and Dr. Radcliffe work to save her and that too feels like there was just a need to resolve the issue, but not really a major understanding of what is happening.

The episode overall is very blah and not too exciting. It moves the plots set up in the previous two episodes but itself lacks a lot of excitement. It also sets up some things to come like who is really behind the attacks.

The episode isn’t bad, but it also isn’t necessarily good. It just is.

Overall Score: 7.65