"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Favorite Characters: Jemma Simmons (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)


Superficially, to the extent that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is at least Whedon-adjacent if not part of the technical Whedon oeuvre, Simmons is the Willow, the Fred, the Kaylee.  In other words, she’s the nerdy and/or techie female who’s heartmeltingly adorable and generally considered to be softer than most of her teammates.  The same can be said of all four characters, but just as the other three are still their own women within that archetype, there’s more to Simmons than those surface details (Simmons-related spoilers.)



Looking back over the seasons, it’s kind of crazy how much S.H.I.E.L.D.’s loveable bio-chemist has grown and changed in response to the show’s wild goings-on.  Simmons begins the series insanely brilliant but 100% green, untested in the field but champing at the bit to try.  She’s bubbly in a sweet-yet-awkward way with all her new team members, nothing gets her more excited than science, and she’s ready to dive headfirst into any discovery.  For her, S.H.I.E.L.D. missions provide a treasure trove of innovation and analysis.



It doesn’t take long before the demands of S.H.I.E.L.D. start chipping away at all that brightness and enthusiasm.  Early in season one, she nearly joins the cat in suffering death-by-curiosity, which forces her not to be quite so gungho in her “ask questions first, ensure safety later” approach to field work.  The betrayal of a close team member makes her less trusting, while the serious injury of another and the death of a third affect her deeply.  Her feelings of guilt and helplessness open the door to fear, and when unexplained changes start happening to a fourth team member, Simmons’s immediate response is to be suspicious, to neutralize the unknowable (she softens in this regard later, but moving forward, curiosity and fear still often go hand in hand for her.)



This all might sound kind of depressing, like her major arc is “Simmons hardens and learns to be distrustful.”  This is true (although she does still maintain a fair amount of her scientific enthusiasm and love for her team members,) but as her open artlessness takes a knock, her savviness improves.  The show’s most recent season sees her holding her own on an undercover assignment, something that would have seemed impossible in season one – the woman may be a genius, but in those days, she couldn’t convincingly fool someone to all-but-literally save her life.  She feels she’s been a liability in dangerous field situations one too many times, and so she’s received training from May to protect herself more capably.



And of course, there’s season 3’s biggest test of Simmons:  her harrowing experience of being sucked through a portal and marooned on an alien planet for over six months.  At first, completely alone, she manages to keep herself from losing her mind with isolation and fear, she survives in a harsh wasteland, she hunts, kills, and eats unknown alien fauna, she records her scientific observations, and she does what little she can to try and facilitate any rescue efforts that may be going on back home.  I don’t mind her meeting Will, and I don’t really think it diminishes anything she does there.  She’s already proven that she can survive and keep her head, so it’s not like she “needed a man to save her.”  Will’s companionship is a comfort to her, and even the outdated equipment he has left over from his apparent NASA mission is enough to give Simmons the resources she needs to work out how the portal works in conjunction with the planet and figure out the best way of trying to get back.

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