Previously on Femslash Friday: Jane Eyre.
On paper, there’s a lot that Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD does right. It’s attached to the Whedon name, overseen by Joss’ brother Jed and his sister-in-law Maurissa Tancharoen and branded with the Mutant Enemy production label. Its cast is led by the utterly capable Clark Gregg, whose Agent Phil Coulson was so beloved after his death in The Avengers that the Marvel franchise felt forced to bring him back, however hackneyed the explanation. And—most impressively—its Bechdel-friendly ensemble features as many female characters as it does male, and all the women embody the strong female character archetype in radically different, largely original ways.
In reality, SHIELD got off to a rocky start. But once it found its footing—sometime after the introduction of Bill Paxton as the hammiest ham in Hamtown—the ardent fan following began to feel justified, the GIFs came fast and furious, and AO3 and Tumblr overflowed with fan fiction, some canon, mostly not. Predictably, on the show, more than one woman ended up involved with the blandly handsome Grant Ward, and his relationships with Melinda May and Skye, who doesn’t even need a last name, piqued enough interest among the fanbase to generate plenty of fic. But Ward isn’t what you’d call a fascinating character; he’s quite flat, even when the writers are grasping at straws to make something, anything about him interesting. Infinitely more fun than watching Ward stumble around the much tougher, more intimidating May or giggle and hold hands with Skye was the show’s most popular aspirational pairing: feisty self-described hacktivist Skye and Jemma Simmons, a charming, brilliant British scientist with more than a little bit in common with a previous Whedon sweetheart, Angel’s Fred Burkle.
Skye, the aforementioned hacktivist, is our Strong Female Character prototype, following in the grand tradition set forth by Buffy Summers, Dana Scully, and CJ Cregg (though, admittedly, not nearly as cool as any of them—she’s young, give her time). She begins the series as a quip machine with fabulous hair, sexy and surprisingly powerful, eager to see the inner workings of SHIELD and endear herself to Coulson and his crew. And endear herself she does; by the close of the season, she’s a bona fide member of their team—thus leading to plenty of interaction with Simmons and her platonic other half, Leo Fitz. Naturally, the hyper-intelligent but socially awkward Fitz is desperately in love with Simmons. In the back half of the season, when newly minted team member (and grandson of a Howling Commando, because that cannot be emphasized enough) Antoine Triplett shows up, he’s enamored with her as well. He’s both subtler and significantly cooler than Fitz in such a way that it would make sense for Simmons to reciprocate his feelings. Unfortunately for both Fitz and Triplett, Simmons isn’t pursuing a romantic relationship with either of them. In fact, she’s not pursuing any romantic relationships at all.
But it would be so easy for her to end up with Skye. Skye’s not the stammering geeky stereotype we see perpetuated with Fitz. Nor does she have anything in common with Triplett, the smooth-talker with combat skills and borderline obscene muscle tone. Instead, she’s sarcastic yet sincere and a crucial part of the SHIELD inner-workings; she’s the voice of the audience, the only one who’s naturally suspicious of SHIELD and its secretive nature, just as we were led to be post-Avengers. Simmons and the others trust SHIELD implicitly; they need someone like Skye to point them toward the more discerning path. Skye’s no scientist, but she’s every bit as brilliant as Simmons in her own right. She’s introduced as a nameless hacker who cracks SHIELD’s airtight tech without struggle and, instead of getting arrested, gets fitted for a tracker and assigned her own quarters on Coulson’s plane. She and Simmons are friendly from the start. Simmons never judges Skye for her tendency toward breaking the rules. More than anything, she just appears to be relieved that there’s another young female around, and who doesn’t want to read into that?
Their interactions are always tinged with flirtation. Part of that’s due to Skye’s naturally flirtatious personality, which is still subtle enough to be endearing rather than cloying. But a larger part stems from their natural affection for each other. Simmons is kind and gentle by design, and Skye, underneath the snarky exterior, is much the same. They both care deeply about their fellow team members, whatever the greater organization of SHIELD may look like. And how they feel about each other is never more evident than when they’re reunited after a significant absence. The hug the two of them share in the season finale isn’t a halfhearted, obligatory acknowledgment of their relationship; it’s a full-on embrace between two people who can’t imagine life without each other.
Plus, there are plenty of seemingly insignificant moments that the average viewer would overlook, but are sure to stop a shipper in their tracks and have them reaching for the remote so they can watch them over and over, to see the nuanced joy on Simmons’ face when Skye teases her about what a tough doctor she can be or join Skye in her outrage when Simmons proclaims Jasper Sitwell’s head gorgeous. It’s the little things—the shared smiles, the imitations of fellow team members, the expressions of relief when the other is found safe—that count with this ship. And that’s good, because such minor moments never seem to cease.
What’s truly exciting about the Skye/Simmons ship is that it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Because SHIELD comes from the House of Whedon, a queer relationship isn’t unheard of, and it’s far from unusual for an ABC show to feature an LGBTQ character, going as far back as thirtysomething. Plus, Elizabeth Henstridge and Chloe Bennet—who play Simmons and Skye respectively—are on board. In a post-finale interview, when asked about potential relationships for Simmons, they both voiced their support of Skimmons, as they’ve come to be known in the Marvel fandom.
It’s not surprising that Agents of SHIELD was renewed. It’s likely that’ll happen again. And maybe by midway through season three, we’ll see Skye and Simmons together. For now, though, there are plenty of GIFs and fanvids to get Skimmons devotees through the day.
“As like BFFLs—as BFFs for life—obviously Skimmons is at the top of my priority list,” Bennet tells Zap2it at ABC’s TCA 2014 winter press tour party. After clarifying to Henstridge what “shipping” means, she echoes the same sentiments. “I’m obsessed with Skye and I’m obsessed with Chloe,” she says. “Yeah, Skye and Simmons could get together. Why not?”
Tags: agents of shield, femslash fridays, if you think about it “lgbt” is pronounced “lugbutt” and that’s pretty funny, it gets the people going, joss whedon shows and the feelings they evoke, lgbt
I am one of those who gave up on Shield for being disappointingly meh (except for Coulson and Melinda May) and was pleasantly surprised when it got way more interesting post-Captain America!
Basically, I ship all of the ladies with any of the other ladies: Maria Hill/Melinda May – hot, terrifying, OR BOTH? Skimmons – adorable! Skye/Melinda – bratty newcomer and seasoned vet, but with KILLER HAIR (possibly literal), am cool with Coulson and Triplett getting some, still find Fitz kind of annoying but there’s potential, and want Ward to die in a boringly unmemorable fashion as befits his character.
I will be super annoyed if they try to jam him together with Skye in a redemption arc. It would be SO NICE to see a dude go through a redemption arc on tv and not immediately be handed the girl he wants (and did horrible shit to) as a prize. Just once! And Skye is a prime character for being all “oh, you’re less evil now? congratulations, never call me.”
I am ALSO one of those people. Phil Coulson is my spirit animal, but even he couldn’t get me through some of those earlier eps. Then it became totally worth watching at the end, which makes a few earlier episodes well worth revisiting.
And Ward is the WORST.
This is lovely! I didn’t know this was a ship. I might go back and watch past episodes then!
I wish this show was so much better than it is, though. I hope we get a closer team family next season! And I hope Fitz drops his crush on Simmons, but then I hate unrequited love arcs based on the fact that the lover constantly saying, “Should I? Should I? Should I? Maybe. Nah.”
Don’t watch the show, I’m just so happy to see Femslash Friday again
This was so much fun to write, too. I want to do sixteen more. Starting with Mass Effect and ending with, I don’t know, Rizzoli & Isles.
I had to jump off the good ship Rizzoli & Isles this season because a) I hate baby plots in TV shows with a fire usually only reserved for the Westboro Baptist Church and people who talk during movies and b) because the lesbian-baiting got to be too much. A wink and a nudge towards your fanbase is one thing, blatantly taking advantage/pandering WHILE ALSO saying “no you’re wrong/reading too much into it” is just more than I can bear.
That said, PLEASE write more of these!!
MASS EFFECT
Make our FemShep/Tali dreams come true
I’m not a regular reader of slash, so it just never occurred to me that I could write about video game character pairings and I think my weekend plans just got changed
Mass Effect is an abundance of riches when it comes to shipping. I paired with someone different in each game and found the Samantha/FemShep relationship extremely rewarding. I also ship Jack with basically every other female because COME ON, you can’t tell me she’s straight.
I KNOW. I’m only up to ME2 but I just finished a game with a super renegade FemShep and literally there was no one else on that ship it made sense to. . . ship. All the dateable dudes are tortured good guys, and Morinth is not really an option. Since she couldn’t court Jack, FemShep spent the night before the suicide mission just gazing sadly at her Kaidan photograph with her glowing renegade-red eyes.
I don’t have much investment in Skye as a character, but I’m definitely pro-Skimmons. It helps that 90% of my twitter feed are lesbians who watch SHIELD.
Ahhh, I am halfway through this show and was just thinking during an episode last night that this is the femslash ship we’ve all been waiting for. Even if it ends up just a totally kickass best friendship, I could not be happier to be watching a show with such good gender representation, and in the Marvel universe no less! Now if we could just get a Black Widow movie, that’d be great, kthxbye.
Ok, this is a bit of a tangent, but I think the commenters here might be able to help me with a question about Agents of SHIELD. The question is: Is Skye good with people?
I know she thinks she’s good with people, but most of the scenes where she thinks she’s being good with people seem really awkward to me, so I assumed it was a thing where she’s still developing good people skills and she overestimates her abilities because she’s young.
But then Coulson said she was good with people, in such a way that I wouldn’t expect him to be lying. So have I misread the good-with-people scenes? Or were there writing/acting/directing problems that made them come across as awkward when they weren’t meant to be? Or was Coulson lying after all? Or maybe Coulson’s a terrible judge of people skills? (That one seems unlikely to me.) Or maybe he meant that she had the potential to be good with people?
I’m just kind of confused.
(Back on topic: I am strongly pro-Skimmons. I didn’t really pick up on the possibility until Simmons was talking to Triplett about unconcious Skye, but once I noticed it, I was all for it. Also, maybe the fact that I didn’t pick up on it until then is an indication that I shouldn’t be judging anyone’s people skills, I don’t know.)
It depends if we’re talking generally or on a case-by-case basis. I think her interactions with the team make a lot of social sense most of the time, especially with Coulson (ugh, hottest dad vibes ever) and Fitzsimmons. However, unless she’s putting on a different persona with someone outside the team, I think she’s fairly awkward–she wants to appear very confident but she’s just too young and too inexperienced with life-threatening situations to be anything but uncomfortable.
TL;DR She’s good with people she knows and awkward with people she doesn’t but could be if she tried.
Oh, that makes sense. Thank you!
Looking at it case-by-case, maybe it also depends on whether she’s actively trying to turn on the charm. Which mostly depends on whether she knows the person, but there were some awkward bits with the team, and I think those may have been when she was trying too hard.
I’m with you – when Coulson said she was good with people I just thought “She is?”. I am rewatching to see if my opinion of her changes.
I’m mildly pro-Skimmons, but the way Jemma responded to both Mike Petersen and Triplett makes me think Jemma likes large black men.
More Femslash Fridays please!
I have also never seen this show but I will read femslash of basically anything, so. Also? O hai sexy fake British lady please keep being you
Whoever’s dressing her for the show is doing all the right things.
If it’s wrong to covet her eyebrows, then I don’t wanna be right.
Not fake British – actual British!
For other Bad Girl Hacker + Government Operative pairings see also Shaw/Root from Person of Interest (which gets huge ratings, but no one ever talks about it on the internet. Who is watching it apart from me??). It even has the Government Operative fixing up the Bad Girl Hacker’s bullet wounds! One of them is actually played by Fred-From-Angel!
I’ve heard that show’s gotten really great, and I’m considering picking it back up. (Fun fact: it is the only show that’s ever asked every tenant in my building, via front entryway signage, whether they can film in our apartments.)
It is my favourite show. If I lived anywhere near you, I would come to your apartment building to pay homage.
I am 100% pro Shaw/Root, basically forever. I watched the most recent season finale with my dad and he turned to me at one point and asked if those two were a couple, so it’s not just my shipper goggles!
I really wish more people talked about the show online because I just want to stand around and wave my tiny shipper flag at people who actually know the characters I’m talking about.
PoI is one of my favorite shows in the entire television, and Shaw/Root IS MY LIFE. As I was scrolling through the comments I was seriously considering seeing if I could take up the banner and write a Femslash Friday for them, because it simply MUST BE DONE.
We should club together – my only contribution will be 500 screen caps of that scene where Root has Shaw tied to a chair.
I feel like I owe a fic rec to everyone reading this. Here, my favorite Skimmons story:
http://archiveofourown.org/works/1123817
This story has EVERYTHING: a dinosaur, Jurassic Park references, a side of Clint/Coulson, spot-on dialogue, and a short enough word count that you don’t feel like it’s a waste of time to charge through it. She’s written some of my absolute favorite C/C stories, too.
This piece and rec both are making me so so happy right now.
I aim to please!
You had me at “dinosaur”, but by the time I got to “a side of C/C” I was pushed over the edge into “am I at work? Who cares, READING NOW.”
And it comes with actual slash?? I wish I had more than one little thumbs up to give you.
Considering that both Skye/Ward and Fitz/Simmons were both absolutely terrible pairings on the show, *any* reshuffle works for me. This one is particularly cute, though.
Just wanna add my voice to the masses and say Thank God you guys are doing Femslash Fridays again! NEVER STOP, PLEASE.
SOMETIMES WE TAKE WEEKS OFF, WE DON’T “STOP” DOING IT I JUST SOMETIMES DON’T HAVE ANY TV SHOWS TO TALK ABOUT YOU VULTURES
“no tv shows to talk about” WHAT IS THIS MADNESS THERE IS /ALWAYs/ more lesbian subtext
I’m also one of those people who stopped watching Agents of Shield before it got interesting. People have been telling me to give it another try, but this post has finally convinced me!
Your first paragraph summed it up PERFECTLY; there was a stuttering start, but once it /really/ got going, the show was SO GOOD. Also, please can we permanently replace Grant Ward with Agent Tripp?? I don’t give a flying FUCK about his manpain and Agent Tripp is just SO MUCH MORE ADORABLE
If it's wrong to covet her eyebrows, then I don't wanna be right.
I cannot abide Ward. Even BadGuy Ward is so unutterably boring. I vastly prefer Tripp.
I can’t ship Skye with Simmons. I’m sorry, guys! I just do not care about Skye. I do not like her in a car. I do not like her in a bar. I do not like her in a hat. I do not like her with a cat. Her storyline leaves me cold, and for some reason it bothers me to no end that Coulson is so invested in her, even though I get it, I guess.
I actually rather like Simmons with Fitz, but that’s just me.
I don’t care much for Skye, either. I think she’s still pretty overwritten, whereas most of the other characters–Simmons, May, and Coulson in particular–are written rather elegantly. (I’m also extremely fond of Tripp and don’t mind Fitz much.)
Personally, I think Fitz and Simmons are too alike to make an interesting couple–perhaps a well-functioning one, but not one I’d want to watch. Really, Simmons could pair off with nearly anyone on the show (aside from Coulson, whose heart belongs to Clint Barton, duh) and I’d like to see it, and Henstridge has said the same thing.