Well, they’d have to be of the same general build to pull it off. It’s not like Coulson could impersonate Ward very easily. But I can see them using the tech in the future. As if things weren’t complicated enough.
Wild-ass theory. Let’s go back two episodes instead of just one. We saw Lorelei was controlling Ward. We were told her control ended when Sif put the mask on her. But who knows if that really worked?
The series has introduced the possibility of mind control so we have to consider it. Maybe Ward isn’t the person making decisions about what Ward is doing.
I have a hard time accepting that Ward would be willing to shoot not only Hand but two other SHIELD agents out of a sense of old loyalty to Garrett. Especially after Garrett had just turned traitor.
I’d actually like to jump a bit further back and address the implications of the ‘berserker staff’ on Ward’s behavior. I felt sure when he smoked the purported Clairvoyant that someone would bring it up, but it’s just been left there.
Makes me angry!
It’s getting to the point that Occam is rolling over in his grave. 
Until proven completely wrong, I’m going to go with Ward being Hydra. My mind hurts otherwise.
If you look back at the episode, every time Ward meets ‘the others’ in an interesting situation, it is Garrett that immediately grabs him and explains what’s happening. It seems like this would be a convenient way to keep him updated to where ‘they’ were regarding coming out as Hydra. I believe it is also Wars that mentioned all the sensitive info that should be ‘wiped’ from the computer.
In all honesty, from the moment he volunteered to ‘turn the key’ it seemed there was something else and the way he looked back at Coulson as he was walking away, was almost cockey and defiant.
Hand’s offer to shoot the ‘real clairvoyant’ did seem out of character though. I just hope he really is Hydra, because that scene between Skye and Ward really doesn’t need much follow up… what’s the opposite of shipping again?
Ditto, remember he was also doing Hydra a favor when he shot Nash. The first thing Coulson asked him was who was controlling him.
And the pilot/co-pilot too, don’t forget. Somebody has got to be flying that plane.
No, one of the agents comments that he’d programmed the plane’s course to the Icebox, right before Hand asks Ward about getting rid of Garrett. The plane was on autopilot, while they were all in back having a chat and shootout.
The general tone in this thread toward the episode seems to be positive. Guess I’m an outlier.
I was lovin’ it. Action, twists, surprises. When Garrett turned out to be bad, I said to my wife, “Aww, man! I was hoping it wasn’t him.” 'Cause he’s so cool, y’know. But I dealt with it just fine.
Then came the last scene. Hand’s suggestion of an execution seemed 1) out of character, and b) out of left field. And then what Ward did — it just made me angry. It was just too much. One too many. I got pissed off at the show runners and at the show itself.
Several of you have suggested that things there were not what they seemed, and that may be true. I hope it is. But I’m not sure that’ll make me less pissed off.
Hand doesn’t seem like the type who would put her own life at risk in order to test somebody else. If she had been testing Ward’s loyalty, she would have made sure the gun was unloaded just in case.
What an episode to miss!
This episode was filled to the brim with awesome. Do you like action scenes? Well, Turn Turn Turn had action scenes! Fun ones! Dog fights? No problem! We have Garrett (boooo!) fighting two drones, and then Garrett and the bus fighting them. Hand to hand combat? You have your choice, short scenes that end up being test, longer scenes involving one Level 8 versus a dozen Level 5s, or a Good vs. Evil battle with a mysteriously disappearing pair of handcuffs. They were all there. Oh. That’s not your thing? How about lovey dovey stuff? That was there, the setup they’ve been building towards the entire season finally came together. Complete with a kiss! I wasn’t never super excited about the Skye/Ward pairing, but the way they did it was good. And, future events in the episode made it all somewhat meaningless. Ok. How about something with emotional resonance? I think the conversations between Coulson and May would have to fit the bill. Both Gregg and Wen’s performances were outstanding. She comes close to expressing her love, while he is deeply hurt by the betrayal. Not friends, but allies?
So, yeah. This was a great episode.
So, I said up thread to not spoil the movie with episode talk. But, a lot of the movie was actually spoiled by the episode, so that pretty much goes out the window now. This episode was a perfect example of why Agents of SHIELD was such a powerful thing to add to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Dramatically, it gives the Universe reality and depth that doesn’t exist as strongly when you are relying on the movies. The events that happened in the film directly influenced events that happened in the world of the TV show. This show aired the week after the film came out.
And, on a financial side, I can only imagine this episode is going to drive many people to see the movie even earlier. How many of us texted friends after watching Agents of Shield to let them know to see the movie first, so they didn’t have anything spoiled, and so they could enjoy this episode even. I can’t be the only one. AM I? Really? Shoot!
Oh, back to the episode. How powerful was that final scene that focused on Ward’s face and the aftermath of his violence. Two things I could take from that scene. They were showing what a cold stone badass he was, and he truly is a Hydra agent. (This would be an awesome way to take the show. I think most people aren’t expecting it, since it is so against our expectations.)
I don’t think they will go that way. I am going to throw my prediction out there. I’m going to go with the Mind Control crowd. I think he has one of those brain bombs and someone typing to him what to do, and that face he was making at the end of the episode was one of deep regret.
But, really. How much more interesting would it be if he were actually Hydra. But, in love with Skye. The things they could do!
To sum it up. Best episode of the season! (again.)
The whiplash pace with which characters were being presented as potential HYDRA agents, then shown to be so (or not) was cracking me up. I was seriously out of breath by the end.
I figured they weren’t going to let Bill Paxton’s character go so soon, as much as he’s livened up proceedings, so I was neither all that surprised by the final twist nor particularly disappointed. At this point, the deal with Ward could go in at least two wildly divergent directions, so I think the ending was well played.
I’m going to be out of the country for the next two weeks and therefore will not have direct access to the next couple of eps, so, er, keep up the good work, pricciar, I’m countin’ on ya.
Paxton is often the bad guy, so I wasn’t surprised by that, but I don’t even know what to think about Ward.
I have no clue who to trust.
Awfully convenient time to be leaving the country. Going to East Africa perhaps? To report in and get new orders?
We’re keeping an eye on you.
What a fantastic episode. I think this show has really ramped up the action and the stakes, and in a way nicely linked to the Marvel movie universe - even with some head-scratching plot holes and puzzling character actions (but it’s a fun ride!).
Even the last scene seemed to leave some different plot directions … is Ward really a quadruple agent, “proving” his loyalty to Garrett in order to get deep inside Hydra? Was Hand’s rather clumsy and out-of-character move to execute Garrett just an act, a ploy to help Ward’s (and Coulson’s) plan to get him inside the enemy camp? Frankly, I was kind of leaning that way.
According to this interview with the executive producers of the show … the plan was for Ward to be a Hydra sleeper from the start. And Hand is most sincerely dead.
If that’s so (and I wouldn’t put it past Marvel to be throwing us another misdirection head fake here), that’s a bold move. Turning Ward into a baddie in this way, well, that’s unexpected.
It’s a pretty good interview, by the way. Explains a lot of the backstory work of the show linking with the movie story lines and how far they had to plan ahead.
To go a bit meta, I always have felt a bit sorry for actors who later get turned into sleeper agents or secret villains on their shows. Like they referenced in the article, when they hired Dalton, he didn’t know he was going to be essentially re-cast as a villain. It just seems rough to have to deal with fans of the show in real life reacting to something he didn’t have any choice about.
Upon rewatching the episode, yeah, Ward and Garrett were on the same page the entire time.
[ul]
[li]Garrett suggests to Coulson that Ward and May be released from lock-up.[/li][li]Garrett steps forward to Ward when Ward rejoins the group, tells him they’ve figured out that Hand is the Clairvoyant with an obvious (in retrospect) “wink wink” look on his face.[/li][li]Garrett suggests to Ward that they back-up any classified information from the plane’s computers.[/li][li]Ward manipulates Skye into giving him the drive with the classified info.[/li]“You’re right, you should hold onto it. You haven’t taught me to hold up under torture yet.”
[li]Yes, Ward helps Skye to blow up The Hub’s computer room- but he didn’t know until the last minute that that was what she was going to do. After he clears the hallway, he goes back to her and says something like “O.K., all clear. You can hack in now / access the computers / back up the info (whatever he thought she was going to do).” Then with a sly smile she says “who said anything about that?” then opens her bag to show him to explosives.[/li][/ul]
Coulson did seem a little bit suspicious of Ward wanting to be involved in Garrett’s transfer to prison. I don’t know how much Coulson suspects.
Hand deciding on Garrett’s execution is the one thing that still stands out to me as not making any sense.
Yep… fellow outlier…
If Ward is Hydra I might be pissed enough to stop watching… if he’s not and we’re just being played with for more plot twists, I’m just going to be grumpy for a long time.
I don’t mind twists in a movie where it’s all sewn up in that movie, I get upset when movie/show runners intentionally twist and deceive and leave it hanging out there. It limits what genre’s of fiction I consume, but I’m okay with that.
Crap…
New Theory: Ward Swap
Clearing the Hallway. We cut from Ward finally getting pig-piled by Hydra agents, reaching for a knife in front of him, to his opening the closet door for Skye looking a bit worse for wear.
At the time I just figured it was the show runners not wanting to give me an implausible action sequence blowing out their CGI budget.
So… instead, Ward gets captured by Hydra who already can tell the tide is turning, so swap in someone masked as Ward (or slaps a mind control device on Ward) I’m going for mask. So either the real Ward is tied up in some other closet to be discovered next episode or he’s been snuck off to a Hydra stronghold to be rescued later.