S03.E05: 4,722 Hours

[DeLurker]

So this means Fitz can move on to Bobbi once she is freed up?

You mean when May kills Hunter?

 

That's a very interesting theory, though it wouldn't explain why we still see Will as Will even after Jemma left the planet, or why they made a point of showing us the gun that no longer has his last bullet it in.    If Will was the Thing, he wouldn't need to keep up pretenses once Jemma was gone.  It also wouldn't explain why The Thing would have let Jemma get away.  If Jemma could have be delayed even a minute from reaching the portal, Fitz wouldn't have been able to get to her before Daisy let the portal close.  Surely the Thing could have introduced even the illusion of obstacles if it was set on keeping Simmons.

Maybe he shot at Jemma to stop her from making it to the portal?

[Potanical Pardon]

I was okay with the episode, clichés and all. I'm also thinking Jemma and Will were on Ego the Living Planet. Unless they're saving that for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And when I heard "Brubaker," I thought of the comic writer.

I had not even considered Ego when I watched this at first, but now that you mentioned it, I'm completely sold. It's totally Ego. It also matches up and addresses the inconsistencies and weirdness with shiv-ready Jemma.

 

If the planet is Ego, then the sandstorm/humanoids are also Ego; Will is Ego.

 

All the clues:

The two moons. One bigger, one smaller. Ego is often depicted with them in an almost Venn diagram way, like an eyebrow or birthmark.

There was dialogue in the episode where Will and Jemma talk about how the planet was once lush green paradise or something like that. Ego can change it's ecosystem and look (like the canyon distance) however it wants to. Making it look like a green paradise was one of the ways it lures explorers or whoever to the planet before turning into a desolate planet ready to consume them.

Ego can grow roots/plants and tentacles. Jemma eats the tentacles and we see her digging for roots. They both eat roots/plants exclusively.

Ego taking a humanoid form. That Kylo Ren looking thing in the sandstorm. We never see Will at the same time on-screen as whichever single humanoid is walking towards Jemma. When Fitz fires off the flare, we see sandstorm and then creepy astronaut suit. Then more dust and sand and it's Will again.

They emphasized that Jemma is to represent hope while Will represents doom - that's totally Ego's MO. He does both, e.g., giving hope that they can reach the next portal opening 30 meters away, when it's really 100m now because he moved it. Shooting the bottle and making it in the portal before it closes, but then doesn't. Telling Jemma that she can make it, but then keeps stopping her. Jemma thinking that they can both make it but then keeps hesitating.

 

I think Will is totally part of the luring victims strategy, and now that they're going to try to go back, Will/Ego has successfully lured even more victims to come over using Jemma as bait. Those old-timey British aristocracy kept sending victims annually, I believe. The NASA thing must have happened in at least some partial truth, since Ego knows to use it/reference it and if Will's dialogue is to be believed, NASA was sending people over repeatedly just like the British. The monolith ended up with SHIELD, so Ego's feeding stopped for awhile. Ego's just trying to start getting fed again.

 

Maybe the Kree initially used the Monolith to both dispose of Inhumans while at the same time keeping Ego away from one of their other colony planets. Then once they thought Earth had no more, some humans stumbled across it and found some incentive to send over human sacrifices. Now that exchange between Will and Jemma about Jemma saying that he's fattening her up to eat her has weight to it aside from being a throwaway line. She might actually have been right!

 

The subterranean cave that they lived in with the luminescence thing. Ego has tunnels all over itself that that cave could actually be. It did have a lot of curbs and turns in it and less of a single hollow place. If it was intentional to give their cave home an endless feel to it, the director succeeded. And though Ego/Will could have eaten Jemma at any time, the true goal of getting a consistent food supply is why she's still alive with his whole bait/switch, hope/doom thing.

 

The shiv thing with Jemma being startled probably has to do with her current misophonia elevating the impact of sound and it's resemblance to the sandstorm sounds. She never heard it that loud unless she was outside of their cave, but being back on Earth, her sensitivity to sound gives the impression that whatever startled her is much, much louder and dangerous.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Potanical Pardon

[Sakura12]

While a fake out would make more sense, I wouldn't like it if we wasted an entire episode on something that didn't happen. And if they went that way the end shot of Will should've set that up. Otherwise it's just a shock to be cool reveal. 

[Jack Kerouac]

Simmons is obviously not ready for a relationship right now. Fitz should just help her get back Female Romance Novel Space Boyfriend then say have a nice life and leave them to it. I mean, how can he be sure she's not going to jump the next guy she gets stuck in an elevator with?

 

Simmons: We've been trapped in this elevator for two hours. I've given up hope of Fitz ever getting us out. Let's do it!

 

Randomly Implausible Hot Dude: Sure?

 

Fitz (still working on the elevator): Sigh.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Jack Kerouac

[TVSpectator]

I had not even considered Ego when I watched this at first, but now that you mentioned it, I'm completely sold. It's totally Ego. It also matches up and addresses the inconsistencies and weirdness with shiv-ready Jemma.

 

If the planet is Ego, then the sandstorm/humanoids are also Ego; Will is Ego.

 

All the clues:

The two moons. One bigger, one smaller. Ego is often depicted with them in an almost Venn diagram way, like an eyebrow or birthmark.

There was dialogue in the episode where Will and Jemma talk about how the planet was once lush green paradise or something like that. Ego can change it's ecosystem and look (like the canyon distance) however it wants to. Making it look like a green paradise was one of the ways it lures explorers or whoever to the planet before turning into a desolate planet ready to consume them.

Ego can grow roots/plants and tentacles. Jemma eats the tentacles and we see her digging for roots. They both eat roots/plants exclusively.

Ego taking a humanoid form. That Kylo Ren looking thing in the sandstorm. We never see Will at the same time on-screen as whichever single humanoid is walking towards Jemma. When Fitz fires off the flare, we see sandstorm and then creepy astronaut suit. Then more dust and sand and it's Will again.

They emphasized that Jemma is to represent hope while Will represents doom - that's totally Ego's MO. He does both, e.g., giving hope that they can reach the next portal opening 30 meters away, when it's really 100m now because he moved it. Shooting the bottle and making it in the portal before it closes, but then doesn't. Telling Jemma that she can make it, but then keeps stopping her. Jemma thinking that they can both make it but then keeps hesitating.

 

I think Will is totally part of the luring victims strategy, and now that they're going to try to go back, Will/Ego has successfully lured even more victims to come over using Jemma as bait. Those old-timey British aristocracy kept sending victims annually, I believe. The NASA thing must have happened in at least some partial truth, since Ego knows to use it/reference it and if Will's dialogue is to be believed, NASA was sending people over repeatedly just like the British. The monolith ended up with SHIELD, so Ego's feeding stopped for awhile. Ego's just trying to start getting fed again.

 

Maybe the Kree initially used the Monolith to both dispose of Inhumans while at the same time keeping Ego away from one of their other colony planets. Then once they thought Earth had no more, some humans stumbled across it and found some incentive to send over human sacrifices. Now that exchange between Will and Jemma about Jemma saying that he's fattening her up to eat her has weight to it aside from being a throwaway line. She might actually have been right!

 

The subterranean cave that they lived in with the luminescence thing. Ego has tunnels all over itself that that cave could actually be. It did have a lot of curbs and turns in it and less of a single hollow place. If it was intentional to give their cave home an endless feel to it, the director succeeded. And though Ego/Will could have eaten Jemma at any time, the true goal of getting a consistent food supply is why she's still alive with his whole bait/switch, hope/doom thing.

 

The shiv thing with Jemma being startled probably has to do with her current misophonia elevating the impact of sound and it's resemblance to the sandstorm sounds. She never heard it that loud unless she was outside of their cave, but being back on Earth, her sensitivity to sound gives the impression that whatever startled her is much, much louder and dangerous.

 

Did you write this article?

 

For those unfamiliar with the character, Ego is a pretty self-explanatory character. Ego is a living planet, an intelligent being with psionic powers. A full rundown of it can be found HERE. Basically, I think Simmons is on Ego. Here's why:

 

 

http://moviepilot.com/posts/3616315

Edited October 29, 2015 by TVSpectator

[Potanical Pardon]

Did you write this article?

 

 

http://moviepilot.com/posts/3616315

 

Haha nope. But thanks for the link!

[KirkB]

I'd been thinking the same thing since the episode and was just coming here to mention Ego but you beat me to it Potanical Pardon. Well done. The one thing I am not sure about is the rock/portal. What would Ego have to do with the Inhumans? Why would whoever created the rock/portal want people sent to him, unless of course it was created by Ego himself. Which would explain why it reacts to the moons. But if he uses it to get food/playthings/whatever it's a pretty random thing and it doesn't give him a very steady supply. Still, if anything like this proves to be true, I would credit Marvel for a wacky outerspace plot which rivals or even exceeds the Guardians of the Galaxy. Given these writers though I'm not sure it's anything that interesting.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Part of me hopes that Jemma ate that plant and then hallucinated her entire experience with Space Boyfriend. But given that we saw him again after she escaped, I know he's real.

[xqueenfrostine]

Maybe he shot at Jemma to stop her from making it to the portal?

. If Will had shot at Jemma, I think they would have been more obvious about that. She would have been hit or nearly hit. Otherwise, there is no point of the writers having Will use his gun at all. It'd be one of those "if a tree falls in a forest and no one is nearby to hear it, does it make a sound?" moments.

[Dandesun]

I honestly don't know how I feel about Fitz and Simmons as a romantic pairing. I love them both, separately and together, and while I don't like the idea of the 'but he's loved her so long and finally wins her' trope I am also amenable to the idea that feelings can, in fact, change. Jemma can absolutely go from not being all that into Fitz to realizing that she does love him in a romantic/sexual fashion. Not everyone makes the same steps at the same time in the same way. Just because you love someone as a friend doesn't mean you can't develop stronger feelings, so I'm not against that at all.

 

However, the stranded astronaut love interest cliche turning into a love triangle bigger cliche does bug me.

 

I am of the opinion that Fitz has gotten screwed. NOT because he is owed Jemma or that anything he does or feels must be returned in kind. He's getting screwed in that his heart is getting stomped on because he put it out there and the timing is horrible due to events that have happened. I would feel exactly the same way if it were Jemma who had put her heart on her sleeve for him and he was the one who didn't feel the same way and then started to look at her differently and then got spirited away by a monolith to land on a distant planet with a hot, stranded lady astronaut and fell in love with her only to be rescued by Jemma. When a character you care about puts their heart out there it's not fun to watch it get hurt. Period.

 

That's the risk but it still kind of sucks to watch. It would suck the same if it were Jemma who was getting her heart squeezed due to circumstances well beyond her control. And maybe, in a way, it's happening to her too. She has apparently fallen in love with Will (this according to the actress in the interviews linked above in this thread) due to their six months of deserted planet survival which... fine... I get it. They went through something horrible together (although they sure didn't appear to be too terribly put out when it came down to it... especially at the end when Simmons is putting on her necklace and they're acting like they're going out on a picnic together to see the sun. It just felt a little too blissfully domestic to me.) and all that but that's no basis for anything long term. I just don't see it lasting, you know?

 

Will will probably have some adjustments (although, please, 14 years is nothing... go have a coffee with Steve Rogers and tell him how displaced you feel from your life) to make and Jemma will be right there to see him through and so on and so forth and they'll unite together as 'we went through this.'

 

And Fitz will be there as the guy who saved them both. At this point, I do need Fitz to move on. Jemma had Tripp into her and now she's got Will with Fitz constantly taking a back seat. It's time for Fitz to have someone in his life who looks at him and sees someone amazing and special and attractive. I want that for him. He's a good guy. He's not a perfect guy (no such thing) but I definitely would like to see him remove the heart from his sleeve that he wears for Jemma and put it away because I don't want him to be a third wheel and I don't want him to be a jealous prick and I don't want Simmons to be doing or feeling anything for him because she feels guilty or that she owes him or anything like that.

 

As to the rest of it... I do agree with everyone else that it's weird that it took this long for Jemma to mention Will to ANYONE. That really troubles me because I find it shoddy storytelling. Someone being left behind would be something that she says almost immediately... as soon as she catches her breath. Everyone on the team would be questioning it, sure, but they'd figure she was telling the truth and they'd start making plans to figure out what needed to be done. NASA having the monolith for so long could open up story doors... it's just unfathomable to me that a) Jemma would keep mum about another survivor for so long and b) be surprised that Fitz (or anyone) would actually want to save the person. That is far and away the weakest part of a story that's already weakened for being so full of the annoying romance/love triangle cliches.

 

I really liked the first part of it all with Jemma narrating her survival, keeping records and all of that... unfortunately, that got stymied a bit with the introduction of stranded hot astronaut. Kind of took the wind out of my sails to be honest... She was doing JUST FINE, dammit!

 

As for Ego the Living Planet. Hm. Maybe. (Although my favorite recent appearance of his was in the Rocket Raccoon book wherein Rocket decimated a species as a favor to Ego because it was his version of headlice.)

[Traveller519]

Just wait until Jemma is back on Earth with Will, and Will joins Shield, and they're together, and finally Fitz finds someone and Jemma realizes it really was Fitz she loved all along, and I bounce my head off a rock.

[Jack Kerouac]

Just wait until Jemma is back on Earth with Will, and Will joins Shield, and they're together, and finally Fitz finds someone and Jemma realizes it really was Fitz she loved all along, and I bounce my head off a rock.

 

That's the thing - that idea is so incredibly clichéd and stupid, I firmly believe that's the direction they are going.

 

This episode just violently reminded me of everything wrong with the first season, which was terrible. The crappy writing, the ignoring of character arcs, the really sloppy editing (necklace on, necklace off, etc.) and the terrible plotting.

 

I mean the enitre Marvel universe at their disposal and they go with Harlequin Romance Space Boyfriend. It's like they sat in a room and said, "Let's find out how much bullshit our audience can swallow before they throw up!"

 

Instead of doing anything interesting, the writers invented nothing more than an instant love interest, who exists solely to create a CW-style love triangle. They took a fairly unique situation - a resourceful woman stranded alone on an alien world - and turned it into nothing more than an excuse to trot out an overused plot device. That planet could have advanced the Inhumans' story a lot more than it did in that episode. Henstridge gave a great performance but Simmons wasn't served well by being set up as the short side of a very uneven love triangle.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Jack Kerouac

[Jack Kerouac]

So about Simmons, PTSD.

 

It doesn't make any sense. The wooden shiv she wakes up brandishing, her silence and fear of people/noises, etc., etc. It flies directly in the face of how un-scary they made the Blue Filter World.

 

While I get that most people accept how Simmons could fall into space bed with Harlequin Romance Space Boyfriend (I do not, however), I can get my head into that space of her giving up hope of returning home and allowing yourself to be with the last person in the world. But literally one minute before she was drinking wine with a guy in a state of almost domestic bliss, then she's back on earth unable to talk, sleep or listen to a phone vibrate (apparently)?

 

It  doesn't make sense and I think bad writing is the cause of it. Either they played up the PTSD too much or they turned down the survival situation on the planet to allow her to fall in love with harlequin Romance Space Boyfriend. Either way, it's stupid and lazy.

 

However, I don't really 'blame' either one (Will or Simmons) for it, but lazy drama is lazy drama. The episode was very well crafted (music, acting, directing, dialogue) but had a disappointingly lazy and predictable plot.

 

And really, I'm most bothered that Simmons COULDN'T be bothered to tell anyone Will was on the planet for at least a week. It makes ZERO sense. The moment she got on her feet she should've said, "Hold on guys, there's someone still on that planet. He saved my life and we need to save him."

 

Why wait a week?

[miracole]

I thought he looked like a young Jeremy Sisto

 

That's exactly the first thing I thought when I saw him.  I didn't even realize that it was Sean from Nikita until I was reading this board.

[TVSpectator]

Haha nope. But thanks for the link!

Your welcome. When I saw it I thought of your post (and sorry for the late reply, but I was only able to type that little bit before going to work today). Yes, it does seem that Jemma and Will are on Ego, but they probably don't know it. I wonder if this mean we will be getting a Guardians of the Galaxy and/or a Fanatic Four (alright, I guess they can't do this reference without running into some of their contract issues with WB) references later this season?

 

As with the Jemma/Fitz pairing, I honestly prefer if they stay friends, but I really don't care if they do hook up. Although, the whole they are/aren't they?/love triangles are, IMO, not a welcoming part to any story, so I do hope that they drop the whole romance angle and just focus on saving Will.  I won't care if Jemma still likes Will over Fitz, but I do hope that Fitz just moves on, if that's the case.  That being said, I did think that this episode was a good episode and a very different episode from other Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Plus, having the possibility of a living planet may lead to some interesting stories for the show. 

 

Okay, my final thoughts are.. since in the flashbacks we saw Will burying his dead teammates, did anyone else was thinking that maybe It (or the planet) was using their bodies as props? What if It was somehow controlling the dead bodies of Will's teammates (and if it is Ego, I think it will make sense that he is using his tentacles to manipulate the dead bodies, which just add the  creepiness to the planet and might explain why Jemma is  freak out. She probably thought she saw some kind of zombie) and also how can someone/something decomposed when we didn't see any major animals/insects on that planet. So, what is causing the bodies, of all the humans who went through the portal, to decompose into skeletons?

Edited October 30, 2015 by TVSpectator

[Jack Kerouac]

Apparently, Elizabeth Henstridge says she filmed her PTSD scenes before they let her read the script for Episode 3. That explains why her PTSD was so stupid - she had no idea what or why she was playing it.

[VCRTracking]

As soon as the person keeping Jemma prisoner was revealed to be good looking and age appropriate I knew where the story was going to go. Not that the cliché was badly written or acted but I really wish Will had been an alien to link in with the GOTG franchise or even a crotchety old human who Jemma didn't get on with particularly well.

 

I think once Jemma mentioned Will Fitz knew unfortunately where the story was going too. I don't think she would tell him Will was good looking but anybody who's an astronaut would have to be "alpha". And if he were gay Jemma would immediately mention that.  I can picture Fitz already putting it together in his mind the scenario of a heterosexual man stranded alone 14 years suddenly meeting and spending time with Jemma, who to Fitz is the most wonderful, beautiful woman in the world, well.... Fitz might have been dreading it but he's prepared by the time Jemma finishes her story.

Edited October 30, 2015 by VCRTracking

[TVSpectator]

Apparently, Elizabeth Henstridge says she filmed her PTSD scenes before they let her read the script for Episode 3. That explains why her PTSD was so stupid - she had no idea what or why she was playing it.

^^^Well, there's that explanation. So maybe Henstridge just went with what she thought Jemma would do then?

[Emily Thrace]

Just wait until Jemma is back on Earth with Will, and Will joins Shield, and they're together, and finally Fitz finds someone and Jemma realizes it really was Fitz she loved all along, and I bounce my head off a rock.

 

I actually think it would be interesting to see Will come back to earth and have them just fall apart because they don't really have much in common besides what they went through.

 

With regards to tptb choosing to have Simmons stranded with a man rather than a woman I think tptb were dammed if they did dammed if they didn't. If they put to women on the other side of the portal instead of Will.   Either they keep that relationship platonic and then the show gets accused of being homophobic and unrealistic or Jemma gets involved with a woman and the show gets accused of being homophobic when she inevitably goes back to FItz. (Having been in the Grey's forum when they had Callie date a man briefly last year I'm now convinced the internet does not believe in bisexuality). Also since Simmons has only shown interest in men prior to this and been involved with one on the show previously it would have felt rather forced and more like it was the situation rather than any real feelings on Jemma's part. It may seem cliche but sometimes the obvious solution really is the correct one.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Emily Thrace

[Jack Kerouac]

Or they could have gone the non clichéd way and had it be a woman and they were just kick ass besties giving the world a punch in the nutsack. No idiotic romance angle.

[Jack Kerouac]

From an interview with Elizabeth

“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.”

“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."

Yay! More angst!

[paigow]

Yay! More angst!

Fitz will eventually morph into Vince Vaughn from True Detective S2. "It's like blue balls in the heart". "Am I diminished?" 

[thuganomics85]

If they wanted to avoid any chance at romance, I guess they could have stranded Simmons with Groot and Rocket Raccoon, but I guess the budget wouldn't be able to cover that...

[shrewd.buddha]

Apparently, Elizabeth Henstridge says she filmed her PTSD scenes before they let her read the script for Episode 3. That explains why her PTSD was so stupid - she had no idea what or why she was playing it.

Another example of why this show is hovering at the mediocre level and a reminder that paying attention too closely will only result in frustration. It's hard to believe there is a small army of personnel working on this show but they cannot manage to coordinate details such as these which are fairly significant. 

 

The show runners appear to think that viewers only care about the  "rah rah" for the performance by the actress, or being  "OMG" about the relationship angst. 

And while it was an interesting change of pace, the episode is going to look odd or even embarrassing from an overall story point of view, which is a shame.

 

Besides the disappearing/reappearing necklace ...  and an instantly built bamboo jail cell ...  and campfires inside an enclosed cave structure (I think I saw that) .. the following does not compute : 

A) Simmons, who's specialty is biology, manages to use a cell phone and old NASA equipment to determine that the monolith-portal opens on a regular schedule determined by the rotation of the blue-filter planet's moon. She manages to successfully determine when and where the next occurrence will happen. 

but ...

B) Meanwhile,  Fitz, with all the resources of SHIELD - and the world - spends the same six months determining that the monolith-portal opens on a completely random schedule -- and might be triggered by the presence of alien DNA. This theory appears to hold true when Daisy-Skye walks into the lab. And yet these random, DNA or vibration triggered portal openings do not throw off Simmons' calculations on the planet. 

 

C) Simmons determines that the portal opens at ever-changing locations, because of the blue-filter planet's revolutions -- they even have to hike a long way to make it to the next scheduled opening...

D) However when Fitz  triggers the portal opening with vibrations, the portal opens within a short distance of where Simmons and Will are sitting. 

 

I believe these type of inconsistencies are why many people think that maybe the experience was hallucinated by Simmons ... because that would make more sense.

Like I said, this show only seems to reward the casual viewer. Paying too close attention will only lead to tears and headaches.. 

Edited October 30, 2015 by shrewd.buddha

[KatWay]

 

Either they keep that relationship platonic and then the show gets accused of being homophobic and unrealistic or Jemma gets involved with a woman and the show gets accused of being homophobic when she inevitably goes back to FItz. (Having been in the Grey's forum when they had Callie date a man briefly last year I'm now convinced the internet does not believe in bisexuality). Also since Simmons has only shown interest in men prior to this and been involved with one on the show previously it would have felt rather forced and more like it was the situation rather than any real feelings on Jemma's part. It may seem cliche but sometimes the obvious solution really is the correct one.

I don't really understand this reasoning.

 

If there had been a woman on the other side, or hell, an older man (which would have been much more realistic since Will having been there for 14 years means he must have been, like, 20 when he was an astronaut and that's just completely ridiculous), nobody would have expected Simmons to fall in love with them. They could have instead played up the "can she trust him/her" and a friendship growing out of solitude. There were a bazillion other possibilities they could have explored with this storyline but the writers went with the obvious "space boyfriend" route instead. 

No relationship angst and pining, plenty of other angsty feelings to explore and a variety of possible twists. Voila, you have a storyline that isn't a total cliché.

 

Not to mention can they not even try to keep a sense of continuity??? This Simmons was getting ready for a date, chill and peaceful when she was whisked back, so how does that gel with the feral, traumatised Simmons from episode 1? It's like they can't even keep their story straight for four episodes.

[Jack Kerouac]

I don't really understand this reasoning.

 

If there had been a woman on the other side, or hell, an older man (which would have been much more realistic since Will having been there for 14 years means he must have been, like, 20 when he was an astronaut and that's just completely ridiculous), nobody would have expected Simmons to fall in love with them. They could have instead played up the "can she trust him/her" and a friendship growing out of solitude. There were a bazillion other possibilities they could have explored with this storyline but the writers went with the obvious "space boyfriend" route instead. 

No relationship angst and pining, plenty of other angsty feelings to explore and a variety of possible twists. Voila, you have a storyline that isn't a total cliché.

 

Not to mention can they not even try to keep a sense of continuity??? This Simmons was getting ready for a date, chill and peaceful when she was whisked back, so how does that gel with the feral, traumatised Simmons from episode 1? It's like they can't even keep their story straight for four episodes.

Yeah, I agree. I think a combination of poor writing, really good acting and behind the scenes screwups made this episode problematic. Simmons' PTSD, her waiting a week before telling anyone about Space Boyfriend, the fact that the two are going to keep their work on restoring the monolith secret, all of it is just kinda dumb.

But at least we gets weeks of angst and Fitzsimmons giving each other the moo moo eyes. YAWN.

[KirkB]

It's a little baffling, actually. They could conceivably have used the PTSD to explain why she didn't mention Will for a week or so, she was so traumatized she wasn't speaking or thinking straight, except they kind of abandoned the whole thing immediately after introducing it, which turns a potentially interesting storyline into either a missed opportunity or a mess. 

[Jack Kerouac]

It's a little baffling, actually. They could conceivably have used the PTSD to explain why she didn't mention Will for a week or so, she was so traumatized she wasn't speaking or thinking straight, except they kind of abandoned the whole thing immediately after introducing it, which turns a potentially interesting storyline into either a missed opportunity or a mess. 

 

Completely agree. sadcatpanda over on Reddit (I know, I know), compiled a small list of weird inconsistencies on the episode:

 

• Andrew mentions Chilean miners. Simmons says, "But they had each other." Cut to the next episode, where Simmons finds Will within a month and for the next 5 months has a friend to watch her back and a place safe from all the horrors above.

   

• "The curiosity faded when the fear set in." When we saw Simmons get captured by Will, she seemed to still be in high spirits. Well, as high as they could be, anyway. Later on, Simmons found a friend and was busy for the most of the 5 months trying to figure a way out. She was determined. We never see the Broken Simmons that came through the portal, or at least I didn't.

   

• Simmons gets extracted from Blue Planet and doesn't say anything about Will for A WEEK. Even if she thought he got taken by It, Simmons is the kind of person who would say, we have to go back to get his body. Simmons is the type of person who would want to find his family and allow them to mourn him with a funeral with a body. Also, why wouldn't she Google this guy, just to make sure he's real?

   

• Simmons wakes up in bed with a shiv in a PTSDy cold sweat. Like she's used to someone hunting her. Even Fitz mentions, "she said she was being hunted." However, in 3x05 we see that she's been (relatively) safe from It for the past 5 months, in a secure bunker.

   

• That tentacle thing Simmons hacked up for dinner was... definitely sentient, no? Did it not count as fauna? Bobbi mentions that Simmons reported "flora, no fauna." Maybe this is just nitpicking, but I find it weird. Maybe it was like a Venemous Tentacula, but edible.

 

Many inconsistencies abound.

[shrewd.buddha]

There is also this question: If Fitz thought the monolith was a portal, why was he not trying to send care packages to Simmons? You know, like food, water ... condoms ..? 

[benteen]

I have to admit, that's lazy and inexcuseable on the part of the showrunners not to have informed Elizabeth Henstridge on what really happened.  Why the hell were they trying to hide it?  The episodes were so close to each other you would think any showrunner/writer worth their salt would have that coordinated for consistency.  Lazy and inexplicable.

[Dandesun]

If they wanted to avoid any chance at romance, I guess they could have stranded Simmons with Groot and Rocket Raccoon, but I guess the budget wouldn't be able to cover that...

 

Rocket would have gotten him and Groot off that planet within an hour. Honestly, one of my favorite things about Rocket (especially comic!Rocket) is how smart he is and how happy he is to tell any Earth-bound superhero how primitive they actually are. (He treats Tony Stark like a child and it's hilarious.)

Edited October 30, 2015 by Dandesun

[benteen]

Rocket would have gotten him and Groot off that planet within an hour. Honestly, one of my favorite things about Rocket (especially comic!Rocket) is how smart he is and how happy he is to tell any Earth-bound superhero how primitive they actually are. (He treats Tony Stark like a child and it's hilarious.)

 

Simmons would have been a fun addition to the Guardians crew.

[tennisgurl]

That is what really gets me. You have the whole freaking Marvel universe at your disposal. You have aliens and gods and magic and robots and all kinds of batshit insanity right there, waiting to be tapped into. Instead, we get boring space boyfriend (he`s not even an alien, or from the distant past, or a robot or anything cool) and his boring romance with Jemma, who is anything but boring herself. Its just such a missed opportunity to tap into some of the weirder corners of the Marvel verse (and we know the MCU has stopped being afraid of getting weird. I mean, Howard the Duck y'all) and do something interesting. But the more I think about this plot, the more I get sad at the wasted potential. 

 

I feel like the audience was Fitz in this episode. As soon as it turned out that they guy who captured Jemma was a hot young American guy, he knew, and we knew, exactly what was coming. We all dreaded it, we all hoped it wouldn't be true, but...it was. 

[mac123x]

Apparently, Elizabeth Henstridge says she filmed her PTSD scenes before they let her read the script for Episode 3. That explains why her PTSD was so stupid - she had no idea what or why she was playing it.

 

I find that baffling, and not at all plausible.  This episode had all the hallmarks of a second unit episode.

1.  Focused on one member of the cast

2.  Said cast member is conveniently absent from another episode

3.  Shot in a different location

 

I figured they filmed this at the same time they were filming the pilot with the remaining cast, i.e., out of order, so that EH would have already done all her stuff on Planet Blue Filter before she was rescued.  I guess not.

[Jack Kerouac]

I find that baffling, and not at all plausible.  This episode had all the hallmarks of a second unit episode.

1.  Focused on one member of the cast

2.  Said cast member is conveniently absent from another episode

3.  Shot in a different location

 

I figured they filmed this at the same time they were filming the pilot with the remaining cast, i.e., out of order, so that EH would have already done all her stuff on Planet Blue Filter before she was rescued.  I guess not.

I would agree, but she said it in an interview. I'll try and find the link for you.

 

Another question to add to the list of (possible) inconsistencies in this episode:

 

Why did Will have a ready-made human-sized cage in his underground Lair of Love when he hasn't seen a human being in a very, very long time? Why is it under ground? According to his own flashback, his team went nuts when their Base Camp was above ground.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Jack Kerouac

[DeLurker]

He had 14 years of nothing to do and he's not very sciencey. 

[Loandbehold]

 

Why did Will have a ready-made human-sized cage in his underground Lair of Love when he hasn't seen a human being in a very, very long time? Why is it under ground? According to his own flashback, his team went nuts when their Base Camp was above ground.

My hypothesis is that, after either the first or second scientist killed himself, when he saw similar behavior, he built the cage so that he could sleep and not worry someone would sneak out and kill themselves. Even if he thought they'd never get rescued by NASA, he wanted to try to have a companion so he wouldn't be alone. a fanwank, but it's all I could come up with.

[Jack Kerouac]

My hypothesis is that, after either the first or second scientist killed himself, when he saw similar behavior, he built the cage so that he could sleep and not worry someone would sneak out and kill themselves. Even if he thought they'd never get rescued by NASA, he wanted to try to have a companion so he wouldn't be alone. a fanwank, but it's all I could come up with.

And then he moved the cage piece by piece into the underground love cage? Remember that all of his companions went nutso while they were still above ground.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Jack Kerouac

[blueray]

And then he moved the cage piece by piece into the underground love cage? Remember that all of his companions went nutso while they were still above ground.

Were they? The way he was describing what happened, it could have taken place over a few years. But I was confused why he had the cage too. Did he say?

There is also this question: If Fitz thought the monolith was a portal, why was he not trying to send care packages to Simmons? You know, like food, water ... condoms ..? 

When he realized it was a portal was in the episode. He and the team then went on a mission that resulted in rescuing Simmons. There was no time for care packages.

Edited October 31, 2015 by blueray

[Jack Kerouac]

Were they? The way he was describing what happened, it could have taken place over a few years. But I was confused why he had the cage too. Did he say?

 

He told her about the first two astronauts:

 

1. Austin jumped off a cliff.

    

2. Brubacher lit himself on fire.

    

3. Last guy took an axe to the supplies and then Will took an axe to him.

 

They showed Will 'axing' the last one a question (heh). They were both above ground and the NASA tents could be seen behind them, along with all the supplies. At this point, it seems as if they are all above ground. It would follow then that Will made the cage either above ground and then moved it below or he made it below for whatever reason.

 

If I had to fanwank, I would probably say he was following Simmons for a while and then made the cage to contain her. That's some Bob the Builder level construction speed, that's for sure.

 

But who knows? I think we have given this much more thought than the writers have.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Jack Kerouac

[TVSpectator]

He told her about the first two astronauts:

 

1. Austin jumped off a cliff.

    

2. Brubacher lit himself on fire.

    

3. Last guy took an axe to the supplies and then Will took an axe to him.

 

They showed Will 'axing' the last one a question (heh). They were both above ground and the NASA tents could be seen behind them, along with all the supplies. At this point, it seems as if they are all above ground. It would follow then that Will made the cage either above ground and then moved it below or he made it below for whatever reason.

 

If I had to fanwank, I would probably say he was following Simmons for a while and then made the cage to contain her. That's some Bob the Builder level construction speed, that's for sure.

 

But who knows? I think we have given this much more thought than the writers have.

 

Could've he made  the  cage, in the first place, to catch "It"?

[Emily Thrace]

Or they could have gone the non clichéd way and had it be a woman and they were just kick ass besties giving the world a punch in the nutsack. No idiotic romance angle.

 

Except that wouldn't suit the point of the story which is keeping Fitz and Simmons apart. True it was also about forcing the characters to grow but it was also about the impact on FitzSimmons as a unit. A new best friend wouldn't have the same impact on that relationship a new lover would. A character who grow in isolation(A big part of Daisy's problem is how little she interacts with anyone but Coulson) is just dull as one who doesn't grow at all. Seeing how that growth and change affect other characters is a big part of where the drama is.

 

I also think that some would call the show homophobic for not allowing Simmons to fall in love with a woman.  True they would probably be a lot of the hardcore slash types but I also think they would have a point. Personally I do think the BFF scenario is unrealistic as well. Prisoner effect is a real and a fairly well documented phenomenon. I think Simmons might have fallen for whoever was on the other side of the portal due to the situation.

 

Personally the fact that the story doesn't really change if Will is Willamina means the story is actually quite feminist (Or it was Fitz instead of Jemma who got sucked in for that matter). Especially since Jemma will probably be the one ultimately rescuing Will from that place. To me feminist storytelling doesn't always mean showing that female characters "don't need a man" It just means showing women as capable and strong which this episode did. I also think this episode did a good job of showing that Will needed Jemma too. Everyone needs someone sometime whether they're a man or a woman. 

 

Also the fire forged friends thing is just as much a trope as space boyfriend. I actually think Star Trek has had more episodes about the first rather than the second actually. The Quark/ Odo stranded one is actually a personal favorite of mine its hysterically funny. . 

[Jack Kerouac]

I also think that some would call the show homophobic for not allowing Simmons to fall in love with a woman.

I don't get that. How is it homophobic if a straight women doesn't fall in love with another woman?

And you're probably right. Keeping Fitz and Simmons apart was probably the whole point of the episode, which when you think about it is pretty stupid in and of itself. We watch that dance for a whole season last year and I had my fill thank you very much.

[paigow]

Simmons actually met this guy...

[Sakura12]

If she did meet a girl, you can bet that there would be people shipping them. Then they'd get mad if they didn't hook up saying that if it was a guy Simmons would've hooked up with him (like she did).

 

There really is no winning in that situation. Shippers are going to get pissed off no matter what. Which is why I don't ship. I don't care who Jemma wants to sleep with and I don't care who Fitz wants to sleep with. 

 

And despite not knowing the whole story Elizabeth Henstridge did an amazing job with this episode. 

[HistoryGirl]

Completely agree. sadcatpanda over on Reddit (I know, I know), compiled a small list of weird inconsistencies on the episode:

 

• Andrew mentions Chilean miners. Simmons says, "But they had each other." Cut to the next episode, where Simmons finds Will within a month and for the next 5 months has a friend to watch her back and a place safe from all the horrors above.

   

• "The curiosity faded when the fear set in." When we saw Simmons get captured by Will, she seemed to still be in high spirits. Well, as high as they could be, anyway. Later on, Simmons found a friend and was busy for the most of the 5 months trying to figure a way out. She was determined. We never see the Broken Simmons that came through the portal, or at least I didn't.

 

One correction: Simmons found Will (or rather, Will found Simmons) at approximately month 3.  They first kiss with 47 days to Fitz's rescue.  

 

As for the reveal to Andrew-- you're totally right.  I'd forgotten she'd mentioned she was very alone. Hmm... 

Edited October 31, 2015 by HistoryGirl

[KatWay]

 

If she did meet a girl, you can bet that there would be people shipping them. Then they'd get mad if they didn't hook up saying that if it was a guy Simmons would've hooked up with him (like she did).

Okay, fine, whatever, let's just accept that even though I don't think it's true.

 

What if it had been an older, less attractive guy/an older, less attractive woman? There you go, shipping problem solved. There would have been plenty of other options to explore with this storyline but the writers as always chose the most predictable route possible. Love triangle. Wow, what innovative and creative storytelling, I am in awe.

 

Not to mention the plotholes and continuity fails in this episode. I really like Simmons and some of these characters, but this show is still about as mediocre as it could possibly be considering the opportunities at its disposal.

[romantic idiot]

An alien would have been fun. And I may have liked Alien space boyfriend better than human space boyfriend.

 

Oh well. At least it is not a baby.

[Jack Kerouac]

If she did meet a girl, you can bet that there would be people shipping them. Then they'd get mad if they didn't hook up saying that if it was a guy Simmons would've hooked up with him (like she did).

 

There really is no winning in that situation. Shippers are going to get pissed off no matter what. Which is why I don't ship. I don't care who Jemma wants to sleep with and I don't care who Fitz wants to sleep with. 

 

And despite not knowing the whole story Elizabeth Henstridge did an amazing job with this episode. 

 

Very true. I just wish they hadn't gone the completely predictable route.

 

And yes, Elizabeth Henstridge and Harlequin Romance Space Boyfriend both did excellent jobs acting wise.

 

Not to mention the plotholes and continuity fails in this episode. I really like Simmons and some of these characters, but this show is still about as mediocre as it could possibly be considering the opportunities at its disposal.

 

This episode didn't do anyone any favours in the whole 'I like the characters' way.

 

An alien would have been fun. And I may have liked Alien space boyfriend better than human space boyfriend.

 

Oh well. At least it is not a baby.

 

Yet. Just wait - Simmons is pregnant with a space baby.

[Captain Carrot]

I actually think it would be interesting to see Will come back to earth and have them just fall apart because they don't really have much in common besides what they went through.

 

 

This is what I'm hoping for, and why I'm reserving judgement on the astronaut boyfriend. I would love it if Fitz and Simmons rescue Will. Then Will and Simmons realize that they don't work as a couple within three episodes.