Warning: Spoilers ahead for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode 3×20, “Emancipation.” If you haven’t had a chance to watch last night’s episode, you may want to wait before reading further.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t been easy on Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet) this season, or any season, really. Recently, she’s turned against her team under the sway of Hive (Brett Dalton), who was in the process of draining all of her blood before she was rescued and cured of his hold on her by Lash (Blair Underwood), who ended up dying to save her. Now, Daisy has returned to her team at S.H.I.E.L.D., but according to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Daisy still has some challenges to overcome. Her brief time under Hive’s sway will have lasting effect.
“I was surprised with how angry and distant they wrote her, which I liked, because I was expecting an immediate, softened apology,” Bennet tells EW. “She’s so deeply broken up about it that she can’t even expose how she actually feels to her team. She’s so upset that she feels like she can’t even look at the team, let alone be upset about it in front of them.”
From day one, Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) has been a father to Daisy. How has this latest incident affected him?
“It was excruciating for him to have her be swept up in this sway by Hive, a person that Coulson considers himself responsible for creating a window through which this creature could come back to Earth just makes it all the worse,” Gregg says. “He’s really trying to free her of what seems to be the worst poison that’s swirling inside her right now, which is self-loathing.”
As we’ve seen over the past three seasons, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team has become more of a family rather than just a group of co-workers. With that bond between them, will they all be as welcoming as Coulson?
“Simmons [Elizabeth Henstridge] is quite harsh to Daisy, because she’s speaking to someone who is an addict and has experienced a high that has been taken away,” Henstridge says. “Simmons herself doesn’t judge Daisy, but the way that she has to approach it is very strict and not giving in to any sort of emotional empathy, which she finds hard to do, but she knows she has to do it. The bottom line is we have to get to Hive, and Daisy is our link. Daisy wants to be out in the field doing more, but she’s also secretly craving that feeling again.”
Before being swayed by Hive, Daisy was in a relationship with Lincoln, portrayed by Luke Mitchell. In fact, it was their bond that was used to send Lash in to save Daisy from Hive. Will Lincoln be ready to rush back into that relationship?
“Daisy was addicted to that feeling that Hive gave her,” Mitchell says. “He knows what addiction is like. He’s been addicted to alcohol. He has an addictive personality. Essentially, he’s addicted to Daisy.”
The S.H.I.E.L.D. team went to some great lengths in order to rescue Daisy, putting her life at risk when they sent Lash to rescue her. As an Inhuman who seemed intent on killing all other Inhumans, Lash could have easily killed Daisy, as well. There was also the possibility that Lash could have fallen under Hive’s “sway” just as Daisy had, although May (Ming-Na Wen) and Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) both felt that was a risk worth taking. In the end, it was Lash, Agent May’s former husband, who was lost in the fight.
“May’s very torn up about it,” Ming-Na Wen says. “In the end, she was able to forgive him and realize what his true mission was. But up until that point of losing him, she still held onto some anger about the whole thing, not just really toward him, but toward herself that this situation happened. She still feels that this situation happened because of her. In a way, she just always holds that against herself that if only they never got back together, she didn’t go and ask him for help, that perhaps he may never have died. That’s what she’s most angry about.”
Of course, with her former husband dying to save Daisy, it would make sense for May to be upset with the younger agent, even if it was a possibility that was considered beforehand. However, as we’ve seen over the course of three seasons now, May has carried a bit of guilt herself throughout the years, so there’s also the possibility that she’l empathize with Daisy.
“May is concerned that Daisy won’t be able to forgive herself for everything that has happened when she was swayed,” Wen says. “Unlike what May went through in Bahrain, where she had to make certain choices and do certain things against every right and wrong in her bones, she had to make a really tough choice. She has to live with that. If anything, her desire right now is to continue to protect and guide Daisy so that she doesn’t suffer similar consequences and shut down the way May has.”
Will May be successful in helping Daisy recover? Or will she be further damaged by the events of the finale?
“So much happens that I’m not sure we’ll even deal with that until next season fully,” Bennet teases. “You see in the finale that guilt weigh incredibly heavy on her shoulders.”
For Daisy to come away from the finale with guilt, she would have to survive, which suggests that she will not be the Fallen Agent in the two hour Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finale next week. Until then, what are your thoughts about the emotional journey of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team so far this season? Sound off in the comments below!
Source: Entertainment Weekly
