Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The fact that they not only had Kara say that when it's pretty clear she's deluded about Ward, but then followed it with Kara being shot by him, indicates to me that it was a deliberate and very pointed Take That, Audience! at the #standwithward idea.

edited 3rd Jun '15 9:31:20 AM by Galadriel

Kara totally deserved better, though.

Like, they could have had something if they hadn't reduced her to a deluded joke at fangirls' expense.

Ward was always going to be the death of her, one way or another. If not this way, he would have destroyed her another way. He was already encouraging her to embrace his path of eternal vengeance, reassigning blame as needed to ensure there is always someone else at fault for your own pain, never reaching for true happiness but finding satisfaction in the harm you cause to others instead.

Everything Ward touches turns to ash, because that's the kind of person he is. Kara is no exception.

edited 3rd Jun '15 12:46:13 PM by TobiasDrake

That's so boring, though.

Kara totally could have existed as more than just "HEY LOOK WARD FUCKS UP EVERYTHING" Like, show her realizing "Wait... he's fucking crazy." Show her taking him down, show her recovering from her abuse and learning to be her own person again.

I don't need another story about an abuser killing his victim. I need more about abuse survivors.

I mean, Ward is an abuse survivor apparently.

But thats probably not what you had in mind.

Ward is less a survivor, and more a perpetuator of a cycle of abuse.

That's a fair point, but considering the number of fangirls still leather-pantsing Ward, I'm calling this Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped.

Anvils about abuse survivors need to be dropped too, but this one needed to be dropped first.

edited 3rd Jun '15 12:54:51 PM by Discar

Point

We already have Skye and May rejecting Ward in season 1, as well as Fitz in season 2. I don't think Kara realizing Ward's a shithead would have had the same punch, because it could just as easily be rationalized as yet another person who couldn't see the tragic beauty of the TRUE WARD.

"X trusted Ward and believed he had the best of intentions but was forced to realize he was a shithead all along," is a path already well-trodden.

edited 3rd Jun '15 1:23:57 PM by TobiasDrake

I will never understand the fascination with making villains out to be good guys.

I can get behind a good redemption arc, but Ward is well passed the the point where the only kind of redemption that's remotely plausible is Death Equals Redemption.

As for Kara, I can understand disappointment in her death because it meant her character would never grow beyond Ward.

I agree that the show could - and probably should - have given Kara a story of her own with focus over the next season rather than just using her to advance Ward's story.

But I still liked the use of standwithward as a Take That!.

And now Henry Simmons is a series regular.

So now it's the six main cast members in Season 1 + Lance and Bobbi added in Season 2 + Lincoln and Mack in Season 3 = ten regular cast members. Which is quite a bit.

Maybe now they will bump Ward to recurring...or possibly just kill him off.

Ward's set up to be season 3's main villain. I don't think they'll be killing him off any time soon.

Now the question is, how long will Ward be the Big Bad of season 3?

Yeah, I'm thinking they might kill him off in the midseason finale. That's what they did with Whitehall.

And then they introduce the real Big Bad of the Season:

"Hello, I am the Mobile Organism Designed Only...for KILLING."

• Midseason 3 finale: Ward dies.
• Midseason 3 Stinger: Ward in Hell.
• Midseason 3 premiere: Ward returns as an agent of Mephisto.

Except they can't actually use Mephisto so we'd probably get a discount, shittier devil like Satannish or something.

edited 4th Jun '15 10:27:49 AM by TobiasDrake

I mean, I know Mephisto first made his appearance in Silver Surfer, but you know Mephistopheles actually pre-dates that, right? He isn't covered by any copyright.

Mephistopheles isn't, but lawyers can still argue the use of Marvel's Mephisto.

Like, Thor the Norse God of Thunder isn't covered by any copyright either, but if your depiction is too close to Marvel's Thor, I'm pretty sure they'd still have a legal claim.

Dread Dormammu?

I mean, Mephisto is more associated with Ghost Rider, which Marvel Studios has the rights to, but since it's murky, they might just go with Thog the Nether-Spawn, Overmaster of Sominus. And hey, they've already referenced Man-Thing, so they have the rights!

That's what I want now: a series with Man-Thing, Howard the Duck, Beverly Switzler, Richard Rory, Dakimh the Enchanter, and Jennifer Kale fighting against Thog and Doctor Bong in the Nexus of All Realities.

MAKE IT HAPPEN, MARVEL.

Actually, come to think of it, this point is moot and I'm dumb. Mephisto appeared in the Nicholas Cage Ghost Rider movie, which means we know for a fact that his film rights are packaged with Ghost Rider. Since the rights to Ghost Rider reverted to Marvel Studios, they can use Mephisto.

There is nothing hypothetical about Mephisto's rights.

edited 4th Jun '15 11:52:00 AM by TobiasDrake

Henry simmons has been promoted to regular.

The cast has become huge, but I am happy about this.

The cast should be huge. This is a show about an organization, not a ragtag group of friends. An Ensemble Cast should be a given.

edited 4th Jun '15 1:17:56 PM by TobiasDrake

To be fair, him being promoted to series regular doesn't actually increase the size of the cast by any meaningful definition considering that he was always a fake guest star and in literally every episode of Season 2.

And considering how many recurring characters got offed in Season 2 and with Cal Put on a Bus, Season 3 could open with a smaller cast then season 2 did once you count recurring guest stars in addition to series regulars. Now it's just a question of how big Skye's team is going to be.

edited 4th Jun '15 2:33:14 PM by Falrinn