What They Become: FitzSimmons
Welcome to the recurring series “What They Become” where you will find a look back at the first half of season two. Journey along as we cover where our main characters have been in the last ten episodes of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.
Miss a post? Get caught up: Agent Melinda May | Grant Ward
This time I tackle two people at once in FitzSimmons, so let’s see how this goes!
At the End of Season One: Rescued from the middle of the ocean by Nick Fury with her health in tact, unlike her counterpart.
At the Start of Season Two: Mysteriously gone, though we find out she is working undercover at Hydra. The Simmons we’ve been seeing amongst SHIELD members is a figment of Fitz’s imagination.
At the Winter Finale: Back amongst her SHIELD cohorts, staring down a hole with Fitz where Agent Triplett has just disappeared.
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At the End of Season One: Summed up in one succinct comment from Simmons: “He’s alive,” after being rescued from the middle of the ocean by Nick Fury.
At the Start of Season Two: Broken, mentally unstable, and lost. With Simmons in Hydra, his mind has manifested a version of Simmons to help him cope with his injury and the loss of his best friend.
At the Winter Finale: Staring down a hole with Simmons where Agent Triplett has just disappeared.
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The In-Between: These are two characters who have changed drastically since the season started. No longer are they the same FitzSimmons that we knew from season one. Their scenes together have been nothing short of awkward and painful to watch. Unspoken words have hung between them and both characters were too wary for the majority of the episodes to open up that can of worms.
Simmons: Since she started her stint with Hydra, Jemma Simmons has become more adept at lying. She’s no Black Widow or even Bobbi Morse, but it got her through months with Hydra. Think back to the agent she was in season one: she almost always stayed in the lab, behind the scenes, unable to lie convincingly to anyone. Skye points this out on numerous occasions.
Since her return to SHIELD, she has had a budding friendship with Bobbi as well as a bit of flirtation with Triplett. She came back into SHIELD with a hard drive full of Hydra intel and an insider’s look at Daniel Whitehall. She seems more sure of herself, but still a little timid. Having her life be threatened by Hydra on numerous occasions will do that to a person.
Fitz: Obviously the most affected character since the end of season one, Leo Fitz has had the most obvious change this season. He started on the fringes of the SHIELD group, keeping to himself and literally standing in the dark corners when there’s a group gathering. It’s only the budding friendship with Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie and Mack’s support and reassurance that puts Fitz back into the group. Even Coulson begins to rely on him again and by the end of these first ten episodes, Fitz is more sure of himself than before.
Rather than being completely debilitated by what Ward did and the traumatic effects that followed, he fights through it. He does not freeze up anymore and only has one “bad hand” that can’t quite translate what his brain wants it to do. Or move fast enough. But it still works.
I have noticed a lot of disdain around the internet toward Fitz and his character this season. He started out relatively worthless, with even Coulson writing him off as a useless agent. Maybe it’s because I love Fitz, but I have actually enjoyed him a lot more this season. Why? I’ll tell you.
The writers didn’t make Fitz into a hopeless case, like so many other television shows might have done. They didn’t follow the usual tropes. They made it less about his feelings for Simmons and more about his recovery and path to becoming a SHIELD agent again. And even when they brought up their last few moments at the bottom of the ocean, while heartbreaking, they didn’t focus on Fitz playing the “I’m still in love with you” card.
While that may be the case as to why he wants to move from the lab to the garage, they don’t use that as the only reason. His relationship with Simmons is no longer what is used to be; his relationship with Mack is more important to his well-being and his sanity.
Where They May Be Going: This depends on how Mack fares after being inhabited (or whatever you would like to call it). An episode or so ago, FitzSimmons finally talked about their awkwardness around each other and Fitz told her that he would be moving to work in the garage with Mack in order to give her control of the lab. No longer can he work with her, but he can work for her.
If Mack is fine, Fitz will follow him to the garage and leave Simmons in charge of the lab, working for her when duty calls. If Mack has troubles, well… who knows how Fitz will respond? He may head to the garage anyway as a sort of sanctuary because without Mack, who will help him now?
They won’t be our nerdy scientist couple anymore. I don’t even know if it’s fair to keep calling them FitzSimmons, but we have seen flashes of their old dynamic coming through, whether it’s Simmons finishing Fitz’s sentences correctly or the fact that they can talk now without it being horribly awkward.
Seeing how far both these characters have come since the start of the season warms my heart. Agents of SHIELD started as a character-driven show with characters they tried to push on us too hard and too fast. Now that it’s settled into a rhythm, FitzSimmons adapting and maturing seems so natural.