Phil? His First Name Is Agent

This post contains spoilers for Agents of SHIELD Seasons 1, 2 and 3.

After the shocking finale of Season 3 which left many openings for Season 4, it was revealed to the audience that Season 4 would become “darker” with promises to the change of character, Phil Coulson. In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly(http://www.ew.com/article/2016/05/27/spoiler-room-arrow-unreal-blacklist-spoilers), Clark Gregg stated  that “The person he cares about is on the run and seems to be very sought after by the authorities. It’s very much changing the game for Coulson. Certainly from that teaser of where we’ll be next season, he does not seem to be in good shape.” We can certainly sense interesting twists to Season 4 and a darker theme, new creations are coming to surface (Doctor Radcliffes Life Model Decoys), Phil Coulson is no longer Director of SHIELD and we are left questioning who is and Daisy Johnson, beloved member to the team has taken back to the streets and is running from SHIELD.

Daisy Johnson Played by Chloe Bennet, Breathing Life Into the Character of Quake.

 

But before we explore the depths of what Season 4 could hold for a darkened atmosphere and a slight change of character for Coulson, just who is this agent?

Agent Phil Coulson was first a character who was introduced onto our screens during the first Iron Man movie, an agent and representative of SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division- someone really did want their initials to spell out SHIELD). Appearing every so often as a small, minor character in the mainstream movies, the agent quickly captured the hearts of Marvel fanatics, causing devastation across the entire fan base when he met his rather pointy end at the wrath of Loki, God of Mischief.

Phil Coulson dying however caused an unpredicted reaction from across the world as fans seemingly mourned the death of this small character whose swagger and sass captured the hearts of thousands. Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, no longer was an irrelevant character that Marvel had to spare, but to the fans. a beloved hero whom they demanded to see more of.

Thus, the TV series titled ‘Agents of SHIELD’ made its way to our screen, capturing the audience made up of thousands of Phil Coulson lovers and fans, all wondering the same thing- How did Phil Coulson really survive?

This of course, was covered in Season 1 of the TV show which ran for an amazing 22 episodes which first seemed to be a team of agents, and a hackervist picked up from the streets, trying to save the world in their own way and discover who they were. Things however began to take a dark twist when reaching the episode titled ‘The Magical Place’ in which we caught a glimpse of what project TAHITI really was. An island with a massage and cocktails? Nothing more than mirage concocted by a small number of doctors under strict orders by Director Fury himself. Perhaps Tahiti wasn’t such a magical place after all.

The Truth Behind Tahiti. No Golden Sands or Cocktails Here.

If things weren’t dark enough by this point in Season 1 where fans heard Phil Coulson begging for his death, then the next episode certainly was a culture shock. Fans of the TV show that was just beginning to unravel its web were surprised to hear about the shocking truth of Skye (played by the wonderful Chloe Bennet), a character that had left fans marvelling (no pun intended) at her relevance in the TV show after all, she was just a hacker that the team had picked up. Turns out, as many could have predicted, that writers Maurissa Tancharoen, Joss Whedon, Monica Owusu-Breen and Jed Whedon had more planned for this character than truly expected. Where she goes, death follows.

Things quickly picked up from that point on varying from shootings  to an inhuman revelation being produced (no that wasn’t a pun to Season 2) in which Phil Coulson discovers that he was brought back to life with a mixture of Kree blood. This then sent the TV show into a spiral of questions such as, who designed this Kree blood program? But more importantly, who was the Clairvoyant playing amidst with the SHIELD team?

Things certainly did get a whole lot darker upon the episode ‘End of the Beginning’ where we see Grant Ward, who was clearly in love with the hacker Skye to viewers at home, shoot the supposed Clairvoyant, killing him instantly. This to fans at home seemed to be something that was spurred on by the mans untameable feelings for Skye however, was something entirely different. The episode ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ certainly was a turning point for the TV show as Grant Ward was revealed to be in alliance with the twisted organisation labelled as Hydra.

Hail Hydra? Stand With Ward?

Deaths, shootings, murder and oxygen starvation (sorry Fitz) seemed to follow in the footsteps of this revelation and even brought to light an amazing fight between Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) and Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), resulting in the defeat of Grant Ward and causing him to be captured by SHIELD. However, the show offered a more interesting turn of events when the Director of SHIELD himself gave up the job of Director, handing the job to Phil Coulson. No longer was he Agent Coulson of SHIELD, but more so Director Phil Coulson, leader of an organization that technically wasn’t legal anymore.

This left such a wide opening for Season 2 which premiered on September 23rd, dragging a massive 5.98 million US watchers. The first episode titled ‘Shadows’ officially introduced us to new characters but more so, dipped fans into the ideas of powered individuals without the unnatural enhancements from the program ‘Centipede’, only seen previously in Season 1 once or twice. Season 2, episode 1, gave fans subtle hints as to what the season would produce, which was further emphasised in the following episodes. Episode 1 in Season 2 really did kick off with a darkened atmosphere, showing us the fate of Grant Ward and introducing us to a new prop which would later be the centre piece of Season 2. We also discovered how Phil Coulson was taking to being Director, often enclosing himself away from his team that he had created that was now seemingly in ruins (Jemma Simmons was gone, Fitz had suffered brain trauma and a former member of his team was locked in a cellar down below).

Season 2 however quickly kick started the dark theme, revealing the truth of Skye’s parents. Cal Johnson was revealed to be her dad, a doctor with a murderous side and anger issues that seemed to be out of control. More of the past of Grant Ward was revealed and he ended up escaping having the climatic result of him burning down his old house with his parents and brother, Christian Ward, inside. Carvings soon also became something dark as Phil Coulson began carving odd symbols which later turned up carved into a dead body. The TAHITI program was sending everyone carving.

So This Is What He’s Been Doing In His Spare Time…

Everyone except for Skye.

This led to the possibility that maybe she wasn’t as human as we thought she was, which then led to a whole new turn of events. Skye meeting her mentally unstable dad, Skye shooting Grant Ward, explosions and the death of short timed agent, Agent Antoine Tripplett and more so, Inhumans. Throughout the entire Season we see deaths, hear truth revealed regarding Skye’s mom and Hydra, and see a new side to Phil Coulson that fans had been anticipating to see since Season 1- his fatherly side for Skye which is emphasised during the final few episodes of Season 2 where he states “she’s not my daughter but she’s as close to family as I’ve got”. Season 2 then brought up a darkened ending with Skye losing her mother who tried to kill her, her father going through the TAHITI protocol, Bobbi being rescued from being tortured and Phil Coulson losing his handy hand. Melinda May also left, Simmons was taken by the monolith and Inhumans were left without a leader and protector.

Which is where Season 3 came into play, shining a light on Daisy Johnson, formally known as Skye and Director Phil Coulson who was dealing with having his hand quickly removed. Season 3 instantly kicked off with the darkness where we see a side to Leo Fitz that had been hidden throughout the past two seasons, in which he kills several men with a splinter bomb to obtain scroll leading to Jemma Simmons. We see Daisy Johnson becoming Quake, Phil Coulson suffering without his hand and Melinda May and a new Inhuman villain is born going by the name of Lash.

Season 3 presented so much and offered an insight to new sides of characters we had yet to see (much like Andrew Garner who was in fact Lash). For Phil Coulson who was typically relaxed in the past two seasons, it was the revelation of his darker side in which his demons came out to play upon the death of Rosalind Price, sniped down by former agent, Grant Ward, now top of the Hydra food chain. The darkened side is emphasised upon the death of Grant Ward which is done by Coulsons own hand (although it wasn’t necessarily his own hand as strictly speaking, it was robotic). Things soon enough began taking more and more dark twists and turns as Ward came back from the dead, taken over by the deathly character of Hive.

From there on, things seemed to escalate down a darkened path when Ward took over Daisy, Daisy brought the base down, the Kree made a short appearance, agents Bobbi and Hunter were lost and Coulson retracted his want to kill Grant Ward, stating that he should have left him alive. The darkened era of Season 3 came to a close upon the death of Grant Ward, a long time running character, and Lincoln Cambell (Luke Mitchell). We then jump to 6 months later where we discover that Daisy is on the run from SHIELD and other authorities, Phil Coulson is no longer the Director of SHIELD and characters Fitz, Simmons and Melinda May are nowhere to be seen. There is also a hint as to what the centre piece of Season 4 will be about upon the small clip of character Doctor Radcliffe creating Life Model Decoys.

So is a character change for Phil Coulson and a darker season for Agents of SHIELD the way go?

In my personal opinion, yes. Throughout the previous seasons of Agents of SHIELD we’ve had an insightful character development and change of Grant Ward. The former agent went from Agent of SHIELD, to someone who just wanted redemption for his family, to a Hydra agent and then to the character named Hive, an Inhuman with a murderous twist. Through these means we got to see a broad range of acting skills from Brett Dalton and audiences got to see a continuous character change that always left them wanting to see more and on the edge of their seats.

For a short while through the movies we saw Phil Coulson as an agent and this was later seen in the first season of Agents of SHIELD. However, Phil Coulson has been the Director of SHIELD for the past two seasons which is why I believe a character change is good. Through the character change we get to see Phil Coulson become an agent again, perhaps allowing the audience to have more of an insight to the character and see the relationship between him and Daisy Johnson emphasised. Whilst other characters have undergone major developments much like Daisy Johnson, Coulson has remained close to home throughout despite having a darkened side and his Director side revealed. It’s about time we see our beloved agent take over the spotlight and become something more than just the Director of SHIELD. Fans look forward to the change through the fact that we may have more of an insight to Coulson’s darker side, we may get to see him break the rules he once strongly abided by and we may get to see how much Coulson truly does need and appreciate the character of Daisy Johnson. We also may see Coulson have some guilt towards the previous events like Hive returning and the death of Lincoln Cambell.

Considering Agents of SHIELD is dark in the eyes of some given the previous seasons, I think it’d be interesting to see what writers can do with their promises of a darker season in comparison to others. The writers are a talented bunch with twists and turns in their writing everywhere so seeing more of them is something I both fear (as an avid fan of the program) and look forward to.

As a fan of Clark Gregg and a fan of Agents of SHIELD, I hope that this character change is seen through, accompanied by the darker promises that the writers have made. I look forward to writing about Season 4 and more so, look forward to seeing what it has to offer.

Phil? His first name is agent. Not anymore, Phil Coulson is someone who has stole the hearts of millions across the globe and is known more than just an agent. Here’s to Season 4 and seeing more of this much loved character (and maybe some Philinda action?).

Do you think a character change and a darker atmosphere is the way to go? Leave your comments below!