"AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.: This Is Love?"
"AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.: THIS IS LOVE?"
Ever since the middle of Season One of Marvel's "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.", there had been a fandom dedicated to the relationship between two of the series' characters: former hackivist/turned S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Skye (no surname mentioned) and Agent Grant Ward. During the series' first season, I had found myself wondering if I should support it or not . . . despite the amount of attention dedicated to this potential romance on the Internet and in the media.
The relationship between Skye and Ward had began in (1.01) "Pilot", the series' very first episode. Despite being a member of a hacktivist group called Rising Tide, Skye ended up being recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson and his newly formed team (which included Ward) track down a man named Mike Peterson, who had recently acquired super powers. Coulson assigned the no-nonsense Ward to serve as Skye's S.O. (Supervising Officer) and train her.
During Season One's first half, Ward trained Skye; while she responded with quirky jokes and mild flirtation. Then in the final scene of (1.08) "The Well", Ward began an affair with another member of Coulson's team - the formidable Agent Melinda May. I suspect that May had slept with Ward as some form of comfort following his traumatic experiences with an Asgardian Beserker Staff. Their relationship lasted until a "repentant" Ward received a grilling for fraternizing with another agent and promised to end the affair in (1.13) "T.R.A.C.K.S.". Two episodes later in (1.15) "Yes Men", Ward admitted his attraction to Skye in a conversation with the rogue Asgardian goddess, Lorelei. She had him under her thrall at the time. The friendship between Skye and Ward deepened in the following four episodes - between (1.16) "End of the Beginning" and (1.19) "The Only Light in the Darkness". During this period, the events of "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER" had played out and resulted in the downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D., the revelation of HYDRA's (a former Nazi science organization-turned-terrorist group) infiltration, and Skye's discovery that Ward had been a HYDRA mole on behalf of another S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA traitor, Agent John Garrett.
The relationship between Skye and Ward eventually fell apart during Season One's remaining three episodes. Skye was forced to leave Director Nick Fury's secret Providence base and allow Ward to lead her into the arms of HYDRA and Garrett. The latter needed her to break the encryption code she had created to guard many S.H.I.E.L.D. files. After Coulson rescued her at the end of (1.20) "Nothing Personal" with the help of fellow agents Maria Hill and Antoine Triplett, Skye and Ward did not face each other again until the big confrontation between Coulson and Garrett in the season's finale, (1.22) "Beginning of the End". In that episode, Skye expressed her disgust and contempt for Ward and he ended up in Federal custody after enduring a beat down by May.
Since the airing of "Beginning of the End", fans had been divided over the future of Skye and Ward's relationship (dubbed "Skyeward" on the Internet). They had also been divided over the possibility of Ward's redemption in future episodes. How did I now feel about those issues from seven years ago? Honestly, I was a bit conflicted. At least about Ward's redemption. Did I believe that he was beyond redemption? Well . . . no. I had thought it would take a great deal of sacrifice on Ward's part (possibly his death) to redeem himself for the murders of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Victoria Hand, her assistants, and Eric Koenig; and the attempted murders of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Coulson and Skye.
What about "Skyeward"? How did I feel about the Skye/Ward relationship? Honestly? I never sensed any real love between them. Not really. The ironic thing was that I had considered the possibility of a romance between them during Season One's first half. After all, cast members Chloe Bennet and Brett Dalton had managed to generate a pretty good screen chemistry. However, the revelation of Ward as a HYDRA mole led me to dismiss any considerations. And after my recent re-watching of several Season One episodes, I found myself wondering how I could have ever considered any possibility of a romance between them in the first place.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Skye
There are certain fans who still believe that Ward could have find redemption from being a HYDRA mole through Skye's love. I have a problem with this theory. I have a problem, because I had doubts that Skye ever loved him. Her flirtation attempts at Ward in the early episodes seemed to hint that Skye found Ward attractive. She even used a photograph of him as her laptop computer's wallpaper . . . like an infatuated schoolgirl. This attraction was especially apparent in an early scene from "Yes Men", in which both seemed physically aware of each other, while the latter expressed relief at her recovery from being shot by HYDRA scientist/industrialist Ian Quinn in "T.R.A.C.K.S.".
But there was also Skye's feelings about Mike Peterson. She was the first major character who had befriended the former construction worker in the series premiere. Throughout Season One, Skye found it difficult to automatically regard him as some kind of villain. Skye had expressed dismay when he became HYDRA's hired gun, Deathlok, against his will. She had expressed dismay when Ward pointed out that Mike could not be trusted.
And she had expressed her dismay for the third when she was a prisoner of HYDRA in "Nothing Personal". For some reason, Skye found it difficult to give up on Mike. And she was never in love with him.
At the same time . . . I do not recall Skye ever expressing similar feelings for Ward, when she discovered he was a HYDRA mole. Not once. When she had finally confronted him about his betrayal to S.H.I.E.L.D., she merely expressed anger and disgust. In fact, she labeled him as someone "evil". In the season finale, her feelings toward him had transformed into contempt and she judged him as "weak", instead of "evil". The only member of Coulson's team who seemed unable to face Ward's betrayal or give up on him was Leo Fitz. From the moment the rest of the team had learned about Ward's betrayal, Fitz expressed disbelief that Ward was a HYDRA agent and expressed numerous theories that Ward may have been coerced. Even moments before Ward tried to kill him and Jemma Simmons by ejecting them into the ocean, Fitz continued to blind himself from Ward's perfidy. He finally accepted it by Season Two.
As I had stated earlier, Skye never tried to deny Ward's betrayal. One might point out her willingness to cooperate with Garrett over the encrypted files, when Mike endangered Ward's life in "Nothing Personal". But Skye was willing, if reluctantly, willing to allow Ward to die if it meant preventing HYDRA from accessing those files. In the end, it took Mike's argument that she would have Ward's blood on her hands if she did not cooperate. Thankfully, Joss and Jed Whedon, along with Maurissa Tancharoen; were never willing to satisfy fans with some plot twist that allowed Skye's love to redeem Ward.
S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA Agent Grant Ward
Judging from the Season One episodes I have seen, I would say that Grant Ward had harbored stronger feelings for Skye than she did for him. And yet . . . I could never sense any deep and abiding love on Ward's part for Skye. I recalled him expressing concern for her life, when she had infiltrated Quinn's mansion in (1.03) "The Asset". He did seemed concerned for Skye's life after she had been shot by Quinn. Yet, other members of the team seemed more openly upset. Like Ward, Fitz had expressed remorse that he did not accompany Skye to Quinn's Italian villa, where she got shot. But he did seem a lot more emotional than Ward. Simmons had literally burst into tears. May lost her temper and nearly beat the living crap out of Quinn, after he became their prisoner. And Coulson became uber-determined, actually desperate, to find a means to save Skye's life - even to the point of breaking S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol and searching for the project that had resurrected him. Of all the team members, Ward had seemed the least emotional over Skye's fate. Perhaps the latter was trying not to shed "unmanly" tears. Who knows? He did express his displeasure to his mentor John Garrett, who had ordered Skye's death. But his easy willingness to accept Garrett's dismissal of the incident struck me as a bit . . . interesting.
Ward's most emotional reaction to any character on the show had been directed at Garrett. This happened when the latter's organs began to fail, due to internal cybernetic parts. Ward expressed deep concern when Garrett's health began to fail in (1.21) "Ragtag". And when a captured Fitz used an old World War II EMP device that further endangered Garrett's life, Ward nearly flipped out. Despite the fact that Garrett had ordered Quinn to kill Skye and Mike Peterson to endanger his life, Ward remained concerned over and loyal to the older man. Some might say that Ward's continuing loyalty to Garrett was a sign of emotional abuse he had received. But those flashbacks in "Ragtag" seemed more like examples of emotional manipulation from Garrett, not abuse.
And there was something else that bothered me. I found it odd that Ward's attraction to Skye finally became apparent to audiences in "Yes Men". Especially when May had brusquely brushed aside his concern and offers of help after she had been tortured in "T.R.A.C.K.S.". Minutes later, Ward spotted Coulson tenderly attending to May's wounds inside the Bus' (S.H.I.E.L.D. plane) medical bay. I found it odd that Ward would begin expressing any romantic feelings for Skye two episodes after what he had witnessed between Coulson and May. Was he fooling himself about Skye? Had he been fooling her and the rest of the team about his true feelings? Was he relieved that he no longer had to fake romantic feelings for May? Or had he viewed Skye as an easier target for his reluctant lover act? Who knows?
Those fans who had rejected the idea of a future romance between Skye and Ward tend to cite the latter's sexism, which reared its ugly head in both "Nothing Personal" and "Beginning of the End". But I had spotted other reasons that make me doubt these two might ever be destined for a romance. One, Skye had no problems accepting Ward's betrayal of the team and S.H.I.E.L.D., unlike Leo Fitz. On the other hand, she had trouble accepting Mike Peterson's cooperation with Garrett and HYDRA. As for Ward, he was willing to deliver Skye into Garrett's hands in episodes like "The Only Light in the Darkness", "Nothing Personal" and even "Beginning of the End". If Ward had truly loved Skye, why would he be willing to endanger her in this manner? Was this supposed to Marvel's idea of love? Frankly, I rather doubt it.
I could see that both Skye and Ward found each other sexually attractive. But love? Sorry, but I never bought it. Not at the moment. And sure enough, the Whedon brothers and Tancharoen never allowed "Skyeward" to become one of the great romances for "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.".