Hayley Atwell continues to shine as Agent Carter as she pursues the mysterious “Leviathan” and this episode reveals some interesting history about Jarvis’s military past. As Carter tries to clear Howard Stark’s name, she is reminded of the consequences of dangerous field work.
Throughout the episode, Peggy is struggling to balance what is supposed to be the normal lady life of the 40’s with being a secret agent. Her new digs, a woman’s only apartment building, are referred by the house mistress Miriam Fry (Meagen Fay) — as being “not unlike Alcatraz, or Fort Knox”. This was intended to instill fear, promote cooperation, and keep the building from getting lousy with men.
That prison-like attitude gives Carter an idea to pay Jarvis (James D’Arcy) a visit at the Stark home by sneaking into it!
Peggy is not accustomed to sitting around chatting about boys like the other ladies, but she’s starting to put in a effort to maintain the facade of a normal civilian female lifestyle. Her prime directive, however, is to solve the mystery of the stolen Stark weapons and she is never really off the clock. It’s not an effortless balance for her, but she doesn’t want to raise any eyebrows.
Among constant concerns of putting anyone in danger, we can see that she is learning to foster a friendship with her waitress friend and building mate Angie (Lyndsy Fonseca), with some bumps along the way.
We open as Carter is getting ready for bed, setting her pin curls and trying to decode a symbol from Leviathan found at the end of the previous episode. Angie drops in an effort to develop a friendship with the often closed-off Peggy. Once again, she takes it personally that Carter doesn’t have time to sit around and chat about her day or gossip, and storms off. Their interaction is interrupted by the introduction of an enthusiastic new building mate Dottie (Bridget Regan) in tow with Miriam. Peggy tries to be welcoming, but Angie’s catty behavior makes it something of an awkward situation, and not the kind of situation that Agent Carter has S.S.R. training for!
Smoothing things out and fitting in will not be easy for her, but by the end of the episode, she’s starting to get the hang of it.
The S.S.R. department guys are closing in on Leviathan and they track down a hotel room to discover a few different passports, and the transmitting typewriter we saw in the last episode (a sort of typewritten text message…), but still no leads. We find out that Russia is now added to the equation as the origin of the voiceless foreign agent who expired in the previous episode.
Carter meets up with Jarvis to investigate the tunnel through which the Stark Weapons were stolen, but their investigation is interrupted by the S.S.R. guys coming to question Jarvis about his license plate which was found at the imploded Roxxon Oil factory, and they take him in for questioning.
Narrowly escaping the threat of deportation and more importantly informing his wife of his secret life, Carter takes a career hit by feigning floosiness, taking the wrongs files and therefor compromising the interrogation, and letting Jarvis off the hook.
They get back to work and after applying a bit of logic, Carter figures out the M.O. of the thieves and track the tunnel to a boat harboring the stash of the stolen goods. For a moment, Carter ponders calling it a day and turning in the weapons to her department, but Jarvis reminds her that it will only make her look bad, and will more likely worsen the situation, possibly tagging her as treasonous also. Jarvis tips off S.S.R. anonymously via an affected American accent and hilarious bumbling phone call.
Shortly thereafter, they are surprised by the man in charge of the stash and we get a decent fight scene. The Stark Weapons are used to incapacitate the baddy, a sort of proto-TASER and he is left unconscious to be picked up by the department.
Our least favorite agent, Ray Krzeminski (Kyle Bornheimer), is raring to get a promotion, fame, and notoriety, for this discovery, but Agent Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) who accompanies him on the call suspects that this was a little too easy, and isn’t ready to take that promotion just yet.
This episode illustrates the duality of a spy’s life and the consequences it has on those involved. We are starting to see the subtle difference between “honesty and truthfulness” as Jarvis has been balancing the two for a long while, but is a relatively new concept for Carter. She is not used to being close enough to anyone. Although she lead a double life before this case came along, she is now much deeper in the realm of secrecy and concealment.
I am enjoying this series immensely and, as I mentioned in the previous review, and beyond thrilled to see a female protagonist kicking ass and doing it with finesse, but a dash of imperfection, and a subtle touch of humor. Though uncredited, Joss Whedon must have a hand in this show, because its portrayal of a realistic character is flawless down to every detail. Or the creators are looking at his playbook under the direction of Kevin Feige and Jeph Loeb (Heroes, Smallville, Marvel’s Head of Television).
Though the show is partially about her dealing with all of the misogyny and sexism of the era, its also not the main focus of the show. There’s plenty of action, detective work, and character building, as well as an amazing set, plenty of “easter eggs” and a great story.
Will Agent Carter be able to keep up with multiple identities to solve the case without compromising everything?
Stacey Rizoli is an artist, gamer, comic book fan and feminist living in Boston, MA. Her homegrown Red Queen Crafts produces paintings, signs and hand-made custom flower accessories. She hates the cold weather but keeps warm by staying in and playing video games. Follow her @redqueencrafts
