TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Agents Of Shield Season 03 Episode 07: Deals With Our Devils

I’ll admit, I’m not sure what I expected from “Deals With Our Devils”, but I am pleasantly surprised with the results. Yes, some of it was predictable, but some key twists made it worth it.

As likely most of us predicted, Coulson, Fitz, and Robbie became trapped in an “inbetween dimension” as a result of Eli’s “transformation” last episode (4 weeks ago…). One that was apparently the last stop before the literal underworld as we would find out.

It was interesting seeing the consequences of this. As many, MANY, things were revealed in the process. We found out how Simmons got “assigned” to her “secret mission” and the near tragedy that happened because of it. We found out more about the Spirit of Vengeance, and ADA got revealed as a life model decoy in order to save the trio in limbo.

Now while the overall story of the three being trapped was good, I wish we didn’t have to replay certain scenes just so we could see what happened from their perspective. Yes, some of them added new info, but some were just playback in many ways. This especially stunk when you consider we KNEW that they were ALL coming back alive.

However, an interesting payoff was Mack getting possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance. This was a true possession, as Mack seemingly wasn’t in control, whereas Robbie (and Johnny…) seem to know how to suppress and summon it when needed.

Another thing that was both interesting and oddly flawed was the initial reaction to the trio being gone. Many kind of gave up on them being alive, even though there was no physical proof that they were day. Not so ironically, it was Daisy who pointed out the fact that they had seen WAY too much crap to think they were simply dead without proof. And…she’s right. I mean, between the Avengers and their origins, Coulson being resurrected, aliens, Inhumans, and now ghosts and Ghost Rider…why did they think they were gone for even a second?

The only real payoff there was that May gave the Darkhold to Radcliffe and then ADA, which played off very coolly. Especially when she basically Doctor Strange’d up a portal to free them from death. Oh, and now she’s making a brain…what could possibly go wrong?

Also, this really set up the potential end for Robbie and Ghost Rider, as Robbie said that if the Spirit of Vengeance would help him kill Eli, who’s now on the loose, he’d settle the Rider’s debt as well. How could he resist? Now, what does this mean? I’m not sure. But I hope it ends up with Johnny coming back!

In the end, “Deals With Our Devils” set up a big winter finale. I kind of hate that we had a 4 week gap just to get 2 more episodes…but hey…blame the elections. What can you do?