Agent Carter, Season 2, Epsiode 6: Life of the Party
These two episodes came at around the same time, and I actually did a rough-bones review of it when it came out... so let me finish writing it, a good month after the episodes actually premiered. Whoops. By this point the second season has ended, and I'll be reviewing the rest of the episodes in the near future, before moving on to Daredevil's season two.
Anyway, this two-parter focuses more on Team Peggy recruiting Dottie Underwood, a.k.a. Black Widow I, back into the fold to combat the larger threat, Whitney Frost. It's all entertaining spy stuff, and it very much raises the stakes for the second half of the season. Agent Carter's second season has one of the most solid first halves, and Whitney Frost has been built up to be this interesting and formidable villain. So like any good work of fiction, they pit last season's villain against this new big bad. Except, y'know, Dottie's a rather colourful character herself, where she's got this... unhealthy, explicitly-ship-inducing interest in Peggy Carter, which is part of the reason why she's interested in helping.
At least they lampshade what a stupid and reckless idea it was to bring Dottie into the fold beyond 'let's do this for, uh, reasons' like they often do in Arrow, and Peggy's abdomen-impalement injury is a good enough reason as any. Plus there's the Suicide Squad collar on top of it all. And it is fun to have Jarvis and Dottie interact and try their level best to outsnark each other in that gala... even if we have some rather irritating-yet-funny Peggy-Sousa drama shoved in the middle of it all.
But really, Whitney Frost is still one of the most awesome characters in this season, easily outshining Dottie. Chadwick and the Council try to set up a trap for Whitney, and when she realizes she was betrayed by Chadwick, well, she uses her black-goop powers to eat Chadwick and half the council, who I have given up hope on being relevant in any way to the story. Vernon Masters is one of those spared, and he did get a bunch of buildup with Thompson throughout the episode so it's nice to have him grow somewhat as a character instead of just Corrupt FBI Man.
Thompson continues to be annoying, though at least he's showing visible reluctance at cooperating with Vernon. In his line of work, what can you do? He seems to be having some conflicts of interest as he overhears some sensitive stuff that Vernon and the other council members are saying, and I'm 100% sure he'll be redeemed at the end mostly because, y'know, we went through the 'is Thompson evil or just a dick' bit already.
It's a great episode, though. It moves the plot along, it's got this fun little moments both in the planning and execution of the plan, it proves that the main character can sit out most of the action while the secondaries have a time to shine, and Whitney Frost continues to be a fun and unique villain in the MCU.
But really, Whitney Frost is still one of the most awesome characters in this season, easily outshining Dottie. Chadwick and the Council try to set up a trap for Whitney, and when she realizes she was betrayed by Chadwick, well, she uses her black-goop powers to eat Chadwick and half the council, who I have given up hope on being relevant in any way to the story. Vernon Masters is one of those spared, and he did get a bunch of buildup with Thompson throughout the episode so it's nice to have him grow somewhat as a character instead of just Corrupt FBI Man.
Thompson continues to be annoying, though at least he's showing visible reluctance at cooperating with Vernon. In his line of work, what can you do? He seems to be having some conflicts of interest as he overhears some sensitive stuff that Vernon and the other council members are saying, and I'm 100% sure he'll be redeemed at the end mostly because, y'know, we went through the 'is Thompson evil or just a dick' bit already.
It's a great episode, though. It moves the plot along, it's got this fun little moments both in the planning and execution of the plan, it proves that the main character can sit out most of the action while the secondaries have a time to shine, and Whitney Frost continues to be a fun and unique villain in the MCU.
Agent Carter, Season 2, Epsiode 7: Monsters
This episode followed up the previous one as a pretty strong installment, and brings Dottie and Frost facing off against each other. Dottie gets herself captured by Frost's forces, and I do like the scene where she gives these gory descriptions about the tortures she suffers daily to Vernon. There's definitely a nice callback (call-forward, in-universe) to the Avengers movie where Black Widow was being tied down to a chair and being absolutely nonchalant about torture. And then Frost comes in with her Zero Matter powers and puts the fear of god into Dottie. Because, y'know, metahuman powers are a bit more scary than something that you've grown desensitized to over the years. The image of the black goop running across Dottie really isn't that horrifying that I buy her breaking immediately, but Dottie's reactions certainly sells it.
Peggy, of course, does show a wee bit of attachment for Dottie (let the shipping bells ring) by refusing to blow the Suicide Squad necklace up, and there's a nice bit of ethical debate between the members of the team on just what action to take -- use the necklace to attempt to blow up Frost, while almost certainly killing Dottie who lest we forget is an assassin and a murderer -- or, um, do nothing. I would definitely blow up that necklace, but that's why I'm not a paragon of justice and ideals like Peggy Carter.
Dottie's status as a rogue agent gets solidified when Vernon enforces the fact that the Soviet will never accept her again, but her betrayal of the SSR this episode (and her subsequent murder-escape at the end of this) solidifies that she's not going onto the side of the angels either. She escapes to return another day, though unless she charges in like a wild card in the finale... not in this season, I think.
This episode is definitely a bit brought down by the rather odd love triangle between Peggy, Wilkes and Sousa, but at least the show (and Jarvis) is not beyond lampshading it, and Peggy herself seemed flabbergasted at the amount of attention she's been getting. Wilkes, I think, still is being somewhat forced into the plot. He still is more plot device than character, really, be it being Mr. Intangible or being Love Interest #2. Yeah, he gets to turn half-corporeal within Howard Stark's machine, and he gets fought over and kidnapped by Frost, but I still don't really care all that much about him to care that he's been kidnapped.
Also, Joseph "Blackwing" Manfredi has basically taken up spot as Whitney Frost's number two, driven by old love for her, and, well, Manfredi is a lot hammier, funnier and far more entertaining than Chadwick.
Sousa gets beaten up by Vernon's people. Thompson works with Vernon's people. I don't care either way -- I've grown somewhat attached to the two of them over the course of 20 episodes or however long Agent Carter has been, but they really haven't done much this time around.
Anna gets a whole lot of screentime here, though, and it's a great development from her scenes in previous episodes where she worries about Jarvis. Her conversation with Jarvis and her newfound concerns about the sheer reality of Jarvis' escapades with Agent Carter is a nice touch, and something that's wonderfully done -- Anna is both supportive and rightfully worried at the same time. Usually in superhero shows people generally lean way too much on either camp, almost to the exclusion of the other, but Anna strikes the perfect balance between the two. Of course, she immediately gets shot in the gut at the end of the episode because, uh, that's what works of fiction do. They make you get attached to minor characters and then they kill them off.
The jury's still out on whether Anna dies, but it's certainly a big escalating point in the story, and Anna certainly is disposable enough (unlike Peggy or Howard, who are both almost certainly alive by the time present-day MCU rolls around, or Jarvis, who will survive long enough to meet Kid!Tony) and would definitely strike a blow to the team. Hell, Jarvis's expressions of horror and panic alone made me well up a little -- James D'Arcy is a really great actor, I must say.
It's your requisite 'darkest moment' part of the plot, with Wilkes kidnapped, Anna possibly dead, the SSR team really reaching nowhere, Frost getting the lead, Vernon's people beating up Sousa, Thompson working with Vernon and Dottie escaping. It's not overdone, though, and if nothing it certainly makes the wait for the next episode a lot more exciting, if only to see if Anna survives.
Peggy, of course, does show a wee bit of attachment for Dottie (let the shipping bells ring) by refusing to blow the Suicide Squad necklace up, and there's a nice bit of ethical debate between the members of the team on just what action to take -- use the necklace to attempt to blow up Frost, while almost certainly killing Dottie who lest we forget is an assassin and a murderer -- or, um, do nothing. I would definitely blow up that necklace, but that's why I'm not a paragon of justice and ideals like Peggy Carter.
Dottie's status as a rogue agent gets solidified when Vernon enforces the fact that the Soviet will never accept her again, but her betrayal of the SSR this episode (and her subsequent murder-escape at the end of this) solidifies that she's not going onto the side of the angels either. She escapes to return another day, though unless she charges in like a wild card in the finale... not in this season, I think.
This episode is definitely a bit brought down by the rather odd love triangle between Peggy, Wilkes and Sousa, but at least the show (and Jarvis) is not beyond lampshading it, and Peggy herself seemed flabbergasted at the amount of attention she's been getting. Wilkes, I think, still is being somewhat forced into the plot. He still is more plot device than character, really, be it being Mr. Intangible or being Love Interest #2. Yeah, he gets to turn half-corporeal within Howard Stark's machine, and he gets fought over and kidnapped by Frost, but I still don't really care all that much about him to care that he's been kidnapped.
Also, Joseph "Blackwing" Manfredi has basically taken up spot as Whitney Frost's number two, driven by old love for her, and, well, Manfredi is a lot hammier, funnier and far more entertaining than Chadwick.
Sousa gets beaten up by Vernon's people. Thompson works with Vernon's people. I don't care either way -- I've grown somewhat attached to the two of them over the course of 20 episodes or however long Agent Carter has been, but they really haven't done much this time around.
Anna gets a whole lot of screentime here, though, and it's a great development from her scenes in previous episodes where she worries about Jarvis. Her conversation with Jarvis and her newfound concerns about the sheer reality of Jarvis' escapades with Agent Carter is a nice touch, and something that's wonderfully done -- Anna is both supportive and rightfully worried at the same time. Usually in superhero shows people generally lean way too much on either camp, almost to the exclusion of the other, but Anna strikes the perfect balance between the two. Of course, she immediately gets shot in the gut at the end of the episode because, uh, that's what works of fiction do. They make you get attached to minor characters and then they kill them off.
The jury's still out on whether Anna dies, but it's certainly a big escalating point in the story, and Anna certainly is disposable enough (unlike Peggy or Howard, who are both almost certainly alive by the time present-day MCU rolls around, or Jarvis, who will survive long enough to meet Kid!Tony) and would definitely strike a blow to the team. Hell, Jarvis's expressions of horror and panic alone made me well up a little -- James D'Arcy is a really great actor, I must say.
It's your requisite 'darkest moment' part of the plot, with Wilkes kidnapped, Anna possibly dead, the SSR team really reaching nowhere, Frost getting the lead, Vernon's people beating up Sousa, Thompson working with Vernon and Dottie escaping. It's not overdone, though, and if nothing it certainly makes the wait for the next episode a lot more exciting, if only to see if Anna survives.
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