Turn off the Lights

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Uprising Review

ABC wasn’t lying when they said this season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to be darker. In this week’s episode, "Uprising", the S.H.I.E.L.D. team was literally battling darkness as blackouts disrupted major cities all over the world. The entire episode might have been spent in the dark, but some questions were answered about Ghost Rider and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s latest threat. The episode began focusing on Elena (aka Yo-Yo), which was a nice change of pace. She was just trying to have a good time when all the lights in Miami went out. A mysterious video appeared around the world and announced that blackouts would continue to happen in major cities every hour as part of an Inhuman resistance organization who is urging Inhumans to use their powers to fight. Robbie Reyes and Gabe Reyes This episode was beautifully woven together using these blackouts to unite the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. Mack, Coulson, and Fitz rushed to find Elena, while the scene switched to Daisy and Robbie. They were just hanging out, about to find Robbie’s uncle, who is apparently in prison for manslaughter, but as they were driving, a blackout hit Los Angeles and Robbie realized his brother was stuck in a bad neighborhood. People were looting and shooting and Robbie made it there just in time to save his brother from some guys with bats who were about to attack him. Robbie and Daisy kicked some major ass. I might be crazy, but I think the hand-to-hand combat scenes are way more impressive than when they rely on Inhuman abilities. Robbie Reyes aka Ghost Rider They got out, but Daisy’s wrists were basically shattered at this point. Robbie left her alone with Gabe while he got medical supplies. So far Gabe has been a charming character, but he might just be too charming. This episode, he took a jab at Daisy and told her to leave Robbie or he would turn her in for being Quake. We also found out that Gabe doesn’t know about Robbie’s “night job,” and discovered that Robbie has been killing off bad guys in an attempt to make amends for whatever he did to get the Ghost Rider abilities in the first place. I’m eager to learn more about this deal with the devil. Dr. Radcliffe and Simmons The third plot point this episode featured good old Dr. Radcliffe. Simmons insisted that he could help her fix May, who was still plagued by the ghost virus. They figured out that she was literally going to be scared to death if they didn’t do something. Dr. Radcliffe had the brilliant plan to to stop her heart and restart it like a computer. I mean, I guess that usually works? Unfortunately, blackouts have terrible timing and one hit just as Simmons was about to bring May back. All hope seemed lost until Dr. Radcliffe remembered he had his robot friend, Aida, with a unique energy source that wasn’t affected by the blackout. So they were able to plug it in and restart May. Just as she was brought back, Fitz found out where the power outage was being controlled from and they were able to restore power in all of the cities. They also found out that the Watch Dogs were behind all of this, which means that they’ve gone global. Looks like this threat isn’t going away anytime soon. At the very end of the episode, the new boss, Jeffrey Mace revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was the one to turn the lights back on, so now the world knows that S.H.I.E.L.D. is officially an organization again. We’ll see how that decision pans out next episode.

Final Thoughts:

- This was a really strong episode. Everything was connected and felt cohesive, which has been a challenge starting off this season. -  There were a lot of great one-liners, such as Daisy warning Robbie not to “Go Carrot Top again," Simmons saying, “Hell no, I’m not ready. We’re about to kill May!”, and May being brought back to life, “Did I miss anything?” - There were some great fight scenes and I always love seeing Yo-Yo’s slowed down scenes. - I’m a fan of Gabe so far, but I bet he’s going to be trouble later. - Each episode we get a little piece of Ghost Rider’s history and I’m excited to learn more. Tune in to see Ghost Rider meet the rest of the team next week on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC at 10/9c.
Rating
8.5
Pros
  • Ghost Rider continues to be an interesting character
  • Yo-Yo is always a great featured character
  • Impressive fight scenes
Cons
  • Not a fan of the new director

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