'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Postmortem: Chloe Bennet on Daisy's Betrayal – 'I Don't Want to Be Bad!'
Warning: This interview for the “The Team” episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. contains spoilers.
You’d think we’d be used to it after seeing Ward turn on the team back in Season 1, but betrayal never gets easier. In this week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s Daisy’s turn to stick a knife in the back of her friends. Ward — or rather, the Inhuman Hive occupying his — infected Daisy and brought her under his control. She framed her boyfriend Lincoln, stole a mysterious Kree artifact, then used her powers to bring the roof down on S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
We got a chance to talk with Chloe Bennet, who plays Daisy, about the episode. She talked about how she — and her character — feel about the turn, as well as how she feels about the team she put together. She also talked a little bit about the multicultural nature of the Secret Warriors and how Agents has quietly become a powerful force for change in the Marvel Universe.
This episode feels really different — the back half plays out like The Thing. Was it easier to shoot than, say, an action-heavy episode?
It’s a totally different thing. This episode is really special. It was like a thriller — it felt like a movie it was so intense. That was really fun to get to play, but also, it feels like it takes as much energy as it takes to shoot a fight sequence because you have to be so high-strung. When you see the characters stressed out, I feel stressed out. But it was really fun. Obviously, it was really hard to make that turn as a actress — that was difficult. It’s a big change for the [rest of the] season on for me.
It’s been a while, but Daisy has been in this position with Ward before. Is she doomed to be constantly seduced by Ward in new ways for the rest of the show?
It has nothing to do with Ward. I think people are going to have fun seeing us together — just as Brett and Chloe — but she really has no choice in the matter. We call it “under sway.” She’s really being drugged and manipulated. He doesn’t control her left arm and her right arm, but he’s a parasite and he’s taken over her body. She’s still herself. She’s still as powerful as she is, she still feels everything Daisy would feel. But there’s this one part of her brain — her intentions have completely changed. Her motive is everything that Hive wants, so that’s where it becomes tricky. It’s not something she can control, so I think there’s going to be some struggle with that motive for her.
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When Daisy talks about her connection with Hive, it sounds different from the other thralls. She calls it “beautiful.” Is her experience with the mind control different from everybody else’s?
It’s something we haven’t really pursued. I think it’s happened off screen to other people. When I talked with writers about what physically felt different or what was changing in my body to be under his control, they said it like being on heroin or some sort of drug where you just feel like you’re complete. There’s a void that’s finally being filled. This is someone who has felt incredibly lost her entire life and for the first time she feels whole. That’s a dangerous weapon, giving someone security and a feeling of belonging. I think that’s what every person in the Marvel Universe or in the normal universe can relate to. It’s a very powerful drug and that’s whats she’s feeling times a thousand.
Was it fun being bad?
It was really hard to shoot! It was hard to frame Lincoln in that way. We’re with these characters ten months out of the year and you really want to defend them. I feel like I’m Daisy more than Chloe and when something like that happens, you’re like, “No! No! I don’t want to do it! I don’t want to be bad!” You defend that character and you want to defend your choices, but it’s hard to defend when they’re doing such extreme things, so it’s really challenging for me as an actress.
What are you most looking forward to fans seeing from this group?
I’m really proud of how diverse our team of superheroes is. It’s something that we have a Colombian, a Mexican, an Australian, a Chinese person — all on the team and that’s super cool. That’s not really been done before and I’m proud of that. I hope people of all races enjoy that diversity.
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It really does feel different from the Marvel movies. They’re amazing, but every one of them does star a white guy…
I think the [Marvel] Cinematic Universe has for sure dropped the ball in terms of being progressive. I think our little show has quietly been changing the game for a while now and I’m really proud of it. We have an Asian-American showrunner who’s a woman. We have two female leads who are both half-Chinese and that’s never been done. I play a female superhero on the show who’s Chinese; I never had that growing up. And just to think that young girls, Asian girls — any girl who isn’t white — can look up to on TV and say, “Oh my god, there’s someone who’s different on TV. I can do that too,” then it makes all the difference. Because I truly thought that when I was younger, I couldn’t be an actress because I wasn’t white.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.
