4,722 Hours

"4,722 Hours"
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode

The title card used for the episode instead of the series' usual graphics sequence.
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 5
Directed by Jesse Bochco
Written by Craig Titley
Produced by
Cinematography by Feliks Parnell
Original air date October 27, 2015 (2015-10-27)
Running time 43 minutes
Guest actors

"4,722 Hours" is the fifth episode of the third season of the American television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), revolving around the character of Jemma Simmons as she is stranded on an alien planet. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The episode was written by Craig Titley, and directed by Jesse Bochco.

Elizabeth Henstridge portrays Simmons, and is joined by series regulars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, and Iain De Caestecker. Dillon Casey guest stars as another survivor stranded on the planet. The episode was a departure from the norm for the series, focusing on a single character rather than the usual ensemble, and taking place on an alien planet. The episode was filmed in the Californian desert, with a filtering effect used to make it appear to be night on the planet, as its sun rarely rises. The episode took inspiration from multiple science fiction films, and bears similarity to The Martian, which was released close to the episode's airing.

"4,722 Hours" originally aired on ABC on October 27, 2015, and according to Nielsen Media Research, was watched by 3.81 million viewers.

Plot

Simmons agrees to tell Fitz of her six months on the planet. After being dragged through the portal, she found herself on an apparently sunless, deserted planet, where she came across a pool of water and an alien life form inhabiting it, allowing her to sustain herself until she met stranded astronaut Will Daniels. Daniels had traveled through the portal with a team of scientists in 2001, when the monolith was in the possession of NASA, but over time they had been driven mad by the planet and an evil entity upon it, each eventually dying. Simmons realized that the opening of the portal can be predicted by studying the stars and alignment of the planet's moons, and over months they were able to anticipate the next opening of the portal. When they missed it, Simmons lost hope, but found solace with Daniels and fell in love with him. When they saw a flare sent through the portal by Fitz, Simmons was able to make it to him while Daniels distracted the entity, but now Simmons wants to reopen the portal so they can return to save Daniels.

Production

Development

In September 2015, following the airing of the season's premiere in which the location of the character Jemma Simmons was revealed to be an alien planet, executive producer Jeffrey Bell stated that "at some point we will fully explore what’s happened to her". He called it "the craziest thing we’ve done....a different kind of episode".[1] The next month, Marvel announced that the episode, the fifth of the season, would be titled "4,722 Hours". It is written by Craig Titley, with Jesse Bochco directing.[2]

Writing

The decision to dedicate an entire episode to Simmons' ordeal was made so that the character would not be separated from the rest of the cast for long, but also to avoid having the second season's cliffhanger "feel worthless because she’s back and she’s fine".[3] The use of the titular hours to mark the passage of time came about after the idea of the planet not having a sunrise was set, as using days was then no longer reasonable. The series' writers room worked together to break the story, which took around an hour and a half rather than the usual few weeks. Series writer and supervising producer Brent Fletcher came up with an idea to split the 4,722 hours into five acts, with each written like the chapter of the book. The acts were given labels such as "The Stranger" and "The Plan", and this structure served as the basis for Titley's script. Though many similarities were noted between the episode and the film The Martian, Titley had not seen the film when he was writing the script, and instead was inspired by the general science fiction trope of "a person alone on a planet" and such films as Enemy Mine.[4]

Elizabeth Henstridge described the episode as "a coming-of-age story. I think we see Simmons at the start, and she’s never really been combat ready...we see her have to survive, and just to see her go on this journey from complete despair...I’d guess there’s thriller in there too."[5] On the moment in the episode where Simmons loses hope, Henstridge explained, "I never thought we'd see her get to that place....It justifies her relationship with Will, too, because she was ready to end it all and he was the one who pulled her back from the brink."[6] Concerning that relationship with new character Will Daniels, the executive producers worked with Titley to try and make it feel earned in the episode, given the fan following of 'FitzSimmons', the potential relationship between Simmons and Leo Fitz. Executive producer Jed Whedon also noted on this that the episode "wasn’t a story about the two of them on this planet, but a story about Fitz hearing this and how he will respond. He breaks your heart, at the end, she breaks your heart, and hopefully, you’re feeling for all three involved."[7]

Having the NASA astronauts travel to the planet in 2001 was a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey, which also featured a monolith, while Titley named Daniels' fellow astronauts after his favorite cinematic astronauts: Austin from The Six Million Dollar Man; Taylor from Planet of the Apes; and Brubaker from Capricorn One.[4]

Casting

In October 2015, Marvel revealed that main cast members Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Henstridge, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, and Luke Mitchell would star as Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Grant Ward, Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Lance Hunter, Bobbi Morse, Alphonso "Mack" MacKenzie, and Lincoln Campbell, respectively.[2] It was also revealed that Dillon Casey would guest star as Will Daniels.[2] Dalton, Blood, Palicki, Simmons, and Mitchell do not ultimately appear.

Whedon noted that for this episode, the majority of the series' cast basically had "a week off".[3] On the series having an episode revolving around a single character, Whedon said, "We have a lot of people on the show and we felt like this year was the year to start branching off into things like this. So, we just committed wholeheartedly".[7] In casting Casey as Daniels, the producers wanted someone who was older than Henstridge, physically unlike De Caestecker, and "doesn’t look like [Simmons'] type", to make it less clear that they would end up together.[4]

Design

For "4,722 Hours", instead of the normal title sequence used in the season, the series' title in the episode's typeface silently fades onto the screen over the back drop of the planet Simmons is stranded on.[8][9]

Filming

The majority of the episode was filmed in a work quarry in Simi Valley and in Northridge, Los Angeles near the Mojave Desert during the day,[10] with director of photography Feliks Parnell using a filtering effect inspired by Mad Max: Fury Road to make it appear to be night time. This was seen to be more practical than night shooting in the desert, given that almost every scene takes place during the 18-year-long night on the planet. Because of this, the production struggled with the intense heat of the desert.[4]

On how continuity was emphasized in the making of the episode, Bochco explained that for each of the episode's five acts there was a different stage of hair, makeup, and wardrobe so the crew could depict the physical changes to Simmons as time progresses. Rather than try and film the episode in complete order, which was "impossible" due to location scheduling needs, the production just tried to avoid changing from one stage to another, and then back again. On how much the episode shows 'the entity' on the planet, Bochco and Titley compared it to the shark in Jaws, with this episode just showing "[its] fin from time to time", and a bigger reveal of the creature coming in a later episode.[4]

Around 22 minutes of extra footage was shot for the episode that had to be cut, including a subplot in which Simmons loses her grandmother's necklace and Daniels finds it for her.[11]

Broadcast

"4,722 Hours" was first aired in the United States on ABC on October 27, 2015.[2]

Reception

Ratings

In the United States the episode received a 1.4/4 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.4 percent of all households, and 4 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 3.81 million viewers.[12]

Accolades

Henstridge was named TVLine's "Performer of the Week" for the week of October 25, 2015, for her performance in this episode, particularly for appearing throughout the whole of it, and for the more 'heartbreaking' scenes near the end.[13] The episode was named one of the best television episodes of 2015 by The Atlantic.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Abrams, Natalie (September 30, 2015). "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. postmortem: Where the heck is Simmons?". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Episode Title: (#305) "4,722 Hours"". The Futon Critic. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Radish, Christina (September 27, 2015). "‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Bosses Tease Tonight’s Simmons Episode, Season 3 Plans, and More". Collider. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Zalben, Alex (September 29, 2015). "The Inside Story Of How ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Pulled Off The Incredible ‘4,722 Hours’". MTV. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  5. ↑ Lovett, Jamie (September 27, 2015). "EXCLUSIVE: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Elizabeth Henstridge Talks Simmons' "Coming Of Age" In "4,722 Hours"". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  6. ↑ Bucksbaum, Sydney (September 27, 2015). "'Agents of SHIELD': Elizabeth Henstridge Dives Deep Into What Happened to Simmons". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Radish, Christina (September 28, 2015). "‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Bosses on Last Night’s Emotional Episode and ‘Civil War’ Connections". Collider. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  8. ↑ Sava, Oliver (October 28, 2015). "“4,722 Hours” hits a series high point by ditching S.H.I.E.L.D. for space". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  9. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Kevin (October 27, 2015). "Review: ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Spends ‘4,722 Hours’ on a Brilliant Gambit (With an ‘Infinity’ Twist)". Screen Crush. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  10. ↑ Cairns, Bryan (December 8, 2015). ""Agents Of SHIELD's" Lost Astronaut Awaits The Team's Arrival, But As Friend.... Or Foe?". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on December 9, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  11. ↑ Towers, Andrea (December 28, 2015). "Best of 2015 (Behind the Scenes): Elizabeth Henstridge talks filming her S.H.I.E.L.D. bottle episode". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  12. ↑ Porter, Rick (October 28, 2015). "Tuesday final ratings: 'Fresh Off the Boat,' 'The Flash' and 'NCIS' adjust up, 'Wicked City' stays under 1.0". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 28, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  13. ↑ "TVLine's Performers of the Week (tie): Carrie Coon and Elizabeth Henstridge". TVLine. October 31, 2015. Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
  14. ↑ Sims, David (December 18, 2015). "The Best Television Episodes of 2015". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.

External links

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