Welcome back to our Agent Carter review series, and to our first in the more standard “five thoughts” format you see on the site after last week’s premiere rendered me unable to condense my thoughts or shut the hell up. And to kick things off, our thoughts will be themed! Will I keep it up the entire series? Or will I give up and do something different next week? Only one way to find out!
As a note, spoilers for last night’s episode are discussed.
1. Agent Carter vs the Heightened Pace
Here’s a funny thing: last night was the third episode, but thanks to the double premiere that Agent Carter launched with it felt like the second. And, if you forget that this is an 8-episode thing, then you’ll probably find yourself asking “Wow, we’re already here?” Things that you would think we wouldn’t see until the latter half of the show — the recovery of stolen Stark tech, a whole heap of character development, an actually shocking twist — are already here, and the show is moving at a breakneck pace; judging by the preview of the next episode (which is the midway point of the show), we’re going to be jumping to the point that most shows don’t reach until 8 or 10 episodes in.
The pacing of the show seems to be both a benefit and a drawback, though. Not to overly compare this show to others, but if we look at Agent Carter and, say, Golden Globe winner and Best Show of 2014 Fargo, it’s easy to look at how the show’s developed their characters and themes and plots in different ways and nod at which one did it better (Fargo). The more we see minis on TV, the easier it is to see what works and what doesn’t — and while I really do love Agent Carter, I feel like some of the things we saw last night came in way too early.
Or maybe that’s the point? I mean, there are definitely a few moments that caught me off guard, so maybe it’s for the best. Agent Carter is fairly well developed as a character thanks to two films and a short, but the elements of the world around her seem slightly rushed. Then again, this could just mean that the finale is going to be off the rails, in which case I’ll happily bite my tongue.
2. Agent Carter vs the “Butler Did It” Trope
A big part of last night’s episode was basically explaining why James D’Arcy was here, and I’ve got to tell you: I don’t mind one bit. Outside of Atwell herself, D’Arcy is easily my favorite part of the show; as The Real Edwin Jarvis, D’Arcy gives us a character that seems to somewhat mimic Benedict Cumberbatch’s real life awkward persona while also proving to be quite a little spy. Jarvis dealing with the police allowed for D’Arcy to basically break character and become someone else for a brief moment, and considering the character almost seemed like a walking archetype it was great to learn more about him and hear his MCU backstory.
Of all the things that Agent Carter did in last night’s episode that seemed shoved in premature, this was easily the best.
3. Agent Carter vs the 1940’s Environment for Women
Last week’s two-episodes dealt pretty well with the workplace sexism that Carter had to deal with, but this week kicks it up a notch by giving us a little bit of life in her boarding home as well. I’m not a historical expert by any means but I have spent a good deal of time reading a post-war life in the US, and the entire sequence of Peggy and her fellow housemates being lectured like children was interesting to see. The show seems rather intent on trying to tell us that Agent Carter is a strong feminist icon, yet also placing her in so many situations where she has to struggle to thrive — and I only find the boarding scenario odd since Carter had lived on her own. All things considered, mixing in a boarding home element doesn’t seem conducive to her lifestyle.
Continued belowThis week’s foray into the whole “Everyone At The SSR Is A Meathead” set-up was also a little off. It’s less overt (she didn’t have to bring anyone tea) but the sequence of Peggy playing dumb when Jarvis was brought in was a bit of a tightrope act, I think. It certainly shows how clever Peggy is, which is great, but then it leads to this somewhat awkward sequence of Dooley and Thompson yelling at her that was similarly insulting to the boarding sequence; you kind of just want Carter to raise her fist and extend a specific finger.
Still, I’m hoping these things have some kind of pay-off down the line. I get that the show wants to give us an “authentic post-war 1940s environment,” but it doesn’t have to ram it down our throats so hard. Agent Carter is the best, and Hayley Atwell is great in the role; it’d be nice for someone to tell her that in the show and not be patronizing about it.
4. Agent Carter vs the Recurring Elements of Her Short Film that Is and Is Not Canon
I don’t remember how many of you remember the Agent Carter One-Shot on the Iron Man 3 Blu-ray, but man, the entire boat sequence was pretty much lifted straight out of that. Lets ignore the fact that the premiere used a shot from the short as part of the opening montage, but this is basically just a re-writing of the sequence in which Agent Carter fights a big brute somewhat linked to Zodiac who was guarding a bunch of boxes covered in a net made out of rope (though in that there were gas masks).
Still, I do like that the show gives Hayley Atwell a chance to fight, and fight frequently. One of my favorite aspects of Agents of SHIELD is that we have Melinda May (played wonderfully by Ming-Na Wen) using her fists just as much if not more than she uses her guns; we’re used to men throwing punches on camera all the time, but shows seem afraid to put the same time and effort into choreographing fight scenes for women. Here we get Atwell going toe to toe with someone twice her size and hardly breaking a sweat (well, probably breaking a bit of a sweat), and that’s wonderfully refreshing to see as a more common occurence.
5. Agent Carter vs the Surprising Character Death
I suppose this is a luxury afforded to something that is somewhat of a mini-series, but I have to admit that I was actually quite shocked when Ray Krzeminski caught a bullet in his chest. Not only is that not the place where you’re supposed to catch bullets, but typically network shows don’t bump off ostensibly important lead characters until mid-season finales or penultimate episodes. Plus, this kind of stinks for Kyle Bornheimer, who was great in the role and seems to always be stuck in “oh, that guy!” roles — and this doesn’t help!
And, yes, the death was telegraphed at the end there, but what I do love about this is that it shows Agent Carter is not afraid to take risks and really put its cast in peril. We’re never going to see Agent Carter herself die (spoilers for Winter Soldier?), but the people around her are all up for grabs. Not only that, but I like that after the premiere killed off her roommate (inherently fridging that character, somewhat), this episode kills off a co-worker under similar circumstances. The show walks a very fine line between falling into tropes and doing things at the behest of the story, so we’ll see which one this is. If Roger Dooley’s reaction is anything to go by, hopefully it’ll be the latter.
