| "The Magical Place" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 11 | ||
| Directed by | Kevin Hooks | ||
| Written by | |||
| Cinematography by | Jeff Mygatt | ||
| Editing by | Debby Germino | ||
| Original air date | January 7, 2014 (2014-01-07) | ||
| Running time | 42 minutes | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.season 1 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"The Magical Place" is the eleventh episode of thefirst season of the American television seriesAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Based on theMarvel Comics organizationS.H.I.E.L.D., it followsPhil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they attempt to rescue him fromProject Centipede. It is set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledgesthe franchise's films. The episode was written byPaul Zbyszewski andBrent Fletcher, and directed byKevin Hooks.
Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, and is joined by series regularsMing-Na Wen,Brett Dalton,Chloe Bennet,Iain De Caestecker, andElizabeth Henstridge.
"The Magical Place" originally aired onABC on January 7, 2014, and according toNielsen Media Research, was watched by 6.63 million viewers.
Over the course of two days following agentPhil Coulson's abduction, a task force led byVictoria Hand searches for him. They start by arrestingT. Vanchat when he was sellingChitauri metal to Emily Deville. His Chitauri metal is a match to the type used in the Centipede serum, soS.H.I.E.L.D. believe he can lead them toEdison Po andRaina. Hand is infuriated whenSkye hacks S.H.I.E.L.D.'s databases to trace Vanchat's finances, and decides to eject Skye from theBus after increasing the security on her internet blocker bracelet.Grant Ward,Leo Fitz andJemma Simmons provide Skye with a satellite phone and help her evade other agents to go off the grid. When she is unable to gain access to a computer system without it being remotely shut down by S.H.I.E.L.D., she poses as an agent to blackmail corrupt businessmanLloyd Rathman into helping her.
Po has taken Coulson to an abandoned town and interrogates him using a mind probe to try to discover the circumstances of his resurrection following theBattle of New York, claimingthe Clairvoyant cannot "see" what happened. Po's efforts are futile and the Clairvoyant kills him, putting Raina in charge instead. Raina treats Coulson with kindness, convincing him that she also wants to know how he was revived, and mentioning his father's death during his youth, and his relationship with the cellist, both of which the Clairvoyant knew about; she also reveals that she allowed the probe to be used on her. Coulson eventually lets her use the machine on him, reawakening traumatic buried memories.
Vanchat's information sends Hand's team in the wrong direction, but Skye traces Raina's purchases and learns where she is, before regrouping withMelinda May, Ward, Fitz and Simmons to go to the town. While May and Ward defeat the Centipede soldiers guarding the town, Skye rescues Coulson, and Raina is arrested. Coulson removes Skye's blocker device by way of thanks, and informs the team that their new mission is to track down the Clairvoyant. He later meets withStreiten, one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors who operated on him, and Streiten confirms that Coulson's reawakened memories are real: Coulson was dead for days rather than minutes, and was kept alive by machines which directly stimulated his brain with electricity, until a means of fully healing him could be found. His memories were altered so he believed he had a pleasant recovery inTahiti.
In an end tag,Mike Peterson, still alive but severely burned and minus his right leg, awakens in a basement and realizes that he has received an eye implant, through which the Clairvoyant begins to issue instructions to him.
In December 2014, Marvel revealed that the eleventh episode would be titled "The Magical Place", and would be written byPaul Zbyszewski andBrent Fletcher, withKevin Hooks directing.[1] Fletcher was excited to pairPhil Coulson withRaina in the episode, since she had become a "different [type of] villain" for the series. The episode's ending, in which Coulson visualizes his brain being reconstructed, was one of the early conceptualizations for the series from showrunnersJed Whedon,Maurissa Tancharoen, andJeffrey Bell.[2]: 112
In December 2014, Marvel revealed that main cast membersClark Gregg,Ming-Na Wen,Brett Dalton,Chloe Bennet,Iain De Caestecker, andElizabeth Henstridge would star asPhil Coulson,Melinda May,Grant Ward,Skye,Leo Fitz, andJemma Simmons, respectively.[1] It was also revealed that the guest cast for the episode would includeSaffron Burrows as AgentVictoria Hand,Ron Glass as Dr.Streiten,Ruth Negga asRaina,Rob Huebel asLloyd Rathman,Aiden Turner asT. Vanchat,Felisha Terrell as Emily Deville,Cullen Douglas asEdison Po.[1] Burrows, Glass, Negga, and Douglas reprise their roles from earlier in the series.[3][4][5]J. August Richards also appears, reprising his role ofMike Peterson.[6] Though Turner is introduced here asT. Vanchat, the character had been mentioned previously in the season, including in "Pilot" and "Eye Spy".[7]
Filming occurred from November 7 to 18, 2013.[2]: 111 A scenic ghost town was made to look like a 1950s nuclear testing ground for the location where Coulson is held,[2]: 113 while a small grass hut was constructed surrounded by green screen to represent Coulson's memory of Tahiti. When Coulson is being operated on, Gregg wore a green screen cap to allow the visual effects of his exposed brain to be added. Visual effects supervisor Mark Kolpack also digitally extended the operating room set and added the robot arm performing the surgery. Kolpack's vision for the robot arm was a mix betweenEdward Scissorhands (1990) and a black widow spider with "needles moving at a high rate of speed". Small bolts of electricity were also added each time the arm touched Coulson's brain to represent neurological activity.[2]: 114
Douglas's Edison Po is killed in the episode with the paralysis technology used byObadiah Stane inIron Man (2008).[6]
"The Magical Place" was first aired in the United States onABC on January 7, 2014.[8]
The episode, along with the rest ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first season, was released onBlu-ray andDVD on September 9, 2014. Bonus features include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel.[9] On November 20, 2014, the episode became available for streaming onNetflix.[10] The episode, along with the rest of the series, was removed from Netflix on February 28, 2022,[11] and later became available onDisney+ on March 16, 2022.[12]
In the United States the episode received a 2.2/6 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 2.2 percent of all households, and 6 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 6.63 million viewers.[8]
