Engineer Leo Fitz and biochemist Jemma Simmons are some of the most beloved characters to ever spring
from Marvel's Agents of SHIELD or, indeed, any Marvel property. The sustained strength of the
performances by Iain de Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge which bring them to life is similarly
lauded by fans. But FitzSimmons might just have an importance beyond all this - and because the
result of this month's nailbiting Patreon vote ended up going against Over the Hedge,
that importance is what we're going to talk about today. Now, obviously,
we'll need to get into the weeds of the show a bit here - so if you are looking to avoid spoilers for
a show that began airing over a decade ago, this probably isn't the video for you. Just an FYI. But
if not - let's start. Who are these characters? Well, to begin with, Fitz and Simmons are newbies.
Bright newbies, but newbies nonetheless. After graduating from the SHIELD academy,
and spending some time in the labs, they join agent Phil Coulson's team as their first
experience in the field - and that's when we meet them. Initially, they're decidedly
side characters, role players - they pop up to contribute plot-moving technobabble or to create
helpful gizmos and doohickeys (clip - FITZ: whoa whoa watch it! That's
the night-night gun! SIMMONS: It's on my stuff
and it doesn't work and theres no way we're calling it the night-night gun.)
But before too long, we do get some exceptions to that pattern. Episode 7, FZZT, sees the pair
sciencing as normal, but also sees an early highlight moment of Jemma's, as - infected
by an alien virus - she just up and jumps from a plane to try and stop the virus' spread. But don't
worry, she's ok. It's cool, but it's also one of the first times we see the sort of steel will and
instant resolve that'll become more visible in this character over the years. In the following
episode, Jemma has another important role (clip - SKYE: Just say something, anything...
SIMMONS: You certainly have a gorgeous head, don't you! I like men that are
about my height but heavier than me! SKYE: Stop talking!) and Fitz gets some
time in the spotlight, too. He's sent on a dangerous mission with Ward, and alternately
flounders (clip - WARD: *speaks Russian* FITZ: Uhm, can you ask what beers
that they have on tap?) [he's just like me fr']
and surprises (clip - FITZ: Little to the left, Vladimir. Can I
get a bit more light down here Marta? MARTA: Of course, Mishka
FITZ: Thank you sweetheart. *bar cheers as power comes back on*
FITZ: Now, let's talk business). One thing we see here is the fish-out-of-water appeal that's made
available by characters like these two - Agents of SHIELD isn't the first or last project to exploit
the fun you can have putting indoorsy types in high-stakes situations - but episodes like
this show the mileage early SHIELD gets from this. Another thing that shines through in this episode,
though, is the power of the FitzSimmons bond. It's suggested that the fire in Fitz' belly that gets
them out of South Ossetia in one piece results from a desire to show himself Ward's equal,
to prove it Jemma and to himself - but the bond's physicalised most clearly in... a
prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich, with just a hint of pesto aioli. Great,
now I'm hungry. Jemma'd made Fitz this as a packed lunch - his favourite - and this sandwich,
and what it represents, keeps Fitz going, even as he contemplates sleep in a cold, dank, Caucasian
sewer pipe. It is about the sandwich - Fitz is hungry, and come on, it sounds delicious - but
it isn't just about the sandwich (clip - SIMMONS: Oh, the sandwich, how was it?
*beat* SIMMONS: Too much aioli?
FITZ: It was delicious). Another early episode is set at the SHIELD academy, FitzSimmons's turf,
they're practically BNOCs, and, yeah, that leads to a fun shakeup of the cast's status quo. After
the season one schism they're part of a whittled down, toughened crew - and they lose that newbie
label soon enough. Their story is also a spin on that whole fairly well-worn 'friends to lovers'
thing, but the handful of roadbumps SHIELD throws their way, love triangle, time displacement,
death, along with the lengths these two go to in order to overcome them do a good job
of differentiating this take on the trope from the many others - to the point that
this is inarguably peak MCU romance, and it's not even particularly close. They're a key
part of the show, they are it's... heart. But what do I mean by heart? Because shows
aren't people, or animals, or... time lords - they don't really have hearts. When people use
language like this to analyse TV, they are of course doing so figuratively - and that
means my pithy little phrase could be standing in for a few different claims.
The fun thing here is that all of them work. I could be arguing that they're the heart of
the show because of how much they drive the plot, how much of the show's big storylines
result from their actions and their character traits. So much of Season 2 - not merely their
kinda thorny storyline, but the knock-on effects of Jemma's secondment - follow on
from what happened between them at the bottom of the sea, and that... new dynamic that emerges.
Jemma's disappearance catalyses much of the following season, as does that new dynamic
and Fitz's rescue efforts that follow. This is even more true from season 4 onward - the LMDs,
the framework, Fitz's future rescue, the season 6 search for Fitz that follows, the way season
7 springs from Jemma's clutch moves at the end of New Life - they are more or less the plot's prime
movers in the show's latter years. And while the quick overview I've just given sounds superficial,
the point I'm trying to make isn't really - again, these developments largely flow from character.
Jemma's season 2 stuff comes, in large part, from the fact that she doesn't want to confront
the aftermath of that season 1 ending, so much of Fitz' questionable choices through season 4 are
either direct daddy issues or indirect ones... you get the idea. So that's one model of... heartness
these two satisfy, but... it's not my favourite. Another way to look at this is - which characters
is a show at its best focusing on? And if you do use this lens, the answer pretty much remains the
same. There's some great, touching stuff with Coulson, Daisy gets plenty of killer material
also, but the trend that's hard to ignore is that most of this show's best episodes revolve
around the FitzSimmons duo. This, too, is more readily observable after the first year or two,
but even to begin with, the aforementioned FZZT is an early ratings spike on IMDB,
and I've seen it thrown out by fans as one of the first signs of the show's eventual quality. Later,
of course, it becomes more apparent. There are exceptions - Turn Turn Turn, What They Become,
As I Have Always Been - of course there are, but beyond this, the first real jaw-on-the-floor, wow,
this show is sick, actually, episodes of SHIELD's middle years are surely the Maveth episodes,
especially 4722 hours, which is practically a solo carry job by Jemma-slash-Henstridge. The
duo are also front and centre for the unrivalled heights of season 4 - the LMD arc is basically
the Fitz trauma arc, and let's not forget the show's absolute high-water-mark, Self-Control,
whose Fitzsimmons-focused start and wider quality I've praised before on this channel. Equally,
the peaks of season 5 are, I think, Fitz's - Rewind, and Devil Complex spring to mind,
not to mention the fact that the show's hundredth episode, that is, the milestone most TV shows use
to kind of self-consciously ruminate on their own identity? That's their wedding episode. Even the
comparatively weaker season 6 inarguably peaks in the latter-day Fitz-Simmons epic 'inescapable'.
When you think of Agents of SHIELD, you think of these episodes, you think of the stories that
alternately tear apart and smash together these characters and their attendant baggage. But does
this qualify them as the show's heart? Well... maybe? But I think I do have one better metric,
and I've been saving it for last. What is the core concept of Agents
of SHIELD? What is the show's basic conceit? A superhero world with the focus on normal people.
In a Marvel cinematic universe which had, at that point, kept the spotlight firmly on the powered,
the heroes, the great men, SHIELD's big swing was a pivoting of that spotlight away from centre
stage & toward the background players, toward the stage hands, even. SHIELD's pitch is for the human
alongside the superhuman, it's the idea that this can be just as interesting to the viewer,
even the superhero fan, the idea that we don't necessarily watch Marvel stuff for the powers,
but for the emotions, the drama, that are brought out by heightened situations and
the way characters react to them - the idea that people, just people, in a heightened world can be
as compelling as that world's heightened heroes. Sure, some of our characters do become a little
exceptional themselves. Powers are neat, a world with powers is a world with some
fantastic storytelling potential - but that isn't why you start watching this show, and
it's not really what keeps you watching, either. The real reason I think the FitzSimmons duo is the
heart of this show is that more than anyone else, they personify this core concept. They exemplify
the human, not superhuman, focus of the show. Yes, a lot of the best episodes revolve around
their input, but they never fully usurp the protagonists, they're never turned into the
main players on that stage, their position on this show is the position of this show,
they are the SHIELD to Daisy, Coulson, May, Yoyo's Avengers - and they emerge as the most captivating
part regardless. Or take the fact that they're crazy smart, but they never do a Tony Stark, never
make themselves superhuman - even though, yeah, they probably could if they really wanted to. So,
in a sense, the onscreen dynamite of FitzSimmons is SHIELD's success in miniature, because they
stay... human, and despite that, because of that... they win. Against HYDRA, against aliens,
against a universe that seems determined to keep them apart. What's more SHIELD than that?
I think that about wraps it up for this Patreon Community Video! I have a couple other videos
touching on this show which you should be able to see by clicking up in the corner now,
YouTube's added this thing where if I remind you to like and subscribe those buttons glow, isn't
that fun, and don't forget that if you want to have your say in what gets made for this channel,
you can do that too by signing up on Patreon from as little as 2 a month. Personally, I am
hoping Over the Hedge wins next time, but it's up to you! And thanks so much to all my current
supporters on YouTube and Patreon, especially Chanann, Daniel Goldhorn, Karin Kuhlemann, Magath,
Ryan Emerle, Something Something Capitalism Bad, Thomas R and WeirdyBeardy. See ya soon.