#andrew garner

Lincoln's hair constantly looked like he rubbed a balloon on it, and he static shocked people every time he touched them. Immediately after his first kiss the girl asked him if he had ever licked a nine volt battery.

Skye had nonstop tinnitus, and could always tell you where everyone is in a room, though she always chalked it up to her childhood. She complained about turbulence on the Bus and quinjets so often that everyone assumed it was just a weird bit she was doing.

Andrew had two categories in his head that he subconsciously sorted everyone he ever met into. He never quite realized that he did it, but it was always there in the back of his mind. Skye was the first and only person to go into the third category.

Yo-Yo was always the fastest kid in her grade. At everything. She won every race, finished every assignment first, was always at the front of the line. She got to high school and was immediately scouted for the track team.

Raina always had inescapable deja vu, and frequently recognized people she had never met before. She had really weird dreams for as long as she could remember, but she never quite remembered them when she woke up.

So on and so forth.

To this day, I’m still underwhelmed by how that entire season played out. I feel like the AOS team had the right ideas, but chose to execute them in such a middling way. It’s so weird because the next season after this one is one of the best seasons of superhero television I’ve ever seen. The fact that season 4 is the follow-up to season 3 still amazes me since the change in quality is so noticeable.

Anyways, let me articulate my thoughts here. My main issues go to how they handled the two main arcs of the season; the madness of Grant Ward and the fallen agent. For the fallen agent arc, it bothers me that the AOS team chose to make this a countdown-to-this-character’s-death arc.

You’re basically priming your audience for a big loss. So when that “big” loss ends up being Lincoln Campbell, I think most of the AOS audience just kinda shrugged and said, “That sucks but better him than anyone else”. I mean, the AOS team really set themselves up for disappointment since they were basically hyping what should’ve been a monumental change. Instead, they did the most predictable thing by taking out the expendable main cast member who was already doomed by the story since he’s the boyfriend of the superhero (Daisy). It’s the Gwen Stacy/Rachel Dawes treatment, you know it’s coming.

Also, no offense to Lincoln fans, but the character was not the right choice as the emotional lynchpin of season 3. He was underdeveloped and spent most of the season as “Daisy’s boyfriend”. Again, sad to see him go, but losing him wasn’t that big of a loss, especially since the show overhyped the finale.

You know what, I’m just gonna say it. The finale would’ve resonated more if it had been Grant Ward doing the sacrifice. I’m not even a Ward fan (I hated that guy), but at least with him doing the sacrifice:

1) You confirm that there was potential for good in him, which AOS season 4 did confirm in the Framework arc.

2) The loss would’ve actually been monumental since Ward was an OG main cast member.

3) It would’ve actually been unpredictable since no one would’ve thought that Ward would sacrifice himself to save the people he hated.

Anyways, yeah. Lincoln Campbell could’ve been an interesting character, but since the plot demanded he sacrifice himself, he never got the chance to be one. That’s actually the main reason why I feel that season 3 is so disappointing, the entire season has a feeling of “because the plot demanded it happen”.

How do we inject more tension in Fitzsimmons? Give Jemma a random space boyfriend who just so happened to be the only other person on Maveth (you know, instead of focusing on her PTSD, surviving on her own, her encounter with the Hive, learning about the alien civilization that was wiped out by Hive, etc).

Should we expand on Bobbi and Hunter since they were just introduced in the previous season? Nah, let’s force them out of the show and give them a spin-off series that people weren’t really clamoring for.

How do we make May’s life more tragic? You know her husband who has no connection to the comics? Yeah, he’s Lash now. We changed Lash’s entire backstory just so that May can suffer more.

But the biggest “because the plot demanded it” arc has to be how Grant Ward died. I’m not saying he should’ve been redeemed, I’m against that. What I’m arguing is that Coulson was the wrong guy to do it. I mean, giving Coulson a girlfriend for the sole purpose of fridging her so that Coulson has a reason to go on a revenge arc is one of the most forced storylines I’ve seen in a TV show. Rosalind Price really had no other purpose besides being manpain.

And you know what, that works in other stories. Except in AOS, you could argue that Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz, and Lance Hunter would’ve made more sense for this revenge arc. Just as a reminder:

1) Ward betrayed Daisy’s trust since right after they got together, it was revealed that he was HYDRA. Also, Ward tried to emotionally manipulate Daisy and Daisy already shot at him.

2) Ward is the reason why Fitz got brain damage and he tortured Simmons, which Fitz was forced to listen to.

3) Ward also tortured Bobbi Morse, which sent Lance Hunter on a reckless revenge arc (so Hunter was ALREADY doing this).

Personally, I feel that Daisy should’ve pulled the trigger since she’s the main superhero, she had the strongest connection to Ward, and it would make more sense that she was able to cave in his chest. I mean, Coulson had a robotic arm while Daisy has vibration powers, I’m just saying that the science makes more sense with Daisy.

But let’s say Daisy shouldn’t do it since we don’t want her to go on the dark path. And Hunter shouldn’t do it since he’s leaving the show. Well then Fitz is still there AND he was on Maveth with Ward. But the question then would be how would killing Ward add to Fitz’s character? Well, consider seasons 4 and 5. Those seasons were all about how Fitz has an inner monster known as The Doctor. You know what would be a great way to foreshadow that he has The Doctor side in him? Have him fucking shoot Grant Ward in front of Coulson.

Anyways, rant done. I just wanted to vent my thoughts on an already ended show that I really loved.

EDIT: Oh, one more thing. The choice of having Grant Ward be the host of the Hive was also questionable. The concept that the villain is wearing the face of someone we already know is a great idea. However, when it’s someone who the main characters already hate, the effect feels neutered. They went from hating him to…hating him. What changed?

And then May, in the episode where they realise it's Andrew that's been killing people. Faced with a moral decision she doesn't feel equipped to make, after telling Andrew that he was always kinder and more empathetic than her. She relies on Coulson's orders at work because she sees that same kindness in him but this isn't work, this is something so much more personal. And so she turns to Daisy, because even more than Coulson, if she needs moral decision-making guided primarily by kindness and empathy, there is no one she will trust more with that decision than the girl who represents not just the best parts of her and Coulson but the best parts of all of SHIELD. So often in the show May is the wise mentor, trying to steer Daisy so that when life hits those rough patches (as it does very frequently) she'll have the tools in place to get back up stronger. But here May is, with all her experience and trauma, and this time she just... doesn't have the tools. She doesn't know what to do. But Daisy does. Because even before she was an inhuman, before she was a shield agent, she had a never ending amount of compassion and an unbreakable sense of moral clarity.

Daisy will wonder time and time again why so many people are comfortable sacrificing themselves for her. Why is this her fate? Why is this what they choose to do? What are they seeing that she's not?

There's so much betrayal on this show I had trouble choosing characters. 😅