This week, I want to talk more about fan reaction, or the fan reaction I saw, more than I want to talk about the actual episode. Because I’ll be level with you in terms of this episode: it was hard to watch. I don’t have a lot of the triggers I saw people reacting to, and even I felt sick at times.
But let’s discuss why.
I think we all know the number one abuser go-to line: no one will believe you. And while my title for it may make it sound like I’m just exaggerating, this is a very real thing that abuse victims hear from their abusers and then see happening right in front of their faces.
I think a lot of people were hoping that Grant’s older brother, Christian, would corroborate Grant’s stories of abuse now that John Garrett is gone. Now, naturally, because Christian is an abuser, he did what most abusers do when confronted: he lied.
This, of course, would’ve been frustrating enough on it’s own. The people I spoke to expected Christian to lie. Many of my followers told me that Christian reminded them of their own abusers, particularly in his charisma. Abusers, as one friend pointed out, are charming people to almost everyone they meet. That’s how they get away with abusing their victims.
Now, despite all of this, Christian wasn’t actually the biggest problem of the episode. First, there were the people that believed him. And, if we’d never gotten any flashbacks into Grant’s childhood, I could maybe understand that. However, in The Well, we are given an unbiased look into Grant’s childhood, brought out by the Beserker Staff.
That was not Grant telling us, the viewer, a story. That was the narrative placing us squarely inside Grant’s head. We are supposed to remember this when we meet Christian. The fact that people have forgotten this, the fact that people are willfully ignoring this, is not only problematic but a huge middle finger to abuse victims out there.
I read one girl’s post where she asked herself, following her abuse, if it ever really happened, or if she was just remembering it wrong.
Do you see what’s happening, here? Is Grant going to be accused of remembering it wrong? Because his unbiased flashback, literally PULLED out of him with Asgardian magic, is somehow not good enough?
When people doubt that flashback, when they refuse to believe it’s true, victims hear one thing, over and over: no one will believe you.
So let’s talk about Coulson, and how absolutely devastating it was to see him push that motto one further. Watching Coulson berate Ward was a lot like watching someone kick a dog when it’s down. You have him where you want him, he’s powerless, and you still have to twist the knife? And also, how dare you use Victoria Hand’s death ONLY as a thing to throw in Grant’s face. That is the only mention she has gotten from Coulson this entire season. That is absolutely unacceptable.
I think what triggered a lot of people last night was seeing Coulson: someone who was originally presented to us as warm and kind and friendly, take the abuser’s side of the story. And maybe he isn’t, really: Coulson was looking at Grant’s file, Coulson must’ve known that a regular pair of handcuffs and a few soldiers couldn’t hold Ward. Even so, Coulson still taunted Grant with the idea that he was getting sent back to his abuser.
And listen. A lot of people are mad at Grant. A lot of people don’t fully forgive him, or forgive him at all. I don’t agree with those people, they usually don’t agree with me. But I saw virtually no one last night praising Coulson’s behavior.
In fact, I saw quite a few “Ward isn’t even my favorite, but it is NEVER acceptable to send someone back to their abuser.”
It was cruel. It was downright nasty, and this is supposed to be the man we are rooting for. As another friend pointed out to me, she lost a great deal of her friends after she came out against her abuser, because they ran in the same social circle. Abusers chose their victims well, and in most cases, know that their story is going to be believed over the victims.
Abusers are the bad guys, to put it in simple terms. Coulson is the good guy. So why did he stoop so low? And what are the victims out there watching this supposed to think? Coulson is a perfect representation of a friend turning their back. That’s what triggered a lot of people last night. The memory of losing people because you’re ‘lying,’ because you ‘just want attention,’ is a very deep and hard to heal wound. And watching Coulson do that was a lot like ripping the scab off and rubbing salt in it.
Which: ow.
All that being said, I think the narrative is trying to show us that Coulson is in the wrong. I think they’re trying to show that compromising morals turns you into someone you don’t want to be. I think they’re trying to show us that Grant needs to get away from everyone he’s hurt if he ever wants anything resembling a positive story arc. So on the one hand, I’m glad he’s free. I think the narrative has plans for him, and I think by episode 10 we’ll know what those plans are.
I actually, in a small fit of rage, tweeted Agents of SHIELD and SHIELDtv last night, telling them that the episode was triggering for a lot of people. SHIELDtv said to me: “You can’t not tell a story because it might negatively affect a few people or you’d never be able to tell ANY story.”
Now, that being said, I will say it was a small tweet-rant and that the tweet they replied to was the beginning of the rant. And the thing is, I don’t think either of us are wrong, here. SHIELDtv makes the point that this is a television show, and that this storyline does have a purpose in the long run. On the other hand, that doesn’t take back the narrative’s continued idea that Coulson can do no wrong, even when he clearly is. I’m hoping that we’re headed towards a tilt, here. That we will see that the good guys have been acting less than good. I think we’re starting to see it.
I think what can really be damaging, here, is willful ignorance. Treating what Coulson said like it’s a joke. Treating Jemma’s death threat (aka Jemma lashing out because she’s mad at Mack and oh baby girl) as ‘badass.’ That, in my opinion, does more damage than the narrative does. Because the show is trying to tell us something, triggering as that something may be.
And you know what? I’m glad Grant’s free. I’m glad he’s really free for the first time in his life.
Because if no one is going to believe him, then he’s just going to have to believe himself. It’s lonely, being an abuse victim. I think the show is trying to tell us that. But it’s not an easy thing to see.
