“Agents of SHIELD’s” winter finale, “The Laws of Inferno Dynamics,” connected the disparate storylines of the last few episodes while also tying off some plot threads and opening new ones.
Eli Morrow sets his ultimate plan in motion, as SHIELD assembles a team of powered people to stop him. Coulson confronts Mace about his agenda with Nadeer, while AIDA lends a hand.
The Ghost Rider storyline of season 4 was put to bed this week, as Robbie got his ultimate vengeance on his uncle. It would’ve been nice for Gabriel Luna to have a bigger role in the episode other than being anchored to one location and reacting to Eli, but the final showdown was creative and satisfying as Robbie sacrificed himself for his final revenge.
Then, there was AIDA, who all season long has sat on the sidelines. Now, she’s revealed to be the villain for the second half of the season, even killing Agent Nathanson and seemingly replacing May with an LMD. As cool as this reveal is and as promising as the LMD angle is looking, it is still a real culture shock to have Ghost Rider and robots in the same season. But hey, that’s Marvel for ya.
The good news is that Daisy is finally back at SHIELD with a clever in joke to her comic book counterpart as she is given a blue card. And Mack and Elena got together, as the show teased a digital companion series detailing Elena’s secret mission.
“The Laws of Inferno Dynamics” was a solid closer to the first half of the season, with a clear agenda, a finite resolution and exciting possibilities for the future. A mixed bag of a prelude payed off here.
“Agents of SHIELD” returns Tuesday, January 10 on ABC.