Loved It? Hated It? What did you think of "The Magical Place?"

[KSiteTV]

What did you think?

[moviefan2k4]

Very interesting, though I wish they'd given lots more detail to the surgery that brought Coulson back. The subplot of Skye impersonating May was both cool and funny, while Victoria Hand's one of those characters you just want to slap...repeatedly.

[Backward Galaxy]

Things I liked:

1: Victoria Hand - When she was in charge, I got a sense of authority... to a point obviously, since they had Coulson's team undermine that authority. But I think she's an interesting stand-in for Fury, since they can't have Fury.

2: Skye taking May's name was funny, even if that entire subplot was completely and totally ridiculous.

3: Ron Glass. No real reason. I just like Ron Glass.

4: The spidery machine that was working on Coulson's brain was visually interesting. I also think the idea of it implanting good memories over bad ones to make him Coulson again has some potential.

Other than that, I thought this episode was par for the tepid course. I continue to not care about most of what's going on and generally want to see them get to the point already. It's not getting worse, but it's not getting better.

[moviefan2k4]

Sam Jackson already appeared as Fury in the second episode, and its been reported he's making more than one appearance before the season's over.

Also, I just thought of this: if someone did slap Victoria, would that be equal to clapping?

[Backward Galaxy]

Sam Jackson already appeared as Fury in the second episode, and its been reported he's making more than one appearance before the season's over.

Yes, and appearances are wonderful, but I was talking about having a substantive role in ongoing storylines. They needed someone to fill in for "upper management" and Hand works well for that.

Also, I just thought of this: if someone did slap Victoria, would that be equal to clapping?

Ha!

[Playhouse]

The episode was actually going along pretty good. For the first time, everyone on the team felt competent at their jobs, and it played so much better than a ragtag group that needs to find their chemistry to band together against evil. Then, they shanked the Coulson "mystery" reveal and it reminded me how much I could give a rip -- very little -- about this series. It's nice to see more depth and pathos added to Coulson as they move forward, but this can't be looked at as anything but anticlimactic. More importantly, this demonstrated that this needed to be the third or fourth episode of the season and this "mystery" should've been addressed right up front. I'll tune in next week to see if they actually give us answers to Skye's "mystery," but I have a feeling that they'll do the same thing as this episode. Sadly, they don't seem to realize that these plots are not interesting enough to be sustaining, nor do we really care enough about the characters to really get an impact out of it all.

This show either needs to be canceled or overhauled completely.

[moviefan2k4]

The whole point of shows like this is to keep the audience guessing. If they revealed every plot point in short order, they'd run out of ideas really quick.

[Playhouse]

That works if the audience actually cares about what they're supposed to be guessing at. These plots aren't very engaging to have kept them dragging on this long. They need to close these off and find something new to focus on, something that actually pays off for the investment.

[President_Luthor]

I think the intrigue surrounding the "What happened to Coulson?" mystery had run its course (at least in terms of my interest) and we got (some) revelations on that front. I don't think this season could have sustained "What happened to Coulson?" into the spring. There's more to this plot, but after this ep. there's at least a hint behind the answers.

It's not so much that the mysteries themselves on SHIELD are the issue -- it's the execution of them in the series. Until this ep., we really had no idea what happened at all to Coulson, just hints and teases with no forthcoming info. It was fine early on, but by mid-season the teases were getting repetitious and not handled as well as they could have been. I should want to keep guessing as viewer ... but by the midseason I needed something more as a viewer re: what happened to him.

The intrigue angle surrounding the Coulson mystery was just mildly interesting and I'd agree that Raina and Coulson's scene would have more impact had we known more about Coulson's true love (maybe via a flashback scene or more details in some previous ep?) His previous chat with Ward merely introduced her. I still don't have a real sense who she is.

I am glad some details were filled in this ep. and they do raise more questions that could fuel plots going forward, but I think the series still has writing and character development issues. Coulson and May are in a league of their own and the other characters still need some fleshing out.

Victoria Hand and (surprisingly) Skye's off-the-grid subplot were the best parts in the story. Skye's mini-adventure added some fun to an otherwise average episode.

[Backward Galaxy]

That works if the audience actually cares about what they're supposed to be guessing at. These plots aren't very engaging to have kept them dragging on this long. They need to close these off and find something new to focus on, something that actually pays off for the investment.

I don't think the mysteries are the problem. The problem is the other thing you said, about the characters just not being terribly interesting. Plenty of shows have prolonged simple mysteries over the course of their entire run. I don't think anyone would be in such a big hurry for them to "get to the point" as long as they gave us something else to care about.

[Playhouse]

But the problem with these specific mysteries is that they are character-specific. The Clairvoyant and the group/plot behind Centipede is the good basis for a sustained mystery. At this point, I have no burning desire to know why Coulson was put through those procedures to bring him back to life. (For the most part, it still reads like an excuse to have the character around to base a show on him, primarily for the familiarity.) And, as it appears to be near-universal that people don't like or, at most, tolerate Skye, her background isn't really lighting many fires either.

These are two things that should've been dispensed quickly and revealed to be part of larger mysteries involving the Clairvoyant, et al. Might have even gone a long way towards building character and endearing each to the audience.

[Backward Galaxy]

But the problem with these specific mysteries is that they are character-specific. The Clairvoyant and the group/plot behind Centipede is the good basis for a sustained mystery. At this point, I have no burning desire to know why Coulson was put through those procedures to bring him back to life. (For the most part, it still reads like an excuse to have the character around to base a show on him, primarily for the familiarity.) And, as it appears to be near-universal that people don't like or, at most, tolerate Skye, her background isn't really lighting many fires either.

These are two things that should've been dispensed quickly and revealed to be part of larger mysteries involving the Clairvoyant, et al. Might have even gone a long way towards building character and endearing each to the audience.

What I read from you just there is that you don't understand why you're supposed to care about Coulson's character and that most people don't like Skye's character. Therefore, of course mysteries surrounding them aren't going to pique people's interest. Why would they?

It's not the mystery itself. It's that we're being asked to care about the answer to a mystery surrounding characters we don't care about.

[DA_Champion]

Why is it that many don't care about the characters?

[spotteddog]

I gave this episode a 7, purely due to my disappointment in the Coulson "reveal". I was expecting at least a couple of answers, and really did not get any. So Coulson was not in Tahiti - no kidding !! Coulson's brain was tampered with to give him "different memories" - well, if Tahiti wasn't real, yeah, they would have to make that change. I wanted to know if Thor/Odin was involved, LMD tech, etc.. - no answers. The only thing we learned is that Coulson wanted to die during whatever was done to him, and Fury went to crazy extents to either save Coulson or make the dead Coulson into something - different.

The Skye stuff was fun, I will admit.

[Backward Galaxy]

Why is it that many don't care about the characters?

I think it's a combination of things. I think believability comes into play. A lot of people don't "buy" Skye for various reasons, not limited to her inexplicable ability to do things SHIELD can't even do. I think some of it is also the acting. I don't know if this is everyone's perception, but I get the idea that people like Coulson and May the most, which isn't shocking considering that they are the two veteran actors with the most experience. I also think the show takes the "safe way" out of a lot of derivative conflicts that feel like rip-offs of better shows. The characters are types, not real human beings. That's my thinking.