'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D' Recap: 'Deals with Our Devils'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

When we last left Agent Coulson and the gang on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the situation was grim. Eli turned out to be the true bad guy of the story after all this time and upon executing his mad plan to become an omnipotent being that can create matter out of thin air, we were all left wondering exactly what happened to Phil, Fitz and Robbie since they bore the brunt of the shockwave that resulted from Eli's transformation.

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait that long to have our questions answered because 'Deals with Our Devils' picked up right where we left off, with the trio of characters missing and Eli on the loose and well...his newfound abilities are going make him damn near invulnerable because his powers are already growing stronger. Whereas in the last episode it seemed as though he was only able to create matter by channeling his power through his hands, he can instead create it with a mere thought as several unfortunate S.H.I.E.L.D. commandos quickly discovered when they tried to stop him. It leads to the team backing off to lick their wounds and try and scientifically determine as to whether or not Phil and the boys are simply missing, or if S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to prepare for several funerals...

As it turns out, the boys were just fine...merely phased in between dimensions. They could see their friends, follow their every moment, they were simply invisible to the rest of the world and the show did something quite cool with its storytelling when it came to this little twist, allowing us to see both sides of the stories, by letting the regular narrative play out before switching back to Coulson, Fitz and Robbie so we could gather their unique perspective on what was happening around them. But as the boys tried to get someone to notice them or clue them into the fact that they were present, Robbie had to deal with the Rider taking his leave of him and possessing Mack in order to escape the darkness slowly closing in on the trio and to continue slinging out his special brand of vengeance.

It leads to the boys separating for a bit as Robbie travels with Daisy in the hopes of reigning Mack in and well...saving Mack's soul as well, leading to a powerful confrontation between the Rider's spirit and Robbie where he offers up a new deal, one where the Rider would return to Robbie's body and the two of them would finish their current quest for vengeance...and then take up a new one that settles all of the Rider's scores. The spirit agrees to these terms and while Robbie negotiated that deal, Fitz and Coulson were forced to watch idly by as May tries to convince Dr. Radcliffe to use the Darkhold to find a way to locate her missing friends. Initially the good doctor refuses but he comes to realize that Aida's bionic brain can handle the information the book possesses without the risk of going mad, forcing him to reveal how she can pull off such a task...before handing her the book.

It turns out to be a wonderful decision and Aida is able to create a gateway that saves the day and returns everyone missing to the land of the living but it's clear now there will be consequences for the heroic decisions made in this story, since Aida is now working on something sinister in Radcliffe's lab and poor Robbie may now be a slave to the Rider for ages to come, and when all is said and done, this was one intense episode. They packed in plenty of goodies, including finally giving us a little hint as to who has been hiding in that Terragenesis cocoon all this time and man...they simply did a phenomenal  of setting up next week's winter finale. Eli is the target, family and vengeance will take center stage and it should be a blast to see how this whole Ghost Rider storyline plays out. Until next time.

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