So what happened to Jemma Simmons during the months she was missing? We’ve seen hints in her reactions to being back, but we finally get to see the details in “4722 Hours.” With Agents of SHIELD being an ensemble cast, we don’t get a lot of focus time on any of them individually as a rule. This is the first episode I can think of that was almost all just one character, and actress Elizabeth Henstridge carries it off nicely.

This is a story of isolation and desperation, which we get to see from Simmons’ point of view. She is deposited on an alien planet and after getting over her initial confusion, stays true to form and starts recording various observations on her phone, as well as expressing her faith that Fitz will come for her. Time passes, illustrated by the hour count going up in skips and jumps, and Simmons realizes that, for now at least, she’s on her own. Simmons explores and finds some wildlife, or rather, it finds her. It’s nice to see that, despite being relegated to the lab a lot of the time, she’s still a capable and well-trained SHIELD agent.

Eventually, a bit like Robinson Crusoe, she learns she’s not alone. There have been other people sent to/trapped on this world. In the interests of avoiding spoilers, I won’t say who she finds or what happens, but there are a lot of things I wouldn’t have seen coming. Eventually, she manages to work out a way home, or at least the potential for one. We finally learn both why she’s so freaked out when she’s rescued, and what was behind her surprising declaration to Bobbi about needing to go back. At the end of the episode, we see she’s been recounting all this to Fitz, who immediately begins helping her, even if it’s arguably against some of his own interests.

I realize this is a short review, but I don’t see a way to do a great deal more without spoiling some big surprises.

What I liked: It was a great performance by Elizabeth Henstridge. Jemma is more than just a helpless scientist. There were some interesting concepts on the alien, never-named world. Simmons is finally sharing things with Fitz about what happened to her.

What I didn’t: I don’t blame Simmons a bit for anything she did while she was gone, but do the writers have something against Fitz? He’s been treated almost like a mascot at times, nearly killed, suffered a serious injury with major ramifications, and now has another unpleasant surprise.

I’ll give the episode a 4 out of 5. I think they did some good work here, and gave Fitz and Simmons a new mutual project.