Daisy Johnson: That IS her name!

[Cranberry]

I was going to call the topic

Skye: 0-8-4

, but I figured it'd be best to avoid spoilers in topic titles.

Skye seems to be the most polarizing character on the show, and I'm worried that the recent revelations about her past are only going to make that worse. Personally, I come down more on the pro-Skye side of things, although I think the writers are going to have to be very careful about what they do with her in the future.

[ChelseaNH]

So if it turns out that Skye's superpower is, in fact, turning everyone she meets into woobies about her, then it seems we have our Requisite Obstacle on the Path to True Love.  Because how is Ward going to react to learning that he's being magically emotionally manipulated AGAIN?

Of course, this would mean that we wouldn't get the reveal of Skye's superpower until after the whole Wardsky thing materializes, but it's not like this show is in any rush to provide information about its characters.

[writersblock51]

Imagine the outrage if a show had a female character that was emotionally manipulated, repeatedly, and had sex with her manipulators.  What happened between Lorelai and Ward makes me uncomfortable, to put it mildly.  I truly hope the show doesn't go anywhere near that territory with Skye.  I will be done watching by then, that's for sure.

Not liking the recent developments with Skye and how she affects the rest of the team.

[Jeezaloo]

if it turns out that Skye's superpower is, in fact, turning everyone she meets into woobies about her

Interesting. If she has that power, then how was Ian Quinn able to pump two gut shots into her? That's a particularly nasty way to try to kill someone.

[ChelseaNH]

Well, he was expecting her to get saved.  The effects would build over time, and he didn't spend that much time with her.

[IndependentMind]

Skye was never a favorite and she still remains my least favorite. But they have done a better job not focusing on her too much.

But I am not at all for Skye/Ward romance at all. That would kill it for me.

Give me more of May and Coulson.

[ChelseaNH]

Sitting in the doctor's office for a checkup, waiting for the doctor to arrive, I was staring at a poster of the digestive system.  So when the doctor arrived, I asked him and he confirmed what I believed:  Skye's injuries, as stated, weren't fatal.  You can survive without portions of your stomach and intestines.  Yes, people can die from being gut-shot, but that usually comes down to blood loss or infection or damage to more critical parts of the body.

So it's just weird that they go to the trouble of spelling out specific injuries, but they're non-fatal injuries.

[KirkB]

But Quinn and the Clairvoyant didn't want Skye to die. I mean, obviously they wouldn't care if she did, but I think the reason he had him shoot her in the stomach is precisely because it wouldn't be instantly fatal. That's what head or heart shots are for. He wanted her to suffer and linger, to give Coulson a chance to reveal or lead them to whatever had brought him back.

[Sarahastro]

Except you can survive with very little of your stomach and intestines. They should have just taken everything out and patched her up. She would have had trouble eating for the rest of her life, but she would have been okay. The only thing that makes sense is that they actually meant she was shot in the liver. You can only take about half of it out, and if what is remaining can't be repaired surgically, then either it stops bleeding on its own or you die slowly. The medicine in T.A.H.I.T.I. was just terrible. They really should have called up the folks over at Grey's Anatomy and asked to borrow a consultant for a day.

[Actionmage]

Hearing Raina's take, which was second or third hand minimum when it got to her, it makes sense that what destroyed the village in Hunan were supposedly her parents. But we heard from an agent who was witness to the carnage and one dead agent had protected the blood-covered baby. Which brings up questions:

 

1) If what killed the village was Skye's parents, why did they leave her?

2) Were they killed as a result of the massacre (they were wounded fatally and died elsewhere)?

3)If so, why hasn't any other blood relation come a-calling?

 

I don't completely buy the they were-duh duh dunnnn!- monsters! in the strictest sense. There is an alien-based race that had the beautiful, humanoid looks and then the more monstery, considered barbaric side (iirc, Eternals and Deviants, respectively.) Skye could be from that part of the Marvel universe. Which would actually be cool, imo.

[Grammaeryn]

Hearing Raina's take, which was second or third hand minimum when it got to her, it makes sense that what destroyed the village in Hunan were supposedly her parents. But we heard from an agent who was witness to the carnage and one dead agent had protected the blood-covered baby. Which brings up questions:

 

1) If what killed the village was Skye's parents, why did they leave her?

2) Were they killed as a result of the massacre (they were wounded fatally and died elsewhere)?

3)If so, why hasn't any other blood relation come a-calling?

 

I don't completely buy the they were-duh duh dunnnn!- monsters! in the strictest sense. There is an alien-based race that had the beautiful, humanoid looks and then the more monstery, considered barbaric side (iirc, Eternals and Deviants, respectively.) Skye could be from that part of the Marvel universe. Which would actually be cool, imo.

1) My theory is the SHIELD agents got to her and whisked her away before her parents found her.  If SHIELD was called to China due to a bunch of 084s going berserk, stealing their child might have been the only way to survive.

2) I bet either dead or forced to retreat almost like a hostage stand-off. Get off the planet or baby Skye will be killed.

3) I think Raina is the blood relation coming a calling.  She said that Skye and her have something in common on the inside.  How much do you want to bet her question for the Clairvoyant was, "Am I all alone?"

 

I am leaning towards Inhumans due to the Kree connection for Skye's lineage. 

Edited May 7, 2014 by Grammaeryn

[kitlee625]

1) My theory is the SHIELD agents got to her and whisked her away before her parents found her.  If SHIELD was called to China due to a bunch of 084s going berserk, stealing their child might have been the only way to survive.

2) I bet either dead or forced to retreat almost like a hostage stand-off. Get off the planet or baby Skye will be killed.

3) I think Raina is the blood relation coming a calling.  She said that Skye and her have something in common on the inside.  How much do you want to bet her question for the Clairvoyant was, "Am I all alone?"

 

I am leaning towards Inhumans due to the Kree connection for Skye's lineage. 

 

That is a great theory. It also makes sense because Raina recognizes that Skye is the girl in the story because of her DNA. How does Raina know what that child's DNA looks like, if she or someone she knows is not one of them?

[Kromm]

Is the location of Skye's childhood supposed to be an indicator of her ethnicity?  I know the actress is in fact half and half (her real name is actually Chloe Wang), but Hunan province isn't going to have a lot of mixed race children, that's for sure.  So there's definitely a story there.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Kromm

[KirkB]

If Skye's parents are aliens, the China thing may just be where they crashed or landed or fell out of a portal.

[Raja]

Is the location of Skye's childhood supposed to be an indicator of her ethnicity? I know the actress is in fact half and half (her real name is actually Chloe Wang), but Hunan province isn't going to have a lot of mixed race children, that's for sure. So there's definitely a story there.

Why not? There was no segregation in 1940s America in the MCU

[Chicago Redshirt]

What makes you say there was no segregation in the MCU in the 1940s?

 

In Captain America: The First Avenger, we didn't really get a global perspective of what life was like in the 1940s for Americans. We saw, if memory serves, a single black person in the movie, one of the Howling Commandos. The armed forces IRL were among the first to integrate. The notion that there was a black POW who gets captured alongside white ones doesn't say anything about segregation in general.

[Raja]

It was more than a single Howling Commando. Look at the scenes of the SSR training camp. The USO War Bond Tours and the smiling intergrated faces. at the forward base that Captain America returned the freed POWs to. And at the end a man from America of 1945 has zero reaction to a Black man clearly in charge not even to notice the improvements over his time.

[tv echo]

I actually like Skye and think she has potential.  They need to tone down her special snowflake status, keep her as part of the ensemble, and make sure the back story really is intriguing and not cliche.  I don't want to watch the Skye Show (or the Skye & Coulson Show).  I don't have a favorite character because I think all of the regular characters have flaws - esp. Coulson who has turned into one of the most annoying, unlikeable characters on the show.

[kitlee625]

So I agree, tv echo that the show works best for me when it is an ensemble and not the Coulson Show or the Skye Show or the Coulson & Skye Show. I don't know if I think that Coulson is the most annoying person on the show, but certainly I roll my eyes every time he would go on and on about how Skye is the most special person he's ever met. If that's what the writers want to convey, they should show us, not tell us.

 

Now they did do more of that after Coulson was kidnapped, and certainly after the Hydra reveal I enjoyed her more because we got to see her being awesome rather than being told it in a monologue. I'm hoping that next season they will focus more on the mystery and allow the characters to show through their actions.

[KatWay]

I think the writers made the mistake of too much tell, not enough show with Skye. She may have potential but at this point I have a hard time looked over the mountains of special snowflakiness the writers kept heaping onto her. Coulson and Skye together specifically are the duo I least like to see and coincidentally the most favoured by the writers, which also doesn't bode well. 

I liked her best in the episodes where she was just one of the team, or even (interestingly) her interactions with Ward, especially after the reveal. With Coulson it seems all they do is praise each other's awesomeness which, no thanks. That's why I'm less than interested in exploring her parentage, origins, possible superpowers (if she does have them, they better be "makes everyone think she's the shit") or whatever. 

[webruce]

Here is Chloe(Bennet) Wang. Music video

Edited September 17, 2014 by webruce

[1TrackMind]

Very catchy tune actually. I have the distinct feeling it would have been my favourite song in the whole world when I was 14.

[KirkB]

I'm amazed by how getting Skye away from Coulson seems to make her more tolerable.

[kitlee625]

Well it's amazing when the writers show (don't tell) us why we should like her, and downgrade her from Coulson's pet project to another field agent. I never bought that she was the most amazing person that he had ever met given that he has worked with Black Widow and Hawkeye, and met Captain America.

 

I also really like her interactions with May, and she and Trip have a cute banter. But the stuff with her and Ward continues to be interesting and deeply creepy, so I'm glad that the writers are emphasizing that dynamic. Now let's just hope that it's not opening the door of "love will conquer all" because right now it looks like creepy obsession, not love.

[olicityfan25]

I like her. lol :)

[Guest Accused Dingo]

I liked the Skyr Coulson interactions. I saw it as a father/daughter dynamic sort of thing. For me Skye works in different ways with eacj of the characters. I especially liked her interactions with May and Simmons. Her romance doesn't really work for me but i do like the post-romance telationship thing they have going.

I am actually interested in her season 2 story and how it will relate to her 084 status and her family ties.

[Guest Accused Dingo]

We have got to change Skye's thread title to: "That's not her name!"

[Cranberry]

Your wish is my command. ;)

[Actionmage]

A quick backwards glance:

Hearing Raina's take, which was second or third hand minimum when it got to her, it makes sense that what destroyed the village in Hunan were supposedly her parents. But we heard from an agent who was witness to the carnage and one dead agent had protected the blood-covered baby. Which brings up questions:

 

1) If what killed the village was Skye's parents, why did they leave her?

2) Were they killed as a result of the massacre (they were wounded fatally and died elsewhere)?

3)If so, why hasn't any other blood relation come a-calling?

 

I don't completely buy the they were-duh duh dunnnn!- monsters! in the strictest sense. There is an alien-based race that had the beautiful, humanoid looks and then the more monstery, considered barbaric side (iirc, Eternals and Deviants, respectively.) Skye could be from that part of the Marvel universe. Which would actually be cool, imo.

1) My theory is the SHIELD agents got to her and whisked her away before her parents found her.  If SHIELD was called to China due to a bunch of 084s going berserk, stealing their child might have been the only way to survive.

2) I bet either dead or forced to retreat almost like a hostage stand-off. Get off the planet or baby Skye will be killed.

3) I think Raina is the blood relation coming a calling.  She said that Skye and her have something in common on the inside.  How much do you want to bet her question for the Clairvoyant was, "Am I all alone?"

I am leaning towards Inhumans due to the Kree connection for Skye's lineage.

 

My biggest question to Grammaeryn is: Is she Auntie Raina, or just Dad's Special Friend? 

 

Not unlike SkyeMommy, the Diviner didn't destroy her, but Raina seems clueless as to the apparently Swiss Army knife-iness it holds, as per SkyeDaddy.  (Also, Dad? If it's not her name? Let us know, okay? Folks aren't trying to hack you off about that, not currently anyway.)

[Grammaeryn]

In the recent Raina episodes, I don't get a family or lover vibe. It felt like she's subservient to Skye Doctor Daddy out of gratitude for being saved from the gutter. Speaking of, is Raina still alive? Since Whitehall got The Diviner, did he remember to turn off the exploding stuff in Raina?

[Actionmage]

Hopefully, we'll find out next episode! I would truly miss "Flowers" if she blew up in the bad way.

[VCRTracking]

So her real name is Daisy! Specifically Daisy Johnson aka "Quake".

 

 

Confirmed by the producers at:

 

http://comicbook.com/2014/12/10/agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-producers-confirm-skye-is-daisy-johnson/

[I Love Me]

Can the title of this thread be changed to "Daisy Mother-effing Johnson"?  

[Cranberry]

Maybe later, but it's probably nice to avoid spoilers in thread titles for now (we'll give people time to catch up over the break!).

 

Also, just speaking in general here because I see this term thrown around a lot in discussions of this character, I wish the term "special snowflake" would disappear from the lexicon. It's a meaningless term to me at this point; it seems to be shorthand for "[almost always female] character that I don't like and think takes up too much screentime," where any screentime is apparently too much. Obviously we all have characters that we like and dislike; some people are going to hate Skye and that's perfectly valid. I just find the discussion more interesting when people talk about why they dislike a character and why they feel like that character is sucking up too much screentime, especially if I don't get that impression myself when I watch the show (for example, I feel like the show has been more balanced re: screentime lately, and that Coulson hasn't been talking Skye up or showing her favoritism. Even when Ward took her, Coulson just assumed she could handle herself like any other good agent and didn't freak out and rush to get her back). Examples help me understand where someone with a different opinion is coming from!

[Chaos Theory]

I agree Cranberry. I hate the term special snowflake, that along with jumping the shark are two terms I hope would just go away. I never understood why people saw Skye as a special snowflake. I don't think she was ever written as one. Special snowflakes aren't punished for their mistakes she has been. Yes the writing of her character has been problematic at times but like the show it has improved over time and now I am greatly interested in what she becomes.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Chaos Theory

[Sakura12]

I never got the special snowflake term in regard to Skye either. They all seem to be super special. May, Ward, Bobbi and Hunter all seem to be super agents, FitzSimmons are the smartest, youngest scientists to ever graduate Shield Academy and Coulson was so special they brought him back to life.  I don't see how Skye is that different especially if this show takes place in the world of Avengers. Skye's just another powered person in a world full of them. 

[kennyab]

Add me to the wish list "special snowflake" filter. It's Mary Sue's more obnoxious little sister -- the Dawn of Mary Sues, if you will ;).

[SocaShoe]

I dislike the idea of eliminating the term "special snowflake" because there are in fact, much crueler things that can be said about a character on a tv show. My understanding of the term is that it's a young adult who expects attention and praise for just for being themselves, and not having to earn a place in the world. It doesn't apply to gender.  From my point of view it was always other members of the team who allowed Skye to be a special snowflake - it's only when May took over her training that she really had to earn a spot as a SHIELD agent.   I felt it did apply to Skye's character in the first season because the writers gave her little to do except have great intuition and search social media.   And for goodness' sake, she's a character, not a real person. I don't think of Chloe Bennet as being a special snowflake. But what I do like is the ability to say whether I like or dislike the direction of a character  on a tv. show But if we can't say it any more here, then I suggest setting up some sort of topic that allows people who wish to criticize the way certain characters are written.

 

 

[JayKay]

I don't like the terms either - I just use "try hard" instead because it's less abrasive. And Cranberry's right, they do seem to be largely gendered insults, which isn't cool. And Mary Sue especially grates because the definition is so nebulous that it could apply to nearly any competent female character. I haven't seen a whole lot of that thrown around for Hunter, and I feel roughly the same about him as I used to about Skye.

I was not a fan of Skye last season most of the time, though I didn't have vehement hatred for her either. But I feel like she's earned the female lead spot through character development and just plain being engaging. With the changes made this season, she's a part of the ensemble alongside her own unique narrative that I'm genuinely invested in. The show doesn't have to manipulate or barrage me into caring about her anymore. I'm on board.

And since the quality of the whole show has increased imo, it's not fair to blame the focus on Skye last season for its failings. The entire project needed an overhaul and it got it. I rewatched season 1 last month on Netflix and Skye has changed a lot, but so has everything. I didn't ever expect the turnaround but this show is entertaining and watchable this season, and Skye is a big part of that.

[kennyab]

I dislike the idea of eliminating the term "special snowflake" because there are in fact, much crueler things that can be said about a character on a tv show. My understanding of the term is that it's a young adult who expects attention and praise for just for being themselves, and not having to earn a place in the world. It doesn't apply to gender.  From my point of view it was always other members of the team who allowed Skye to be a special snowflake - it's only when May took over her training that she really had to earn a spot as a SHIELD agent.   I felt it did apply to Skye's character in the first season because the writers gave her little to do except have great intuition and search social media.   And for goodness' sake, she's a character, not a real person. I don't think of Chloe Bennet as being a special snowflake. But what I do like is the ability to say whether I like or dislike the direction of a character  on a tv. show But if we can't say it any more here, then I suggest setting up some sort of topic that allows people who wish to criticize the way certain characters are written.

 

 

I don't think (though I could be wrong, I can only speak for myself) that anyone's advocating for actually banning the term, no matter how annoying we find it. And I REALLY don't think anyone's calling for a ban on expressing negative opinions, no matter how much we may disagree. The opinion I believe Cranberry was expressing, which I share, is that it's lost its meaning and doesn't prove conducive to discourse. Like "Mary Sue" before it (although probably not quite to the same extent), many people seem to have started using it in a fairly generic manner -- it's been coopted to become a bit of a catch-all. While you may have a very particular definition of the term (and one that I would agree its MEANT to convey), at this point ten different people may have ten different things they mean by it, and it becomes ineffective. It ceases to say anything about WHY a person may dislike a character.

Edited December 10, 2014 by kennyab

[Cranberry]

kennyab is correct -- I'm speaking as a poster here, not as a mod. I'm not attempting to ban the term "special snowflake," and I certainly don't want people to stop posting their negative opinions! I'm saying that to me, "special snowflake" is a meaningless (and usually gendered) insult, and I'd prefer if people explain why they dislike a character instead of just dropping the term into a sentence and assuming we all know exactly what they mean by it. 

[VCRTracking]

I don't like the term mostly because it has such a sarcastic, snide tone to it. I can't help read it used in a post without picturing a mean girl in high school saying it.

Edited December 10, 2014 by VCRTracking

[SocaShoe]

 Cranberry, the fact you are a mod is where my difficulty came. To me your opinion carries more weight when you post something because of that title. I appreciate that you took the time to write that you were saying it as a poster and not a moderator.  And yeah, I'm sensitive because I wrote "special snowflake' in my review of the episode on the episode topic because I felt Skye's character had grown and it wasn't something I wanted to see the character regress to.  As many have noted, there were many problems last year - and personally I felt that if you go to the trouble of creating a character who's new (we didn't know she was Daisy back then) to the universe, the best thing you can do is give them a credible journey.  So thank you for commenting and clearing things up.

[Cranberry]

You're welcome! Just so you know, we have a feature here that will let me highlight a post in yellow (like this!) if I want to make an official "mod note" in a thread. If my post's background is white like everyone else's, you can assume that I'm discussing the show like any other poster, and you should feel free to agree or disagree or whatever else. You (general you!) can also private message me with any questions or concerns and I'll get back to you asap. Of course, you can always report trouble by clicking the "report" button on a post, and that report will go to the entire mod team for someone to handle immediately.

[Kromm]

I actually think we DO need to push on the name issue a bit.

As I pointed out in the episode thread, I don't know if we've ever HEARD Skye's last name before.  She's credited everywhere as just "Skye" and the show got cute with ducking talking about her surname.

 

So unless we want to call her "Daisy Zabo", I think we have to entertain the idea that the orphanage named her "Johnson".  In the comics the character didn't have the problem, because Johnson was I think either her mother's name or an alias.  But here the mother is native Chinese, and also not in the picture otherwise.

So her real name is Daisy! Specifically Daisy Johnson aka "Quake".

 

 

Confirmed by the producers at:

 

http://comicbook.com/2014/12/10/agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-producers-confirm-skye-is-daisy-johnson/

Well aside from the "where does the Johnson part fit in" issue, I also find myself wondering if she comes back after the break with the butch haircut.

Another thing that's interesting to me is that this decision to make her Quake forces her into a very lethal role.  Earthquake powers are, I think, inherently of an offensive nature.  So I wonder how they'll reconcile that with other earlier aspects of the character.

[Sarahastro]

I actually think we DO need to push on the name issue a bit.

As I pointed out in the episode thread, I don't know if we've ever HEARD Skye's last name before.  She's credited everywhere as just "Skye" and the show got cute with ducking talking about her surname.

So unless we want to call her "Daisy Zabo", I think we have to entertain the idea that the orphanage named her "Johnson".  In the comics the character didn't have the problem, because Johnson was I think either her mother's name or an alias.  But here the mother is native Chinese, and also not in the picture otherwise.

 

We have heard her last name. When she took the lie detector test, she said the orphanage named her Mary Sue Poots. So I don't see how they are going to have her name end up being Daisy Johnson.

 

Personally, I'm going to keep calling her Skye until the show starts calling her something else.

[Kromm]

 

We have heard her last name. When she took the lie detector test, she said the orphanage named her Mary Sue Poots. So I don't see how they are going to have her name end up being Daisy Johnson.

 

Personally, I'm going to keep calling her Skye until the show starts calling her something else.

I guess I blocked that stupid moment out of my memory. I DO recall it now (and wish I didn't).

I mean "Daisy Poots" is somehow even worse than "Daisy Zabo".

[Sarahastro]

I guess I blocked that stupid moment out of my memory. I DO recall it now (and wish I didn't).

I mean "Daisy Poots" is somehow even worse than "Daisy Zabo".

I wonder why the writers didn't just give her the last name Johnson. It's so common, it sounds like the kind of thing they would give a baby at an orphanage with no birth certificate.

 

I think this will be like Mike Peterson, where he is the MCU's version of Deathlok, but he doesn't have the same name of any of the men who have been Deathlok in the comics. Skye is Quake, and her birth name is Daisy, but they're just going to keep calling her Skye.

[Kromm]

I wonder why the writers didn't just give her the last name Johnson. It's so common, it sounds like the kind of thing they would give a baby at an orphanage with no birth certificate.

 

I think this will be like Mike Peterson, where he is the MCU's version of Deathlok, but he doesn't have the same name of any of the men who have been Deathlok in the comics. Skye is Quake, and her birth name is Daisy, but they're just going to keep calling her Skye.

They couldn't let her be called "Johnson" on-screen because people were playing the "who is she really" game even from the first episode.  But since they DID seem to call her Skye 99.9% of the time anyway, I think they could have easily dodged the one time they didn't, by playing the reveal of her real name partially off-screen (having characters react to hearing her real name without us hearing it--the implication being that it's embarrassing, even if in reality it's just "Johnson"--which come to think of it COULD be embarrassing to someone named "Richard").

[Rocket]

spoiler tagged for not future show spoilers but for people who did not click on Quake links because they want to not know the characters potential from the comics. 

 

Now Skye is a Person of Mass Destruction level superhero!

She can level a City that puts her in this classification along with Hulk, Thor and Iron Man when he goes heavy equip. In the comics she drops Wolverine who has his own movies and Magneto who can take a whole team of super heroes. I thought when they talked about Skye being a superhero she be spiderman level at most, but they put her on the major power level hero level, Wow!

I would love a scene some time where Coulson hands her an Avengers membership card saying Tony wants to meet you, and have her reaction.

On the good side Skye probably can only cause major damage at this point so can't use her powers functionally for a bit. At first I figure she will be used instead of explosives to drop buildings when she gets a bit of control, but be limited to normal human for anything more delicate.
 
It fairly normal for characters in the Person of Mass Destruction (TV Tropes) class to go though a lot of agony and soul searching about there power level and the danger they pose to the world if they lose control. I hope they keep that to a low level in this story. And I hope they avoid totally the Super Power Melt Down (TV Tropes) story line where she loses control and flattens a town or part of a city and kills thousands and thousands of people and then her agony after that. I hope she had not already killed people in her first quake.
 
I hope the next few years are just Skye slowly bringing her power under control where she mainly acts like a normal agent like she is in the comics, well not so normal in the comics she ends up heading Shield.

Then Skye can be in Avengers 3 as a member of team and then have her own movie :)
 
TV Tropes has Super Weight Scale
I think Skye would be on the low side of Hyper Weight 4 of Super Heroes on TV Tropes on a scale of -1 to 7, 7 is all powerful gods.
Spiderman is the low end of TV Tropes level 3
Mocking Bird is power Level 1 
*Thor in the comics is actually a Level 5 but like Superman restrains himself in normal fights.