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AoS meta: About that twist at the end of 1x17
[xposted from tumblr]
Okay, in interviews the Agents of SHIELD producers talk about how they had planned Hydra!Ward right from the beginning, and point to all the clues you can see in earlier eps. Thing is, I’ve been going over the early episodes in my mind and I’m just not sure I’m buying it. Sorry, writers… you yourselves taught us to trust no one.
An obvious (once you know what to look for) clue is the scene at the memorial wall in the end off 1x12 Seeds, yes. That seems very deliberate editing now. And in 1x11 Magical Place, Raina is talking to Coulson about the Cellist that he mentioned to Ward just an episode earlier, which is now beyond suspicious. But in episodes before 1x10?
Bell: […] So he comes onto the team. Coulson is now vested, because he’s got a project. Who is Ward’s greatest threat? May. What does he do? He seduces her. Who is the one unknown on the team? Skye. He becomes her S.O. How do you get everyone rally around and trust you? You jump out of a plan trying to save someone else. Now, he had a parachute. Let’s say he failed to save Simmons, he would’ve been fine. Everything he’s done has solidified how people feel about him over the course of the season.
It’s a possible interpretation, and an interesting one, but every single one of those things could simply be interpreted in an obvious, less twisted way - that he was being a loyal agent, a decent person, and slowly growing closer to his new team. Jumping out of that plane in particular was a split-second decision… was there even time for anything beyond acting on instinct?
(And then there’s the fact that at the end of 1x10 Ward got shot. He wasn’t seriously hurt but he was shot at from a moving helicopter with a machine gun. There was no way to make sure that wouldn’t result in serious injury or death. Would the Clairvoyant, aka Garret, not have let Raina know that his own man was on Coulson’s team? I suppose it’s possible and Hydra are just as bad about compartentalizing vital info as SHIELD so I’m on the fence about that one.)
Anyway, my nagging feeling is that before episode 10 Ward in fact wasn’t written as a Hydra sleeper and it that was only around that time that mole!Ward was conceived. (Back when they announced two new recurring SHIELD agents with connections to Ward, a little voice told me that that was in response to all the criticism aimed at Ward in particular, and that one of the new guys was ultimately to take Ward’s place on the team. I told the little voice not to be so pessimistic.)
Am I missing more obvious clues in early episodes? I’d actually like to be proven wrong because I’d prefer it it they had intended this plotline from the beginning. I think I’d feel less betrayed (by the writers, not the character…)
Okay, in interviews the Agents of SHIELD producers talk about how they had planned Hydra!Ward right from the beginning, and point to all the clues you can see in earlier eps. Thing is, I’ve been going over the early episodes in my mind and I’m just not sure I’m buying it. Sorry, writers… you yourselves taught us to trust no one.
An obvious (once you know what to look for) clue is the scene at the memorial wall in the end off 1x12 Seeds, yes. That seems very deliberate editing now. And in 1x11 Magical Place, Raina is talking to Coulson about the Cellist that he mentioned to Ward just an episode earlier, which is now beyond suspicious. But in episodes before 1x10?
Bell: […] So he comes onto the team. Coulson is now vested, because he’s got a project. Who is Ward’s greatest threat? May. What does he do? He seduces her. Who is the one unknown on the team? Skye. He becomes her S.O. How do you get everyone rally around and trust you? You jump out of a plan trying to save someone else. Now, he had a parachute. Let’s say he failed to save Simmons, he would’ve been fine. Everything he’s done has solidified how people feel about him over the course of the season.
It’s a possible interpretation, and an interesting one, but every single one of those things could simply be interpreted in an obvious, less twisted way - that he was being a loyal agent, a decent person, and slowly growing closer to his new team. Jumping out of that plane in particular was a split-second decision… was there even time for anything beyond acting on instinct?
(And then there’s the fact that at the end of 1x10 Ward got shot. He wasn’t seriously hurt but he was shot at from a moving helicopter with a machine gun. There was no way to make sure that wouldn’t result in serious injury or death. Would the Clairvoyant, aka Garret, not have let Raina know that his own man was on Coulson’s team? I suppose it’s possible and Hydra are just as bad about compartentalizing vital info as SHIELD so I’m on the fence about that one.)
Anyway, my nagging feeling is that before episode 10 Ward in fact wasn’t written as a Hydra sleeper and it that was only around that time that mole!Ward was conceived. (Back when they announced two new recurring SHIELD agents with connections to Ward, a little voice told me that that was in response to all the criticism aimed at Ward in particular, and that one of the new guys was ultimately to take Ward’s place on the team. I told the little voice not to be so pessimistic.)
Am I missing more obvious clues in early episodes? I’d actually like to be proven wrong because I’d prefer it it they had intended this plotline from the beginning. I think I’d feel less betrayed (by the writers, not the character…)
no subject
Surprise is exactly what they wanted.
I do not have the behind the scenes knowledge to know when the Cap 2 script was written, or how and when that info would have been conveyed to the AoS writers. So I don't know if they had to adapt their arc based on new info some months ago about Cap 2. But I watched the first 10 or 12 eps closely and I saw no foreshadowing of Ward's double agent status.
no subject
But yeah, as to Ward specifically, I think it's possible but I'm absolutely not sure. Some people over on tumblr posted more examples from early eps, two or so are pretty compelling, but it's still all up for interpretion (or overinterpretion, if it wasn't set up back then.)
eta: That said, even if it wasn't set up from the beginning, the double agent storyline works. Like, I think when you now rewatch previous eps (as I can't bring myself to do yet) you won't stumble over a bit of plot that completely negates it. It's up for interpretation but there is no clear evidence against it.
Which would mean they either got real lucky, or they did have it planned from the beginning after all.
no subject
no subject