'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: 'The Laws of Inferno Dynamics'

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

You know a television show is doing everything right when you find yourself counting down the minutes or even seconds to the next episode and that's precisely what I was doing last night when it came to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. since I was dying to know how the Ghost Rider's storyline was going to come to a close and exactly how this team was going to combat a being that can create matter out of thin air and every ounce of anticipation that this story built up in my mind paid off in spades with one incredible mid season finale. 

Not only was it action packed and gritty and awesome like the rest of the episodes this season, but this particular story managed to finally do the impossible, unite a team that has spent most of the season in shattered fashion, wrap up multiple storylines with a neat little bow and for that matter...set up what will likely be the big bad for the rest of season four. But before we get too deep into our potential new villain let's talk about the Ghost Rider and unity because that was the majority of the focus for 'The Laws of Inferno Dynamics' as the team assembled in Los Angeles to corner Eli Morrow and put an end to his wild plans, only to discover that Eli was going to make his capture as difficult as possible. 

There were booby traps, and a small army for the team to contend with and despite their best efforts to sneak into the building that Eli was repurposing for his dangerous experiments, the only person who could safely make their way through said traps was Robbie who finally came face to face with his Uncle to confront him about the pain he had caused the family and in the process, learn Eli's motivations for doing all the horrible things that he has done thus far. As it turns out, Eli is a man driven by insecurity and ego, since he firmly believes that people constantly underestimate him and disregard him as often as possible. So to have this kind of power, to be able to draw matter out of thin air, gives Eli all the boost his ego will ever need and to truly demonstrate his prowess, he 'built' a nuclear bomb in the center of Los Angeles.

The revelation of what he created is what finally allowed for the team to come together because every secret, every conflict between these characters was brought out into the open in the hopes of finally allowing them to heal and well...it worked. They were finally able to put aside their differences and figure out a plan of attack to bring Eli down and the easiest way to get his attention without causing any greater harm to the people of Los Angeles was to send Coulson in, armed with knowledge that Eli was unaware of; that all this matter he has been 'creating' is nothing more than petty theft since the conservation of mass still applies and Eli has merely been swiping matter from a side dimension to fulfill his evil plans and this revelation was enough to stun Eli long enough for the team to open a portal and banish him...and sadly Robbie, to the void where Coulson and the boys found themselves last week, where Eli could do no harm.

But...while it was awesome to finally see the team bury their bad blood and see Daisy rejoin the squad for one happy little ending, it would seem that a bigger threat is brewing behind the scenes in Aida. Whatever she learned from the Darkhold she has already applied, building another replica of sorts in Agent May and replacing the one we know and love with said replica and well...it seems that Mace's worst fears in regards to the Sokovia Accords have been realized since clearly Aida is ready to harm humans to keep her discovery/experiment a secret. Either way, this was quite the awesome winter finale. There was tension to be found in just about every scene as our intrepid agents raced against time to stop Eli and while it was incredible to see them wrap up so many storylines in neat and tidy fashion, I'm going to miss the Rider, he was an awesome addition to the story and hopefully we'll see him pop up again. But in the meantime, it looks like Ultron 2.0 is about be unleashed upon the world come 2017. Until then.

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