Grant Ward discussion article

Well, so far Fitz hasn't hurt her personally (not physically at least), so ... If that stays true, it will probably be easier for her to forgive him. Whereas Ward nearly killed her and Fitz and also tortured them. It's so personal for her. She loves Fitz, so that will likely help in forgiving him. We all tend to make excuses for those we love when they do something bad. The same can't be said for those we don't love/care deeply for or for those we cannot stand. For Jemma, Ward falls in the latter category. Her forgiving Fitz anything would make sense because we know she loves him. Forgiving Ward, even this nicer version is very difficult for her. It wouldn't make sense if she was all, "oh, you're a different Ward than the Ward I knew, so you're forgiven". To forgive this Ward, she'd have to forgive RW Ward and she cannot do that at this point. Her rational mind knows FW Ward isn't the same as real Ward, but he looks like him. She can't look at him without seeing RW and all he did.

Even Coulson on some level has a shaky feeling around Ward. He doesn't remember Ward killing Rosalind, but subconsciously he knows there's something that keeps him from warming up to him. If he remembered Rosalind, he'd face the same obstacle as Jemma.

I understand the other side of that. This Ward isn't to blame for what his RW counterpart did. However, the wounds to many on the team that were caused by RW Ward are likely to feel fresh for a long time. They are difficult wounds to get over.

The analogy of Ward/Garrett and Fitz/Daddy Fitz is very good though. It's showing how one person can influence one's life for better or for worse.

At that point, he had already been brainwashed enough that it was difficult to override that "programming". Look at the way FW Hydra attempted to brainwash those kids. How can we possibly know for sure that RW Ward wasn't exposed to something similar? If he had been it would have been for a longer period of time than those framework kids. Also, there wouldn't have been a rescue for him the way those kids were rescued. Not that I'm excusing his actions, but merely giving an alternative way of looking at his motivations.

I think they wanted us to feel conflicted on Ward and also Fitz. Though I, much like Jemma just blame AIDA for Fitz. She inserted his father into the Framework to manipulate and better control him.

My whole issue that they compare Ward to Fitz, when there is no comparison possible. EvilFitz isn't just Fitz who became evil because he had a different path in life. Fitz has been altered by AIDA to fit the profile. He was not given the choice to walk away from his father. To make that possible he is actually already different as a person from the real Fitz. If they want to make a case that Ward could have been a good guy had he met someone else than Garret. That's fine. But Fitz's path is not valid argument in this.

The show showed it to us. AIDA did because the realFitz would never want to live with a father like that. The Framework Fitz did and never ever walked away from his father or disagreed with him ever. It was made impossible for him to do so. I call that a change in personality. A big change, because it is a lack of free will and a change in his own moral standards.

She changed one regret for each person, but by doing so she also changed the person. The realMay could kill the girl, this May could't kill a child. That's a different May. The realCoulson did join Shield, this Coulson couldn't bare the responsibility. A clear change of character. Mace has been altered the most. He was a normal human, here he was changed into an Inhuman. His DNA was even changed to remove the regret. Only Mack remained more or less the same.

Fitz was a kid when his father left in the real world. So are you telling me you find it out of character that 10-year old Leopold didn't run away from home in the FW because daddy was a jerk? By the time he got old enough to actually challenge his father, the guy had already had years of influence on him, and was turning Fitz into the guy we seen now. We don't know if there had ever been arguments, just that daddy remained a constant in his son's life. To look at the Ward comparison here; it's not like Ward always agreed with everything Garrett did, but Garrett still managed to control him. It's what years of abuse by a manipulative bastard will do to you. 

As for May, I don't think she necessarily *couldn't* kill the kid. It's just that she didn't. How many times have you stood in front of an A or B decision and regretted the choice afterwards? Would you really have needed to be a different person to have taken the other path?

Similar situation for Coulson, although I'll admit that the change seems a bit deeper here. I'm pretty sure even in the real world he had had doubts about the responsibilities that would come with joining Shield, but he didn't let himself be discouraged by that. FW Coulson did. The situation actually reminds me of the Star Trek TNG episode where Captain Picard gets the chance to go back in time and avoid a fight that would change his whole life. In both cases it was the older character's own regret that caused the change, although via Aida's input in the FW in Coulson's case. Both situations also have in common that the character never developed to their full potential after avoiding this one big risk and never aspired to anything remarkable. Making that one "safe" choice started a pattern for them, that kept them from becoming the person they were meant to be, even though the initial decision had been well within the reasonable options at the time. But I want to point out again that it wasn't some random thing Aida changed to keep Coulson in line or whatever. It's what he wanted, the one thing he in a way regretted, although I don't believe for a second that pre-FW Coulson would have accepted the chance to really go back and change things. I think you can regret something and at the same time know it was for the best. 

Mace; yeah, sure, Aida changed his DNA into him being an inhuman, but she didn't change his whole character. He was always someone who wanted to do good, to make an impact, she just gave him the opportunity to do so. Also, please note that I'm not saying Aida didn't change things in regards to the characters. Of course she did. I just see no indication that she did so with a particular goal in mind aside from fixing a regret, or that she continued to interfere with their lives beyond the initial change in order to keep them going in the direction she wanted them to.