What to Expect in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4
I have to give some credit to Agents of SHIELD at this point. A fourth season actually means syndication which means for all intents and purposes, the show succeeded. Sure, it lagged in some areas and completely failed in others, but when it’ll end with at least 88 episodes, who ends up the real loser here? However, this season has some key developments that actually put it above Agent Carter levels of dread. For another fall of Agents of SHIELD, here are the things to know about the season.
For starters, Ward is finally dead, though I mentioned that already. After three years of almost literally beating a dead horse, they killed him off like that. As bonus, they even killed off Lincoln, though my feelings for that are significantly more apathetic. After all this lamenting them and believing this is the most we can look forward to in the show, having them dead is just…eerie. It’s like being in a post-apocalyptic world after the hero killed the dictator. Where do we go from here?
Less optimistically, the show also got rid of Hunter and Bobbi, though admittedly in a more positive ending. More importantly, that leaves only sixty percent of the previous cast, bringing the number back to season one levels. Any other show this would seem horrible, but now it just feels like a much-needed breather of fewer awful plots that will never be resolved. Granted, that doesn’t mean I don’t expect there not to be awful plots that will never be resolved this season. I just expect there to be fewer. Less of a bad thing can be a good thing.
The issue over a number of plots and characters will likely never be solved especially since one of the major additions is Ghost Rider (I’ll get to that later). In this case, it will likely go the opposite way for once in having to stretch out a plot for more than twenty episodes. Or perhaps, the show will go down its regular path of having one plot for about ten episodes before switching out that for an entirely different plot until the end. Then again, if we’re going by how they worked things out in season three, we should be surprised if we see Ghost Rider for more than ten minutes. Never mind the whole flaming skull head explanation.
That being said, Ghost Rider will definitely play a bigger role than the Secret Warriors considering they’re actually introducing him in the first episode. In fact, there should probably be some concerns over him taking over his share with his special effects plus a car. If it’s good, it won’t matter. If it’s bad, there’s a portion of the budget that won’t come back now. With this show, it’s easy to say it will be bad, but we have Nicholas Cage as Johnny blaze for comparison. What’s the worst that Robbie Reyes could do? Actually…don’t respond to that.
Ghost Rider alone could work for the first ten episodes of plot. Not only do they have his hero origin story, but they have the idea of explaining the flaming skull, his mystic powers, the ghost living inside him, his interaction with the rest of the cast, and possibly being the villain. If we go down the predictable road. Robbie, who looks after his brother Gabe, will meet Daisy, who is on the run from SHIELD, as they both plan their new way. The ghost inside him, a murdering psychopath named Eli, could battle for control and serve as the villain while SHIELD tries to bottle this effect to the public. After all, there has to be effects from Civil War somewhere.
That being said, the other five characters certainly have enough room to have decent, complete plots at this point. I know, that is definitely no guarantee that they will, but I can hope. Coulson will obviously deal with the fallout of no longer being director, being forced to deal with a new. May and Mack could likely be paired together as they both work to track enhanced people as well as Daisy. FitzSimmons…could hopefully go through one season without something contrived happening for “drama.” I’m not stupid, so that is something I predict will happen. I can at least be happy that Mack made it out alive.
In all honesty, I’d like to think the best of the new season. It’s far less cluttered than the previous season which means much fewer dashed expectations. Plus, with this likely being the last season to syndication and everything, it would suck for the show to end on a dud. There’s already a limited amount of movie tie-ins for the year, and all both of them are either magic or space-related. In that case, the show may have to rely on itself. Others/future
