Director: Stephen Cragg
Writer: Brant Englestein
Cast: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, Enver Gjokaj, Shea Whigham, Kyle Bornheimer, Lyndsy Fonseca
Synopsis: After learning the true identities of Brannis and the Leviathan attacker, Sasha Demidov, Dooley travels to Germany to speak with a Nazi colonel who led the opposing forces in the Battle of Finow. Meanwhile, Carter is on the receiving end of Stark, newly-smuggled back into the country. A multitude of mysterious forces are at play as Dottie shows her true colours, we discover Stark’s true motives for returning, and as Dooley says himself, ‘we’ve got ourselves a conspiracy.’
Verdict: Another whole heap of what we got at the beginning of the series, with a reinvigorated sense of style and approach apparent in the extra breathing room for less dominant characters. Hilariously, the episode opens with… You guessed it, heel-to-face action, but there is so much more substance, mystery and plot progression that the episode is difficult to fault.
Spoilers ahead, beware!
Looks like Peggy is back with even more heel-to-face action, but this time it seems she’s willingly incorporated Jarvis in on her moonlighting activities. Surprisingly, Jarvis has a lack of screen-time this episode, but with that being said, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There’s a different air about the episode, an almost refreshing breeze in which some of the minor characters really step up into their own league, Agent Thompson specifically. Taking that into account, perhaps the most interesting development for Thompson is the shift in the power dynamic at the S.S.R, in which Dooley leaves him in charge.
Thompson gives Sousa some pointers that seem to indicate that Sousa is a) an optimist/likes to see the best in people, b) is hopelessly naive or c) can’t read people at all. But Sousa’s willingness to try and watching him wearing his heart on his sleeve this episode is both eye-opening and extremely good for his character development. It seems even he has a few lessons still to learn.
But whilst we’re on the topic of Thomson replacing Dooley, perhaps one of the most important underlying currents in the show right now is the historical events that have occurred (or rather, haven’t occurred) within the universe. There is some instant pull towards the mystery surrounding the recounts of the Battle of Finow after Dooley travels to Germany. The description given, that there were bodies strewn everywhere, ripped to shreds, may sound familiar to some Marvel fans in Marvel’s sister show, where a similar event seemed to happen in the village that Skye was born in on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Are these situations linked? I could only hazard a guess, but the series has four episodes left to explain it to us.
If we address the episode-exclusive Mink, who at first seems to be the only unnecessary addition to the episode as a whole, his inclusion is at the very least, interesting. At first, the thought did cross my mind that he – or someone he worked with – was of more importance and could have been the assassin we saw in the previous episodes. But quickly it became apparent that he was only really here as a filler, and didn’t seem to serve much purpose disregarding getting Stark back into the country. However, without Mink, we wouldn’t have been able to really see – in a way that wasn’t being jammed down our throats – just who the bringer of his demise was, new resident small-town gal Dottie. While we only see her very briefly throughout the episode, in the scenes in which we do see her – I’m speaking mostly with her confrontation with Mink – she is presented with an psychotic gaze about her. The ability that she seems to have to switch from what we can now clearly establish to be her cover and her true self is indicative of a professionally trained sleeper agent – most likely linked to the aforementioned assassin. So many questions!
Following on from a lack of Howard Stark last week, we see Dominic Cooper return shortly into the episode and his wit and lovable charm is only somewhat endearing until it becomes apparent that he has ulterior motives. With this in mind, we do see some great chemistry and a really strong push in the development of Stark and Carter’s relationship in 1.4, that’s for sure. When she finds out that Stark has been lying to her all along about the ‘Blitzkrieg Button’, well… Let’s just say that Stark feels the burn from their not-so-mutually civil discussion.
In terms of social commentary, this week’s episode does not disappoint. Peggy is forced to face some hard truths presented to her by a weary (and thirsty for that scotch) Thompson about how she doesn’t have the respect or the equality of any of the men in the S.S.R. So far, it just seems to be one perfect dose of another of things you’d want to find in an episode, character development, plot progression, establishing backstory and just generally enlarging the MCU as a whole. However, Englestein seems to have written it in a way that doesn’t feel like these qualities are simply being ticked off of a list.
Just when we start to get some answers, there are ten more dangled in front of our faces, to even larger, more important questions. Is Stark really a war-criminal? What was he doing in Finow days before hundreds of bodies were found everywhere, ripped to pieces? Does he have anything to do with ‘Leviathan’? Who is Dottie working for? Was it a coincidence that Stark didn’t sneak into Dottie’s room? AND WHAT THE HECK IS THE TYPEWRITER SAYING?!
Last week I spoke of how I felt the series would be picking up momentum, judging by this week’s installment, it’s done exactly that. Now for the hard part, keeping that momentum going. In summary: This episode felt like a real step up – keep it up, Marvel. Next week is the fifth episode (“The Iron Ceiling”) of the series, meaning there are only three more after that! Make sure to check back and you’ll be able to get coverage for the rest of the series here at THN, so keep calm and Carter on, agents!
(5/5) The next episode will air on February 3rd for the US 9/8c, as always, UK watches may want to consider streaming online. The official site for Agent Carter can be found here.
