The second episode of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." this season three, titled "Purpose in the Machine," brought back Jemma Simmons to the team through the help of an Asgardian.

The Kree monolith that swallowed Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) is actually a portal, which was already known by men inhabiting Gloucestershire, England in the 1830s, noted Comic Book.

Through Leo Fitz' (Iain De Caestecker) strong determination in saving his lab partner, he was able to convince S.H.I.E.L.D. director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) that Simmons might still be out there in another world. Fitz reported that the sand he analyzed from the monolith dates back a billion years even before the Earth existed, meaning, the monolith may serve as a portal into another dimension or somwhere truly out of this world.

The team wasted no time to seek the help of the Earth-loving Asgardian, professor Elliot Randolph (Peter MacNicol of "Ally McBeal"), who after some prodding, led them to a castle in Gloucestershire. The Hebrew word translated to "death by punishment" written on the parchment acquired by Fitz on episode one served as the clue, as it was the same thing carved into the castle, which Randolph remembered.

Fitz was able to pull Simmons from the other side through Daisy Johnson's (Chloe Bennet) shaking and vibration-related powers, as she tried to mimic the purpose of the machine found in the laboratory on the site, which is to resonate to a certain frequency allowing the monolith to open up.

Other agents' missions

Meanwhile, the other members of the team were also focused in their own missions.

Lance (Nick Blood) was pursuing Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) to join him and make Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) pay for what he did to his beloved Bobbi Morse (Adrianne Palicki). Ward tortured Bobbi and almost killed her last season, especially when she sacrificed herself to save Lance.

Daisy was shown focused on her goal to find other Inhumans or powered individuals like her, who were triggered by the terrigen-contaminated fish oil, before Rosalind Price's organization, ACTU, finds them and wipe them out for good.

May was seen always on the guard as she has a theory Ward will hurt the ones she loved, beginning with her father who injured his hip in a car accident, with no leads on the culprit driver.

HYDRA, reborn

The episode also showed Ward actively forming HYDRA in his own vision of what it should be, which is a "the yin to Coulson's yang," as shared by Dalton on Comic Vine.