History Awesome / AgentsOfSHIELDSeasonFour

* As Framework Ward comes across Daisy and Jemma meeting, he pulls a gun and demands to know if Jemma is Daisy's source in the Resistance. With HYDRA agents closing in, Daisy tries to calm Ward down by lowering her gun, and swears that she has nothing to do with the Resistance. Just after that, Ward fires his gun...killing the HYDRA agent who had been coming down the stairs.
-->'''Ward:''' [[HeelFaceTurn Well, I do.]]

** The spectacular explosion and fireworks display that's set off at the conclusion of the fight between James and Robbie, followed by the latter dragging the former out -- badly burned, but alive, thus keeping his promise to Coulson.

** We finally see [[ActionPolitician Director]] [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Mace]] in action, complete with body armor. His entrance is him palming a guy around 50 feet through the air. It can only be assumed his plan to bring SHIELD good publicity by leading the charge himself worked.

* At the end of the episode, Team Coulson is looking at its DarkestHour: they're on the run again, Yo-Yo jumped into the Framework to try and convince Mack to return, Fitz's mental state is at its absolute lowest, and Aida is an unstoppable PhysicalGod planning to take revenge on Team Coulson with Ivanov. So by the time the episode ends and the interdimensional gate springs to life, one has to ask: [[FromBadToWorse how can it possibly get any worse?]] [[SubvertedTrope It doesn't]], because [[BackForTheFinale Ghost Rider has finally returned from Hell.]] And he's got his flaming chain, which he dramatically wraps around himself like [[Film/GhostRider another Ghost Rider]]. Aida and Ivanov, [[ArcWords it's time to pay for your sins]].

To elaborate, one of the watchdogs tries to attack Vijay with a knife, and Vijay dodges his swings at superspeed. Then Vijay quickly punches and elbows the Watchdog repeatedly, leaving him dazed.(Again, all at superspeed.) To finish him off, he grabs ahold of his arm, and pulls him into the path of another Watchdogs fist. And Vijays not being sloppy about it either-he's clearly been well trained. The lead Watchdog pulls a gun on Vijay, and there's three more Watchdogs with him. The scene switches to Mace, Daisy, and Simmons for a few seconds, then goes back to Vijay. And in that time, Vijay apperntly took down two of the Watchdogs, chased down the lead Watchdog, and threw him through a door. Vijay goes after him while the lead Watchdog (getting desperate) calls for help. The ''only'' reason he actually gets away from Vijay is because another Watchdog managed to come up behind Vijay with a knife, and Vijay had to deal with him or get stabbed. And Vijay deals with him ''fast''. He easily dodges the man's punches, before decking him. The last Watchdog tries to attack him, and Vijay takes him down with several rapid fire punches, slams his head into a nearby table, takes his gun, and fires a warning shot into the air. The only that ''finally'' stops Vijay is his sisters arrival.

* Robbie and Mack, while on the trail of Lucy, are set upon by two ghosts set on infecting them. Robbie incinerates them both, demonstrating that his {{Hellfire}} doesn't give a blessed damn if you are insubstantial.

* Let's start with some meta examples:
** The [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome Ghost Rider looks awesome!]] Just as good, if not better, than his previous live-action incarnations. He's also more expressive- while the films had his eyes be blank sockets, here he has glowing balls of fire inside them to act as pupils, and the brow of the skull ''moves''. The skull face has to be seen to be believed. Plus the way it consumes Robbie's face instead of just switching is a masterwork.
** This season, Agents got pushed back to a 10 o'clock death slot. Not only is this a spectacular episode on its own, it also contains much more violence and blood than the previous season. It almost seems like Marvel saying, "You want to try to get rid of us? Too bad; we're going to take this setback and ''own it''."
** Let's take a moment and appreciate that this show trusts its audience enough to show Ghost Rider right off the bat, without giving him an origin story.
*** For that matter, they actually showed his transformation and flaming skull fully on screen, in the very first episode! Contrast last season where it took several looooong episodes before we saw Lash transform fully onscreen- and then never did again, it was always partially obscured. This season is going to be amazing.

** On the meta level: Jason O'Mara's casting left many fans frustrated after Season Three built up the director's identity, only for him to be someone not seen in Marvel for decades. This scene cemented him as being worthy.

* In Robbie's origin story, we see him given his powers by Johnny Blaze himself! This has Meta-awesome as they don't just repeat the same face for them; Johnny's Ghost Rider form is visually distinct from Robbie's, with a different shaped skull with visible battle damage, including a ''bullet hole'' to the head, indicating that [[HeroOfAnotherStory this Rider has seen some shit]].

** And, in a meta moment of awesome, we get to see the Rider transform ''back to Robbie''! Way to go, animators!

%%* In a meta way, managing to pull off the OnceMoreWithClarity effect used throughout the episode. ZERO CONTEXT
* The Ghost Rider, being unable to affect anything while in Robbie's body, jumps to the next angry person -- Mack.
** Seeing Mack transform into the Ghost Rider is yet more awesome, as is the Spirit of Vengeance possessing him to begin with. Like with the ''first'' Ghost Rider, his form is different than Robbie's, indicating the special effects team took the time to craft ''three'' different Ghost Riders, when they would've easily gotten away with just reusing the same face.

* A meta one for this being the first time that anything explicitly introduced in the Netflix shows is referenced elsewhere in the MCU, with the appearance of the exploding Judas bullets from ''Series/LukeCage2016''.

* Radcliffe's plan to acquire the Darkhold worked perfectly. As soon as LMD!May got her hands on it, she turned on Coulson and refused to back down even after Coulson pointed out that the real May wouldn't betray him. After she was busted by Daisy's quake-slaps, she seized another opportunity to hand it over to him. What's more awesome in a meta sense is that this is an aversion of the UnspokenPlanGuarantee that avoids the supposed "flaws" of doing so.

* A meta example: Elizabeth Henstridge managed to get through the shoot for this episode despite being down with the common cold at the time. It showed -- [[EnforcedMethodActing and it absolutely worked perfectly, given the circumstances.]]

* Radcliffe tricking everyone and masterminding the plot behind the episode. He has built a second Aida, and was able to program the first to have emotional responses, so that she would appear corrupted. It is also revealed that their plan is to show the benefits of the LMD program by having Agent May's LMD pass as human, which so far is working as the LMD doesn't know it is a machine.
* Vijay Nadeer managing to convince his sister that he is not an Inhuman by stating that he has no powers and beat 'the virus'. In truth he is an Inhuman, and has superhuman reflexes and speed to defeat the Watchdogs.
** Then when he is killed by his sister and dumped into the ocean, he undergoes ''another Terrigenesis''!

* At the end of the episode, Team Coulson is looking at its DarkestHour: they're on the run again, Yo-Yo jumped into the Framework to try and convince Mack to return]], Fitz's mental state is at its absolute lowest, and Aida is an unstoppable PhysicalGod planning to take revenge on Team Coulson with Ivanov. So by the time the episode ends and the interdimensional gate springs to life, one has to ask: [[FromBadToWorse how can it possibly get any worse?]] [[SubvertedTrope It doesn't]], because [[BackForTheFinale Ghost Rider has finally returned from Hell.]] And he's got his flaming chain, which he dramatically wraps around himself like [[Film/GhostRider another Ghost Rider]]. Aida and Ivanov, [[ArcWords it's time to pay for your sins]].

* At the end of the episode, Team Coulson is looking at its DarkestHour: they're on the run again, Yo-Yo jumped into the Framework to try and convince Mack to return]], Fitz's mental state is at its absolute lowest, and Aida is an unstoppable PhysicalGod planning to take revenge on Team Coulson with Ivanov. So by the time the episode ends and the interdimensional gate springs to life, one has to ask: [[FromBadToWorse how can it possibly get any worse? [[SubvertedTrope It doesn't]], because [[BackForTheFinale Ghost Rider has finally returned from Hell.]] And he's got his flaming chain, which he dramatically wraps around himself like [[Film/GhostRider another Ghost Rider]]. Aida and Ivanov, [[ArcWords it's time to pay for your sins]].

* Jeffrey Mace, the new director, has looked like a pompous ass the entire episode, a PR-focused bureaucratic moron. Then he appears out of nowhere when Agent May goes on her rampage, and proceeds to NoSell all of her blows, even when she picks up a pipe. [[spoiler:We might think he's a robot or even a Life Model Decoy. Then-]]

'''Jeffrey:''' I prefer the term... ''[[spoiler:Inhuman]]''.

* In Robbie's origin story, we see him given his powers by [[spoiler:Johnny Blaze himself!]] This has Meta-awesome as they don't just repeat the same face for them; [[spoiler:Johnny's]] Ghost Rider form is visually distinct from Robbie's, with a different shaped skull with visible battle damage, including a ''bullet hole'' to the head, indicating that [[HeroOfAnotherStory this Rider has seen some shit]].

** Coulson goes in by himself, unarmed, to talk to Eli; that alone takes serious guts. Then he calls in the team, and frees [[spoiler:Ghost Rider]] himself.

* While the above battle is going on, Fitz, Simmons, Radcliffe, Daisy, and Aida are working on the ''real'' plan: [[spoiler:they make a huge portal underneath Eli and the Rider (who is holding Eli in place), which sucks them into another dimension.]] All the while, Daisy has to absorb successively more powerful earthquakes to allow Aida to work.

* Eli is the first and, so far, only person [[spoiler:to subdue the Rider]] for a time. It turns out that a sufficient amount of sudden pain can prevent the transformation.

* Aida manages to [[spoiler:create a Life Model Decoy of Agent May that fools absolutely everybody.]]

* Radcliffe tricking everyone and masterminding the plot behind the episode. He has built a second Aida, and was able to program the first to have emotional responses, so that she would appear corrupted. It is also revealed that their plan is to show the benefits of the LMD program by having [[spoiler:Agent May's LMD]] pass as human, which so far is working as the LMD doesn't know it is a machine.

** [[spoiler:Then when he is killed by his sister and dumped into the ocean, he undergoes ''another Terrigenesis''!]]

* May fighting her way free of the LotusEaterMachine Radcliffe's stuck her in. [[spoiler:Sadly, she doesn't make it far.]]

* Radcliffe's [[spoiler:plan to acquire the Darkhold worked perfectly. As soon as LMD!May got her hands on it, she turned on Coulson and refused to back down even after Coulson pointed out that the real May wouldn't betray him. After she was busted by Daisy's quake-slaps, she seized another opportunity to hand it over to him. What's more awesome in a meta sense is that this is an aversion of the UnspokenPlanGuarantee that avoids the supposed "flaws" of doing so.]]

* Towards the end of the episode, [[spoiler:Mace allows himself to be captured to hold off the Watchdogs to give [=FitzSimmons=] time to trap Shockley and save Daisy from his trap. Throughout the entire episode, Mace, having been told that he can no longer take the Patriot Serum due to the risk of cardiac arrest, is in a funk over how to help SHIELD. He finally gets his chance. When the time comes, he doesn't even hesitate to inject the serum into himself, not only surviving, but bringing a truck to a stop with his bare hands.]]
* Earlier in the episode, Daisy was trying to find the counter-frequency to prevent [[spoiler:Shockley]] from blowing himself up. Since she can't, she improvises -- and blows him up ''repeatedly'' to buy time until they can bring up a capture device.

* The Watchdogs and/or Aida get an OffScreenMomentOfAwesome since they captured Coulson, Mack and Daisy [[spoiler:actually Fitz, as revealed in the next episode]] during the mission without anyone realizing it.

* [[spoiler:Tripp is back. Repeat. Antoine Tripplett, killed off in Season 2 for no discernible reason, is returned, he was a spy in HYDRA for Mace, is STILL the grandson of a Howling Commando and continues to use his gear, and SURVIVED THE EPISODE.]]
* In TheStinger, [[spoiler:May arrives in Daisy's cell and demands to know if she truly is an Inhuman. Daisy says yes, "powerful enough to bring down this whole building." May then smashes a Terrigen crystal at her feet and says, " I hope so". Daisy's grin promises much pain and suffering for HYDRA to come.]]

** Combining the effects with an ''actual'' moment of awesome, Coulson using his laser shield to cut off [[spoiler:one of the]] Ivanovs face!

* Coulson and May [[spoiler:taking on two [=LMDs=] of Ivanov and winning, with Coulson luring it into a puddle and electrocuting it, while May takes a shot of epinephrine to give her the strength to basically ''beat an LMD to death'' with a hammer.]]
* Daisy [[spoiler:getting into a MexicanStandoff with the military, and then forcing ''Talbot'', who is stubbornness personified, into backing down through sheer intimidation, just by stretching her hand out.]]
* At the end of the episode, Team Coulson is looking at its DarkestHour: they're on the run again, [[spoiler:Yo-Yo jumped into the Framework to try and convince Mack to return]], Fitz's mental state is at its absolute lowest, and Aida is an unstoppable PhysicalGod planning to take revenge on Team Coulson with Ivanov. So by the time the episode ends and the interdimensional gate springs to life, one has to ask: [[FromBadToWorse how can it possibly get any worse?]] [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope It doesn't]], because [[BackForTheFinale Ghost Rider has finally returned from Hell.]] And he's got his flaming chain, which he dramatically wraps around himself like [[Film/GhostRider another Ghost Rider]]. Aida and Ivanov, [[ArcWords it's time to pay for your sins]].]]

** Finally, Aida has gotten wise and makes sure to be nowhere near Robbie. She finds Coulson alone with the Darkhold and figures she's won. [[spoiler:Then Coulson's face starts burning off and she realizes '''[[OhCrap he's not alone]]'''...]]

'''Coulson:''' Maybe not. [grabs Aida by the arm] [[spoiler:[[WhamLine But I'm pretty sure]] ''[[WhamLine he]]'' [[WhamLine can.]]]]
*** And, again, props has to be given to the VFX team for crafting [[spoiler:four different skulls for each character possessed by the Rider thus far]].
** And after a brief teleporting FreefallFight, [[spoiler:Ghost Rider delivers the most satisfying coup de grace in the series thus far: He utterly ''incinerates'' Aida with hellfire before smashing her charred corpse into the floor]].

-->-- Ghost Rider makes his proper introduction to the MCU, ''The Ghost''.

* Ghost Rider kills the last of the Fifth Street Locos by burning him alive in his cell. When [[TheDreaded the Rider]] comes back out into the prison riot, ''everyone'' heads back to their cells and try locking their doors rather than have to deal with him.

* Ghost Rider kills the last of the Fifth Street Locos by burning him alive in his cell. When [[TheDreaded the Rider]] came back out into the prison riot, ''everyone'' goes back to their cells and tried locking their doors.

* Shortly after, Simmons gets out of further lie detector tests by warning Director Mace she'll have to tell the truth about one of his alleged exploits, a warning which essentially amounts to blackmail. Director Mace realizes that he had been HoistByHisOwnPetard and orders the exemption for Simmons to avoid any embarrassment of his own.

* The titular DealWithTheDevil: The Rider helps defeat Eli, and Robbie helps settle the Spirit's scores. All of them. Watch the Rider's face when Robbie makes the offer. The Spirit's reaction suggests that no one has *ever* made anything close to such an offer.

* A meta one for this being the first time that anything explicitly introduced in the Netflix shows is referenced elsewhere in the MCU, with the appearance of the exploding Judas bullets from ''Series/LukeCage''.

* The titular DealWithTheDevil: The Rider helps defeat Eli, and Robbie helps settle the Spirit's scores.

* During the fight, Daisy calls Robbie out on his vigilantism. She questions his choice of victims. A cop? He was dirty, Robbie informs her. A teacher? A ''pedophile'', Robbie claims. Fed up, Daisy declares that he isn't allowed to decide who dies. Robbie gives her a funny look. "I'm not the one who decides," he tells her. And then the Rider comes out...

* Ivanov gets a villainous one by managing to succeed in his plan to turn the public against Inhumans and SHIELD, by having an LMD of Daisy shoot Talbot in the head, then having Mace's autopsy (revealing him not to be inhuman) leaked to the press. However, whether or not the Men in Black work for him remains to be seen...

* How about the [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome music]] that plays when Robbie is getting ready at the start of the episode? The Ghost Rider has a rockin' theme.

* Props have to be given to May for holding it together as long as she did. Every other person affected by the ghost has succumbed instantly. May managed to focus on helping her team and lasted at least a day. Crosses into [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming heartwarming]] when you consider her motives are not to destroy the 'monsters', but to help her friends.

** The [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome Ghost Rider looks awesome!]] Just as good, if not better, than his previous live-action incarnations. He's also more expressive- while the films had his eyes be blank sockets, here he has glowing balls of fire inside them to act as pupils, and the brow of the skull ''moves''. The skull face has to be seen to be believed. Plus the way it consumes Robbie's face instead of just switching is a masterwork.

* The episode opens with Daisy- sorry, ''[[ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames Quake]]'' now- suiting up; meanwhile, a group of guys is running scared shitless in a pickup truck. Anyone who's seen the previews believes they're running from Ghost Rider- only for Daisy to appear, having been the one to disable their truck. Then the writers finish the BaitAndSwitch by having the big GR appear after all. One of the Aryans in the truck has an itchy trigger finger and pulls out an ''RPG''. The Rider never hesitates and drives his car right into the missile! More VisualEffectsOfAwesome as the car ''backflips'' while on fire. The best part? It's at first only on fire from the explosion. But as the car flips, you can ''see'' the Rider's flames light up the undercarriage and replace those from the explosion. Then the car lands on all four fiery wheels and keeps going, smashing into the Aryans truck. This is the first 5 minutes.

-->--Ghost Rider makes his proper introduction to the MCU, ''The Ghost''.

--> '''Robbie:''' So... Guess you have the Devil inside you, too.

* Jeffrey Mace, the new director, has looked like a pompous ass the entire episode, a PR-focused bureaucratic moron. Then he appears out of nowhere when Agent May goes on her rampage, and proceeds to NoSell all of her blows, even when she picks up a pipe. [[spoiler: We might think he's a robot or even a Life Model Decoy. Then-]]
--> '''May:''' You're a monster.\\
'''Jeffrey:''' I prefer the term... ''[[spoiler: Inhuman]]''.

* In Robbie's origin story, we see him given his powers by [[spoiler: Johnny Blaze himself!]] This has Meta-awesome as they don't just repeat the same face for them; [[spoiler: Johnny's]] Ghost Rider form is visually distinct from Robbie's, with a different shaped skull with visible battle damage, including a ''bullet hole'' to the head, indicating that [[HeroOfAnotherStory this Rider has seen some shit]].

* The Ghost Rider, being unable to affect anything while in Robbie's body, jumps to the next angry person - Mack.

* While the above battle is going on, Fitz, Simmons, Radcliffe, Daisy, and Aida are working on the ''real'' plan: [[spoiler: they make a huge portal underneath Eli and the Rider (who is holding Eli in place), which sucks them into another dimension.]] All the while, Daisy has to absorb successively more powerful earthquakes to allow Aida to work.

* Aida manages to [[spoiler: create a Life Model Decoy of Agent May that fools absolutely everybody.]]

-->'''Mack''': [[BondOneLiner Roll credits.]]

-->'''Daisy''': Simmons, are you there? Is everything okay?\\
'''Simmons''': A bit bloody and bruised but I'll survive. We ''may'' have a bit of a political situation on our hands when he wakes up, but now we can trace that call.

* May fighting her way free of the LotusEaterMachine Radcliffe's stuck her in. [[spoiler: Sadly, she doesn't make it far.]]

* While everything quickly goes to hell after, Daisy holding her own at a senate meeting about her vigilante activities as Quake and Inhumans being a danger to society. She even manages to get in a good shot at Nadeer about how Inhumans are regular people - a neighbor, a friend, a ''brother'' - which briefly throws Nadeer off and leaves her silent.

* Radcliffe's [[spoiler: plan to acquire the Darkhold worked perfectly. As soon as LMD!May got her hands on it, she turned on Coulson and refused to back down even after Coulson pointed out that the real May wouldn't betray him. After she was busted by Daisy's quake-slaps, she seized another opportunity to hand it over to him. What's more awesome in a meta sense is that this is an aversion of the UnspokenPlanGuarantee that avoids the supposed "flaws" of doing so.]]

* Earlier in the episode, Daisy was trying to find the counter-frequency to prevent [[spoiler: Shockley]] from blowing himself up. Since she can't, she improvises - and blows him up ''repeatedly'' to buy time until they can bring up a capture device.

-->'''Ivanov''': I strive for perfection. You are a genetic cheater.
-->'''Daisy''': I'm not a cheater. You're just playing by the old rules. [[PreAsskickingOneLiner The game has changed.]] (''uses her powers to drop the ceiling on Ivanov'')
* The Watchdogs and/or Aida get an OffScreenMomentOfAwesome since they captured Coulson, Mack and Daisy [[spoiler: actually Fitz, as revealed in the next episode]] during the mission without anyone realizing it.

-->'''LMD!May:''' "My programming was to get the Darkhold. That came from Radcliffe. But my impulse to keep Coulson safe and close? That desire? That came from me."\\
'''LMD!Coulson:''' "That's good."\\
'''LMD!May:''' "And I'm sorry to say... you're not him."

--> '''Madame Hydra:''' All I did was fix one thing in everyone's life. A regret. The subsequent world is simply a consequence of your actions. Algorithms, running their natural course, as Dr. Radcliffe always intended.
--> '''Dr. Radcliffe:''' [through the wall] THIS ISN'T WHAT I MEANT, YOU SADISTIC WITCH!

* [[spoiler: Tripp is back. Repeat. Antoine Tripplett, killed off in Season 2 for no discernible reason, is returned, he was a spy in HYDRA for Mace, is STILL the grandson of a Howling Commando and continues to use his gear, and SURVIVED THE EPISODE.]]

** Combining the effects with an ''actual'' moment of awesome, Coulson using his laser shield to cut off [[spoiler: one of the]] Ivanovs face!

** Finally, Aida has gotten wise and makes sure to be nowhere near Robbie. She finds Coulson alone with the Darkhold and figures she's won. [[spoiler: Then Coulson's face starts burning off and she realizes '''[[OhCrap he's not alone]]'''...]]

--->'''Aida:''' Don't you get it? [[TemptingFate You can't kill me!]]
--->'''Coulson:''' Maybe not. [grabs Aida by the arm] [[spoiler:[[WhamLine But I'm pretty sure]] ''[[WhamLine he]]'' [[WhamLine can.]]]]
*** And, again, props has to be given to the VFX team for crafting [[spoiler: four different skulls for each character possessed by the Rider thus far]].
** And after a brief teleporting FreefallFight, [[spoiler: Ghost Rider delivers the most satisfying coup de grace in the series thus far: He utterly ''incinerates'' Aida with hellfire before smashing her charred corpse into the floor]].

-->'''Aida:''' (standing up, bullet wounds healing) Your trap failed. You can't stop me!
-->'''Jemma:''' I know. I just really wanted to do that.

** James tries off his flaming [[ChainPain chain]] again to kill Jemma and Daisy. Unfortunately for him, [[BigDamnHeroes he does it in the presence of Ghost Rider]]. [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt Now it's Robbie's chain.]]

** Not to mention Daisy quaking an in-flight grenade back through the windhsield of a SUV full of Hydra Moonks with a RightBackAtYa .