Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 4 (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Creators: Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly)
	Actors: Clark Gregg (Iron Man 1-3, The Avengers), Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, John Hannah (The Mummy)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: July-August 2017, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: New challenges await the team led by Phil Coulson (Gregg): a revenge-driven killer with a flaming skull, ghosts, mad scientists, alternate universes, ...
Review: For those of you not familiar with the concept: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is taking place in the same Universe and in parallel to the events in cinema blockbuster movies like Iron Man, Thor and The Avengers, but no recent movie is occurring in parallel to the fourth season (we only feel the ripple effects of what we saw in Captain America: Civil War). When watching this season you realize how much the three first ones constitute a whole story that reached its ending with the last episode. Indeed it feels like a new start with a new team: Daisy Johnson is not anymore looking for a meaning in her life and Phil Coulson has delegated the role of Director. The season 3 version of the team is also present: Fitz-Simmons, May, Yoyo (note the free webseries around her, complementary to this season) and the Dwayne Johnson ersatz Mack. The season however follows on the events initiated in the previous one with the character of Holden Radcliffe (played by John Hannah) and his cybernetic experiments. At first I was not so found of the way the character of Ghost Rider was introduced, a revenge-driven killer not unlike The Punisher in the season 2 of Daredevil. But then he is linked to one of the great threats in this season, that will itself be eliminated during a mid-season climax and lead to the one great idea: a virtual reality world shamelessly borrowed to The Matrix (a reference is even explicitly made) that I thought at first was just a distraction, but that in fact allowed the series a second life by showing us an alternate reality to the fall of Hydra in season 3. The opening credits were even changed as well as the poster (see below) to reflect this. This brilliant idea saves a season that started for me as relatively weak and with no contribution to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It does not bring anything new to that Universe but allows us to re-live some events under a different angle and meet again some characters we thought we would never see again. The question is now: where can it go from there? Will the next season link with what happens in New York (in the TV-series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders) or to The Avengers: Infinity War due in cinemas in May 2018?
Rating: 5 /10