Peggy faces the full fury of Leviathan, as Howard Stark makes his return.
This first season of Agent Carter has been a really fun ride. With only eight episodes, the creative team was able to keep the storytelling concise and to the point. Yes, there were certain details that only made sense after the finale. But overall everything seemed to connect nicely and with purpose. Hayley Atwell has been fantastic in this role ever since she first appeared alongside Chris Evans in the Captain America movie. She deserved to have a show centered around her. She kept this show entertaining throughout its eight episode run. I'm hoping it's not the last we've seen of this world though. Marvel obviously has big plans with all of its franchises. But this is a property worth investing in and seeing what else they can accomplish.All season long Peggy and the SSR agents have been dealing with the stolen inventions of Howard Stark. First, Peggy was working with him in order to clear his name. He later betrayed that trust and she was eventually captured by the SSR. They didn't believe that she could be the hero of this story. She was the person standing in their way and that was the easy solution to have. Over the last two episodes of the season though, the agents had to see things for the way that they truly were. Dr. Ivchenko - who's real name is Dr. Fennhoff - and Dottie are the true people causing all of this turmoil and they must be stopped before creating an event with mass casualties. Again, we have to question why in the world Howard would create these inventions? Or at the very least, why he still had them and didn't just destroy them? He hated that the Midnight Oil was used as a weapon and the deaths of the people in that battle during the war are weighing on his soul. So why did he keep the Midnight Oil? The only reasonable answer is because the Marvel brand loves this type of storytelling - where the impossible MacGuffin is used to create chaos that the heroes must stop before its too late.
But that still means that Peggy, Howard and company have to stop Fennhoff and Dottie before using the Midnight Oil on the citizens in Times Square for the celebration of VE Day. It's a race against the clock that only gets more complicated once Howard is kidnapped. Fennhoff doesn't want Howard to die. He wants him to suffer in the same way that he suffered as he survived the battle from the war but his brother did not. It's always unnerving whenever Fennhoff does his hypnotism act on someone. Howard falls prey to it just like Chief Dooley did a week ago. Everyone who falls under Fennhoff's spell ultimately dies - but not until causing mass destruction.
Fennhoff is able to prey on Howard's vulnerabilities and grief of not being able to save the victims from the Midnight Oil or Steve Rogers from the plane crash. Howard loved Steve and would do anything to bring him back to this world - and to Peggy and himself. He needs to be successful in this venture in order to be happy with himself. Even after Peggy's big battle sequence with Fennhoff and Dottie, she still struggles with getting Howard to come back to reality. She lost just as much as he did. But she has slowly been learning to move on with her life. His initial mission brought purpose back into her life. He may have betrayed her trust once but she still wants to save his life - and the lives of all those innocent people below. The back-up plan was shooting Howard out of the sky before his plane makes it to the city. Jarvis is flying that plane. He doesn't want to do it but knows that he has to in order to save the real Howard.
Peggy and Jarvis are successful in the end. They get through to Howard before he makes a horrible mistake. Sousa and Thompson capture Fennhoff before he's able to make his escape. Dottie is still on the loose though - despite suffering a major fall thanks to Peggy. That's a loose thread that could come back to hurt Peggy and company. And yet, this entire season has been about Peggy gaining the respect of her co-workers. She was always seen as the woman in the office. A woman who couldn't possibly be as capable as a man. She got this position because she was Captain America's girlfriend. And now, she has proven herself to the office. They now stand and clap for her when she enters the room. The bigger government officials are still sexist. But Peggy is happy with the kind of recognition she ultimately receives. She has earned the trust and the friendship of these people. Howard, Sousa, Thompson and Jarvis would all gladly assist her if she would ever need their help. Those bonds of friendships cannot be broken and it's what makes them an effective unit in the end.
Some more thoughts:
- "Valediction" was written by Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters and directed by Christopher Misiano.
- Howard offers up one of his more "quaint" houses for Peggy and Angie to live in. Angie is over the moon with all the luxurious items. Her excitement put a big smile on my face. And then, Jarvis had that moment with Peggy which was all kinds of sweet.
- Peggy ultimately decided to pour the last remaining sample of Steve's blood into the river. As much as she loved him, she needed to let this part of him go or risk it falling into the wrong hands yet again.
- Sousa asks Peggy to go get a drink with him. All the romantic tension between her and both Sousa and Thompson has been poorly telegraphed all season long. So I didn't really feel anything when she turned him down but later had a big smile directed his way.
- The symmetry of Peggy failing to save Steve from his plane crash and her talking Howard down was a little too on-the-nose but I still enjoyed it nevertheless.
- In the "post-credits" sequences, Fennhoff is escorted to his jail cell with a device that renders him incapable of speaking. And then, his cellmate is surprisingly revealed to be Arnim Zola, who promises Fennhoff that if they work together great things can happen in the future.
- Even though this season was pretty close-ended, I still want ABC to renew Agent Carter for a Season 2. What do you think?
