The thing about Pierce that I love as a villain, tho, is that in many ways he IS who he presents to be.
He is a charismatic, intelligent, dedicated man who truly believes everything he does and everything he is is for the greater good of the world, and who really believes that he is caring for and protecting the future of humanity.
Where that goes askew is in what he decided that meant and meant he had to (and got to) do, and where that put him in terms of power over other people etc etc, and trust me I am in no way exonerating him. If anything, this makes me angrier at him because if he'd NOT gone skewed he could have been an amazing power for actual good in the world.
But it makes him almost impossible for people like Jack and Peggy to see, because everything about him as he interacts with them is sincere: he honestly wants the outcome of their interactions to bring about a better future for mankind! He really believes that.
And that makes him invisible, because his behaviours and his actions and his words all continue to support that truth, and the only problem is just how disparate their actual ideas of what, in the END, is good for humankind are. And given HYDRA by even the time Pierce would be getting involved was largely Zola and some strung out support-cells and they'd already decided about the whole "we must convince them to surrender rather than attacking", he'd've been playing the long con from the get-go, which meant that their goals/etc didn't even diverge much for decades, because he, too, would have very much wanted a world wherein SHIELD had the capacities to influence world events to a huge extent, and wherein various different power blocs had been shifted in different ways.
Which is just kind of brilliant, in terms of working with a character in the narrative positions he's in.
no subject
He is a charismatic, intelligent, dedicated man who truly believes everything he does and everything he is is for the greater good of the world, and who really believes that he is caring for and protecting the future of humanity.
Where that goes askew is in what he decided that meant and meant he had to (and got to) do, and where that put him in terms of power over other people etc etc, and trust me I am in no way exonerating him. If anything, this makes me angrier at him because if he'd NOT gone skewed he could have been an amazing power for actual good in the world.
But it makes him almost impossible for people like Jack and Peggy to see, because everything about him as he interacts with them is sincere: he honestly wants the outcome of their interactions to bring about a better future for mankind! He really believes that.
And that makes him invisible, because his behaviours and his actions and his words all continue to support that truth, and the only problem is just how disparate their actual ideas of what, in the END, is good for humankind are. And given HYDRA by even the time Pierce would be getting involved was largely Zola and some strung out support-cells and they'd already decided about the whole "we must convince them to surrender rather than attacking", he'd've been playing the long con from the get-go, which meant that their goals/etc didn't even diverge much for decades, because he, too, would have very much wanted a world wherein SHIELD had the capacities to influence world events to a huge extent, and wherein various different power blocs had been shifted in different ways.
Which is just kind of brilliant, in terms of working with a character in the narrative positions he's in.
/randomly sticking nose in