Author Archives: Doc

Friday Night Titans #13

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SPOILERS

This week’s Friday Night Titans featured one of the greatest rivalries of the Innergeekdom division. Champion and the best IG player of all time Mike “The Killer” Kalinowski defended against Kevin “The Smasher” Smets.

This was the third time these two powerhouses of IG played each other. The first time was the infamous “Don’t Tell Peter” answer that temporarily halted Kevin Smets’ ascension, giving Mike the victory. In their second meeting, Kevin Smets dominated Kalinowski and took the IG title from him.

However, Smets’ momentum was stopped. First by Chandru the Chosen and secondly by a real life battle with prostate cancer. As Smets begin his recovery, inside his head, he was always hoping to return to the Schmoedown. Meanwhile, Mike Kalinowski was cementing himself as the greatest IG player we have ever seen, by regaining the championship for a third time and by defending it successfully against the best the Innergeekdom division could provide. He beat Chandru. He beat Robert Parker. He beat Amaru Moses. Despite being champion, these players all were expected to beat Kalinowski. They did not. Each time, Mike looked as if he was ready to falter, but each time he came back as IG Champ.

When Kevin Smets returned to the Schmoedown at the Spectacular, cancer free, a rematch with Kalinowski was what everyone had hoped for. Smets had to go on a journey to earn the rematch, defeating Chandru and then Saul, but the match was set up for episode 13 of Friday Night Titans.

And it did not disappoint.

Kalinowski, with his new face persona, was quipping throughout the match. He was having fun with the game. Kevin Smets was more intense, but did allow himself a few moments of levity as the game progressed.

Smets and Kalinowski were close through the first three rounds, ending up tied. The speed round was next. Kevin Smets nailed the first three questions like a machine and it looked as if the speed round would be the end of Kalinowski, but he showed what kind of champion he was by battling back and grabbing the final two questions of the speed round in a dramatic style.

In the end, Mike was given an extremely difficult 5-point question about 2012’s Dredd and Kevin Smets was crowned IG Champion once again.

Jenn Sterger carried out two extremely emotional post-match interviews because there was so much undertow of real life creeping into the story. Mike and Kevin are close friends outside the Schmoedown and they became even closer with Smets’ cancer that the respect and the love between them came out clear as day in the interviews. Both men added to their legacies with this excellent encounter.

Two underrated competitors were the undercard for Titans with Witney Seibold and Rachel Silvestrini matched up. Both of these competitors had yet to win a singles match, and they put on a good show. Both are remarkably knowledgeable. Seibold, in particular, were does plenty of podcasts with William Bibbiani, has always seemed to be underachieving in the Schmoedown.

Seibold got the victory over Silvestrini in a competitive match up that was fun to watch. Some of the most entertaining aspects of the match was the inclusion of Zaflertinflouse as manager. The character created by Kristin Harloff and Brett Sheridan on SEN Live, is completely wild and funny with his faux German accent and strange dance moves. He announced the formation of the faction, The House of Flouse. Even Witney cracked up several times during the match from Zaflertinflouse’s antics.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 1

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SPOILERS FOR OBI-WAN KENOBI

“Part One”

I have not reviewed any of the Star Wars Disney + series so far, including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett or any of the animated series. However, after watching the first episode of the newest Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, I feel that this is a series that deserves a write-up.

I really enjoyed this first episode.

Ewan McGregor returned as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the time frame during the years that he was a hermit on Tatooine keeping an eye on young Luke Skywalker. We see Obi-Wan in his depressed state, struggling to deal with the failures of his past.

The episode actually started with a group of flashbacks to the prequels, making them look so much cooler. If only those three films were as exciting and well done as this montage.

So coming into the series, one thought that the story would be Obi-Wan watching over Luke and protecting the young future Jedi. However, that does not appear to be what is happening. Instead, Obi-Wan is on his way to try and help save the kidnapped Leia Organa.

How cool it was to see Alderaan and a young Leia running through the forest and playing with her droid, Lola. Everything made a lot of sense as Leia’s adoptive parents contacted the hidden Obi-Wan to ask for help from the Jedi Master.

Ewan McGregor is such a great actor and he is piling on the layers of Obi-Wan as he resisted the call to return to action. It worked extremely well and gave him ways to create tension and anxiety in a character that we know makes it through to Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope.

The villains are really introduced well, with the Inquistors making an impact right off the bat.

I am very excited to continue the series.

Memory

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The latest Liam Neeson film arrived on Vudu recently and I gave it a watch. Memory did not last long in the theaters, but there have been decent films starring Liam Neeson over the years. Sure, several of them were interchangeable and forgettable, but not all of them.

Unfortunately, Memory is one that will not stick in my own memory for long either.

Alex Lewis (Liam Neeson) was an assassin-for-hire whose reputation for precision was well known. He was hired to carry out a contract on two people, a lowlife and a little girl. Alex refused to kill the girl, thus breaking the contract. He tried to get the contract revoked in his special brand of violence, but the girl still wound up dead. This sent Alex in a path of vengeance for those involved in the case.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Vincent Serra (Guy Pierce) had been involved with an investigation toward the little girl and her sex trafficking father and her death brought him into the case and crossing paths with Alex Lewis.

Oh, there is one more issue going on here. Alex Lewis was hoping to retire because his own memory was beginning to fail with Alzheimer’s Disease starting to develop, much like his brother, whom we saw for a moment.

Liam Neeson was fine here and he was different than in many of his other roles because he looked really old and shaky. That is, until he wasn’t and was a killing machine.

There were so many times during the film that I stopped and wondered who these people were. The villains were so underdeveloped and were nothing more than a person for Alex to kill. Alex was placed as our protagonist but then so was Vincent. There was a Mexican FBI agent Marquez (Harold Torres) who was constantly being, at best, treated as an outsider and, at worse, treated in a totally racist manner. There was meant to be a twist at the end but it was so poorly foreshadowed that it was painfully obvious what was going to happen.

The film was a mess with a poorly written story with weak characters. Liam Neeson deserves better than this.

2 stars

Agent Carter S2 E4-10

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I ripped through the final seven episodes of the second season of Agent Carter last night, once again not wanting to stop to write up a review for each episode. As I did for the first season, I would get to the end of an episode and just wanted to continue immediately. I very much enjoyed the second half of the second season as the stakes were upped with Whitney Frost and her quest for the Zero Matter.

Let’s hit some of my favorite moments:

  • The entire Jarvis and Ana relationship is the best relationship on television and right near the top of the MCU. And, of course, when Ana was shot by Frost, it shook Jarvis to his core and truly messed with his relationship with Peggy. Guilt and blame flew freely in some powerful scenes between these two fantastic actors.
  • I did not have near the emotional connection to Dr. Wilkes as I did when I originally watched Agent Carter on ABC. He was fine, but I remember rooting for him to be with Peggy. Now, not so much.
  • Peggy being impaled in episode 5 and being back to full strength by 7. I have to say that this was a bit iffy. Peggy may be remarkably trained and talented, but she is not super human and that sure looked like a killing blow.
  • Whitney wiping out half of the Council of 9 was quite the power move.
  • Howard Stark returned for the final episode once again, delivering a great line about Jarvis hitting a woman with the car when Jarvis drove into Whitney Frost.
  • I appreciated the use of secondary characters Rose and Aloysius Samberly in helpful, yet comedic ways. Samberly in particular was the total antithesis of a spy character.
  • The use of Dottie Underwood was interesting as they continued to set her up as Peggy’s arch nemesis but someone who has a healthy bit of respect for Carter.
  • Just how untrustworthy Jack Thompson is and whose side is he actually on. I loved how Peggy just went about her business even after Jack tried to find dirt on her to “balance the scales” between them. Peggy just said that she would never reveal his confidence, and we believe her.
  • Jack ending up in a bloody pile on the floor of his hotel room in the post credit scene was something I did not remember. However, it sure looked like the assailant was Ray Wise to me. Of course, this is a forever dangling plot since Agent Carter was not renewed for season three. I assume Thompson died there.
  • Musical dance numbers are always a plus!
  • Gamma cannon setting up a future issue for Bruce Banner?

I did enjoy a lot of the humor in this season, but there was quite a bit that felt forced as well. Anything between Peggy and Jarvis though, gold.

I wish this show had more of a following, because it was so well done. I am sure we will be getting more Agent Carter, in the form of Captain Carter as the MCU continues. I am happy with Sousa heading off into the multiverse with Quake from Agents of SHIELD.

Agent Carter is able to be binged and streamed on Disney +.

21 Jump Street (2012)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 4

Still not sure how I feel about this.

Everybody seemed to love 21 Jump Street, the “adaptation” of the 1980s TV show into an action/comedy movie starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. I did not like it much at all, but this is the Do Over and I give films that I didn’t like the first time a second viewing to see if I missed something about it the first time.

Honestly, there are a ton of things in 21 Jump Street that I never like in movies. I am not a huge fan of vulgarity, and there is plenty of that in this movie. Drug jokes are not one of my favorites either and this movie’s whole plot focuses around drugs. I have never been a fan of Jonah Hill as he falls right into the loud, obnoxious protagonist character that I have always found off-putting. All of that is still in 21 Jump Street.

I will say that I found a little more to enjoy in the film the second time around.

I did appreciate the chemistry between Tatum and Hill. If they did not work together, the film absolutely falls apart. I found Channing Tatum to be surprisingly good. This was one of the first opportunities he has had to show his comedic timing and he does an excellent job with it.

I’m not sure if Chris Parnell is just going to be in every movie that I watch from now on as he was in three different films that I watched this weekend. Ice Cube was funny as the 21 Jump Street Captain, and the cameo with Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise was fun.

The storyline is pretty stupid, which I think it was supposed to be. However, it is interesting looking at the idea of popularity in high school and how it has changed over the years. How the groups in high school form and how that affects the people involved. Getting a taste of being popular sent Jonah Hill off the deep end and he was doing things that he never should have been doing to maintain the level.

Phil Lloyd and Christopher Miller directed the film and tried to do something unexpected than just recycle an old TV show for nostalgia purposes. There were thoughts on deeper themes contained inside 21 Jump Street that elevates it above just another vulgar-comedy. Unfortunately, a lot of what turns me off in a comedy are on display here, so I still do not love the movie, even if I may respect it a little more.

The Sadness

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I’m feeling a little queasy and shaken after watching The Sadness, the Taiwanese film from director Rob Jabbaz in his feature film debut arriving on Shudder last weekend. There were some scenes, especially in the first 15-20 minutes when things were starting to ramp up that really stuck with me in that “kicked-me-in-the-gut” way.

The Sadness started out with our two main protagonists, Jim (Berant Zhu) and Katie (Regina Lei) waking up, happily in bed. They seemed happy, despite Jim lacking drive in his life. While Katie prepared for work, Jim saw a TV broadcast talking about a pandemic sweeping the land called the Alvin virus. A doctor (a very Dr. Fauci type individual) argued with the news program about the dangers of the Alvin virus and how people should take it seriously.

As Jim took Katie to the train station, they passed by the police dealing with a man who had brutally murdered another person.

After dropping off Katie, Jim went for a coffee, where he and others in the shop were exposed to an older lady who viciously attacked other customers, that triggered a full out bloodbath. Jim ran from the suddenly bloodthirsty crowd, getting back to his place.

Meanwhile, Katie was being hit on by a weird businessman (Tzu-Chiang Wang) on the train just before someone else started to stab victims in the train.

The film was kind of like a zombie movie, but different because the zombies were not brainless, but, in actuality, vicious and horny. They were not only looking to eat their victims, but also sexually gratify themselves before consuming them. This twist in the zombie tale really made for some disturbing imagery in The Sadness and kept everybody tense and on their guard.

This is one of the goriest and, frankly, unnerving films I have seen in awhile, probably since the DailyView when I watched The Bay. I found myself, especially early in the film, crying out in shock and, perhaps, disgust as the shocks came quick and hard.

It may be a little too close to home with the Alvin virus being the cause of all of the death, and being debated and refuted by governments and the media until it is too late.

This is not a film for the faint-at-heart or someone who does not do well with the sight of blood. There is a lot of it here. However, it is an absolutely tense thriller with plenty of real frights as you follow the two main characters in their efforts to get back to one another. The Sadness is a creative adjustment to the zombie sub-genre of horror films and creates a mood of fear and lack of safety.

4 stars

Senior Year

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Rebel Wilson goes into a coma for twenty years and then awakes in the latest original movie from Netflix this weekend. I was in a coma for what felt like twenty years watching this.

In an attempt to become prom queen and grab her perfect life, Stephanie (Angourie Rice) went out of her way to become popular. She became the cheer captain, got her perfect boyfriend, and campaigned for prom queen. Unfortunately, Stephanie was injured during a cheerleader performance and spent 20 years in a coma.

When Stephanie (Rebel Wilson) awoke from the come, she found herself still mentally a 17 year old girl in the body of a nearly forty year old woman. She was somehow able to get up and walk around after being in a coma and not moving for 20 years, but why sweat the little details.

Stephanie decided to go back to high school to get her diploma and win that prom queen she was robbed of.

All of the high schoolers from Stephanie’s original class seemed to be stuck in their high school personas too, including Stephanie’s rival Tiffany (Zoe Chao), her old flame Blaine (Justin Hartley), her friend Seth (Sam Richardson), her old friend who was now principal Martha (Mary Holland) and her father Jim (Chris Parnell).

This was such a bad movie. I was ready for it to be over fifteen minutes into it. It was almost two hours, which was way too long. This should never have been more than 90 minutes. The plot itself was not developed enough to support that run time.

I guess I was supposed to be rooting for Stephanie during this entire film, but she was a horrible person. There was no one that wasn’t rotten. And it too long for Stephanie to start learning her lessons. By the time she did, I couldn’t care less.

There a ton of dance numbers in the film too. Most of those are fine. Some of the music is catchy.

This was meant to be some kind of fairy tale, but it just did not work on any level. Rebel Wilson looked great and brings a lot of energy to the role, but the character is so unlikable that I couldn’t care less what happened to her. None of the supporting characters are worth anything, with the possible exception of Sam Richardson, who has been great over the last few years. Nothing here makes sense and is so unrealistic. Had the film totally embraced the fantasy elements, it may have been better, but I found this so dumb and a waste of time.

1.3 stars

Friday Night Titans #12

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SPOILERS

2-0.

The new team of Adam Collins and Paul Oyama, team name Coast 2 Coast, wound up playing two games on tonight’s Friday Night Titans. One fun and lighthearted game with The Reel Rejects and a more tense and challenging main event against the new team of Mr. Erwin and Slick Nick Harley, The Appointment.

As soon as I had heard about Collins and Oyama were forming a new team, I thought this would be a real challenge for anyone, and we definitely saw this tonight as they competed against two very different teams.

And they won both. They were more dominant against the Reel Rejects, and won a close matchup with The Appointment.

Collins, now a member of Swag with Winston Marshall, is playing a character trying to look like he has more personality and has some dance moves. In reality, neither of these are Adam Collins’ strength, but his awkwardness is fun to watch.

The Appointment is a member of the Stars and Roxy Striar is doing some of the best heel work in years. The new Mr. Erwin character is great too. Nick Harley, however, may have been the standout character work of the show. Though Nick made several mistakes that helped lead to the loss, his character work as Mr. Erwin’s mouthpiece and overall dude with a bad attitude was very strong. I have said it before but Nick reminds me of WWE superstar Kevin Owens, and that is a really good thing. As he continues to learn the game, he has been excellent in the entertainment part of the show. The Appointment may have lost tonight, but I see big things for this pairing.

During these two games, there were two challenges made, both by Winston and I think both of them were BS. Winston had both of his challenges upheld, but I really disliked both of them. I thought both challenges were pickiness in situations where the others knew the answers.

Next week, Innergeekdom championship with Mike Kalinowski vs. Kevin Smets.

Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)

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I was never a fan of Disney’s Rescue Rangers when it was on TV, and when I heard talk about this 2022 reboot (if you want to call it that), I was anything but enthusiastic.

However, a couple trailers were entertaining and I started hearing some good word of mouth and so, with a specifically weaker movie weekend, Chip and Dale shot to the top.

And you know what? It was very entertaining.

Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers was very funny, more clever than it had any right to be, and had a wonderful story of friendship and forgiveness.

Chip (John Mulaney) and Dale (Andy Samburg) were riding high as the stars of their own Disney animated show, falling right into their typical patterns of humor. However, Dale was always feeling as if he were the second banana, far behind that of his more popular pal. So when he had a chance to get a solo show, he took it, not expecting it to be the end of Rescue Rangers.

So with the Rescue Rangers cancelled and the new project a no go, Chip and Dale went their separate ways.

Years later, animated characters are disappearing, being changed and forced to play knock off versions of themselves in bootleg films. When Monterey Jack (Eric Bana) disappeared, Chip and Dale had to come back together to try and help their old friend. Unfortunately, Chip and Dale found that they still had some issues to iron out between them before they could discover the truth.

I loved how the movie had such a potpourri of animation styles. One of the best jokes in the film is how Dale had a 3D surgery to change his animation style to 3D. It was a clever and cool idea. Then there were all kinds of animation styles from hand drawn to sock puppets to claymation in the film. There is also live action involved in the film.

There are some great voice actors involved here including J.K. Simmons, Seth Rogan, Will Arnett, Keegan-Michael Key, Dennis Haysbert, Tim Robinson, and Rachel Bloom.

There was a ton of special cameos of other animated characters including characters NOT owned by Disney, big characters not own by Disney. It brings back memories of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (including Roger Rabbit himself).

This is a great movie that was a lot of fun. There is something here for the whole family. It is on Disney + streaming service.

4.5 stars

Agent Carter S2 E2-3

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“A View in the Dark“

“Better Angels”

The second season picked up quickly with some great scenes in the second and third episodes, setting the stage for what was coming next for Agent Carter.

The show reestablished the connection between Peggy and Jarvis with a wonderful scene of Jarvis working out and challenging Peggy to a little sparring.

What I loved about this was how confident Ana Jarvis was. She knew exactly what was going on and she did not even once think that anything was going on between her husband and Peggy. A lesser show would have tried to use this as a way to create conflict, instead of a great character bit.

I have found something interesting about the show on this rewatch. Peggy and Dr. Jason Wilkes got close during these two episodes and Peggy believed he had been killed in the Zero Matter explosion. I remember, when this was first on, I was rooting for Jason and Peggy to get together, even though I could see that the show was working towards Peggy and Sousa. I wanted Peggy and Jason together. Now, I found myself thinking that this relationship had come out of nowhere and did not feel reasonable. I wonder if the fact that at the end of Avengers: Endgame, Peggy and Steve wound up together affected my thoughts on Peggy with another man. Add to that all of the Peggy and Steve stuff from What If…? that I found this to be happening too quickly for my tastes. Fascinating result.

Howard Stark’s reappearance always brings a ton of energy as well. Despite his being a massive playboy, Howard always seemed like a big brother to Peggy. Again, I loved that Peggy had a relationship with Howard Stark that did not include an intimate component.

I also remember how much I disliked Jack Thompson, even more than season one. He has looked like a crooked agent, bowing to the wants of Kurtwood Smith and the group behind the scenes. I do not remember if Thompson takes a turn for the better as the series goes on, but the newspaper headlines that Peggy told him she saw the day before, about a rigged election, made him raise an eyebrow.

Oh…and this guy isn’t long for the series.

Whitney Frost has the Zero Matter inside of her and it is slowly destroying her face (not to mention absorbing this guy’s entire body). She is a little scary and losing her grip on reality.

Agent Carter S2 E1

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“Lady in the Lake”

The second season of Agent Carter saw some loose ends tied up at the very beginning (or is it just setting up for more to come?) when Peggy and the SSR captured renegade Dottie Underwood and took her into custody. This at first felt as if they were just wrapping the first season’s arcs up so they could start off season two with a much different story.

Off to Los Angeles goes Peggy to meet up with Sousa was the chief of the new West coast branch of the SSR. Again, it felt as if the headaches from the New York branch were being sent away to a brand new world.

There seemed to be a murder of a woman in a lake in LA that was tied to a killer who had been quiet for several years. This body had been found frozen in a block of ice. Of course, Peggy’s instincts tell her that there is more to the case than what we see, and she is 100% correct.

We get a chance to meet Jarvis’s wife, who we only heard about in season one, and she had a short moment of screen time, but I fell in love with her immediately. She is a great bot of casting, bringing a character with such an opposite energy than Jarvis had. You could tell she and Peggy hit it off immediately.

They continue to build the romantic tension between Peggy and Sousa, but they tossed in a mysterious woman that Sousa was kissing at the end of the episode.

We are introduced to actress Whitney Frost is our main antagonist at the start of season two, as the wife of bigwig Calvin Chadwick, but he definitely did not feel like the person pulling the strings. Frost felt much more dominant than he did.

Dr. Jason Wilkes is introduced as well. He becomes an important piece of season two.

It is a fun start with a season that feels like a fresh reboot, keeping the best parts of season one.

Agent Carter S1 E6-8

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Last night, I decided that I was going to pause with the write-ups after the episode because I absolutely wanted to finish season one and, if I took the time to write about each episode, I would not have been able to finish the show. So tonight, after seeing the last three episodes back to back to back, I am doing one overall write-up.

Man, those three episodes were great. Building upon episode four and five, which I loved, these three eps just knocked it out of the park.

Some of my favorite moments:

  • The use of Howard Stark in a conclusion that is meant to bring us full circle from Captain America: The First Avenger.
  • Peggy telling the SSR the truth! It is a strange story beat to tell the truth is so uncommon. How many times can stories be fixed if people just talked to each other. I loved when Peggy and Jarvis just laid it all out.
  • The death of Chief Dooley was extremely well done and surprisingly emotional.
  • Speaking of emotional, Peggy pouring the blood of Steve Rogers into the water nearly brought me to tears. Powerful end for the series.
  • Peggy and Jarvis handcuffed to the table… LOL
  • Peggy showed off her skills and the SSR realized how kick ass she truly was.
  • Daniel Sousa picked up some slack in these episodes.
  • The massacre at the movie theater was brutal.
  •  Ivchenko. Come on. Gotta love those mentalists.
  • Post credit scene:  Ivchenko and Arnim Zola in the same4 cell, with Tobey Jones right there to play the role of Zola. I do not think this gets used in season two (I might be wrong about that) and that is a total shame.

This was so great. It felt like a series ahead of its time in the MCU. Peggy Carter brought such a gravitas in this series and Edwin Jarvis, and his loyalty to Agent Carter, was a special relationship. Howard Stark arrived as a total jerk with the heart of gold. We got to see the façade of Howard Stark crumble away in the finale and get a glimpse into the soul of Howard Stark.

Agent Carter S1 E5

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“The Iron Ceiling”

Another boomer of an episode as Neal McDonough reprised his role at Dum Dum Dugan, member of the 107th aka The Howling Commandos.

After breaking a code from the mysterious message that came across the typewriter at the end of last episode, Peggy talked herself onto the team that was heading to Russian to try and find out what they could on Leviathan and the connection with Howard Stark. Although, technically, Peggy wasn’t going to be allowed to go even after breaking the code. It required her delivering the Howling Commandos to be the ground support to get her on the team.

As soon as the adventure began, it became clear that Peggy was in her element and that Thompson was not the leader that he seemed. This episode really dove into his background, giving him reason to reconsider his stance on Peggy.

One of the best parts of the show was how Dum Dum and the Howling Commandos just accepted Peggy into their ranks and listened to what she said. Peggy hasn’t had this kind of respect from anyone in the SSR and watching even Dum Dum Dugan ask for Peggy’s leadership was awesome.

The raiding party was able to find a psychiatrist in the Russian prison who was there trying to keep a scientist balanced so he could design a weapon from Stark blueprints. They also saw more of the Black Widow program, including a little girl who wound up killing Junior Juniper, of the Howling Commandos.

I love how this still feels as if it is in continuity of the MCU. Agents of SHIELD was initially in continuity but, as the years went on, it evolved into what had to be considered an alternate universe (perhaps somewhere in the multiverse), but Agent Carter fit right in with the MCU timeline.

We see more of Dottie and her search of Peggy’s place, as well as some flashbacks to her youthful training. She does not find the stash of Cap’s blood, thankfully, but she does find photos of Stark weapons Peggy had hidden.

Chief Dooley approached Jarvis again, with a bit of an olive branch, telling him that he just wanted the truth and that he would love to hear what Howard Stark had to say.

And Agent Sousa discovered a link between the blonde in the photograph they had from a few episodes ago and Agent Carter. Sousa was not sure where to go from here.

Agent Carter S1 E4

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“The Blitzkrieg Button“

As good as episodes 1-3 of Agent Carter were, “The Blitzkrieg Button” was easily the best of the series so far. One of the big reasons was the return of Howard Stark to the show’s canvas. Nothing like a dose of lies and manipulations to spice up a secret agent show.

We also got the obligatory Stan Lee cameo. It was unexpected, but there he was, sitting right next to Howard Stark, asking for the sports section. I miss Stan.

So many things happen, including the reveal that Stark had a vial of Steve Rogers’ blood among the weapons that the SSR currently had. He manipulated Peggy into stealing it back by saying that it was a bomb that would cause a massive blackout if activated. Peggy was too quick for Howard though as she picked up the tells from him and from Jarvis (scratches his ear when he lies) and she discovered the blood inside the weapon.

The confrontation between Peggy and Howard after that was fire and the right cross was well deserved. Peggy kicked Howard to the curb and kept the blood for herself.

We also discovered that new girl at the hotel, Dottie, turned out to be someone special. I remember from the first time that Dottie came from the Black Widow program, though they have not revealed that yet. The acrobatics Dottie executed on the unexpecting Russian was epic. And it was all over a cool gun he had that she wanted.

SR Chief Dooley went to Germany to find out information about this mysterious Battle of Finow from former Nazi colonel Ernst Mueller. Dooley offered Mueller a cyanide pill to avoid the scheduled hanging that he was headed for in exchange for info. Mueller told Dooley that there was no battle and that it was just a group of mutilated bodies.

Lots of excitement heading forward. Pieces are falling into place and we have four more episodes in season one.

Agent Carter S1 E3

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“Time and Tide”

At the end of last episode, the guys at the SSR had found the bumper of the Stark car in the remains of the Roxxon plant. This set them on the trail of Howard Stark, indirectly through the path of Edwin Jarvis.

In this episode, we learn a little bit more of the past of Jarvis and the SSR attempted to have him and his wife deported. Thankfully, through some sneakiness of Peggy, Jarvis is set free.

Peggy consistently is shown as quick-thinking and intelligent. She is very much the opposite than what the others at the SSR seemed to think of her.

Peggy and Jarvis wind up finding the missing Stark tech and they report in anonymously. Peggy wanted to do it herself, but Jarvis correctly convinced her that the people she worked for would not see it as a positive. They would see it as a way of tying Peggy to Stark and questioning her motives. Still one of the best parts of this series was how Peggy, the most capable person in the room, was mistreated or disrespected by her colleagues.

There was also a cool fight scene with a guy. Peggy needed the help of Jarvis or else she would have been killed. Then she was able to use one of the Stark toys against the guy, breaking his arm. With Peggy and Jarvis out of the way, the SSR arrived and found the witness. He was in the car with Krzeminski and about to blow Peggy’s cover when another car struck them from behind. That led to a person assassinating both Krzeminski and the witness.

This was the first death of a member of the SSR that we got to see and it was quite dramatic. Peggy was hit harder than she thought.

The series continues to build its central mystery and progress every episode. Carter and Jarvis continue to be an awesome pair and the stakes continue to rise.