‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Spoilers: What Happened To Simmons, And What It Means For FitzSimmons


As Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2 ended, Simmons was sucked into the monolith just after she and Fitz made plans to grab dinner. When the ABC series returned this fall, months passed, and she was still missing. But even after Fitz managed to rescue her, there were still questions about what happened to her. The latest episode revealed the details, as well as the reason behind her determination to return to where she was.

The latest Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode saw Simmons break down exactly what happened to her in the 4,722 hours – also the title of the episode – she spent on the alien planet, which began with her doing what any scientist would do and recording what she saw and experienced on her phone (with an extra long battery life, thanks to her best friend) and even thinking out loud about her and Fitz’s date. However, the longer she was on the planet, the more she began to adapt to her surroundings, leaving the area of the portal behind and searching for water and then fighting to find food.

That changed when she ended up locked in a cage by another person stranded on the planet named Will, who hadn’t quite believed she was real at first. Will was an astronaut whom NASA sent through a portal in 2001 with three others. The other three went crazy after entering what Will called a “no-fly zone,” in which resided something evil that comes out during what Jemma thought was just a sandstorm.

A dead traveler on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The “no-fly zone” on the alien planet in “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” [Image via ABC]
After journeying out to that “no-fly zone,” and what she found there, as well as using the remaining battery on her phone to power one of Will’s old computers, she was able to figure out just when and where a portal would open up next.

Elizabeth Henstridge on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Jemma Simmons finds something to help find her way home on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Image via ABC]
When they got to the spot, however, they couldn’t get to it – or get a message in a bottle through it – in time. That was when Jemma lost hope of finding her way home, and she and Will first kissed. Then while Jemma was able to find her way to Fitz after seeing his flare, she lost Will in the sandstorm, but she remained determined to return to the planet to rescue him. Fitz being the kind of guy he is agreed to help her.

“I was, and I still am, just worried about how FitzSimmons fans are going to react,” Henstridge told Entertainment Weekly, adding that her love for Will is “a very different type of love than what she has for Fitz.” She only took that step when she thought there was no way she’d be able to get home, and the actress doesn’t think that the same kind of relationship would have developed between Jemma and Will if they weren’t stranded on an alien planet.

The good news for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. FitzSimmons fans is that Henstridge said, “Throughout it all, she’s still so connected to Fitz.”

“At the end, when they’re going to see the sunrise and it’s a romantic time for them, as soon as she sees that flare, she’s right back to Fitz. She knows it’s him. She’s so deeply entrenched in everything about him that she can be in love with Will, but she belongs with Fitz. When she comes back, it’s just so complicated. She’s never experienced feelings like this. It’s messy and it’s human. As an actor, it’s great to play, but for her, I feel bad for her and I feel bad for Fitz and Will. It’s not a fun set of emotions for any of them.”

It’s Jemma’s feelings for both Will and Fitz that makes the situation all the more comfortable. As the actress told E! News, “the stakes are very high” because she does love Will, and that’s why she’s asking Fitz for help. And yes, things are going to get awkward as the two try to find a way to get back to the planet to rescue him.

“FitzSimmons will be working very closely and that’s going to kick up a whole host of issues surrounding their relationship. There’s a huge elephant in the room, and it’s going to get called out a few times, and it’s going to be painful.”

The very last scene of the latest Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. showed that Will did survive the sandstorm and whatever the thing was in the storm when he got separated from Simmons and having used his last bullet, he tossed his gun aside. But the question is, of course, what happened to Will while Jemma was being rescued? Was he able to kill that monster with that bullet? Can it even be killed? Could he be possessed? Will the Will they find – assuming they do manage to rescue him – even be the Will Jemma knew? He may not have been driven insane as his fellow NASA astronauts were in those 14 years, but who knows what will happen to him after he had Jemma at his side and then lost her? Who knows if something had already happened to him in that last scene?

“It’s definitely a worry” what Will would be like if they rescue him, Henstridge acknowledged to EW. “We’ve seen in the episode that Will hints that it drives people insane. We don’t know if the Will that we could get back is the same guy.”

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3 airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. on ABC.

[Image via ABC]

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