Smoke & Mirrors – Peggy and Jarvis spot their previous late night attacker and to abduct him for some interrogation. After taking her director out of the picture, Whitney experiments further with her Zero Matter abilities while Dr Wilkes fails to make his situation more tangible.
So far, the biggest difference this and Peggy’s first season is that the show is letting itself have a bit more fun as it progresses. This is wonderfully demonstrated in this episode as no matter what the situation is, certain characters in particular, can reduce you to hysterics at a moment’s notice. The tranquilizer gun Jarvis keeps in the truck reveals that he has a greater animal based nemesis than Bernard the flamingo in the as yet unnamed “vile tempered koala”. Not to mention when Jarvis himself gets on the wrong end of it proving that the show can even take full on slapstick in its stride. The episode is littered with gems like Peggy’s hilariously ineffective attempt to get rid of an unexpected Sousa and of course, Jarvis doing his tough talking American voice. Agent Carter really is a uniquely entertaining show in the current listings and its ability to seamlessly inject laughs into part of its story is a big reason why. The only big criticism continues to be the character of Dr. Wilkes who feels far too undefined. There are some teases of more to come from him but for his sake they better hurry up.
One criticism of the last episode (which I don’t entirely agree with) was the way audience and the cast were not on the same page as Peggy and the gang were not aware that The Arena club was the illicit meeting place of the Council of Nine. This episode solves that by catching everyone up and even name-checking it. The catching up is achieved well both by the direct means of name confessing and also indirect deductions based upon the events. Kurtwood Smith continues to be an utter delight in every episode and his conveniently-timed surprise audit (from experience, I can confirm that all surprise auditors are heartless evil bastards) confirms to the team that he’s tangled up in the corruption. His one-on-one confrontation with Peggy makes for terrific viewing. He successfully threatens her without raising his voice a note from its regular soft tone, implying that on a mere whim, he can have the whole lot of them labeled as communists and dragged away without any hesitation. An ever feisty Peggy still holds her own of course, which makes it such a great clash of strong personalities.
Speaking of strong personalities or rather strong people, Whitney Frost’s progressive character change through her scenes is fascinating to watch, as gaining control over her new powers sees her taking direct control of her life rather than just using string pulling manipulations. Before successfully splatting the rat, we see her fully compliant with her husband’s requests to play the political game and be pretty face of his campaign. Yet afterwards on the phone, she appears not just distant but completely uncaring by her anything Calvin has to say. As if he’s gone from being her vital ventriloquism dummy to an insignificant insect in her world. Her final scenes make the change in their relationship dynamic abundantly clear; from now on,she wears the pants.... and whatever the hell else she wants. The increased facial scaring from her use is really little effect as not only does it push her towards donning her comic persona mask but visually represent her descent into villainy, just like the tally marks on Victor Zsasz.
For all the present day developments, the progressive flashbacks turn out to be the surprising highlight for several reasons. Firstly, their duel approach of giving similar treatments to both Peggy and Whitney help define the pair opposing nemeses. Whitney’s developments this episode imply that she/Madame Mask will become the main antagonist so just like the Peggy/Dotti comparisons last season (speaking of Dotti, rest assured she will be back soon). Then, there is the excellent representation in both childhoods of how period ideals of women initially prevented them from becoming who they were meant to be for a large part of their lives. We meet a young Peggy as a feisty tomboy only to be told that, “One of these days you’re going to have to start behaving like a lady” and become just that: a gossiping gal in the typing pool, whose ambitions only extend as far as finding a good husband. Similarly, we meet a young Whitney as a brilliant-minded young scientist only to be rejected from colleges for not meeting their genitalia requirements and be told by her mother to work on her looks because nobody cares what’s in her head. It plays on what we already know about Peggy’s constant battle to prove her worth to show that Whitney, in her own way, has faced the same difficulties, and it was really the people around them that determined their paths: Peggy fighting in the light, Whitney making the best of the shadows. Peggy had her brother, Michael to give her that game changing motivation. The engagement dinner scene with Michael, Peggy and her fiancé is the best flashback moment. Peggy’s fiancé being a back office ponce that’s never fought a day in his life (comparable to Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Forth) while Michael is a war-weary front officer that could not be less impressed. Hayley Atwell also gives us some great out-of-character acting as the pre-spy Peggy.
Already the same feeling is creeping in as last year. When Peggy departs us again in a few more weeks, not only will we miss her, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s return may actually feel underwhelming by comparison. If you or your friends have not checked this series out yet, make it a priority.