Agents of SHIELD Episode 4.03: "Uprising"


SYNOPSIS
A group of domestic terrorists claiming to be Inhumans start knocking out all electrical power in major cities across the United States, starting in Miami.  A party attended by SHIELD agent and Inhuman Yo-Yo Rodriguez is taken hostage by a group of armed militia men looking for the "Inhuman terrorist" that they know is in attendance.  Coulson, Mack, and Fitz travel to Miami and rescue Yo-Yo, and in the process learn that the militia men are part of the Watchdogs group that have caused the blackouts using an EMP device in an attempt to frame the Inhumans.  They manage to locate the EMP device in Miami and disable it, restoring power to the city.

Another EMP attack happens in Los Angeles while Robbie Reyes and Daisy Johnson are on their way to see his uncle Eli Morrow, who worked at the lab that produced the ghost scientists and is in prison for beating one of the scientists into a coma.  When the power goes out, Robbie and Daisy race to find his disabled younger brother, Gabe, and are able to rescue him from a gang of looters.  When they get back to the Reyes' home, Robbie notices that Daisy's broken bones are in need of treatment and leaves to get her some medication.  Gabe has a talk with Daisy, letting her know that he's aware of who she is and that his brother doesn't need to be around "bad people" like her, telling her to leave.  When Robbie gets back, after the power has returned, Daisy is gone.  Gabe tells him that she left after he fell asleep.

Finally, Agent May has been taken to the home of Dr. Radcliffe by Simmons, who is trying to cure her of the madness that the ghost scientist infected her with.  They realize that in order to cure her they have to "kill her", they have to stop her heart and then resuscitate her before the disorder in her brain kills her.  They stop her heart, but before they can revive her the EMP attack hits, knocking out all of their equipment.  In order to save May, Radcliffe uses the power source from his LMD Aida to restart May's heart.

REVIEW
The Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider plot is placed in the back seat in favor of, ugh, an Inhumans plot.

I get that the Inhumans were and still are a huge part of this show's make-up, it was a central plot element of the last two seasons.  This, however, is a Ghost Rider blog and I haven't even watched the previous two seasons, so everyone knows what I'm here for when it comes to Agents of SHIELD.  That said, as much as I really don't care about anything related to the Inhumans, there are I'm sure stories that can be told about them that are interesting.  This one, unfortunately, wasn't one of those stories and it produced an episode that I nearly fell asleep through.  So I'm not going to talk much about the "A" plot of this episode and instead focus on the subplot involving Robbie and Daisy.

I'm not exactly sure what transpired last season to make Daisy a fugitive, one whose face is known by just about everybody she meets apparently, but its used to good effect here.  I think the way its being used to keep her separate from the rest of SHIELD is strained at best and idiotic at worst, but since it's allowed them to pair her up with Robbie I'm willing to forgive it.  Gabriel Luna and Chloe Bennet have a very tense, interesting chemistry when they're on screen together, and the times that this episode spends focusing on them are definitely the parts worth watching.  Bennet does "wounded martyr figure" well, and her conversation with Gabe was really well done.  Daisy/Skye was one of the worst characters in season 1, which is when I initially bailed on this show, and its good to see she's become one of the more interesting.

The changes to Robbie's backstory that he gives in this episode are ones that I'm trying to figure out, because if he's not possessed by his uncle Eli Morrow's evil spirit does that mean we're looking at a more traditional "Spirit of Vengeance" than in the comics?  It looks like we're in for an interesting mash-up of traditional Ghost Rider tropes with Robbie, which makes things more unpredictable for me while watching.  The important, surface elements of Robbie's character are all intact, so if the backstory changes to the more well-known "deal with the devil" origin for the Ghost Rider, I'm fine with that.

So this episode was a slow-down after the thrills from episode two, and I couldn't be bothered with the Inhumans stuff.  I'd happily watch this show if it was just Daisy and Robbie chasing down the Darkhold.

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