Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Recap: Mind Screw

Credit: ABC

"The Magical Place" is mostly concerned with the S.H.I.E.L.D. team's attempts to find and rescue Coulson from Centipede, and...well, that's pretty much the gist of the episode. And it's a good starting point, as it provides some fun moments, such as Skye (Chloe Bennet) tracking down a lead in Coulson's disappearance, all while dressed as Agent May (Ming-Na Wen). Skye's impression of May is surprisingly effective, as are her self-defense skills once she's attacked after breaking into a suspect's home. Later, when the team actually tracks Coulson's location, Ward (Brett Dalton) has a pretty great, action-packed fight with one of the Extremis soldiers that provides the episode's best action setpiece (even better than the opening, which sees S.H.I.E.L.D. chasing and capturing a valuable asset in the hunt for Coulson). All in all, the more the show engages in fast-paced action and momentum-filled plotting, the better it tends to be, and while I had problems with the content, the structure of the episode was actually pretty close to impeccable, by the regular standards of the show.

Credit: ABC

While the team splits up to ascertain Coulson's location and take down Centipede, Coulson is taken to a remote location by his captors, who strap him to a CAT scan-like machine that will compel him to remember what really happened after he died in The Avengers. As we learn, The Clairvoyant really wants to know what happened and how he was brought back, although we're given no indication why. While being questioned, Coulson learns from Raina (Ruth Negga) that The Clairvoyant knows a lot about him: he knows Coulson's father died before his eyes, and his mother's later death left him with S.H.I.E.L.D. as his only remaining family; in addition, The Clairvoyant also knows about the cellist whom Coulson loved, and who mourned him every day he was gone. We still don't know who The Clairvoyant is, although if I had to guess, I'd say it's some future/alternate version of Coulson. That might be too far afield, but I can't think of any other explanation (all theories are welcome in the comments below, however!).

As Coulson begins to recall the experiences of his resurrection, we learn the truth of "Tahiti" via his flashbacks: the beach side resort getaway was nothing more than a simulation inserted into his brain by a machine that invasively poked and prodded Coulson's brain in excruciating fashion -- a procedure so painful that Coulson tearfully pleaded with the doctors to just let him die. It's one of the more gutwrenching moments of the series, as the machine has an eerie, almost bug-like function as its tendrils work their terrible magic on Coulson's exposed brain, and it's hard not to feel for him. Coulson is more vulnerable here than at any time we've ever seen, openly weeping and pleading for death, and Clark Gregg does a terrific job imbuing Coulson with an even more sympathetic quality. Of course, the truth about Tahiti isn't the only bombshell: we learn that Coulson's entire revival was ordered by director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), so the question quickly shifts not just from what happened to Coulson or how, why it was decided that Coulson would be revived.

Credit: ABC/Justin Lubin

After S.H.I.E.L.D. rescues Coulson, he meets with one of his friends and colleagues, Dr. Streiten (Ron Glass), whom flashbacks reveal to be one of the doctors in the operating room with Coulson as he was being brought back to life and having his memories modified. As we learn, Streiten was vehemently against the operation, and he tells Coulson that he deeply regrets everything he and his colleague did to him, adding that they should have just let him die in peace and dignity, instead of trying to bring him back in a godless act of science. But apparently Fury "moved heaven and earth" to bring Coulson back from the dead, and it took seven surgeries before Streiten succeeded. And Coulson wasn't just dead for a few minutes, as he'd been told. He was dead for days, and although the seventh surgery to bring him back ultimately was a success, it turned Coulson into a darker person, someone who suddenly no longer had the will to live. Thus, the brain surgery Coulson remembers was not actually the surgery to bring him back, but the surgery to implant him with pleasant memories, in the hopes that his happier, productive self would be restored. Coulson still doesn't know why he's so important, and frankly, neither does Victoria Hand (Saffron Burrows), who was entirely against risking an entire S.H.I.E.L.D. team to save Coulson in the first place.

Credit: ABC

So we're ultimately left with some pretty big questions: Who is The Clairvoyant? Why was Coulson brought back to life? Who are Skye's parents, and what happened to them? And, perhaps most important of all, what does The Clairvoyant want with Mike Peterson? Centipede claimed to want him as a valuable asset in completing the next phase of the Extremis project, but it seems there's more to it than that. As the episode comes to a close, we discover that not only is Peterson still alive, he's been captured by Centipede. They've amputated one of his legs and fitted him with the same ocular bomb/transmitter that often spells death for henchmen that don't follow orders, so the question remains: what is the endgame for Mike Peterson? And does the top brass at S.H.I.E.L.D. know that Peterson is alive and in captivity? It should be an interesting storyline, going forward. But it illustrates a key problem the show continues to have, in that so much of it continues to take place in the shadows. It's great to have some mystery, but it's best not to have a show that's almost entirely driven by it. Then again, LOST found a dedicated fandom through its approach to mythology and question-based storytelling, so there's still the possibility that this approach could end up being for the best. But I'd be genuinely surprised if that turns out to be the case. "The Magical Place" isn't bad by any means, but Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is capable of better.