Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Meet the New Boss” was written by Drew Z Greenberg and was directed by Vincent Misiano. The second episode of the season really delivered and proved that S.H.I.E.L.D. is one of the most solid action show on television. Once again, the show has re-invented itself without losing the core elements that drew fans in in the first place. This episode manages to seamlessly weave in another new major character – the new boss of the title – while introducing us to what will, no doubt, be the nemesis of the team – at least for the first part of the season. We also get a couple of heart-wrenching reunions, and an appearance of Mack’s (Henry Simmons) Axe-gun. And of course, there’s humor…
As the episode begins, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had perhaps tuned into an episode of
Supernatural by mistake. A ghost walks through a child’s (Nico David) bedroom at night, complete with spooky music. Dad (John Churchill) doesn’t believe him until he sees the ghost, and she flies into him, driving him to see the faces around him turned into shadows. The effects in the episode are really great!
We get to see a lot more of Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna) and that sweet ride of his in this episode. The guys he works with at the garage clearly like him, even if he does keep his distance a bit from them. He tells Daisy he doesn’t feel anything, but does he keep his distance because of that or because he’s trying to protect them?
We are also treated to classic Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) in the lab. They’re examining the seemingly empty box that was confiscated from Chen (Jen Sung) and his men last week. Naturally, the two share a Schrodinger’s cat joke about it! But Fitz has discovered that they simply couldn’t see what was inside and “Cue Jemma gasping” – the two are fascinated – and impressed by the beauty of the clearly very advanced technology.
Mack ties the ghost from the opening scene to the hallucinations experienced by Chen and his men. The three determine that the woman is able to disturb anyone she touches, but not how. Mack suggests maybe she’s just a ghost, and Simmons rather condescendingly says “that’s also a theory” – she clearly doesn’t believe in ghosts and is only humoring Mack. The three link the phenomena to a Momentum Lab in Pasadena. Mack and Fitz go to investigate, but Simmons has to give a tour.
Meanwhile, May (Ming-Na Wen) and Coulson (Clark Gregg) are waiting to meet with the new Director – Jeffrey Mace (Jason O’Mara). He keeps them waiting over an hour. Wen is terrific in this episode as May slowly unravels. It’s a testament to her strength that she is able to resist it for so long. May very subtly avoids looking at people - because of course, when when she does, they are shadow people!
May is surprised that Coulson is planning on heading right back out into the field after he makes his apologies to the Director. He is clearly seeking to punish himself as penance for what happened when he was Director. But he is also clearly hurt – and happy that he can at least retreat to the Zephyr – because Fury gave it to him and they can’t take that away from him.
I loved Daisy (Chloe Bennet) showing up at the garage and pretending that she’s an old school chum of Reyes – and that she’s having trouble with her van – “it just burst into flames!” The two exchange veiled threats – “leave it alone so you don’t get hurt… or smoked!” He tells her she should go away or he might get angry and not remember what he does to her – he sometimes prefers it that way. So it’s clear that he’s not always in control of what the Ghost Rider does. I loved him fixing the van only to have Daisy quake it!
Shockingly, Mace’s bodyguard (Deren Tadlock) is not afraid of May! Mace is happy to see “Phil” and seems too eager to please – he’s almost child-like. Coulson makes noises about apologizing – but Mace doesn’t want his apology speech. The first indication that he’s either an idiot or a psycho or just naïve is that he has a slogan – “A team that trusts is a team that triumphs.” Coulson knows that Phil wants Daisy taken care of because Mace needs the public to trust S.H.I.E.L.D. once they go public again. May thinks that Mace’s “optics” are trivial. Mace couches his desire to get rid of Daisy with false concern for Coulson and May – he doesn’t want her to destroy everything they’ve done to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. He dismisses May, saying he knows she’s the one to keep an eye on – and that certainly is the truth. He tells Coulson he’d like to solve the riddle of May and Coulson wishes him luck. This comment is a lot more sinister taken in the context of the last scene…
Mace wants Coulson to lead a tour to some bigwigs through the facility because Coulson’s the historian. He flatters Coulson into doing it. We also learn that the two of them know why Mace has the Director’s job… He wants Coulson to help impress some visitors from the House’s Committee on Appropriations to help secure funds.
At the Momentum Alternative Energy lab, the woman ghost – Lucy (Lilli Birdsell) manages to make herself more corporeal. She releases other members of their team from boxes: Hugo (Ward Roberts) joins Lucy who asks him to focus, but Hugo is pissed. Lucy breaks it to Hugo that they’ve been in the boxes for years. It’s not clear who the mysterious man is that they discuss – clearly there’s a bigger bad to come.
Reyes tells Daisy that he sold his soul to the devil, so he’s got nothing to lose. Daisy throws Gabe in his face, wakening the Ghost Rider. The two fight, but Daisy is clearly still suffering from her bones fracturing from using her powers. Reyes manages to knock her out.
There’s a hilarious scene between May and Agent Piper (Briana Venskus) when Piper calls May Ma’am. Just a heads up? NO woman likes to be called Ma’am – unless she’s a grey-haired granny… May tells her just to call her May to which Piper responds, “I can do May”…. And they realizes what she’s just said and gets even more flustered!
Coulson is clearly having some fun extolling the group with stories of the SSR – and we get bonus Peggy Carter references! It’s hard not to miss Agent Carter.
May goes to Chen and wants to know how to help “them.” He tells her that she can’t “because it’s everywhere.” Chen bashes his head against the door. Simmons shows up and it’s clear that May is getting worse. May disappears as Simmons tranquilizes Chen.
On the quinjet, Mack and Fitz catch up. Mack is trying to catch up on his paperwork and laments that he’s not good with numbers – he’s not an accountant! Fitz clarifies: “You’re an engineer. And a small tank.” Love seeing these two working together as they have such great chemistry. Mack confides that the isolation gets to Mack. Fitz asks if he sees Yo-Yo and says at least you’re not after Daisy anymore. Mack assures Fitz that they tried to find her.
Back at the lab, Lucy is trying to fix what’s wrong with them. They’ve been joined by Vincent (Usman Ally) and Frederick (Dan Donohue), and all of them blame Lucy. She shouldn’t have used the “dark hold” or the book. Lucy promises that they will find the book and use it to stop the “back-stabber.”
Reyes ties Daisy up. He looks for proof that she deserves to die. He’s convinced that she has a death wish. He tells her that her arm isn’t broken – it’s just fractured. He knows she’s got a ghost in her past that she’s trying to get away from. He recognizes that she’s serving penance. It’s a nice tie in of all three ghost stories. Reyes tells her that he doesn’t feel anything about the people he’s left behind – and shows her a picture of Lincoln. Daisy tries to interest him in the bigger picture. She is convinced that he is enhanced the same way she is. Reyes gets interested as soon as she mentions the Momentum Lab in Pasedena. He takes off, neglecting to realize that she can quake her way out. There’s a great sequence of her trying to car surf, but you can’t hold on to the Ghost Rider!
Simmons is late joining the delegates from the Senate for the tour. It’s hilarious watching Coulson and Simmons – and finally Mace once he clues in – avoiding the incident happening in the containment rooms. Coulson knows immediately that something is up, but Mace doesn’t.
Mack and Fitz investigate the Momentum lab and are attacked by Frederick. Fitz tries to shut down the reactor while Mack tries not to get touched. Frederick manages to lock Mack in the chamber. Daisy and Ghost Rider save them, and Fitz shuts down the reactor. Ghost Rider flames out Frederick, and Daisy won’t let Mack retaliate.
Simmons asks Coulson if he’s seen May and once they get the tour on to something else, Coulson tracks May down. She’s ripping the locker room apart, convinced that something has infiltrated the base. She’s clearly losing it. Coulson tries to get her to the lab to contain her – but she loses it completely in the ready room and takes on her entire team. It’s a great fight scene – May thinks she’s doing what has to be done. AND then Mace shuts her down as we learn that he’s an Inhuman – he picks her up with one hand and knocks her out. Coulson remarks, “Too bad you can’t put that on the tour.” And Mace responds, “Not yet…” and the two exchange smiles. Clearly this has been the plan all along – put an Inhuman in a place of responsibility to get the public’s trust of them. Now let’s see if he’s really trustworthy…
One of the best scenes in the episode, is Mack, Daisy, and Fitz back on the plane. Mack splints Daisy’s arm. He wants some answers. She tells him that Ghost Rider isn’t an Inhuman, and Mack wants to know about the people he’s killed – and why she’s suddenly running with a vigilante who decides who lives and who dies. Daisy says she’s not running with anyone, but he can’t be all bad because he saved Mack and Fitz.
Mack asks Daisy to come back with them. He tells her that they have medicine that will help bones heal faster – it keeps going missing but… and then Mack realizes that Daisy is already using it and that Yo-Yo is getting it for her – and has been in touch the whole time. Henry Simmons is great in this scene as you see him go from caring about Daisy to being so hurt that both Daisy and Yo-Yo could take advantage of him.
Fitz, however, is really just angry. He tells Mack that Daisy has turned her back on them. She’s been hurt badly, and doesn’t want their help getting through it – but they’ve ALL been through some terrible things and they’ve never turned their backs. Bennet is also great in this scene. She clearly didn’t realize the long-term affects her actions would have – she clearly didn’t anticipate Fitz’s anger or Mack’s pain. She tells Mack that she’s doing what she has to, and he tells her that it still affects them, whether she likes it – or wants it to. She thanks him for the splint and leaves.
Mace says goodbye to the guests and reminds them that they signed an NDA – everything they’ve seen is classified. Coulson then asks Mace if they can talk. He has a plan for May. Mace cuts him off and reminds him that Coulson voluntarily stepped down and told the President that he didn’t want to be the face of the agency. There’s a nice tie-in to the last Captain America movie, as with Captain America going awol, it was important to have a positive Inhuman face for the public to look up to. Coulson clarifies that he said “the new Director should be a powered person that the public could trust. And they came up with you.” Mace says Coulson is stuck with him. He wants Coulson to be one of his top advisors, but when it comes to May or Daisy, Coulson can’t be objective. Mace refuses to answer any of Coulson’s questions about May – saying it’s classified.
The last we see May, she’s in a straight-jacket, losing it, surrounded by the Senate visitors! Is Mace trying to discredit May? Coulson? Or are these not representatives from Senate? It definitely raises a lot of red flags when it comes to the new Director. It's also incredibly unnerving to see May who is always so tightly controlled, utterly losing it. Hard to believe the government is going to endorse S.H.I.E.L.D. in the face of Agents like this...
In the final scene, Reyes tells Daisy that he thinks he might be the thing linking all the other things together. She gets in his car and they drive off together.
What did you think of the episode? Are you intrigued by the “ghosts”? What are your thoughts on the new Director? Should the team simply give up on Daisy? Do you think Coulson will just let May go? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Timeless, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Designated Survivor, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
