| "Meet the New Boss" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 4 Episode 2 | ||
| Directed by | Vincent Misiano | ||
| Written by | Drew Z. Greenberg | ||
| Cinematography by | Allan Westbrook | ||
| Editing by | Joshua Charson | ||
| Original air date | September 27, 2016 (2016-09-27) | ||
| Running time | 43 minutes | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.season 4 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Meet the New Boss" is the second episode of thefourth season of the American television seriesAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Based on theMarvel Comics organizationS.H.I.E.L.D., it followsPhil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they deal with the enhanced individualsQuake andGhost Rider. It is set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledgesthe franchise's films. The episode was written byDrew Z. Greenberg, and directed byVincent Misiano.
Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, and is joined by series regularsMing-Na Wen,Chloe Bennet as Quake,Iain De Caestecker,Elizabeth Henstridge, andHenry Simmons. The episode introduces the titular new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed by recurring guest starJason O'Mara, after a new director was first teased in thethird-season finale. The character is revealed to beJeffrey Mace, and was made anInhuman for the series in response to the events of the filmCaptain America: Civil War. The episode also explores more mystical elements introduced at the end ofthe previous episode. It is part of the first "pod" of eight episodes for the season, subtitledGhost Rider.
"Meet the New Boss" originally aired onABC on September 27, 2016, and was watched by 5.39 million viewers within a week of its release. The introduction of Mace was praised by critics, particularly for O'Mara's more subdued performance than many suspected for such a role. The episode was also praised for continuing the development begun in the previous episode, but received criticism for its antagonists and the effects used to make them appear "ghostly".
A"ghostly" woman, recently escaped from a mysterious box and having apparently infectedS.H.I.E.L.D. agentMelinda May in the process, returns to her previous home where she terrifies its new occupants.Robbie Reyes is followed byDaisy Johnson, the vigilante Quake, to the mechanic where he works after she confronted him the previous night about his actions as the Ghost Rider. Johnson believes Reyes when he says that he, as the Ghost Rider, only murders people who "deserve it", and now wants him to kill her. He refuses until he finds something that proves she deserves it, despite her thinking she already does.
S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up on the ghost's actions, with agentsLeo Fitz andJemma Simmons attempting to come up with a scientific explanation for her condition. They discover a research laboratory, Momentum Energy, that is near the woman's house and has been abandoned since an explosion seemingly killed its staff. Searching Johnson's belongings, Reyes also finds reference to Momentum in research she had been doing on him. At the facility, the ghost opens several boxes there similar to the one she was kept in, releasing ghosts of her former co-workers. They plan to reverse their condition using a book they had been studying, theDarkhold. Fitz and agentAlphonso "Mack" Mackenzie arrive to see the ghosts attempting to destroy the facility, but are saved when Johnson and Reyes arrive and the Ghost Rider disintegrates one of the ghosts while the others flee.
At S.H.I.E.L.D. base, the infected May starts seeing ghoulish images around her and begins attacking her fellow agents. She is subdued by the agency's new director,Jeffrey Mace, a super-strongInhuman who has her sent to a secret facility for treatment. He refuses to give this location toPhil Coulson, the former director who had stepped down with the hope that a new, powered director could help calm human-Inhuman relations. With Mace planning to announce S.H.I.E.L.D. to the world as a legitimate agency, he has had Coulson helping him withpublic relations. Mack asks Johnson to return to S.H.I.E.L.D. with them, as she was an agent and friend of theirs before leaving to become Quake. She refuses, and instead joins with Reyes in a partnership—he believes Momentum and the ghosts are connected to him.
A flash-forward at the end of the third-season finale revealed that Coulson would no longer be the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the fourth season. The showrunners intentionally avoided giving hints as to who the new director would be in the sequence.[1] Speculation in the media over the following months focused on which previously introduced character could be taking on the role.[2] In September 2016, Marvel announced that the character would be revealed in the season's second episode, "Meet the New Boss". The episode was written byDrew Z. Greenberg, withVincent Misiano directing,[3] and is part of the first "pod" of eight episodes for the season, subtitledGhost Rider.[4][5]
.jpg)
In August 2016, the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was explained to be a new character to the series, portrayed byJason O'Mara. The character was described as having "Marvel roots [that] go back to the 1940s".[6] The new director was always going to be new to the series, as the executive producers felt that replacing Coulson with someone he knows "wouldn't [provide] as much tension to mine from".[7] With the airing of the episode, the character was revealed to be an Inhuman with super strength called Jeffrey.[8]Closed captions for the episode gave his last name as Mace,[9] and a week later the executive producers confirmed the character to beJeffrey Mace, who goes byPatriot in the comics.[10]
In September 2016, Marvel confirmed that main cast membersClark Gregg asPhil Coulson,Ming-Na Wen asMelinda May,Chloe Bennet asDaisy Johnson / Quake,Iain De Caestecker asLeo Fitz,Elizabeth Henstridge asJemma Simmons, andHenry Simmons asAlphonso "Mack" Mackenzie would be starring in the episode. In addition to O'Mara, guest stars for the episode includeGabriel Luna asRobbie Reyes,Briana Venskus as AgentPiper, Nico David as boy, John Churchill as father, Adrian Quinonez as Ignacio, Jen Kuo Sung asChen,Daniel Zacapa asCanelo, Lilli Birdsell asLucy, Dan Donohue asFrederick, Ward Roberts asHugo,Usman Ally asVincent, Deren Tadlock as armed S.H.I.E.L.D. guard and Mark Daneri as Wisconsin congressman.[3] Luna, Venskus, Sung, and Birdsell reprise their roles from earlier in the series.[11]
In the comics, Mace is "a former reporter who was inspired byCaptain America to become a superhero, despite his own lack of powers". The character was made an Inhuman for the series because Coulson suggested that he be replaced with "a powered person the public could trust" following the events ofCaptain America: Civil War. This followed the series' pattern of taking characters from the comics and putting "a twist" on them for television.[10] O'Mara noted that the character was mandated by the President to clean up S.H.I.E.L.D. and make it more like theFBI orNSA, so he appears in the episode "eager to please" the United States government which O'Mara felt created some "goofy" scenes to contrast those where he has to withhold information from Coulson.[12]
Discussing May's sickness in the episode after being "infected" by the ghost Lucy in the season premiere, Wen explained that "It starts to affect May's perception of things. It's almost like being onLSD, but worse. It's not good. You never want May out of control. You don't want her to be paranoid."[13] Regarding Reyes' choice to work with Johnson at the end of the episode, Luna said that "a lot of that is I respect her power and I respect her. I understand that she's going in the same direction I am, she's seeking the same ends that I am, so I offer the opportunity for her to jump in and saddle up and we go find these things out."[14]
"Meet the New Boss" was first aired in the United States onABC on September 27, 2016.[3] It began streaming onNetflix, along with the rest of the fourth season, on June 15, 2017.[15]
In the United States the episode received a 0.9/3 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 0.9 percent of all households, and 3 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 2.95 million viewers.[16] Within a week of its release, "Meet the New Boss" had been watched by 5.39 million U.S. viewers,[17] above the season average of 4.22 million.[18]
Writing forThe A.V. Club, Alex McLevy graded the episode a "B" and praised Greenberg's script for its "wit and verve" and "sparkling" dialogue. He felt Johnson and her storyline with Reyes benefited the most from the script, and said that the further development of the central team and their newly established status quo covered the "real questions" of the episode despite the various overarching plot developments shown. McLevy felt the introduction of Mace and the surprise twist of his Inhumanity were handled fine, but was even more pleased with the twist of "having the director being a really personable, self-deprecating dork" and O'Mara's performance as such.[19]Joseph McCabe atNerdist praised O'Mara for "keeping his gravitas a safe distance below the surface", which McCabe found to be a breath of fresh air from previous big introductions to the series.[20]
AtDen of Geek, Marc Buxton gave the episode 4 stars out of 5 and praised the series for exploring supernatural elements from Marvel Comics, which he found to be a welcome change from the series' usual Inhuman andHydra based stories. Buxton appreciated the introduction of Mace as both a reference to the comics and a tie-in toCaptain America: Civil War, and found the deterioration of May to be particularly meaningful due to the drastic change from her usual stoic personality.[21] ForCollider, Evan Valentine thought the episode continued the world building started in "The Ghost" in a more compelling way, and gave the episode a "very good" 4 stars out of 5. He called the introduction of Mace "one of the stronger parts of this episode" and praised his non-cliche characterization, the Inhuman twist, and O'Mara's performance, positively comparing him toBill Paxton (who had a recurring role in the series'first season). Valentine also positively compared the authenticity of Reyes' life and work environment to the world building ofMarvel's Netflix television series.[22]
Terri Schwartz ofIGN scored the episode a "great" 8.2 out of 10, praising the continued Ghost Rider storyline and willingness of the executive producers to pay for the expensive effects required to realize that character on screen. However, Schwartz was less positive about the effects used for the antagonistic "ghosts", calling them "lacking", and feeling that those characters ultimately did not live up to thehorror film tone of the episode'scold open.[23]ScreenCrush's Kevin Fitzpatrick was also negative of the ghosts, calling the cold open "straight out of badSupernatural" and saying the design of the ghosts "definitely needed work". Fitzpatrick also discussed the ongoing Ghost Rider andLMD storylines, concluding that "I'm still waiting forAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to get a better handle on its new direction".[24]
