Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Seven Reasons [Spoiler] Makes Sense as a Traitor

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Captain America: the Winter Soldier and tonight's episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

What were they thinking?! In tonight's episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson's team started to feel the fallout from Captain America: The First Avenger as one of their own was revealed to have secretly been an agent of HYDRA all along. Of course, there's a lot of question marks. Is he really a triple agent? That last scene seemed a little...forced, didn't it? Well, who knows? Now that it's happened I'm actually less convinced it's real than I was beforehand.

But let's assume, just for the sake of argument, that they're playing that scene straight and that Ward is a bad guy.. Actually, it kind of makes sense, from a storytelling perspective (we can deal with the plot part in another story). Read on...

Fan wish fulfillment Look, Ward was never going to be your POV character. Very few people can relate to the strong, hyper-competent, action-hero type. They've even played his awesomeness (or perceived awesomeness, anyway) for laughs a few times along the way, playing off the fact that he makes the actually-relatable characters (Fitz and Skye) feel inadequate at times. Now, the square-jawed, handsome guy is a snake, and now we'll have the nerdy guy (Fitz) trapped between two beautiful women (although Triplett clearly has an interest in Simmons). Fitz has been toggling back and forth between his affection for Simmons and for Skye all year long; will it turn out now that the obvious chemistry between Skye and Ward is gone that they can play with that plot more openly? It drops the weakest player Granted, almost every plan the team has come up with has relied on getting Ward to do some near-superhuman thing or another. It's what happens when you're the go-to guy. Nevertheless, he's also the most generic "go-to guy" on the planet. Other than his "friends with benefits" thing with May and the childhood abuse backstory that was briefly explored and never returned to, he's really just another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.  That he's the square-jawed, handsome, hyper-confident guy really just makes him fit the mold even more. Besides that, Brett Dalton has been a bit wooden. The cast has been one of the consistent criticisms of the series, but many of the actors seem to have grown into their characters throughout the year whereas the diminishing role of Ward (who seemed like one of the most important parts of the team in early episodes but has increasingly taken a back seat to other story elements) has left Dalton not quite as comfortable in his character's skin, perhaps.

It shifts Skye to the forefront... ...which is where the showrunners seem to like her. Let's do a quick rundown:

• Skye and Ward have chemistry, or at least that's what the showrunners would like us to have believed for the first two-thirds of the season or so.
• Ward was Skye's SO
• Ward as a traitor likely brings May and Skye closer together as the two commiserate about being duped
• Losing Ward as a probable, long-term love interest opens up Skye's options

Any one of those things could be great for her character going forward, but getting rid of Ward in this way gives her all of them and a TON of angst about not seeing it coming sooner, especially once she became Coulson's go-to resource. It could also put her in the position of having to prove herself to whatever authority takes over from big S.H.I.E.L.D., since her SO was actively trying to sabotage the organization so it's not as though his signing off on her is credible. And given her Rising Tide past, it's distinctly possible some people would think she was in on it.

It resolves May/Ward/Coulson The fact is, Coulson shouldn't have let the relationship go forward. Once he knew about it, he should have killed it -- but he seemingly wanted to give May, whom he trusted, some space (and maybe-just-maybe he was worried she would think him jealous if he made a stink). This closes that chapter out; the next time she sees Ward, she's more likely to be gunning for him than anything else -- and since she's the team's big hand-to-hand threat right now, that's what they want her to be.

It (potentially) replaces him with a superhero Are you happy now, people? Look, I've had many complaints about the series as the season unfolded, but the idea that there "needs to be more superheroes" wasn't one of them. The showrunners were pretty open about the fact that the premise of the show was watching how ordinary people -- the "everyday heroes" of law enforcement and emergency management -- handle living in a world with thunder gods and Iron Men. That said, there was a sizable chunk of the audience disappointed that by the fifth or sixth week we still hadn't brought a Marvel Comics superhero on board as a regular or at least a recurring character. Turns out now that they did -- Deathlok -- but he wasn't called that yet and so nobody knew. If Ward leaves, does it guarantee more screen time for Deathlok once he's presumably recruited? It removes one of their human Tank characters when they already have May (and probably Deathlok) Really, having Ward and May was always redundant. They kind of avoided commenting on it by making May "the driver," but her initial resistance to being the team's muscle melted away quickly and without much of a fight. So that basically meant that when you looked at team archetypes, you had the leader (Coulson), the brain (Fitz and Simmons, who doubled up as the quirky comic relief as well), the hacker (Skye, who doubles up as eye candy, a role Ward also plays) and the muscle, which was both May and Ward, but May obviously was the one who deserved the title. Not only did she kick Ward's butt in the recent episode where he was mind-controlled by Lorelei, but even before that we'd established that being badass was her entire reputation. It creates room to explore May. Some of that same stuff that Skye has to worry about, applies (albeit somewhat differently) to May. How did she not realize who she was sleeping with? Also, what did she know, and when? If she was having secret, high-level conversations with Nick Fury, when did she find out about the Hydra infestation? How could she not have vetted everyone on board the Bus as well as humanly possible? It gives her room to doubt herself on a personal level (the relationship) and a professional level (she didn't see it coming), which should lead to some great character moments.