Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: 3×05 “4,722 Hours”

Welcome to the other side of the universe Simmons. Fitting that the place is rather blue. Things are far more bleak here than the world you left.

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD IN OUR DETAILED REVIEW

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — Trapped on the other side of the universe, Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) must overcome isolation, fear and a brutal environment in order to survive. With nothing but her wits and her phone for comfort, she must find a way to endure and cling to any shred of hope she can in order to maintain sanity. But despite the bleak horizon in all directions, Simmons falls prey to a man-made trap. She is not alone in her unplanned exile. Imprisoned and afraid, Simmons is confronted by Will Daniels (Dillon Casey) who, after a long stint of isolation himself, would appear to be teetering on the edge of insanity.

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Stranded for 14 years from a failed NASA mission to explore the planet, Will has avoided the planet’s harsh elements and even more importantly, a foul consciousness that seems determined to oppress anyone in the planet’s grasp. Convinced she has the answer to escape, Simmons organizes an attempt to return home, but the planet, and it’s sinister presence, seem determined to prevent them from ever leaving this desolate and hopeless world. With power and resources dwindling, there may be only one chance for freedom on the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Elizabeth Henstridge nailed this gritty and emotional performance.

We can almost hear the debate in the writers’ room regarding Jemma’s fate. Do we leave her on the other side of the universe for half a season or do we condense all that so that we can have the emotions hit hard and have time to tell the real stories back on Earth? There is obviously a great deal to cover here on Earth this season since the decision was to squeeze the trauma of Simmons’s extended time away into a single episode. That was certainly a risky move by the writing team and we think it will pay off nicely before the season is done.

But a great deal of this episode’s success hinged upon a superb performance by Elizabeth Henstridge. Some of the most brilliant moments of this hour, and perhaps of the season so far, came from Henstridge in this episode. She covered it all. From curiosity and optimism, all the way to utter despair and outrage. By focusing solely on her, we got to see the full range of emotions through her highs and lows and Henstridge absolutely nailed all of them. We experienced the elation of her first conquered meal and the relieved triumph of her first fire. We also felt the hopelessness of isolation and the fear of never seeing those she loved again as she relied on recording her thoughts on her phone.

“Everyone always said we could read each other’s minds Fitz. So I really need you to read mine right now. I’m alive, but I’m terribly alone and afraid. So I really need you to come and get me. Okay? I know you won’t give up. So won’t either.” ~ Simmons

Delivering a compelling performance with no one to react to over a broad range of situations and emotions requires talent, inner fortitude and a special level of emotional acuity. Henstridge not only didn’t disappoint, she was nearly flawless. She pulled us in and kept us in the moment. Seeing behind the scenes stills from the set makes the performance even more impressive when you realize that the dark, blue environment wasn’t there. It had to be imagined.

Let that sink in a minute. These shots were captured in broad daylight, under intense heat. The darkness, the moons and the incredible Visual Effects by Mark Kolpack’s team and FuseFX were added later. In short, Elizabeth Henstridge deserves Emmy consideration for this performance. She may not get it, but that isn’t because it’s not deserved. She knocked this hour-long performance out of the park.

Where there’s a Will there’s a way. Where there’s Jemma, there’s hope.

Just when we thought Simmons might be trapped on this planet alone for the entire hour, she fell into the hands of Will (Dillon Casey). With Simmons imprisoned and left alone, Will seemed to be testing his own sanity to be sure that his prisoner was real and not a figment of his imagination. Her escape and crack across his head seemed to do the trick toward convincing him. As the two settled in, talked and his NASA backstory unfolded, we wondered whether or not he actually told Simmons he killed the third member of his team. Yes, we saw that unfold in his memory but he didn’t say it aloud. Just as later we learn that we saw the gun and he didn’t mention that to her either.

It would be daunting to enter a show in a successful run and play such a pivotal role in the relationships of key characters that have been there from the beginning. Dillon Casey had only two jobs to really make sure he did. He needed to complement a beautiful performance by Elizabeth Henstridge and grow on us as time progressed. He did an admirable job of both. Mid way through, as Simmons lay down to rest, we knew that Will had grown on her as well as she added him to her good night wishes.

“Good night Fitz. Good night Will.” ~ Jemma

She stole the show with an amazing emotional portrayal, but Casey managed to fit in to her world nicely. He wasn’t sciencey, nor was Will intended to be overly emotional, but he certainly made us believe in the healing power of Jemma’s presence. If nothing else, Casey’s eyes told the story. He managed to let them go from wild to human again before the episode ended.
Writer Craig Titley did an excellent job of achieving the main thing he likely set out to do with this very unique episode. That was to show us the emotional journey Simmons took in order to reach that point Andrew (Blair Underwood) asked about—the moment she gave up. After missing the portal and a chance to return home, Simmons lost hope and Henstridge was emotionally brilliant pulling us into that moment.

“We’re never going home.” ~ Jemma

“Maybe this is our home now.” ~ Will

“This isn’t our home. This is hell.” ~ Jemma

[Jemma flips a table in anger and frustration.] “Hey, hey. Shhhh.” ~ Will

“You were right. There is no hope on this planet.” ~ Jemma

“That’s what I used to think. Then you showed up.” ~ Will

FitzSimmons shippers everywhere cried out in horror as she kissed Will. But would any of us be different? She didn’t do that until she was certain she’d never go home and she had spent months with Will in a very unique life or death situation. Completely isolated and alone, they had no one to turn to for comfort but each other.

It’s fitting that Will was very much Jemma’s key to survival. She was certainly the key to his humanity returning. They may have given up all hope of ever returning home, but they had each other and something tells us if they’d never left that horrid rock of a world, they’d have found some semblance of happiness. He lived up to his namesake and became her will to overcome adversity and survive. She, in turn, became his hope. And those are the things that define survivor stories. When Jemma admitted to Andrew she gave up hope, she didn’t mean she’d given up on life. Just the thought of one here. But a relentless Fitz changed all that. What happens from here is anyone’s guess, but we doubt we’ve seen the last of Will Daniels.

Do we not ALL love Fitz now more than ever?

After hearing all that Simmons went through and understanding that pulling her from that place unexpectedly left the man she loved behind, we all hung on Fitz’s expression in the brief scene that brought us back here to Earth. Was his heart as broken as our collective ones? Would this drive a new wedge between these two that have been so close? Everything hung on the look on his face as we finished hearing the truth. And true to Iain De Caestecker’s fine work all season, he did the one thing we didn’t expect. His expression was completely neutral. Was he angry? Was he in shock? Were we about to see a tearful meltdown? These same things had to be going through the mind of Simmons as she tearfully watched as well. What would his reaction be?

As Fitz got up, walked away without a word, it was obvious from the subtle performance of Henstridge that she was already accepting that she had lost her best friend. As she followed him into the lab and her emotions poured from her eyes both actors had us firmly locked in to the moment. As Fitz showed her the schematics and data about the Monolith on screen we understood in an instant that this man loved her so much he would do anything to bring happiness to her life. Even if it meant sacrificing his chance for his own happiness.

“We’re gonna get him back.” ~ Fitz

Between the beautiful soft, soundtrack that set just the right tone of melancholy and hope to the emotional acknowledgement by Simmons, Fitz’s actions were near perfect. Legions of fans will love him for this moment alone and the cautious optimism in his eyes made the crescendo of music melt into the perfect set of emotions. In what could have been one of the most heartbreaking moments of this series, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, Writer Craig Titley and Director Jesse Bochco created one of the most inspiring. That’s extraordinary work by everyone.

FINAL VERDICT: Agents of SHIELD goes out on a wild blue limb somewhere deep on the other side of the universe. Taking story risks is—well—risky, but one thing is for certain, Elizabeth Henstridge can easily carry an episode all by herself.

The decision to make this episode as a flashback after Simmons was safe and sound in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters had its pros and cons. It meant that Writer Craig Titley had a daunting task. He had to spin 4,722 hours of emotional story into one hour of television. On one hand, watching Simmons struggle since her return and not knowing what she went through only piqued our curiosity. By the time we watched this episode we were deeply invested and wanted to see exactly what happened. What was the truth she needed to tell Fitz?

The Visual Effects, the oppressive blue environment and a near-perfect performance by Elizabeth Henstridge all worked in favor of a single, continuous narrative. We never left the planet during her story and that grounded us there. The marking of time by the hours was clever. It kept us in the know at what point in the 4,722 hours we were watching and allowed us to understand the large gaps in time without showing them. Henstridge sold us on every emotion she went through and made us believe in her isolation. What perfect timing for such a story right after the success of The Martian in theaters. As an audience, we were ready for Jemma to science the shit out of her predicament and survive until the inevitable rescue by Fitz. But we knew even before we started that she wasn’t alone. She’d told Fitz that she had been hunted and we’d seen danger in a quick flash to her at the end of the first episode. Jemma might have been alive, but she wasn’t safe and it was Will that became her lifeline.

The capture by Will, his fleeting sanity and his mistrust in her being real were all well done by newcomer Dillon Casey. He had a tall task as well. He had to keep up with Elizabeth Henstridge and he did an admirable job doing just that. Chemistry was something that took time to develop between these two. But that actually worked in the episode’s favor. They started out adversarial. We didn’t know if we could, or should, trust Will. He seemed to be just a few fries short of a Happy Meal when we met him. He’d lost hope. Jemma changed that in him. She restored hope only for it be taken again from them both. But the difference in losing hope alone and with someone you’ve grown to love is enormous. Regardless of the failure to get home, they still had each other.

One could make a compelling argument that this story would have worked better pieced across the entire first half of the season. Yes, the long time span between snippets would have driven home the isolation and fear across weeks and the shift from adversaries to friends would have felt more natural with the passage of sufficient time, but we’d have missed out on elements on Earth and the stories here would have suffered from this one arc. Show runners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen have been smart in how they’ve weaved together multiple storylines on this show and we can easily see how telling Jemma’s story in one shot allowed for additional drama back home. We now see the emotional difficulty Simmons experienced with Fitz at dinner in a different light. The wine was her one wish, yet Will was still trapped and alone.

Director Jesse Bochco pulled out amazing physical and emotional performances from Elizabeth Henstridge as the episode progressed. We could distinctly see and feel her emotional progressions. Casey’s physical performances were good and his stoic approach to Will made it a bit harder to read him throughout. But perhaps that was on purpose. We were supposed to doubt Will from the beginning and we only saw emotion from him when he was later in Simmons’s good graces and she’d had a positive affect on his life. Either way, the enormous tension of the ending contrasted the minimalistic beginning incredibly well and as these two characters struggled to reach the only way out, his sacrifice to distract Death in order to get her home was a noble one.

Somehow we don’t think we’ve seen the end of Will or of Death for that matter. We don’t know what happened in the swirling winds as Jemma was pulled to safety. One shot rang out, but who took the bullet? Fitz loves Simmons unconditionally and whatever makes her happy, he will do. If they are able to reopen the portal and reach this planet again, we would hate for it to be Death that entered our world under the pretense of being Will. After all, he did tell Jemma that it would do anything to fool her. If the world Simmons just left was once a paradise, destroyed by Death itself, what would it do to claw its way out to another world ripe for the picking? We don’t know, but we don’t plan to miss a minute of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this season to find out!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• That Monolith still gives me the willies.
• Oooo hour tracking. I like how this is going…
• After all, we’re going for dinner … Heartbreak at both ends of the universe.
• I want the battery life on her phone. lol
• Anyone else feeling blue right now?
• You’re dinner biatch! Awe, she channeled her inner Fitz. 🙂
• Seriously. I want a SHIELD phone battery. Badly! lol
• Holy science-geek trap!
• I think someone outside the cage is seeing things often…
• Not a bad Idea. Should have said “your going to let me out now..”
• It smells blood?? o.O
• I can already see this is going to be a twisted, heartbreaking story.
• This just entered the realm of crazy Twilight Zone shit.
• THAT .. has been there for a VERY long time Jemma..
• Right now, Apple & Android are both trying like hell to hire Fitz.
• I’m glad that thing sent you over here and not the janitor. lol
• Someone said DEATH! … That can’t be good for ANYONE later in the MCU. #Thanos
• I think this is that moment that Dr. A was asking about. #DoYouRememberWhenYouGaveUP?
• I just felt a great disturbance in the Force. Millions of hearts just cried out and BROKE…
• We’re gonna get him back.. That tone you hear? I just flatlined…