With the surprise reveal of Fitz at the end of last episode, it’s time for us to see his side of the story. We find out what happened to him and see an old friend in “Rewind.” As I’d expect, we end back in the infamous diner again. This time, after talking to Simmons for a bit, Fitz ends up alone and confused. Just to make things more disorienting, as Fitz is still trying to figure out what’s going on, the military storms in and arrests him. They demand to know where the others are, proving that everyone’s a bit confused.

Fitz gets hustled off to an interrogation room, where the male and female agents don’t believe his story. I don’t blame them. While it’s true, his story is kind of unbelievable. We do find out that General Talbot is out of the picture after being shot by the Daisy LMD, which hasn’t helped SHIELD’s credibility any (probably also why Adrian Pasdar is over on Supergirl now). They aren’t believing him about the LMD’s or Ada for that matter. Finally, General Hale, another of the brass we’ve seen before, comes in, takes charge, and sends Fitz off to a cell, now clad in prison orange.

After a while, he gets dragged back to interrogation again, and hooked up to a very high tech lie detector. The machine backs up Fitz’s story, and they eventually reach an accommodation. Fitz is as desperate to find his team as the military is, so he agrees to work with them. His demands are simple: pen, paper, books, and a way to watch some soccer games. A great deal of the rest of the episode is montages of Fitz in his cell, researching, working out, screaming at the soccer matches, and marking his days in captivity with drawings of little monkey heads. Whimsical critter, Fitz.

In the next meeting, Fitz is no longer in cuffs. One of his theories is that maybe he’s mentally ill and doesn’t know what he did, but his captors, in an odd moment of helpfulness, prove that isn’t true. He remembers a high pitched noise before the vanishing, and requests more books. He also asks for a letter of his to be published in a soccer fan magazine, which they agree to send along after they run all sorts of tests on it. They’re not fools, his captors. After another montage of time, we learn he’s been in there six months. When Fitz floats the idea SHIELD was abducted by aliens, General Hale says he’s no help and is about to toss him in a deep dark hole when they get word that his attorney has arrived.

This is where they lose me a bit. The attorney is the long-missing Lance Hunter. While it’s great to see him again, there’s no facial recognition here? A big-time mercenary who has ties to SHIELD doesn’t trip their alerts? At any rate, Hunter was tipped off by something in Fitz’s letters that the military missed (we never learn what). After a series of almost comedic slapstick events, Hunter and Fitz finally escape to an old, beat-up RV.

While the military tries to figure out what happened, we learn things are even worse than we knew. While Fitz has been in custody and the others missing, SHIELD has been disbanded (again) and defunded. That’s going to get complicated if they get another season. He also finds out what Hunter’s been up to since he disappeared from the show. We at least get a few mentions of Bobbi Morse, who doesn’t turn up (likely because Adrianne Palicki has moved on to The Orville). Using some equipment from the RV, Fitz manages to get a lead on the truck that apparently took his friends.

Eventually, Fitz and Hunter end up at the home of the large Man In Black we’ve seen before, who helped grab the team. The man, Enoch, turns out to be an alien sent to observe Earth, and he’s been here a long time. He’s very calm about the men holding him at gun point as he relates his story. Enoch tells them where, or when, the team is now, which Fitz accepts and Hunter is dumbstruck about. Enoch also tells them about a prophet.

Enoch brings them to the prophet, who is not at all what I’d have expected. Fitz and Hunter try and figure out to how to get more information while Fitz’s recent captors somehow trace them to Enoch’s place, where they get their own big surprise. They then somehow find the heroes in the park where they are meeting, and Enoch pulls off a miraculous escape for them.

On the run again, Enoch brings them to a hidden facility called the Lighthouse (interestingly, the same thing Kasius’ place is called). Hunter and Fitz have a lot of questions about the place, but Enoch evidently doesn’t have the answers. The heroes go into hiding as General Hale and company try and figure out what’s going on.

Hunter and company realize that the prophet has a tie to a case of theirs from the past. They talk about how knowledge of the future doesn’t necessarily let them change it. Hunter gives Fitz some good-natured teasing about his relationship with Simmons. They get philosophical about the nature of the universe, and Fitz wonders why he was left behind when the others were taken. After a lot of talking, Enoch finally comes up with an idea about how he might be able to reunite Fitz and his team.

Their secret lead takes them to Blue Raven Ridge, which annoys Hunter for understandable reasons. They manage to get in, and find a whole lot of confiscated SHIELD equipment. When the guards come storming in, Fitz shows he’s been paying some attention during the combat training at SHIELD. I think it’s the most effective we’ve ever seen him during a fight. Eventually, they get away with what they need and some liberated SHIELD toys. When they return to the Lighthouse, Enoch puts his plan in motion. We also see how General Hale deals with failure in her subordinates. Enoch’s plan, as we knew before the episode starts, works, and Fitz ends up in the right time, eventually.

What I liked: This was a great episode. Fitz often doesn’t get a lot of screen time or credit, and he was fantastic this episode. Enoch is an interesting character, as is the Prophet. Hale is more ruthless than I thought. It was great to see Hunter again.

What I didn’t: I get why it didn’t happen, but I so wish Bobbi had come back, too. I really don’t like what we found out about SHIELD. It makes worry even more for the show’s future. Collectively, SHIELD has to be the unluckiest agency in the Cinematic Marvel Universe.

I enjoyed this episode a lot. I’ll give a 4.5 out of 5. Now we’ll see what the team can do with them all at least in the same time again.