Violet recaps Season 3 Episode 5 of Agents of SHIELD, titled 4,722 Hours, where we find out exactly what happened to Simmons while she was on the alien planet! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts about the episode.
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Episode Recap of Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 5: 4,722 Hours
The episode begins by bringing us back 6 months, to when Fitz suggested to Simmons that they go out to eat together, and then right after he leaves the room, Simmons gets swallowed up by the monolith and transported to the alien world. From there, it keeps track of how many hours she spent there.
In the first 6 hours, she takes inventory of her surroundings, but is confident Fitz will find a way to save her. After 72 hours, there’s still no sign of the sun, and Simmons starts to break down. At 79 hours, she decides to venture away from where she came through the portal, considering that she needs water, and the average person can only survive 100 hours without water. At 99 hours, a dust storm comes toward her. At 101 hours, she wakes up and finds a pool of water to drink from. She goes swimming in the water hole, and is attacked by a creature that lives there. She hacks off its tentacle and swims for safety, then eats the tentacle.
492 hours (3 weeks) in, she realizes that if she wants food, she has to go back into the water hole and kill the creature that attacked her. She is attacked again, but succeeds in killing it. She makes a fire, and cooks the creature. Throughout her ordeal, she continues to look at Fitz’s picture on her phone and talk to him as she records voice updates on her phone.
752 hours (1 month). She walks into a trap and falls into a hole. When she wakes up, she’s trapped inside a cage. A man comes by and comments, “You’re still here.” But he won’t let her out when she pleads. At 824 hours, Simmons introduces herself, and says maybe they can help each other. But he just gives her food. Later, she pretends like the food poisoned her, so he opens the door to check on her, and she takes the opportunity to escape. However, while running away, she trips and cuts her leg on a rock, so he is able to catch her. He says that “it” smells blood, and that “it” is coming. He brings her back down the hole just as a dust storm passes over. The man says that the planet is evil. They talk as Simmons bandages herself up with a first aid kit that the man has in the hole. He introduces himself as Will, and we find out that he’s been there alone for awhile, though he’s lost track of how long. We find out that NASA sent him there on a mission, and he’s been there for 14 years.
At 855 hours, Will is fascinated with the advancement of technology as he is looking at Simmons’s phone. Simmons looks at Will’s map of the area. There’s a “no fly” zone. He talks about how he and 3 other astronauts were supposed to be back within a year, though there was a possibility of no return, but he was one of the first to volunteer. Will says that “it” has a way of getting inside your mind, and that one of the other astronauts threw himself off a cliff, and another set himself on fire. The other one tried to attack him, so he fought back, and killed him. Simmons makes a deal with Will that they’ll work together to try to get home: she’ll be the voice of hope, he’ll be the voice of doom.
1490 hours (2 months). They talk about food they miss. Simmons shows Will a video with Fitz in it. He comments that “Fitz” is like her favorite word, and that he seems like more than a best friend. She concedes that they were inseparable. When she goes to bed that night, she says goodnight to the picture of Fitz, but also says “Goodnight Will,” even though he’s not in earshot.
3010 hours (4 months). Simmons is frustrated that she’s no closer to an answer than she was 2 months ago. She wants to go to the no fly zone, but Will protests. She goes outside to search for food. Off in the distance, she sees the glint of a sword, so she goes to it. There she also finds some other items. She looks up into the sky and realizes that the stars are the answer. Just then, a dust storm attacks her, and she finds herself next to a skeleton. Then she sees a cloaked figure slowly approach her, so she runs and hides behind a rock. She runs back to the hole, and tells Will “it’s coming.” Will is upset that she went to the no fly zone, though Simmons is upset that he didn’t tell her about the proof of others. Simmons thinks that the others are being sacrificed. But she says it doesn’t matter anymore, because she knows how to get them home.
3032 hours. Simmons maps out where she and Will each came through the portal, and has a plan to calculate when and where the portal will appear next. But she has to use the rest of her phone’s battery to use the computer equipment that came through with Will in order to do the calculations. She watches her birthday video with Fitz one last time, then she and Will get to work. Before the computer dies, she figures out where a portal will open, and that it will happen in 18 days. It happens to be in the no fly zone.
3561 hours. Simmons and Will make preparations for the opening of the portal. She explains that the moons affect the portal like Earth’s moon affects the tides. In case the portal doesn’t stay open long enough, Simmons has put a message in a bottle which they will throw through the portal, with all the relevant information to come get them. Since the portal is across the canyon, Will’s plan is to shoot a grappling hook across it, and they will slide across on the rope.
3575 hours. As they head to where the portal will open, they discuss what they’ll do when they get back. They also have considered that “it” might show up, so Will has brought a gun. When they get to the edge of the canyon, it’s more like 100 meters wide, rather than the expected 30. Will says “it” doesn’t want them to leave. He uses the grappling hook gun to fire the message in a bottle toward the portal, but the portal closes just before the bottle gets there. They return to the hole, and Simmons breaks down in despair, crying, saying Will was right, that there is no hope on this planet. Will says that’s what he used to think, until she showed up. They kiss.
4720 hours (about 6.5 months). It seems that Simmons and Will have settled into a domestic couples life. Their cots are now next to each other, rather than on opposite sides of the hole. They hike out together to get a glimpse of the sunrise, which won’t happen for another 18 years. Will has scavenged some wine for the occasion. Suddenly, Simmons sees a flare shoot into the sky off in the distance. She’s sure it’s Fitz, and runs toward it. But a dust storm takes over. Will takes out his gun and tells her to go on, she can make it. They get separated. Simmons sees an astronaut and thinks that NASA came for Will. But Will shouts at her not to trust it. Simmons realizes “it” is here. Will catches up to her, and again tells her to run. Will goes after “it” and we hear a gunshot. Then Simmons hears Fitz calling her name, and heads toward his voice. She looks around for Will and tries to wait for him, but goes on ahead toward Fitz, and grabs his hand.
Back to the present, where Simmons is telling Fitz this story, she says that she doesn’t know what happened to Will, if he’s alive or dead, but that she wouldn’t have survived without him. Fitz gets up and goes to the lab without saying anything. He shows her his portal research on the computer and tells her, “We’re going to get him back.”
Meanwhile, back on the alien world, we see that Will is still alive. He throws down his gun, and the sun goes away. This must have been shortly after Simmons went back through the portal, as Simmons had said they would only see the sun for a few minutes.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 3 Episode 5 of Agents of SHIELD: 4,722 Hours
This was one of my all time favorite episodes of Agents of SHIELD. There was such a build up to this story, this mystery surrounding what Simmons went through while she was on the alien planet, that I was grateful that this episode was dedicated entirely to that story. Other TV shows have done this, focus on a particular character’s storyline, I mean, and a lot of times it annoys me because it interrupts the overall story. However, in this case, I thought it was a great decision to go in this direction, because we had been waiting since the end of last season to know what happened. This was not an interruption, this was a continuation. Plus, the end of last episode, where Simmons says she’s going to tell Fitz everything, leads right into this episode. And I’ll be honest, the FitzSimmons storyline is the one that I’ve been most interested in all season, so it was fine with me to leave the other storylines on the back burner.
The episode itself was well done, and Elizabeth Henstridge’s performance was amazing. For much of the episode, her character was alone, so she had no one to play off of, but she did a great job. Although I loved the episode, I, like probably most viewers, did not like what happened. You know what I’m talking about. Will and Simmons. It started out so promising for Fitz, when Simmons first got there, and actually after she had been there awhile, Fitz was the rock that she relied on. She always had faith in him that he would find a way to rescue her. She fantasized about how their date would go. She clung to that picture and video of him. But of course, we knew what was going to happen with her and Will. It was inevitable. How convenient that the person she ends up stranded on an alien planet with just happens to be a good looking guy in her age group. It couldn’t be some old grandfatherly figure, it couldn’t be another woman. Sigh. Poor Fitz.
Despite knowing that the woman he loves is in love with someone else, Fitz doesn’t hesitate in deciding that he’s going to help Simmons get him back. He didn’t have to disclose all of the research that he’s done on the portal. He could have played dumb. But Fitz showed that he truly loves Simmons, because he wants her to be happy, even if it’s not with him. Plus, Fitz is just a good person overall, that he would want to save another person in trouble, even if saving that person means that he couldn’t be with the woman he loves. However, I’m going to guess (okay, hope) that they’ll get back to the planet, but Will is going to die in the rescue mission. Or shortly after they get him back. Or that Simmons and Will’s relationship was only based on survival, and that once they get back to the real world, they’ll find that they’re not right for each other after all. I have a feeling that Will is only a temporary character, and that he’ll be gone soon. Here’s hoping. FitzSimmons forever!
Josh’s Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 5: 4,722 Hours
A lot of times, I really don’t like when TV shows go back and use a full episode to focus on the story of one character, and what happened to them while they were gone, for whatever reason it is. I like the stories to progress ahead, and not go back and show us where things ended up. But I actually enjoyed this episode quite a bit. I really enjoyed the transformation of Gemma, from the hopeful person she was, waiting for the portal to open up, then for Fitz to save her, and her slow degradation into feeling hopeless. This episode also had a bit of a horror feel to it as well, with the mystery monster living in the pond, and the sandstorm guy. That was all very interesting to me, and I wanted to know more about this world.
I was really disappointed when this astronaut guy, Will showed up, because I knew exactly where the story would go–Simmons and he would try to figure out a way to get home, but eventually come to the conclusion they can’t and plan to live the rest of their life on this planet, and since they really don’t have a lot of options, they would fall in love. Then of course, Fitz would figure out a way to open the gate, and we figure out why Simmons wants to go back–she left her love behind. One reason this part of the storyline isn’t great to me, is that they have been dangling this carrot of Fitz and Simmons getting together for ever, and every time things look to be going the right direction, some catastrophe or outside influence mucks everything up.
But I admire Fitz’s character. His love is so strong for Simmons, and he is such a good guy, he will help her save Will from this mystery planet. Now, what I hope, which is a bit dark I admit, is that Will has succumbed to the “craziness” this Sandstorm demon influenced the other astronauts with, turning him into a villain. Of course, this could backfire, and Simmons might be even more drawn to saving Will, and Fitz will just be hopeless.
I think this introduction of Will is just another speed bump to Fitz and Simmons getting together. At some point, Will will leave the show, somehow, and maybe Fitz will get his chance. Then again, since the show writers love to put road blocks for the two, they could come up with another reason to stop them from getting together. Oh well, let’s see what happens next I guess!
Scenes from Agents of SHIELD, Season 3 Episode 6: Among Us Hide…
Here are scenes from the next episode of Agents of SHIELD, titled Among Us Hide…:
