Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returned with “Deals With Our Devils” written by DJ Doyle and directed by Jesse Bochco. This was a fabulous episode. I adored the repetition of scenes with the addition of the “ghosts.” Cleverly written and beautifully acted. Kudos especially for wonderful performances by Henry Simmons (Mack) and Gabriel Luna (Robbie). It almost feels redundant to keep praising the wonderful Iain De Caestecker, but once again, he’s terrific in both the dramatic – and romantic – and comedic scenes.
The episode picks up right where we left off so many weeks ago. May (Ming-Na Wen) and Mack rush in to find an empty room. Meanwhile, soldiers go after Eli (Jose Zuniga) and he puts carbon spears through them, killing them, and erects a carbon wall. Mack comments that they’re into nightmare territory, and immediately recognizes that what’s going on is evil.
Back on the Zephyr, Mace (Jason O’Mara) is pulling out the platitudes – this is a tragedy blah, blah, blah, and Daisy (Chloe Bennet) tells him not to say it! This is S.H.I.E.L.D.! This is where impossible things happen – it’s what they do. She seems to be the only one on the team who really has any hope, and that’s a really nice thing to finally see from her. Is she finally making her way out of the lingering depression from Hive’s influence? She is also wearing a red sweater here – the first time we’ve seen her not dressed all in black this season.
Everyone immediately wants to get Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) involved. Mack wonders why Eli turned, and May says for the power. They are ready to go after him, but Mace insists that they need Simmons to study the tech first. Mace is going to call Simmons, and May begins to warn him about what he’s going to say about Fitz, but Mace already knows what Fitz means to Simmons.
Meanwhile, we finally see where Simmons has been spirited off to. It seems this is what Nadeer (Parminder Nagra) wanted from Mace. It’s her brother in the middle of terragenesis that Simmons has been brought in to help with – of course, we the audience, are the only ones to have all the pieces to this puzzle. Simmons has been brought in to discover what he is becoming.
May is now worried that they aren’t dead and shows Mack the Darkforce book. Once again, Mack’s common sense saves the day. He knows the book is like Pandora’s box and tells May not to open it.
Mack also suggests looking for the Chinatown crew to find Eli. He hired them after all, so they may know where to find him. Once again, Mace urges caution – they must sharpen the ax before they can chop down the tree – who else is getting mightily tired of Mace’s platitudes!?!?!? Mack tells him, “my ax is plenty sharp enough AND a shotgun!” May urges Mace to let him go, but Mace insists they can only follow leads after studying the tech – and he’s going to give it to Radcliffe (John Hannah) to study! May is surprised that Simmons agreed to let Radcliffe study it, but Mace says she did. May immediately suspects that Mace is lying.
Daisy comforts Gabe (Lorenzo James Henrie). She tells him that Robbie loves him. Gabe is feeling guilty that Robbie was doing everything because of him, but Daisy tells him that Gabe is what Robbie held on to. She also insists that it doesn’t feel like Robbie is gone to her.
As Daisy and Gabe are talking, Mack suddenly grabs his ax-shotgun, climbs on his motorcycle, tosses an Agent out of his way and takes off out of the closing Zephyr hanger!
And then we flash back to the very beginning! Fitz and Coulson (Clark Gregg) are in a different dimension because of fallout from the particle generator. I loved them running into the room with May and Mack and talking away to them before they realize that May and Mack can’t see or hear them. Gregg is also a master of both drama and comedy – and I loved his asking if they all looked that stupid when talking on their comms!
Robbie is with Eli and trying to convince him not to hurt the Agents. Coulson and Fitz can see him – of course – and Coulson reassures him that it’s not his fault.
If I wanted to be nit-picky, I would wonder why the three can walk through some things yet are able to stand on the Zephyr and not just slide through it. Back on the ship, Robbie feels sick and his stomach hurts. Coulson thinks they’re dead, but Fitz clarifies that they are simply out of phase with their own reality. They’re trapped between dimensions.
Fitz immediately wants to call Simmons – but can’t. I loved Coulson trying to comfort him. The three listen while the team makes plans. Robbie thinks he could help find the Chinatown guys, but Coulson insists that they should stick together.
Fitz and Robbie follow Mace when he leaves to call Simmons, and we find out that Mace has no idea where Nadeer has taken her! He utterly sucks at being Director. They didn’t even put a tracker on her. Robbie meanwhile is freezing and feels like he’s dying.
Coulson tries to get through to May, who is clearly distraught over losing Coulson! She is muttering, “You’re not allowed to go yet… you’re not dead… what the hell are we waiting for?” And if May seeing Coulson when she was dying wasn’t enough to confirm Philanda, this pretty mush does. Coulso, of course, freaks out and tries to tell her “that’s not how we solve this!” Coulson is distracted by Robbie’s screams…
The evil inside Robbie wants out, and even though Robbie tells him he won’t go, it jumps into Mack – and that’s an indication of what a dark place Mack is in right now – which is scary on a whole other level. Regardless, Mack’s super odd behavior now makes sense. And here’s where Henry Simmons just killed it for me – even his body language changed when the demon jumped inside him. I could tell it wasn’t “Mack” the first time we saw the scene, but I loved seeing it again with the explanation.
Daisy jumps in the Charger to go after Mack, and Robbie jumps in with her. He knows that the Ghost Rider is gunning for Eli. Coulson still wants them to stay together, but Robbie is determined that if he’s getting dragged back to hell by the darkforce anyway, this might be his only chance to take Eli with him. And once again, we see Mace fussing about something inconsequential – Mack not having a helmet on, and then just offhandedly telling an Agent to get Gabe counselling.
Radcliffe is bumbling around – and clearly not up to the job of solving the tech problem. He’s brought Aida (Mallory Jansen) to help him. May gives the book to Radcliffe – and was anyone else screaming no at their television screen? Radcliffe, however, proves that he’s not as dumb as we think when he takes one look at the book and slams it shut, declaring that it’s too much for a human mind to bear.
Radcliffe insists that the book is a grenade, and May counters that it’s simply a tool, a piece of technology. Aida steps up and offers to read the book – and yes, I’d already gone there. May simply thinks Aida is braver than Radcliffe – not a difficult bar to exceed. And I was surprised that Radcliffe admitted she was an android so quickly. He also refers to her as a tool. Aida tells May that she’s designed to be a shield – and Radcliffe shushes her and tells her that she’s in danger of developing a catch phrase! I love the clever writing on this show that is able to self-reflexively poke fun at itself. Radcliffe then fusses that her files could be corrupted by the book, but then they could just wipe her memory… May insists that he let her do it, that he uses Aida.
Meanwhile, Daisy catches up to Mack in the warehouse where the Chinatown gang is hiding out. It’s carnage. Mack tells Daisy that he’s never going back – but of course, it’s not really Mack talking – and then we re-wind again to the chase scene from Robbie’s point of view. I really liked how the cinematography was stylized and the lighting subtly shifted to indicate the other dimension.
Poor Robbie is freaking out as Daisy chases Mack down an alley and scrapes the hell out of the side of the Charger. She shrugs it off as the car is self-healing, but Robbie points out – as I was thinking the first time we saw it – that the car isn’t self-healing when he isn’t the Ghost Rider! Robbie knows where the warehouse is, so when Daisy loses Mack in traffic, he is frantic to communicate with her. I loved when he managed to turn the left signal on. Daisy immediately knows that Robbie is there and takes the hint. Her hope is what allows her to “hear” him.
Meanwhile, we flash to Coulson and Fitz watching May and Radcliffe. Coulson is relieved that Radcliffe is smart enough not to use the book. He also feels like the darkness is slowly sucking them in. Fitz is adamant that science can solve the problem, and he immediately knows that Aida can do it. Fitz tells Coulson that Aida can do it because she’s not human and her mind can’t be corrupted because she is a robot.
Coulson is immediately not happy about Radcliffe and Fitz creating an android and tells Fitz it wasn’t his decision to make. And de Caestecker is amazing in this scene. Fitz completely loses it on Coulson, finally unleashing the anger he’s been bottling up and telling Coulson it wasn’t his decision either because he’s no longer Director. Fitz had as much of a say as Coulson himself – after all they are equals now! Coulson immediately slips into the role he performs so well – and Fitz is right, he should be doing. He immediately wants to know why Fitz is so angry – Coulson really is the “Dad”… Fitz tells Coulson that he’s so angry because these are exactly the kinds of decisions that Coulson made – and it’s clear that Fitz would prefer to have Coulson making them again. Coulson maintains that stepping aside was the best thing for S.H.I.E.L.D.
It’s clear that Fitz is also still struggling in the aftermath of what happened with Hive, and he asks Coulson, like Lincoln thinking he was doing the best thing too? Fitz is clearly also struggling with Lincoln’s death and the fact that he also feels like both Daisy and Coulson simply threw in the towel. And Fitz is also very, very worried about Simmons – and the fact that they can’t trust Mace or rely on him to protect and support them. He’s angry that Coulson gave S.H.I.E.L.D. to a Director who betrayed Simmons. And Fitz is terrified because they don’t even know where Simmons is. Coulson comforts Fitz again and insists that he’s still in the fight.
Fitz sees that the pages of the Darkforce are blank and worries that Aida can’t help, but Coulson sees her eyes moving and insists that the pages aren’t blank to her. And when we see through Aida’s eyes, the book is written in binary.
Meanwhile, Simmons is dealing with her patient. The heartrate is extremely elevated, so Simmons demands that they clear the room and dim the lights. The lead scientist (Arnell Powell) tries to resist, but Simmons once again demonstrates her increasing powers of taking charge. She tells him that his boss wants her happy… and he complies. Once the room is cleared, Simmons takes off her biohazard gear – and is that a good thing?? – and introduces herself to the patient. She tells him that she’s there to help and that they’ll get through it together. His heartrate starts to lower.
Simmons is just starting to peel the cocoon off, and we see half a face. It’s Nadeer’s brother, but it’s impossible to tell what he may be turning into – and isn’t that why Simmons was there in the first place? Regardless, he thanks Simmons and says it’s nice to meet her, but before he can tell her who he is, a bag is thrust over Simmons’ head and she is dragged away again.
Robbie catches up with the Ghost Rider and he can absolutely see him even if Daisy can’t. He tells Robbie that their time is over – he’s using Mack now. Robbie wants to be the one to take down Eli. The Ghost Rider does reveal that Mack has a lot of pain – enough pain for the Ghost Rider to live off of for years! Robbie makes a new deal with the Ghost Rider and promises to settle all of the Ghost Rider’s scores in order to get him to leave Mack.
Mack is free, and he knows that Robbie was there and took the Ghost Rider back. Daisy asks about Mack’s pain, and he brushes it off, saying he’s ok. He tells Daisy that Robbie took the Ghost Rider to Hell. But in the end, we see Mack waiting at the portal when Robbie comes back through. Mack knows that Robbie isn’t alone, and Robbie asks Mack if he wants to help him settle his last score. And what is the significance of hope 4/18/06?
In a really stunning special effect, we see Aida building an interdimensional gateway. Only Fitz and Coulson can see the strands of the gate, but Aida assures the others that Fitz and Coulson are there. Suddenly, Coulson is being sucked into the darkness. Fitz grabs him and tells him to fight, but it seems that Coulson may, in fact, be giving up.
When Aida completes the web, Radcliffe throws the switch, and then they can all see the gate and through to Fitz and Coulson. May wants to run to help save Coulson, but it would mean her own death, so instead, she calls to him to fight. Fitz and Coulson both make it back through with Coulson basically falling into May’s arms!
Fitz immediately goes after Mace, but Simmons suddenly appears and the two rush into each other’s arms – aw!
Coulson calls May on breaking her promise to keep the book safe and a secret. May says damn straight! It’s always going to be saving Coulson first before anything else. Coulson lets her know he overheard her by reminding her that they have a bottle of Haig to drink…
In the final scene, Radcliffe is happily basking in a job well done by playing guitar and serenading himself. The camera pans through his laboratory, finally finding Aida, who is now using the alien technology to fashion a brain – is this an actual human brain for herself? Is she weaponizing herself? There's a nice shot of her watching May and Coulson when he comes through the portal - maybe she simply wants to be human? It would seem that like Jarvis before her, Aida has far exceeded the reach of her maker.
What did you think of the episode? For me, it once again contained all the things that make this one of my favorite shows on television – great writing, including terrific one liners, great action and effects, and especially great acting. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
