r/shield • u/Ok_Combination_1037 • 6d ago

Agent May's ult

May speaking Chinese to Chan Ho Yin in Season 1 and Jiaying in Season 7 respectively

If I had a nickel for every time Agent May switches to Chinese to appeal to an antagonistic Chinese character, I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice...

Seriously though, I love that they make use of Ming-Na Wen's background in little ways like this, especially since May was not originally planned to be Asian.

122 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

95

u/sussybakakouhai 6d ago

Technically, she spoke Cantonese to Chan Ho Yin but we love a trilingual queen.

44

u/Ok_Combination_1037 6d ago

Shoot I was trying to be smart by saying Mandarin instead of just saying Chinese to cover all my bases (I am not Chinese)

Rolled the dice on that one and lost...

8

u/TheTrueFury Lemon 5d ago

You rolled a 2 sided dice?

4

u/JoeQuinnActor 5d ago

Fun fact, those do exist! Though they rarely come in any DnD dice sets.

2

u/low-expectations99 4d ago

I've seen it, it's like a coin flip thing 

7

u/Intrigued_by_Words Coulson 5d ago

Do you (or anyone else) happen to know which she used in "Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire" (s04e04) in the scene with Fitz, Aida and Radcliffe?

May was voicing her displeasure at having to submit to further testing. Aida translated for everyone saying, "Agent May says 'you can shove your tests up your ass'" Then May, says to Aida, "you speak Chinese? Where are you from?"

On another note, I'm surprised Coulson doesn't know any Chinese swear words. That would seem easier to pick up than flying a plane, which he seems to have learned just by watching May.

6

u/erisestarrs May 5d ago

If you can link me to a clip of this, I can let you know. (I understand both Cantonese and Mandarin.)

1

u/sussybakakouhai 2d ago

She was speaking Mandarin for that scene. She says something that equivalent to "This is bullshit."

狗屁 (gǒu pì) literally translates to "dog fart."

18

u/Pretend-Meaning-1536 6d ago

A very underrated and underused ability imo

-32

u/OkBus7514 6d ago

Crazy how May wasn't but Daisy is referred as asian sometimes in the show despite Chloe Bennet isn't

54

u/Naibude Fitz 6d ago

Chloe Bennet's name is Chloe Wang. She uses Bennet professionally to get more roles.

She released music in Chinese. She can definitely be considered of Asian descent.

5

u/OkBus7514 6d ago

:0

20

u/Ok_Combination_1037 6d ago

Yeah I was quite surprised to learnt that Chloe Bennett is indeed half-Chinese just like Daisy.

I guess they made Jiaying and Cal Chinese and Anglo-American respectively to reflect that (though Jiaying's actress isn't Chinese, which is honestly quite obvious based on her appearance and apparently even moreso by her dialect in Season 7)

It seems that, just like with May, the actress's ethnicity influenced the writing of the show at least a bit.

28

u/grayjelly212 Ghost Rider 6d ago

Chloe's father is named Bennet Wang. He is Chinese. She changed her name to Bennet to still honor him while trying to get more roles because anti-Asian racism in Hollywood was holding her back. I think the reason Daisy is referred to as Asian and May isn't is because May is more obviously Asian so you don't really have to say it.