“Deals with Our Devils” is episode seven of season four of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the previous episode, “The Good Samaritan”, it was revealed that Joseph Bauer was trying to alter the original experiment so that matter could be created from nothing be people – him – not just by machines. This wasn’t why Robbie’s uncle Eli attacked him though. Eli it seems was more interested in getting said power for himself; he attacked Joe and turned the others into ghosts to achieve this. Now, with the Darkhold, he has managed to do this experiment successfully, and is now capable of creating matter from nothing himself. This cannot be good.
This episode opens immediately following the end of the last one, which is a bit unusual, in the Roxxon power plant where Eli did the experiment. Mack and May are looking for Fitz and Coulson who are missing.
Eli is approached by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who he kills with lumps of materialised carbon, before escaping. I wonder if he can create anything other than carbon? A video of the incident shows the energy pulse from Eli’s transformation hitting Coulson, Fitz, and Robbie, after which they all disappear. Some think they’re dead, whilst others do not. Director Mace makes a call to Simmons and says she’s on her way, but in the meantime Dr Radcliffe will see if he can do anything.
Simmons herself is with Senator Nadeer’s brother; apparently he’s been undergoing terrigenesis for seven months (he was revealed at the end of “Uprising”). Normally it’s instantaneous, or near enough. Simmons, of course, doesn’t know it’s Nadeer’s brother. So, the Inhuman-hater senator’s brother is Inhuman himself. That may have consequences in the long run.
Back on the Zephyr, May wants to open the Darkhold, but Mack tells her it’s a bad idea. Mack has got some leads on how to find Eli, but Mace nixes them. Then Mack starts acting oddly, gets on a bike and leaves, showing some inhuman strength in the process.
It then goes to Coulson and Fitz. They think they’ve been unaffected by the energy pulse but, after it’s shown that they can’t be seen or heard by the others, or interact with the world, Fitz decides they must have gone out of phase. Robbie, too, has been affected, so we then see the previous things from their viewpoint. Fitz says they’re deeper than Lucy and the ghosts were, and are being dragged down. Robbie is in pain, as he says ‘he’ – the Ghost Rider – won’t be dragged down again. The Ghost Rider then leaves his body and enters Mack’s, explaining the latter’s odd behaviour. Daisy takes Robbie’s car, with an unseen Robbie as a passenger, and follows Mack.
Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Radcliffe takes a look at the Darkhold then quickly shuts it. He says that it’s more than the human mind can take. Given that his non-human, android assistant Aida is standing next to them, it’s pretty obvious what will be the next course of action. Even if it takes a few minutes. Having Aida read the Darkhold is sure to also have more consequences than anyone thinks – it was believed that she would be unaffected because, if she was, she could simply be rebooted.
As the rest of the team try to find out what happened to Fitz, Coulson and Robbie, their world is getting darker, and they are at risk of being dragged down. Given that it’s somewhere the Ghost Rider has been and refuses to return to, it can’t be a good place.