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Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Character Review: Grant Ward

By Christina Roberts

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Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD’s second season can almost be thought of as two separate seasons. The first half covered the deterioration of Hydra and Coulson’s psyche, ending with a huge bang–or, if you will, shake. The second half covered the discovery of the Inhumans and superpowered people.

Because there’s been so much character development this season (and since we have the time to kill), let’s dive in and take a trip down Agents of SHIELD memory lane, character by character.

Miss a post? Get caught up: Melinda May

[Mid-Season Report: Grant Ward]

The Positive: It feels like forever ago when I started my #NoWardRedemptionArc campaign (like anyone other than me was using it on Twitter) and it feels like a waste. Because Grant Ward has remained very evil since the Hydra reveal in season one — or at least anti-SHIELD and anti-straightlaced agent.

His Season 2 in the quickest nutshell I can muster: Starts in SHIELD custody, goes to brother, kills brother and parents, back to Hydra, steals Skye, gets shot by her, finds Agent 33, gets her to infiltrate SHIELD, accidentally kills her, and tries to find other Hydra heads.

He’s done quite a bit in this second season, and he wasn’t even in every episode. Each time he appeared, he was a wild card, never revealing his bigger play. When he showed up on the Bus with Hydra to get Raina and Skye, no one could have guessed it would result in Skye shooting him, let alone that he was even going after Skye.

Anytime he showed up with Agent 33, we wondered if he really did love her or if it was just a ploy. Brett Dalton played that mysterious nature perfectly. We as the audience know how messed up Grant Ward is. How does his brain work? He was in love with Skye for so long, was he truly over her and on to 33? It wasn’t until the last moments of the season two finale to prove he really did love 33.

He even came back to help SHIELD, even though he wasn’t given much of a choice in the matter. For any other person, they would find a way around this or a way to take out agents. And he did neither of these things … at first. It took a few episodes to realize he left 33 with SHIELD to get Bobbi. Talk about a wild card with his own agenda.

And now he has renewed motivation and the potential to go even darker than just the wild card he has been. He’s on the lookout for other Hydra heads because he’s tired of being alone.

The Negative: On first glance, I can’t think of anything to be negative about in terms of Grant Ward.

One thing that could be annoying if I thought about it hard enough is that he somehow gets out of everything without being captured by SHIELD again. They constantly see Ward as a problem, a thorn in their side, yet he always manages to sneak out a side door. Or find themselves distracted by a potentially-dying agent and completely forget he’s there. He’s out in the world again, ticked off and ready for vengeance.

Next Season: Brett Dalton gave an interview with Zap2It, basically saying that Grant Ward has nothing to tie him down, nothing to slow down his greater plan. He has a great quote that basically sums up everything I’ve just said:

"When you do have a character that is this far gone, to see a glimmer of maybe he is still a good guy, that would be fun too just to remind people — or just to confuse them even more."

His vengeance is enough to push him to take control and go after whatever it is he truly wants. And that makes for a good adversary.

Where He Started: A
Where He Ended: A
Overall Grade: A. Keeping him a wild card has made him a character you enjoy seeing pop up at any time just to see what he’s going to do next. #NoWardRedemptionArc

Next: Agents of SHIELD Character Review: Melinda May

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