Marvel's Agent Carter Season Premiere: Welcome to Los Angeles!
Christine Laskodi
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Glowing frozen bodies, people combusting into moving particles of matter, and flamingos that just can't be tamed. Welcome to Los Angeles, Ms. Carter!
Peggy Carter is back in action, on a new coast and with a new mystery to solve in Marvel's Agent Carter Season 2 Episode 1 and Marvel's Agent Carter Season 2 Episode 2.
Ready for another adventure, Ms. Carter?
Jarvis
The overall feel of Los Angeles is brighter, vivacious, and more stylized. Peggy feels a little brighter and vivacious as well. This setting change is almost a reboot in itself for the formerly dark, grim, and gritty Marvel's Agent Carter Season 1.
Los Angeles suits Agent Carter. It's a town where she can thrive, no longer under the thumb of the men who constantly shoot down her abilities and give her their lunch orders. She doesn't need to prove her worth to anyone.
Daniel Sousa, who we last saw being turned down for a drink by Peggy, is now the Chief of the Los Angeles branch of the SSR, and he's got a strange case on his hands. During a heat wave, a lake has somehow iced over, leaving a dead corpse frozen in its waters. Even better? This corpse glows.
It's a wonderful supernatural twist on an old classic murder case, but one that Daniel's new crew can't quite handle.
When Daniel calls Jack, now Chief of the New York SSR branch, and requests the help of a seasoned Agent, naturally, Jack sends Peggy. She's told she needs to leave immediately, which means that she can't tell her bestie Angie, an aspiring actress, to pack her bags and take the cross country journey with her.
The absence of Angie is felt, there's no question. Peggy's best gal-pal left an impression with viewers, one that won't be quickly forgotten. However, that void is quickly filled by Ana Jarvis, an excellent substitute.
Ana is part of that brighter and vivacious feel, with her colorful attitude and warm demeanor. Her romance with Jarvis is fun to peek into, and her immediate liking of Peggy makes us feel as though she's always been around.
It's also a lot of fun to watch Ana make Jarvis blush.
I'm not sure whether you follow adventure or adventure follows you.
Daniel
It can't be a coincidence that Jack has sent Peggy to Los Angeles' SSR branch to assist Daniel, especially with Dottie Underwood finally in SSR custody.
I want to believe that Jack is a good guy, that he's learned a valuable lesson about who he is, and that he understands the value of Peggy Carter. Yet Jack is just a little too eager to send his best Agent away, and take on the opportunity to question Dottie himself.
And what about his conversation with Vernon, essentially about the SSR becoming obsolete? Is Jack really going to abandon his friends and co-workers in favor of chasing the next big carrot? To continue to hand cases to the FBI, in order to “stay in the muck”?
Zero Matter is unlike any substance we've ever seen. I'm starting to think it's more dangerous than anything we've ever known.
Jason
Daniel and Peggy's murder mystery gets very interesting very quickly. Within the first hour, we know that Isodyne Energy is doing something strange, called Zero Matter, to bodies causing freezing and combustion, that Isodyne Energy head Calvin Chadwick is a crooked politician, and that Calvin's wife, Whitney, is the brains behind the operation.
Marvel fans will recognize Whitney Frost's name as that of Madame Masque, a classic comic villain who has an on and off love and hate story with Iron Man himself, Tony Stark. Obviously, the villain's timeline has changed, but her inclusion in this story is fascinating and fun.
Frost will undoubtedly be a formidable opponent for Peggy and let's not forget that Dottie is still an enemy in the picture. I sense a season of females kicking ass, both the good and bad guys, something that falls at the perfect time in entertainment when female empowerment is at an all-time high on screens around the world.
Peggy: How is...everything?
Rose: Everything is through the first door on your right. You can't miss him.
While I certainly don't mind delving into Peggy's love life a little more in Season 2, I am a bit concerned that this season will be a constant circle of Peggy pining after one man, while another pines after her.
It's made incredibly clear that there are unresolved feelings between Peggy and Daniel. Between their own longing glances to one another and Rose's eagerness to tell Peggy that “everything” is doing well, it seems that the only two people not completely privy to their feelings is each other.
Oh, and Daniel's brand new girlfriend Violet, who he came incredibly close to proposing to before Peggy showed up and made him change his mind.
While I do enjoy the introduction of Dr. Jason Wilkes into the Agent Carter story and I find him to be nice addition to the team, I hope that he'll be a useful person on the inside of Isodyne Energy for the SSR and not just a foil to Daniel and Peggy's personal story. He's such a natural fit with the cast, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and with the tone of the show.
That is, if we see him again. His disappearance after releasing the Zero Matter is a bit ominous, though we see that Whitney has survived. Did Jason also survive Zero Matter's strange implosion? I'd assume yes, and that he will be with us for the season. (A quick check of IMDB confirms it, in fact.)
I love that Jason has already brought out a softer side in Peggy, one that she really has yet to share with anyone. We're learning more about her, small humorous anecdotes, and rounding out the heroine that we've already grown to love quite deeply.
Aside from Danger, my middle name is Charming.
Jarvis
The first two installments of Agent Carter did leave me wanting more Peggy and Jarvis teamwork. Their bond is truly the heart of the series, with many of the more humorous and lighthearted moments occurring when they work together. Additionally, their rapport with one another is always a highlight in any episode.
Watching Jarvis tend after Howard's new flamingo was also a bit of a stretch, considering what we know that Jarvis is actually capable of.
I'm sure that they'll be reunited in espionage sooner rather than later.
We both know there are currencies more important than money.
Dottie
Hanging in the air is the lapel pin, the one that Dottie had in the interrogation room, the same one that each member of the super evil Council had on, and the one that Peggy discovered in the car. How does Dottie fit into the Council and with Isodyne Energy's Calvin Chadwick? Is this case bigger than Peggy can even begin to imagine?
What I loved most about the very strong return of Peggy Carter was that we wasted no time debating her abilities, watching her trying to please others, or eradicate sexism. She's been there and done that; now it's time for her to kick ass, fire guns, and steal cars.
Peggy's journey is far from over, but thank goodness it's moved past the ugliest part already.
Did you miss the premiere? Have no fear! You can watch Marvel's Agent Carter online, right here at TV Fanatic, and afterward come back to share your thoughts with us! We'd love to hear from you!
Be sure to tune in next week for Marvel's Agent Carter Season 2 Episode 3, "Better Angels" when Peggy's search for information on Zero Matter puts her on a collision course with her superiors!
