Since debuting back in 2013 to a lukewarm response from TV viewers, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D has slowly but surely gained narrative momentum. Season 1 took a while to get going, yes; but to be fair, the series needed some time to establish its characters and complex fictional universe. In Season 2, the show came into its own with a compelling story arc centred around the emergent power of the Inhumans, and the challenge of S.H.I.E.L.D. to deal with the ruthless Inhuman leader, Jiaying, as she carried out her diabolical plan to destroy humanity. Add to this Ward’s continued Machiavellian maneuvers and the schism threatening to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. from the inside-out, and you get a sophomore season that was consistently compelling.
Season 2’s finale, “S.O.S.,” in true season-ending style, brought all these threads to a satisfying culmination, as Jiaying was stopped, Ward was foiled, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was once again restored under the leadership of Coulson (now short one of his hands). But, as with any great work of fiction, it still left us with lots of big questions to think about coming into Season 3. Plus, after the new season’s first episode, we have been given a few more questions as well. Let’s look at some of the biggest.
1 – What’s next for Ward?
It seemed that Ward might be eventually rehabilitated as Season 2 opened with him in custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. Yes, he had killed his family, but there seemed to be some justification there in his claims of childhood abuse at the hands of his brother. And while he had killed many agents in Season 1, he could (and often did) claim to be the victim of brainwashing at the hands of the evil Garrett (side-note: I still miss Bill Paxton…).
But any hopes of a tearful team group-hug were dashed when Ward, with the help of Agent 33/Palamas, set-up Agent Morse in a cruel plan to force her to see the man she loves, Hunter, killed in front of her. It was the tipping-point for old Ward, it seems; this truly evil scheme seemed to be pointless and marked the first time he had been straight-out sadistic for the heck of it.
Yup, Ward is now officially the Bad Guy, with no more pretense of being “misunderstood.” He ended last season with the intent to lead the remains of HYDRA, but without any more info on what exactly he will be up to. Having accidentally killed Palamas, the only person he seemed to care even a little about, he will presumably be even more ruthless and bent on hurting Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. than ever. He hasn’t yet appeared in Season 3, so how much involvement he’ll have in this story arc is unclear. One thing is for sure: Ward has shown that he is extremely intelligent and persuasive, so if and when he does show up (and I’m betting on “when”), it will be in a way that we won’t see coming.
2 – Will Quake/Daisy’s powers pose a danger to Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D.?
In Season 2 Episode 12, visiting Asgardian Sif warned Coulson that Daisy (then called Skye) might be more of a danger to him than he thinks. And it did indeed seem true that last year, when she first discovered her powers, Daisy Johnson struggled to control them and was a danger, not only to others, but to herself. Over time, partly with the help of Gordon, Lincoln and the other Inhumans, she slowly learned to control her quake-inducing tendencies, but the season left off with her still coming to terms with the implications of her new abilities.
Now, we see a Daisy – a.k.a. “Quake” in Season 3 – who is much more confident in using her powers. She saves metal-melter Joey Gutierrez by easily incapacitating several special-ops soldiers, and appears to have no issues with control. Plus, she is lookin’ really good in that ass-kickin’ new superhero get-up. Was Sif’s warning from last season just a statement of concern by a character who didn’t know all the facts, or will there still be growing pains on Daisy Johnson’s journey to becoming Quake? I can’t see Quake purposely posing any threat to Coulson et al, but as we’ve seen, even she doesn’t know yet what she is capable of.
3 – How will the alien drug continue to affect Coulson?
Last season saw Coulson troubled by obsessive thoughts about weird alien writing (just as Garrett had before him), which turned out to be a map for the ancient alien city. He apparently was reacting to the alien (Kree) drug, GH-325, that had been given to him as part of his resurrection in Project T.A.H.I.T.I. This was the same drug that he, in turn, had given to Quake/Daisy/Skye to save her. Once the S.H.I.E.L.D. team went to the underground city, Coulson seemed to be free of his alien-graffiti jones. Now, in Season 3, Coulson is missing one hand, after having tried to stop one of Jiaying’s deadly crystals from shattering. Other than never being able to open pickle jars by himself again, what might Coulson face in his future?
The big issue is, what after-effects Coulson will continue to experience with the alien drug inside of him. We know from previous episodes that this drug has effects that are unknown, and can be unstable – see, for example, the aforementioned John “Cray Cray” Garrett. We also know that it was at least partly responsible for triggering Quake’s powers. How will Coulson continue to be affected by it? So, far we’re not sure, but I am thinking it will show itself again before the season ends.