Welcome to our new weekly piece on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Now that it’s become the show we all knew it could be, there are so many things left unanswered from episode to episode, and my recaps can only cover so much without becoming a novella of sorts.
Here is my first attempt at trying to make some sense of everything. It’ll be a little serious, a little fun, just like the show! (Or so I hope…)
Overarching Questions
1. Why did S.H.I.E.L.D. trade away Ward? And why didn’t they sedate him or take him out of their base Hannibal Lecter-style?
You have to think that Coulson knows Ward is going to try to escape. It has to be part of Coulson’s plan, right? Otherwise, why didn’t they sedate him or put him in more than just handcuffs? And flimsy ones, at that. Pull out the medieval torture, heavy iron chains and drag him away in a freaking wheelchair. Take your own advice and don’t give him one inch. If he has room to move at all, he’s going to jump on it. You know how dangerous he can be, and if his brother is telling the truth, he’s even worse than you imagined.
Coulson isn’t that stupid. I have to assume that this is all part of some grand plan of his that we won’t see for several more episodes. That or the alien writing is really starting to affect his brain.
2. Does Christian have an ulterior motive for wanting Ward?
Look, we don’t know which of the Ward brothers is telling the truth, which of them is manipulating, and which of them wants to use the other for their own benefit. Maybe Ward doesn’t really hate Christian as much as he says (though he claims he doesn’t lie anymore). Maybe Christian is lying about all the times he had to stop Ward from trying to kill their little brother, Thomas.
If Ward is telling the truth, then Coulson is playing right into Christian’s hands. This man will be more than happy to personally torture his brother like he used to, make him into a machine that will do his will (I’m getting vibes of the Winter Soldier). Will he kill him to pay for such a tortured childhood? Or will he make him suffer?
If Christian is telling the truth, then that first question is more of an issue than we first thought. Ward is dangerous and all Christian wants is for Ward to pay for his crimes, nothing more.
3. Will we ever see Ward’s parents?
When Ward first confides in Skye and tells her about Christian’s masochistic ways, she asks about his parents. His only reply is, “They were worse.” Now, is that true or is that just the dark side of Ward placing blame on everyone but himself? If it’s true, how soon until we see Ward’s parents? Or will we ever? Are they dead somewhere? Did Ward have to kill them, too, in some covert HYDRA mission before he really joined S.H.I.E.L.D., but he had to make it look like an accident?
I’m coming up with more questions than answers. If Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. decides to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Ward anytime in the future, it will give a completely different dynamic, one that I’m sure we won’t be expecting, and will make a great contrast with what Skye is going through with her own mystery monster father.
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Let’s go with Hawkeye this week. Bobbi mentions how he was almost killed by Scarlotti years before. They could have played this one of two ways:
1. Hard cut to shaky footage of the battle, maybe in faded tones, showing a flashback of when this happened, nothing more than twenty or thirty seconds, ending with a shot of Hawkeye lying on the ground, just shaking, a pool of seeping blood growing around him on the cement.
2. During the walk-and-talk scene when Bobbi is filling in Coulson about Hawkeye’s run in with Scarlotti, they walk into the main room at HQ to find Hawkeye chilling on one of the couches to everyone’s surprise. “If I had the time, I’d tag along for retribution,” he says. But he’s really only stopped in for a quick chat with Bobbi, hearing that she’s no longer undercover as HYDRA, alluding to their prior relationship like in the comics, with Hunter in the background making angry faces.
I will always hold out hope that we will get some sort of Avengers cameo in each and every episode.
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Fun Theory I’m Making Up Right Now
The end of “A Fractured House” showed us a mysterious fellow going into a tattoo parlor to keep getting that alien writing. I’m taking a crazy leap and saying that this is the youngest of the Ward brothers, Thomas. This family seems incredibly messed up, and there were one too many mentions of Thomas in this last episode for it to be a coincidence.
Maybe the mystery man looks a little too old to be younger than Ward. If that’s the case, then it’s their father. If Ward’s claims are true that his parents were “worse” than Christian, would it shock to you know his father has the alien writing, too? Perhaps seeing Garrett writing it down triggered a suppressed memory, bringing back Ward’s awful experiences with his father. Maybe it wasn’t Garrett’s madness that scared him in the last two episodes of season one, but the fact that he saw flashes of his father.
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Coulson wanders throughout the entire headquarters, Grumpy Cat mug in hand. He storms from office to office, interrupting his A-Team and asking them who the hell ordered the mug. He goes from Fitz to Simmons to Mac to Skye (again) to Hunter to Bobbi. He ends with May.
“Did you order this?” Coulson asks, gesturing at the mug. May just stares at him with that patented May “why would you even ask me if I’m behind this” Look. “Great,” he deadpans. “Now my coffee’s cold.” And he leaves. May smirks when the door shuts behind him and slides the order form into the shredder.
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That’s it for this week’s brainstorming session. The previews for the next episode make it look as though Ward is doing a heck of a job out in the real world and S.H.I.E.L.D. is scrambling to catch up, so who knows if this is really part of a grand, miraculous Coulson scheme.
Any ideas or questions for any part of this brainstorming? I’m more than open to mulling over questions you’ve wondered about. Even if they are just overarching questions the show seems to have forgotten about (like Quinn and the Gravitonium). Or hilarious webisode ideas you want me to bring to life. Leave it below in the comments!