“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.

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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“Bridge and Tunnel”

In episode two, Peggy Carter continued her attempts to prove the innocence of Howard Stark while trying to prevent her co-workers from discovering that she was working the case.

Peggy went to investigate the missing molecular nitramene bombs from the milk truck from last episode and trying to discover more about the mysterious Leviathan.

Running though the episode was clips from the “Captain America Adventure Program” which was a radio show detailing fictionalized adventures of the war hero Captain America. Poor Peggy was reduced in the show as a damsel in distress and the real Peggy kept hearing the show wherever she would go.

There was an exciting fight on the top of the milk truck that ended up off a cliff and imploding in a massive implosion. Again, it showed the relationship between Peggy and Jarvis. Not that there was ever going to be anything between the two besides friendship. It was not that sort of vibe. Jarvis is able to convince Peggy that she could not take everything on herself and that she needed to have help. He was meaning himself, but it also led Peggy to take an apartment that she turned down before because she was afraid that she brought danger to people around her.

Roxxon is included in the show as well. Roxxon has always been the evil corporation of the Marvel Universe and this would be no exception. It was awesome to see Ray Wise (Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks) make his appearance as one of the heads of Roxxon.

“Now is not the End”

After watching the Agent Carter Marvel One-Shot for this past Saturday Shorts day, I decided that I would begin a rewatch of Agent Carter’s ABC TV show that ran for two seasons after Captain America: The First Avenger. I remember that series being a lot of fun and ahead of its time.

Peggy Carter is working at the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) in New York City, but the other agents are anything but welcoming. One of the key sections of this series was the inclusion of how men treated women in the mid 40s and how Peggy Carter was not going to take such behavior.

Howard Stark, played in this series by Dominic Cooper, is believed to have sold some of his weapons to enemies of the USA and has become a fugitive, wanted as a traitor. Howard approached Peggy, along with his butler Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy), and asked her to investigate this case. He needed her to prove him innocent. Peggy decided to help him, even though helping him might be seen as her turning traitor too.

Peggy is shown as remarkably capable and she is able to retrieve one Stark bomb and disable it. However, it led to the death of her roommate. This scene and the following one of Peggy with Jarvis at the restaurant was pretty strong. Hayley Atwell is an excellent actress and can take the material to another level with her performance.

There is a great chemistry between Peggy and Jarvis, and their bickering and interactions are funny and endear us to the characters immediately. Comic fans knew of Jarvis, since he was the comic book butler for the Avengers and in the MCU is the person whom Tony Stark originally named his AI in his armor.

The show started by highlighting Peggy’s co-worker, Daniel Sousa, who had been wounded in the war and needed a crutch to move around. I have a much more positive memory of Sousa from later when he joined Agents of SHIELD and was matched up with Quake.

This introduction does a great job setting up the series and what is to come.

SPOILERS for FINALE

“Gods and Monsters“

Moon Knight came to a conclusion this morning with a fantastic finale episode that should have given those people complaining about a lack of Moon Knight or a lack of action just what they wanted.

For the record, I have not been complaining about this at all. I have thoroughly enjoyed following the life of Marc Specter, either as himself or his alter Steven Grant. I consider having Marc on screen the same thing as having Moon Knight on screen.

But there was plenty of Moon Knight (and Mr. Knight) in the finale as he took on Harrow in the streets of Cairo. Meanwhile, gigantic Ammit was fighting Khonshu outside the pyramids. The action was planned out well and then the blackout moment that we haven’t seen in a few episodes took me by surprise. Jake?

I’m jumping around, but the post credit scene with the official debut of Jake Lockley, still under control of Khonshu, arriving to kill off Harrow was an awesome moment. I had a sneaking suspicion that Jake would show up and be named in the post credit scene. I was not sure how that would be done, and I did not see the way they did it coming. It was great.

Leyla, the newly minted avatar of Taweret, is amazing. Her wings were stunning and looked so bad ass. I loved how they carried out her story. I was afraid that they would have her take the power of Moon Knight instead and I’m not sure how I would have felt about that. She has been a secondary character and the show has been about Marc and Steven. No one else should be finishing up a fight but them (or… I guess, Jake).

I thought the special effects were just spectacular, especially with the god fight. There was a shot of harrow walking with Khonshu and Ammit fighting behind him that was just exceptional. All three of the Egyptian deities that we got in this series (Khonshu, Ammit, Taweret) were brilliantly designed and the execution of the CGI was seamless.

I will say that this week’s finale was a bit of a step back from last week’s brilliant episode, but that is to be expected. Last week was one of the best episodes of TV that Marvel Studios have put together so far. The finale pacing did feel somewhat rushed. It would have been nice if the episode was closer to the hour mark than it was to the 40 minute mark. That would have given some of the emotional parts (such as an excellent scene with Marc and Steven in the sands) some time to breathe. I’m not sure why the finale turned out to be the shortest of the episodes, but that is what happened.

In fact, I think there was enough story here that they could have had 7 episodes instead of six. It is not a complaint that is going to ruin my love of this series, but it is more of a wish instead.

Here is my list of Marvel Studio Disney + series so far.

1. WandaVision. This continues to be my #1. A lot of emotion and so much fun. I could not wait for the next episode to arrive every week.
2. Loki. Very close to WandaVision. I loved the creativity and the craziness of Loki.
3. Moon Knight. Close to Loki, but just behind. Oscar Isaac is the MVP and probably the best actor of any Marvel series (with Elizabeth Olson right there too).
4. Hawkeye. Lots of fun and a great Christmas tone. Kingpin returned. Hailee Steinfeld and Florence Pugh were sensational both together and with anyone else who shared scenes.
5. Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This moved up a notch because of some of the emotional moments I recently revisited. It was messed with during COVID so I give it a bit of a break.
6. What If…?. This is a vital series for the upcoming Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The animation was astounding, but the fact that it is animation moves it back a tad.

We are about a month away from Ms. Marvel. We’ll see where that one falls.