This is the first two episodes of the limited series brought to you by Marvel Studios trying to reconnect the audience with Agent Peggy Carter and her crazy and dangerous adventures within the SSR (Strategic Scientific Research). In the early episodes in Marvel’s Agent’s of Shield in this season, we get a brief glimpse of her in action trying to bring down HYDRA with the Howling Commandos. This series takes place in the 1940’s before her rise in the ranks of the SSR, where Agent Carter is just getting her feet wet right after the war and the alleged death of Steve Rogers in a male dominated world of espionage and stereotypical attitudes toward the opposite sex.
The Good
- Hayley Atwell who plays Agent Peggy Carter expands her character and does a great job trying to fit in a place where the women get coffee and the men beat their chests and growl claiming to be the masters of the universe. Her subtle approach at the SSR gives you an inside look at how women are being viewed in the workplace.
- Howard Stark guest stars as the main focus of this episode where his dangerous inventions are being sold in the black market. One in particular, a formula of an explosive chemical called molecular Nitramene that is both explosive and implosive at the same time.
- Howard lends his butler Jarvis to Agent Carter to assist her with anything she needs. The playful relationship between the two is great. Even though they are both British, their witty banter back and forth creates an entertaining spectacle to watch.
- Some familiar names and objects show up from time to time in this episode. Vita-Rays, Doctor Erskine, and Dr. Vanko (the father of Ivan Vanko a.k.a Whiplash).
- We get to see Agent Carter use her feminine charm as a blond bombshell trying to infiltrate the night club where one of Stark’s “Bad Babies” is being stored. Her American accent is pretty good.
- Bad Babies is a term used by Howard to explain some of his most aggressive and highly dangerous toys that he invented.
- Agent Carter is one step ahead of her SSR colleagues with the disappearance of Stark’s Bad Babies. She makes her colleagues look like amateurs compared to her when using her investigative skills, not to mention her fighting skills is kick ass!!
- Even though Agent Carter can be a hard ass kicking agent, her vulnerability is pretty apparent when facing her fear of getting too close to someone (i.e. Captain America). The death of her friend and roommate, Colleen Dierdre, has forced her to put up an iron wall between her and anybody wants to be her friend. But it is slowly coming down.
- Agent Daniel Sousa from the SSR, Jarvis, and her new friend Angie from the L&L Diner are slowly breaking down that wall. That’s good, she needs friends right now. She can’t do this alone.
- A new threat surfaces in the investigation of the missing molecular Nitramene, Leviathan. There is no other information about it, but I’m sure it is going to create a lot of havoc for Carter and the SSR in the near future.
- The SSR is a place full of male testosterone agents that treat Agent Carter as a secretary and less like an equal, because of her gender and her famous relationship with Captain America. It is kind of funny watching Carter hold her tongue when her male counterparts throw sexist remarks and jokes toward one another and her reaction is priceless. But it is the 1940’s and women and men have certain and specific roles during that time.
- Captain America Adventure Time, a radio broadcast that delivers some of the silly and insulting stories with dialogue that is both cheesy and insulting to listen. Watching Carter’s reaction to this radio broadcast is uneasy, because she has to bite her lip and do nothing.
The Bad
- Not a lot of negative things about this dual episode, except that this is only a limited series.
- I would have loved to see more of Howard Stark with Agent Carter, but that is something we are going to see in the next episode, I hope.
- The mystery of the Leviathan is way too cryptic for me. Are they the human, or non human? What is their agenda? Are they the ones controlling the magic typewriter?
- The magic typewriter thing is a knockoff of Fringe where evil doers would use a typewriter to communicate to their parallel universe.
If this is what the series is going to be like, then I am very interested in seeing what will happen next with Agent Carter. This show is more about Agent Carter fitting into a world where her status as an agent is questioned by her peers, and that her struggle to be taken seriously is an uphill battle. The show is also funny, adventurous, dangerous and sexy, everything that a spy show needs to make it a success. Go girl power! Hayley Atwell definitely gave Agent Carter more depth and complexity to make sure that this character can definitely take care of herself and get the job done. She is a wonderful addition to the Marvel Universe small screen, and I hope to see this show go beyond the limited series.
