Uploaded October 2015 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago

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"I assure you, I am fine."

Contains spoilers through AoS 3x03.
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I started loving Simmons at FZZT and I've never looked back. Eventually she became my favorite female character.
Here was this little british scientist who was just supposed to be a funny side character. And then she got infected by an alien virus and jumped out of plane to save her best friend and her team. She chose to die to save them, and fortunately, she was rescued in time. An hour later she was smiling. Because she is amazingly resilient.
In 1x13, she saw a bomb headed for her two friends and jumped on it without a second's hesitation, because her first instinct is to protect, even at the cost of her own life.
In 1x22 she was trapped in a pod at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to die, and still smiling. She tried to let Fitz know it was going to be alright. If she was going to die, at least it would be with him. It was only when he told her she would have to leave him behind that she broke down and refused to accept it. After he fell into a coma, she blamed herself for not being able to save him and for taking their last bit of oxygen. And once he woke up, she saw that her presence made him worse, and left him in the belief that it would help him heal. She never wanted to leave her home or her team, but she did it for Fitz.
When she came back, he was like a stranger to her. Still, Simmons kept reaching out to him, slowly establishing their relationship again. But she still carried all kinds of pain and anger. And she still wanted to protect her team more than anything. When Trip died as a result of Inhuman power and then Skye seemed to be infected, she felt helpless, like she couldn't protect anyone. She lashed out, pushed back against this Inhuman threat, only to realize that she was hurting Skye even more by doing that.
Every time she tries to help, she messes up.

Now, in season 3, we see a Simmons who still carries all her old pain, but with even more scars. After surviving for months alone on an alien planet, she's come home. She holds herself up to impossibly high standards and expects herself to heal quickly, but she's not as stable as she wants to be. Everyday life has become overwhelming. But she will continue smiling and assuring herself that she's okay, because that's what she's always done.
She's made it this far. Now she has to keep going.


PS: I know I should have made a Simmons video a long time ago. I hope this makes up for it. And there may be another coming in the near future, because we are finally getting the Simmons focus we've always wanted.
Thank you AoS writers.