The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the handling of the Ghost Rider origin story and the reveal that Morrow is a villain.

"Back in the day", scientists Joseph and Lucy Bauer build a machine that can create matter from nothing, violating the first law of thermodynamics.

An energy blast from the experiment makes Coulson, Robbie, and agent Leo Fitz disappear, and Morrow successfully displays the ability to create matter.

[2][3] That October, executive producer Jed Whedon said that the series' use of Reyes and his supporting characters and mythology was "definitely pivoting from the storyline in the comics.

"[4] Marvel soon revealed that the sixth episode of the season would be titled "The Good Samaritan", and would tell the series' version of Reyes' origin story.

He also felt the episode's approach to revealing the story, by having Reyes tell it to his brother Gabe for the first time, was "really interesting and powerful" and the most surprising aspect of the script for him.

They decided to bring their origin story closer to that of other Ghost Rider iterations such as Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch by having Reyes be more of a traditional "Spirit of Vengeance", and use Morrow in a different way that was still as a villain and "hopefully in a way that surprised people".

They hoped that the series' version was true to the spirit of the comics' Robbie Reyes story while also connecting to "the past of the other" Ghost Rider characters, which was described as "the best of both worlds".

In terms of the season's overarching plot, Bell said it was important to tell Reyes' origin story in the episode, rather than earlier or later, because it also reveals the "truth about Eli, and they're very connected."

Bell said that this was planned out as part of the season's storyline, and was something that the writers thought was a "fairly compelling" cliffhanger that would hopefully give audiences a reason to return to the series, which was scheduled to have three weeks off after this episode to avoid the 2016 United States presidential election and the Thanksgiving holiday.

[7] In October 2016, Marvel confirmed that main cast members Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May, Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson / Quake, Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons, Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, and John Hannah as Holden Radcliffe would be starring in the episode.

[5] In addition to Gabriel Luna and Lorenzo James Henrie as Robbie and Gabe Reyes, and José Zúñiga as Eli Morrow, the guest cast includes Jason O'Mara as Director Jeffrey Mace, Maximilian Osinski as Agent Davis, Patrick Cavanaugh as Burrows, Kerr Smith as Joseph Bauer, Lili Birdsell as Lucy Bauer, Dan Donohue as Frederick, Ward Roberts as Hugo, Usman Ally as Vincent and Shaun Clay as Tac Agent Wilder.

They decided to show another Ghost Rider arrive on a motorcycle and "hand off" the mantle to Robbie, which Bell said "promised more story to come possibly, whether now or later.

[30] Marc Buxton of Den of Geek gave the episode four stars out of five, praising the reveal that the "dull threat" of Lucy Bauer was just masking the true villain, Morrow.

It's a tour of many different pieces of the Marvel Universe"; and the connections to Agent Carter, which he said were "cool to see [and] make her defunct series more important to the tapestry of the MCU.

He felt the origin story was far more interesting than the flashbacks centered on Morrow, highlighting the chemistry between Luna and Henrie and the "breathtaking" visuals.

[32] Writing for Nerdist, Joseph McCabe called the origin story a "satisfyingly tragic transformation" and "by far the most interesting part of", wishing that it had been shown unbroken by present-day scenes or even the sole focus of the episode, but felt that "at least the ongoing storyline has momentum".

She also noted the Ghost Rider and Mace fight and the Agent Carter reference, and said that the Morrow reveal was "not much of a surprise" but still "a nice twist" given the season "has been lacking a bad guy".

Club graded the episode a "B", feeling that its use of both expositon and flashbacks "doesn't quite land" and that the origin story was predictable, though "delivered with a deft touch".

Fitzpatrick noted that Lucy had "inarguably [been] the weakest element" of the season and was not surprised with the Morrow reveal, and questioned the series' stance on the morality of the Ghost Rider, feeling that it should have been made more clear.

[37] Regarding Johnny Blaze, Schwartz said that "Marvel TV is introducing the idea of multiple Ghost Riders into its mythology, which sets the stage for Robbie Reyes not being the only one possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance in this world.

[11] Buxton said that "Marvel just established a much bigger Ghost Rider mythos that can be explored on TV, in movies, or Netflix and that is really damn exciting.