“If you don’t want to be in the game get out now. But the bridge and tunnel crowd are sure in for a surprise, ha ha ha ha”. The Joker wasn’t talking to us when he forced the poor money grabbing accountant Mike Engel into saying that but this bridge and tunnel affair packs a few surprises of its own and as the concluding part of the series debut must stand as a convincer. It must be the point where Agent Carter viewers decide if they want to be in the game for the series (all be it only another seven weeks.... come on, that’s not asking much) or get out now.
Bridge and Tunnel – After the explosive run in at the Roxxon oil refinery, Peggy and Jarvis continue on the trail of the dangerous explosives under the nose of the ongoing SSR investigation. In light of her recently departed roommate Peggy struggles to let other people into her life before ultimately realising that she cannot go it alone.
The pilot episode made great use of period sexism themes combined with building on its Captain America WW2 origins. Over the course of this episode we enjoy multiple slices of satirical pie as all these ideas combine brilliant into a Captain America radio drama that overtures several scenes. A mix of Hilter bashing Cap heroics and the helpless bimbo damsel swooning of the female nurse character doing nothing but getting hysterically captured and squealing in delight at her new sewing machine “Oh no! Nazi’s... again! They’ve got me all tied up. If only Captain America were here to save me”.... I know ladies, it’s truly inspirational stuff. Peggy’s shock and disgusted reaction at this society image of her gender both reinforces her character struggles and makes for many good laughs as the sound department simulate the fight sequences with what looks like the cafeteria lunch menu. In one brilliant sequence it even augments into reality as Peggy trades blows with a big goon to the sounds of Cap wailing on Hitler. It’s one of many ways that the episodes manages to hold a great light comedic edge to its tone through playful indulgence of its scene settings. As Peggy crashes at a Howard Stark house she discovers that people who delve into his closets deserve whatever they find “on occasion Mr Stark enjoys adding a theatrical element to his romantic endeavours”. Then there’s a carrot and stick interrogation by the SSR with an actual carrot and stick! Once the friendly offer is done with, chief Dooley literally takes the carrot off the table and leaves Agent Thompson beat the man senseless with the stick (leaving everybody wondering just what Thompson would have used the carrot for if it was still there). It’s some fantastic fun writing and even helped along considerably by having Joe “half of The Russo brothers” Russo on surprise directorial duties.
Now the episode does sadly fall victim to the inevitable second episode syndrome by not being the same bigger affair that a pilot always delivers. At times the episode even feels a bit slow paced but it does still boats some impressive action offerings. Most notably a dramatic gun and fist battle aboard a milk truck loaded with high explosives (much to the dismay of Jarvis) which is a sentence I certainly never expected to be writing. There’s also some great character development this week on both Peggy and her relationships with others; particularly Jarvis. After feeling responsible for Rose’s death last episode she paints herself as a walking red shirt dispenser; getting close to her will only end one way. This leads to a very touching storyline with her waitress friend Angie as she offers her a room in her building only to see Peggy repeatedly turn it down for fears of Angie’s life. In fact Peggy going Amelia Earhart and flying solo becomes a driving force of the episode as she repeatedly shuts out Jarvis in his attempts to help her before he ultimately convinces her that she’ll always need others to support her “So your solution is to remove yourself from the world you wish to protect.... where’s the sense in that”. He also draws some great comparables between Peggy and her beloved Cap. As much as she admired the Captain’s solo efforts he still had support, namely from her and now she must accept help from others to become great in the way she helped Steve Rogers do the same.
The villain aspects of the episode and series are working wonderfully. The silent, voice box speaking henchmen are almost a humanised form of Buffy’s legendary Gentlemen characters as they wordlessly and viciously carry out their assignments from whoever’s on the other end of the typewriter. That other end continues to be shrouded as the mystery of Leviathan continues. Early conversations imply it’s a person before a speak & spell confirmation that Leviathan is not a who but a what. In comic terms Leviathan was a Russian organisation from the Secret Warriors series that ties, among others, into Hydra. It’s likely that we’ll see some form of varied adaption on that here as Agents of Shield his itself drawn past material from this series. Linking things in to a young Hydra seems also an inescapable conclusion in terms of the bigger Agents of Shield/MCU picture (to the degree that it may actually be more fun for that not too happen!). The Russian organisation angle seems plausible as in real life terms the cold war period is judged as starting in 1947; so at 1946 the series would be in early/contributing events territory. The biggest clue we have at the moment is a symbol sketched in the sand best described as a heart with a wavy line through it which provides no obvious answers. It bares no resemblance to Hydra or any symbol associated with the term “Leviathan”. In fact considering its death bed creation there’s good odds it’s actually incomplete and will only make sense with additional clues.
So in the second half of its double bill debut Peggy steps off the gas a little but continues to impress. Carter and Jarvis continue to make a delectably delightful Brit double act “these racks of explosives are distracting me from the stale milk” and the many mysteries the show’s teasing are ones we want to see solved. Game on Carter.