Marvels Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode 11-12 Recaps: The Magical Place and Seed

I must confess that I don't like this show as much as others but I keep coming back every few episodes to see what's going on. I know it's a fantasy show but I'm still not emotionally invested in the characters. The only ones I really like are May and Coulson. I find the evil organizations (such as Centipede) and their villains (such the Clairvoyant) to be kinda boring. They do have some cool tech though. Here's the highlights from the last two episodes:

We FINALLY find out what happened to Coulson (sorta). The scene with his brain being worked on by some freaky looking robot (who was implanting false memories of Tahiti) while Coulson begged to die was powerful. We still don't if he's human or what.
Skye disguising herself as May was fun.
May tells Coulson about her "relationship" with Ward. The scene where she jabbers away while they're on stakeout was fun. She not really the over sharing type.
Lola the flying car makes an appearance as Couldson hovers over some guy high up on a fire escape. I really need one of those.
Coulson tells Skye about her history which makes her cry. SHIELD had been watching over her all along as a child. She was classed as a 0-8-4 (entity of unknown origin) and a number of agents (and apparently a village in China) died to protect her. She visits the SHIELD Wall of Valor. Not sure what's up with Skye (is she Asgardian?) but I dont think I'd want to be hanging around with her if death follows her everywhere she goes. PS We still dont know who her parents are.
Some kids at SHIELD Academy make a freeze machine which wreaks havoc. They are backed by an international criminal named Quinn (way to go with background checks there Academy, why dont ya just let everybody in and give them all weapons of mass destruction). Donnie accidentally kills his only friend Seth. Donnie is sent the sandbox for observation. On the way there he discovers he has freeze touch.. so will we see him back again as a baddie (ie Blizzard)? Do we care at this point?

From Wikipedia:

Episode 11: The Magical Place
Victoria Hand is assigned to lead S.H.I.E.L.D.'s efforts to rescue Phil Coulson where they apprehend Mr. Vanchat during one of his business deals. Somewhere in the desert, Coulson's captors Project Centipede torture him to learn the secret of his resurrection. Believing Skye to be untrustworthy, and after consulting with May, who says Skye would not be helpful to the mission while on the Bus, Hand has Skye removed from the Bus. Upon Ward having the roof opened in the interrogation room to get answers on Project Centipede, Mr. Vanchat supplies S.H.I.E.L.D. with information on her. Skye sets out on her own investigation. Unable to access computers directly, she impersonates May and coerces Lloyd Rathman, a businessman of questionable dealings, to assist her into hacking into secure files. Coulson is initially tortured by Po, who tells him that the Clairvoyant cannot glean the information they want because the Clairvoyant has been unable to sense Coulson since his resurrection. The Clairvoyant decides that Po's methods are ineffective and kills him through his cell phone, after which Raina assumes Coulson's interrogation. She uses a scanning device to compel him to remember aspects of his being brought back to life. Coulson experiences flashbacks in which a reluctant Dr. Streiten and others were operating on him. During these flashbacks, Coulson's skull cap was removed and his brain was being directly stimulated by a robotic apparatus, while Coulson begged to be allowed to die. Coulson confronts Dr. Streiten, who tells Coulson he had been dead days, not minutes, and was permanently resurrected at the orders of Director Fury. Streiten reveals that after his revival, Coulson had become a "thing", having lost the will to live. Because of this, the doctors manipulated Coulson's brain to give him false memories and restore his will to live. As Dr. Streiton apologizes to Coulson for what they had to do, Coulson leaves the doctor's car. In the final scene, Mike Peterson is alive in an unknown location, albeit badly burned and missing the lower half of his right leg. Peterson finds that he has had one of the controlling eyes implanted in him by someone working for the Clairvoyant.

Episode 12: Seeds
Ward, Fitz, Simmons, and Skye go to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy to investigate a student who was frozen by a device in an indoor pool. While Fitz and Simmons are giving a lecture, another device goes off, freezing Donnie Gill (Dylan Minnette). Fitz and Simmons are able to free him, and Fitz goes back to Donnie's room, where he learns Donnie is shy, but has great ideas, much like himself. Fitz helps Donnie solve an issue he has with a power source invention and leaves to meet the rest of the team. The team, having gone to a student hangout in the boiler room, learn that Donnie is behind the devices, and that Fitz inadvertently helped him solve an issue to create a larger version. He tries to stop him, but is knocked out by Donnie's accomplice Seth Dormer (Daniel Zovatto). Elsewhere, Coulson and May head to Mexico City to find a former agent named Richard Lumley (Boyd Kestner) who may know information regarding Skye's past. They are able to track him down, and he tells Coulson and May that he had once gone on a mission involving an 0-8-4, and that the 0-8-4 turned out to be Skye. He warns them that she is dangerous, as many agents including his partner Linda Avery died trying to protect her. Returning to the rest of the team, Coulson pulls Skye aside and tells her what he has learned about her past. Donnie, having left the Academy, activates the larger device, causing a huge ice storm in order for him and Seth to impress Ian Quinn for whom Seth's father works as a lawyer at Quinn Worldwide. Realizing his mistake, he attempts to shut it down, only for the machine to backfire on him when the lightning destroys the machine and puts Seth in cardiac arrest. The team manages to get to his location, and apprehend Donnie but they are unable to save Seth's life. On his way to the Sandbox for observation, Donnie realizes that the device backfire has given him cryogenic abilities. In the final scene, Ian Quinn receives a call from Coulson warning him that if his aircraft flies over any country that is a S.H.I.E.L.D. ally, it will be shot down. Before hanging up, Quinn gives Coulson a message that the "Clairvoyant" says hello.

Grade: 3/12 Monsters (out of 5). Not my most favorite episodes but we finally learn what happened to Coulson in Tahiti.