Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review - Episode 11: The Magical Place

[jab136]

(Also, I like that one of the surgeons who worked on him is the same guy who played Shepherd Book on Firefly. I wonder if Joss Whedon likes getting people from his previous works to appear in his current ones.)

he does, J. August Richards (Peterson) played Gunn in Angel, Nathan Fillion, has played parts in multiple Joss Whedon productions such as Firefly, Buffy, and Dr. Horrible's Sing along Blog, and Gina Torres has at least been in Firefly and Angel

also I am in the group that is really hoping for the show to get better, it definitely has potential but it just isn't shining yet.

Edit: d'oh clicked the wrong button meant to edit the last post not quote it

Edit 2: also forgot that Eliza Dushku (Faith in Buffy) was the main character in his short lived series dollhouse

 

[FPLOON]

And hey, Mike's alive! He doesn't look too good, but it's nothing a few skin grafts and a prosthetic won't fix... wait, what's that... [small]oh no... [/small]

Oh yes! It's Cyborg's new origin story!! (LOL)

OT: Almost forgot the show got back from their mid-season break... Luckily, my DVR remembers that I did season pass this show...

Anyway, not a bad episode... The brain surgery was the best part of the episode... Now, we got more mystery upon another mystery... probably shrouded in a more mysterious mystery that they might not have mentioned yet... (There better be some good payoff by the end of "this" season...)

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

Gah i just found out it won't be back until march in the uk. Fuck that noise!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

There's also the matter of WHY Fury wanted Coulson back, though it might be due to some as-of-unknown plan. Also, it looks like the "Coulson as The Vision" theory might be just a red herring.

I think he wanted him back because he's the main character and only half as many people would watch the show if Coulson hadn't been billed in it.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Few things:

1) I was not expecting an answer to Coulson's survival at this point, much less the open brain surgery that was shown. And the fact that they did put him back together does bring up the inevitable "why?" (and the less important "how?" as we kind of only saw a small part of the reconstruction process).

2) Skye's backstory probably does not cross paths with May, at least substantively. As cute as it would be, there's very little to substantiate more of a connection between the two other than "May knows the truth." Her actions with Coulson do not suggest an emotional connection between the two akin to blood relation (and while she's regarded as "Ms. Badass," the complete lack of emotional connection between the two goes beyond that). Plus, she let her off The Bus rather than keep her on. That signals "team member" more than "family member."

3) Alternative Crazy theory: The team was being created to effectively take over SHIELD's various divisions and Coulson's abduction pokes them towards "the dark side." The running theory behind Winter Soldier is that SHIELD goes off the reservation and becomes the evil agency rather than what it stood for. Well, what a better way of relaying that then essentially have the various characters shift to well-intentioned evil geniuses. In this episode, the drones are now weaponized, Ward and Fitzsimmons almost gleefully torture a guy, which is outside even SHIELD's protocols, Skye steals multiple vehicles and effectively holds three people at gunpoint, Coulson stalks and interrogates the surgeon, etc. Ward and May would be operations, Fitzsimmons would be R&D, Skye would be intelegence, and Coulson would be the big bad in charge of it all. Who knows, this might be taking place years before the events of Winter Soldier when they're effectively being groomed to head SHIELD operations and they're getting the ugly scars that make them more aggressive in the end.

Spoiler: Thor: the Dark World Spoiler

Hell, Thor, at the end, outright admits the nature of leadership requires you do the cruel and unimaginable to pursue the greater goods to Odin/Loki.

This might be setting the foundation for a Civil War by the time there is an Avengers 4 movie (when they may be able to get the outstanding licences for the X-Men and Spiderman): Those willing to take the extra step to stop the battles before they begin (Ala Secret War [http://marvel.wikia.com/Secret_War]) versus those who feel it is going to far and break away (giving a good justification for the Superhuman-Registration Act that began the Civil War proper).

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

Here's an interesting thought. What if when Coleson was brought back he came back with knowledge from the other side. Given Thanos's appearance in the end of the first movie and Coleson's nihilistic state after it could be The Anti-Life equation. Or at least part of it. Maybe that ties into that other equation centipede was after.

Without knowing too much about how death is generally handled in the Marvel universe, that makes sense to me in a way. While Bob described the Coulsons brief vison as the typical near-death-experience known as "going into the light", it reminded me kind of what Gandalf went through on his transition from the Grey into the White. Falling through [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3p7BFSZ_Bw&t=3m15s]space [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVn1oQL9sWg&hd=1] as a metaphor for gaining knowledge. Granted, they both really had a death-experience, but still... Maybe Coulson too came back a little different.

 

[DataSnake]

Here's an interesting thought. What if when Coleson was brought back he came back with knowledge from the other side. Given Thanos's appearance in the end of the first movie and Coleson's nihilistic state after it could be The Anti-Life equation. Or at least part of it. Maybe that ties into that other equation centipede was after.

Interesting theory, but the Anti-Life Equation was Darkseid [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkseid]'s pet project, over in the DC universe. Thanos is more the grim reaper's creepy stalker.

 

[Ace Morologist]

As for the whole "Why Coulson?" question...

Well, maybe this isn't the first time he's been brought back to life like this. Maybe he's been around a hell of a lot longer than anyone's allowed him to remember, and his history is tied intricately to this whole resurrection process. This wasn't a special occasion for a trusted agent who died during Avengers, it was a crucial reconstruction and recommissioning of an asset that only Nick Fury knows how truly special it is. That might explain the nostalgia -- it's phantom memories of lives Coulson's lived before, rather than a disconnected longing for the purer, simpler times of the past. I mean, if they can implant false memories that seem totally real, maybe this isn't the first time they've done it to him. Maybe the life he thinks he's living as Phil Coulson now is only just the most recent update.

I don't know. That's a pretty crazy fan theory, I guess.

--Morology!

PS: And he could still be a Life Model Decoy. I mean, if Jarvis can be an AI instead of a butler, maybe LMDs in Marvel's cinematic continuity are autonomous biotech platforms holding a human (or humanlike) consciousness instead of robots.

 

[Gidiel167]

I don't really see Raina as the clairvoyant. Her fanboyish attitude towards him seems to genuine to be ruse. That said I do think that she was caught on purpose. Maybe the clairvoyant can use a close adviser as a proxy like a mentally controlled doll or maybe even just a boosting antenna.

Here's an interesting thought. What if when Coleson was brought back he came back with knowledge from the other side. Given Thanos's appearance in the end of the first movie and Coleson's nihilistic state after it could be The Anti-Life equation. Or at least part of it. Maybe that ties into that other equation centipede was after. I wonder if Thanos would be behind everything although the approach seems more subtle and unnecessary given his power. At any rate my guess is that Coleson wasn't just suicidal after he came back but driven to a very dark and dangerous place for all around him as well.

the anti-life equation is what Darkseid wants in DC.



On topic, this episode was on par with the others so far. it irks me that this show is so bland. the operation though made me cringe, Fury must have a good reason for doing this to Coulson

 

[KazeAizen]

Bob, I am amazed at how much effort you are putting into this in hoping that it does get better. Marvel does some cool stuff, this show isnt one of them so treat it for what it is now and not for what you hope it becomes.

You put so much effort into ripping apart any non-Marvel superhero stuff that it comes out very poorly when every review for this show ends up like "It seems like the next episode will really start the good stuff"

It does seem that he does that quite often. I think part of the reason he tears DC stuff apart is because he really likes silver/golden age stuff and DC isn't really doing silver age comic book stuff in their live action versions. Still even if this season is lukewarm it seems that for TV season 2 is where the show finds a groove and is often the best season of a series. I always withhold judgement on how good a series is if it gets a second season. Of course I wasn't able to do that with Terra Nova....Fox you bastards. Funny note though you think someone at Fox lost their job for shutting down two of Joss's shows after he went and made one of the major touchstones of modern cinema? Seriously only now are we seeing what The Avengers has done. Their is rumors of an Avengers style movie...with the Universal monsters. Seriously how awesome is that if that's true?

 

[Smiley Face]

After seeing the answer to the whole 'What Happened to Coulson' issue, it raises a question: If the Clairvoyant really is able to just look into people's heads and see what they're up to, and knows everything that S.H.I.E.L.D. is up to, then it should have already known what happened to Coulson. I mean, it goes 'Oh, that guy who was dead isn't dead, I want to know why', and then the next logical step should be to look into Nick Fury's head, and gradually progress through all SHIELD personnel until you get an answer. Which, given the explanation we have, should have worked.

So either a) the Clairvoyant isn't actually clairvoyant, b) it can't read Fury and the doctors because of countermeasures or power limitations, c) it was trying to achieve some other aim with Coulson, or d) there's a big damn plot hole.

 

[Trek1701a]

The more I hear about the 'Clairvoyant', the more I get the feeling that it's Ultron, or atleast an alpha/beta version of him. If someone or something could get just about any information from a computer, that intelligence should be able to fill in the gaps for any info it is missing. 'Psychics' have been doing this for millenia. But if something happened and the only place it is recorded is in someone's brain, then it would not be accessable to that intelligence. Plus, the ads for the episode had the hashtag of 'everythingisconnected'.

There is still a lot of questions regarding Coulson's ressurection. The obvious one is why Fury was so intent on the ressurection? Why is Coulson so important? A sub one on that, perhaps the initial order really didn't come from Fury, but when the process started and he found out about it, perhaps he let it go in hopes of drawing out who planned it (I'm probably overthinking that one). What happened from the time he died in Avengers until we see him in the 7th surgery, we were led to believe that he was not himself, who/what was he? Also, how did they infact ressurect him? There is probably a few more I'm not thinking of.

As for the show itself, I like it. I think its biggest fault is that it feels a little disconnected from the larger Marvel Universe as a whole. I think it would feel more connected to the Marvel Universe if they maybe included some lesser villains and/or heroes, or atleast if they are going to a certain area, maybe say why X hero can't help. Or maybe make mention of small adventures that even some of the bigger heros had. Nothing that would effect the overall Movie productions, but just enough so it feels a little more connected.

 

[GraveDigger27]

I missed the episode last night and tried to watch it online but it appears that you need to have a cable provider in order to watch it now. Since I dumped cable several years ago I guess I'll have to wait till it comes back around as a rerun in order to watch the episode.

That said, it's unlikely that I'll continue watching the show anyway - my brothers (who are bigger Marvel fans than I am) have dropped it several episodes ago and I have to admit it's one of the least interesting new shows out there. It suffers from a major lack of diversity and in many ways has a NCIS vibe to it. As a show based upon a super-hero universe Arrow does a much better job and is far more involving.

 

[iamscottevil]

Watching the show and reading Bob's reviews is consistently confusing the crap out of me. When i watch the show i find myself loving nearly every minute of it and thinking its good and all making sense, then i read his breakdown/review and he seems to constantly imply that he's enjoying it and then blowing the notion that he is away with the next sentence and then still appearing some how to have an overall positive opinion of each episode and or the one to follow. As for me personally i enjoyed the episode overall and felt that it flowed consistently and without any hang ups and that the answers and dropped plot points were given were sufficiently satisfying and surprising

I agree, I can't see where so much negativity comes from. This show has been consistently exceeding my expectations and thoroughly engaging.

Fitz is far more potentially interesting without Simmons, whereas Simmons is entirely reliant on other characters (not including Fitz) to be of any interest. I've said it before, if Simmons had died/been presumed dead it'd be a much more interesting show right now. Fitz is a character trapped between who the world expects him to be and who he really is. He is desperately trying to be the former, the helpful and highly intelligent support officer, but the few glimpses we've seen of the latter, the vaguely authoritarian genius with no time for other peoples mistakes, has been interesting to say the least.

Killing simmons to motivate fitz would be called 'girl in the freezer' and most definitely not what they should do.

 

[VoidWanderer]

Since I read the only part of the article I was interested in, I am still going with my theory that Coulson is the mortal form of Adam Warlock, with his memories wiped.

Did you guys notice in Iron Man 1 that Coulson gives the exact day and time for the appointment where he is able to help Pepper?

Just saying.

 

[HBaskerville]

Bob, I am amazed at how much effort you are putting into this in hoping that it does get better. Marvel does some cool stuff, this show isnt one of them so treat it for what it is now and not for what you hope it becomes.

You put so much effort into ripping apart any non-Marvel superhero stuff that it comes out very poorly when every review for this show ends up like "It seems like the next episode will really start the good stuff"

Spot on.

 

[Entitled]

I'm not really understanding why the operation on Coulson is seen as such an abomination by all the doctors (and the show in general).

Even if we assume that euthanasia is objectively right and not as controversial as it is, a hurting patient's sobs under operation, surely don't count as a bindingly responsible and conscious declaration of demanding assisted suicide.

It seems to me that the show is just paying lip serice to a naturalistic fallacy, about how leaving the dead be dead is good, because resurrection is unnatural and inherently wrong.

 

[Halbert]

I saw a lot of fluids being pumped around when Coulson was having flashbacks. Do you think they gave him some form of the super-soldier serum as part of his resurrection? We've seen Coulson do a few surprising physical acts in the series so far; it's believable enough.

Another possible explanation for the "why" of this could be that there's another component of Coulson's revival that is carried with him and is completely unique; his heart might be an alien implant, or perhaps there's alien tech added into his brain and it's not just memory manipulation.

Edit: How the heck did the CENTIPEDE folks get Mike Petersen back?! I can't believe they allowed the remains of that event to go unobserved for any period of time.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Thoughts on Nick Fury bringing Coulson back as a wild card he could use against a corrupted SHIELD--it could be the cinematic universe's rendition of Fury's Secret War, but why they'd do that if they can't do Civil War and Secret Invasion and all the important stuff after that is absolutely beyond me. I mean, I know why they'd want to, but missing half the key players in any major event like that is just...weird. I kinda doubt that's the angle they're going with, anyway. Seems a bit too obvious a thing for Joss to employ it, but it's not like that's stopped him on other occasions.

Can they even use the Skrulls? Or are they contended as a FF enemy? Who has the rights for races that are fought by the entire Marvel Universe, and not just villains usually associated with certain characters?

And I'm kinda sad that Coulson as the Vision seems to be going to hide under the rug. I was kinda hoping that would be a thing, but I guess he can't go play with the Avengers if he's supposed to be shooting another season of a show.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Judging from a lot of the comments above mine, it sounds like you guys deep down WANT this show to fail. At least Bob sounds like he wants it to improve. I agree about that anticlimax about CENTIPEDE, before the reveal about Mike. I do like the theory Bob put about WHY Fury brought Coulson back. Maybe to find out how S.H.I.E.L.D. is going bad, he had to replicate the success of an old Soviet Project: Winter Soldier.