I sadly lack access to cable, so I haven't actually seen the whole new episode yet, but after reading reviews and watching clips... well, okay, so I'm apparently a little obsessed with Lincoln, and Coulson was kind of being a dick this week (at least as I understand it), and while I didn't actually see Daisy (ugh, that is weird, why can't she be Skye again?) getting mad at him about it, I fully expect that she is very, very upset. And that's what this is. Daisy is mad at Coulson. Because, dude, really, that was a dick move.
Anyway, this is probably canonically inaccurate, but go with me for a minute. Obviously, there might be some spoilers for the new episode. And usual disclaimers and all that. Enjoy!
It was jolting, to be presented so bluntly with evidence of your own privilege. Somehow, throughout all of this, it had never really occurred to her that she was any different, any more special than any other Inhuman. Maybe she should have; she had just never felt that way, not even in Li Shi, where she had inadvertently line-jumped her way to terrigenesis and been forgiven for it, since she was the boss's daughter and all. Certainly back home, back with SHIELD and the new family she had built for herself, she had never felt special.
And yet her mind now wandered back to that harried conversation in Coulson's office just before the carrier incident, when she'd first named what up until that moment had just been an organized group of Enhanced people; when Coulson and May had talked at her like she'd joined a cult; when she'd tried to explain that they just wanted to be left alone, just like any other people.
She'd never really given Coulson's response much thought.
"Are they? Are they people?"
Now those words were swimming through her mind on a loop. He'd pointedly separated her from the 'them', just as he blatantly questioned their humanity. She had jumped the line again, without meaning to, and she now realized that she had assumed Coulson would be as open and tolerant with any other friendly Inhuman as he'd been with her. Except, he thought of her as a SHIELD agent first, and something like a surrogate daughter second, and an Inhuman third; her alien DNA gave her a unique advantage when it came to apprehending super-powered suspects, but she was beginning to suspect that Coulson otherwise liked to pretend nothing had changed. Present circumstances had her reconsidering everything, most of all just how exactly Phil Coulson actually felt about Inhumans.
Because once again, Daisy was the one trying to convince someone that SHIELD should be trusted, and this time it wasn't a terrified civilian who had no idea what was happening to him. This time it was a man who knew their history, and knew their heritage, and knew exactly how dangerous they could be. This time it was a man who had found himself quite literally alone in the world all at once, betrayed by everyone he had ever trusted. Daisy could promise him over and over that there was nothing but safe harbor waiting for him, but right now he was a frightened animal, little more than instinct and fear, and nothing she said was going to change his mind about SHIELD. If ever there was a moment for Coulson to step up and prove to Lincoln once and for all that he was worthy of the trust Daisy put in him, that was it.
Given a little time, they could have made him an ally; given a lot of time, perhaps even part of this fractured team that was still equal parts dysfunctional family. All she really wanted was for that haunted, hunted look in his eyes to fade to background noise; to save him from himself, just as he had once saved her. She owed Lincoln that much.
More than that, she didn't know if she could live with herself if this was how quickly Coulson would sell out an uncooperative Inhuman. At the end of the day, it was her job to look these people in the eye and convince them that SHIELD could be trusted. She couldn't do that, not with a clear conscience, if lying to them was part of the game plan. She was in this to help them, and protect innocent people they might hurt by accident, because they were her people and she had caused this, so she would take responsibility for it. She wasn't looking to set up shop and start brainwashing her own shiny new cult. She wasn't prepared to lie to any Inhumans, and she certainly wasn't going to lie to Lincoln. But this whole debacle had been a stark reminder that she wasn't May's replacement, and Coulson was the one calling the shots, and she couldn't always choose the high road. And no matter how much she hated it, she had to take orders. That was what she signed up for.
They could have saved Lincoln, and he could have been an ally, but instead, Coulson made her a liar.
No. He'd done worse than that.
He'd turned her into her mother. And she wasn't sure if she could ever forgive him for that.
Reviews are nice if you're so inclined. Thanks for reading.