This was an odd episode of Agent Carter. I enjoyed it but the tonal switches from slapstick to tragic didn’t quite work.
Peggy was definitely one for the crazy plans tonight. However, I see that as a result of her desperation to help Wilkes. She’s already lost Steve. She’s not going to lose anyone else she cares about, particularly when she feels responsible for Wilkes’ condition.
Still, the show veered too far into quirky and ended up being shallow rather than fun in spots. It also tossed out some huge plot contrivances that were difficult to swallow. After last week’s intense torture sequence the humor was appreciated but in the smaller doses that have worked best for the show.
BEWARE SPOILERS BELOW.
Nominally, this episode is about a heist, as Whitney Frost discovers that she needs to recreate the atomic explosion that originally resulted in the creation of dark matter. Hence, Peggy & her intrepid crew have to steal the nuclear material from the closest atomic bomb before Whitney has a chance to steal it for herself.
Whitney had perfect delivery with her oh-so-logical request for the atomic bomb. Priceless.
Other highlights tonight:
- Peggy deciding to take Rose on the mission to steal the bomb parts from Roxxon. Female solidarity for the win and Peggy calling out Sousa for sounding like Thompson was icing on the cake that was Rose’s first field operation. Yes, I know Rose in the field kicking ass is pure wish-fulfillment. Ask me if I care. I do not. Go Rose. You stand in for every underappreciated and overlooked woman ever.
- The lab sequence, with Dr. Samberly sounding just as under-appreciated as Rose. This show respects the smart people: Howard, Wilkes, Whitney and SSR’s version of M, Dr. Samberly. Even Jarvis has science skills.
- Yes, Peggy invading the office of Roxxon President Hugh Jones–the ‘previously on’ keyed us into his appearance ins season 1– was funny, especially her use of Dr. Samberly’s two-minute memory-wipe zapper and her American accent. But, like most of the humor tonight, the scene went on a bit too long.
- Whitney’s reaction to Peggy’s appearance at Roxxon. Not anger, not shock, but impressed. Peggy is now creating a legion of villain fangirls, to judge by the previews for next week when Dottie shows up again.
- Whitney’s mafia boss boyfriend. Again, great hidden menace and some nice awkward conversation between the husband and the boyfriend. The swap to violent rage would have worked except it happened in such a public place. It’s too much for me to believe there would be zero repercussions to such an outburst.
- Best outfit of the night? Peggy’s red and blue ensemble to crawl through air ducts.
Doesn’t look like these two will have a happy ending. Image via ABC/Marvel Entertainment.
The Lowlights:
- Whitney and Peggy’s fight was too short. After that burst of recognition/admiration, I expected more from the physical confrontation. I even wondered if Peggy would lose by being infected by the dark matter and Wilkes would thus save Peggy and come back to the real world at the same time. Oh, well.
- Peggy being skewered by rebar. First, I’m pretty sure the proper procedure for that injury is to not to remove Peggy from the bar but rather saw the bar away from the cement and remove it in a place where one can staunch the bleeding. Also, I hope Sousa’s nurse fiancée gave Peggy some penicillin because she’s going to be suffering from a serious infection otherwise. (We won’t even mention that her back should be injured from falling that way. I’ll just say that Peggy got some early bit of the Super Soldier serum when Dr. Erkskine was first testing it out during the war. Now give me my No-Prize.)
- The completely expected and predictable realization by Sousa’s fiancée that her guy is really in love with Peggy. Dammit. I kinda hoped these two would have a happy ending and I’m just not on board the Peggy/Sousa ship. I like Wilkes better, he’s much more of a contrasting personality for a romantic interest.
- Wilkes disappearing again at the end. His situation hasn’t changed since his reappearance and it feels like that plot is churning rather than moving forward.
But, in the end, even a sub par episode of Marvel’s Agent Carter is a fun one, and next week promises to be even more interesting, with Dottie’s return, with Whitney’s husband siccing the Dogs of War aka his super-secret Illuminati buddies on Whitney. Maybe we’ll even find out how many vacation days Peggy really has left.
As for the Dr. Samberly/Rose? Yeah, I ship that. More, please.
I don’t know, I thought it worked. It was a good play on the old adage, “It’s all fun and games until someone is skewered by rebar.”
I bought surviving the rebar skewer. Just not the “not injured from fall.” 🙂
You took the words right out of my mouth on all accounts.