Marvel's Agents of SHIELD Character Review: Skye

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.

[Mid-Season Report: Skye]

The Positive: Right from the start, the Skye we see is changed from the one we saw at the end of season one. She is one of two characters this season that make a literal, permanent change (this isn’t counting Coulson’s hand), but even before then, she was a changed agent. I covered it in my mid-season report, so I’ll just post it:

"Skye grew the most in Season 1, but don’t completely discount Season 2 either. In this season, she starts as an infantile SHIELD agent, finally getting proper training from Agent May and growing her confidence. As the episodes fly past, she proves her worth, both as a hacker and a field agent. She (presumably) kills Donnie Gill, a.k.a. Blizzard, in the third episode, while maintaining Simmons’ Hydra cover. She manipulates Ward on numerous occasions to get information out of him (though it’s not hard to manipulate someone who’s in love with you … that sounds shady coming from me …). She takes one for the good of the team when Ward uses her as leverage."

Her training with May certainly paid off; she had one of the best badass moments of the season, a one-shot of her taking down a room of agents, reminiscent of that hallway scene in Daredevil. She went from a hacker to a legitimate SHIELD agent, the highlight being shooting Grant Ward. Multiple times. Point-blank.

Unlike her mother, Skye showed humanity after her transformation. She didn’t take long to accept her powers (thank goodness) and showed them off in cool ways (spiraling water from the faucet!) and didn’t let her powers define her — at least not at the end of the season.

Her powers are pretty sweet, too. What Agents of SHIELD gets right with her quakes is that the focus isn’t kept solely on them. We are given one big climactic scene of them, out in the woods when she knocks down half the forest; otherwise it’s those little glimpses — the spiraling water, shaking Jiaying — and it’s just the right amount. Skye hasn’t leaned too heavily on them during battles or combat, only using them more as a finishing move or double-tap, and that goes along with her personality.

Her relationship with Coulson also grew into a more blatant father/daughter relationship, and it was more of a positive for Coulson’s character than Skye’s. It did offer her a well-grounded father figure rather than what her real father gave her. It also showed that Skye can place her trust in someone for once and opened her up to caring more deeply for others, no longer that hacker living in a van.

The Negative: There were still glimpses of the writers and the show trying too hard to prove Skye is that “special snowflake.” I’m not talking the Terrigenesis, but more of the grandiose speeches about her special-ness. We get it — there’s something different about Skye; you don’t need to beat us with it, thank you very much.

Skye found herself conflicted a lot this season. Meet her father or avoid him? Visit Ward or keep her distance? Side with SHIELD or the Inhumans? You get the picture. Her choices and changes of heart made sense up until Afterlife, then it started to get annoying.

Her conflicted nature of “Agent or Inhuman” made sense, but when she’s blindly believing her mother, whom she’s only known for a few days (or maybe a few weeks), it started to seem silly. This is coming from a person who has had trust issues her whole life, and now she’s cool with siding with the mother who’s been alive the whole time and not really looking for her? Skye trusts her so much that she fights against the only people that have made her feel at home? Fight against May, her surrogate mother figure?

In the words of Badfinger, “I can’t take it anymore.”

Logic just didn’t seem to prevail, and it didn’t exactly help Skye’s character.

Next Season: With familial issues out of the way, Skye can focus her efforts back on SHIELD. And with Coulson giving her control of her own super -powered team (members forthcoming), she has some big decisions in her future.

That’s not even factoring in those who will be affected by the fish oil tablets.

I’ve mentioned it in other articles, but if Simmons emerges from the Kree weapon with powers, she’ll be the first recruit … after Lincoln, of course. Skye will definitely have her hands full with that fish oil fiasco. Might we see other Inhumans, say those in higher power than Jiaying?

[Editor’s note: Black Bolt, please!]

Skye will change yet again, different than this past season, more mature, more worldly, and ready to help SHIELD usher in an era of understanding rather than cautious oppression.

Where She Started: B
Where She Ended: B
Overall Grade: B. Great character strides throughout the season with only a few missteps. The Skye’s the limit for Season 3 (sorry, couldn’t resist).

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Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Character Review: Skye

By Christina Roberts | Jun 19, 2015

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