OK… this is the one that everybody is looking at. You would expect that in the premiere episode for the two parter they would do an amazing job however can they keep the momentum going on and keep you interested and coming back for more? That’s the question everybody had in their head and I’m very glad to say that Peggy Carter manages to accomplish this task quite wonderfully!
While trying to makes sense of the symbol Leet Brannis showed her in “Bridge and Tunnel,” Peggy pulls her gun on a guy scaling the wall leading into her hotel room. It turns out that this was not an assassin as she first feared but rather a would be suitor to Peggy’s roommate Molly. Molly unfortunately is discovered and as this is against the policies at the Griffith she is immediately ejected & we’re introduced to bubbly Dottie Underwood of Iowa.
This episode launches us straight back into it, pretty much right where we left off when they had discovered the license plate to Howard Stark’s his car in the wreckage of the Roxxon oil facility. When the SSR agents confront Jarvis about the situation he initially flobs them off but is forced to go “downtown” to be interrogated. As they threaten and cajole him with accusations of treason Jarvis feels increasingly under pressure and looks like he is going to crack under the strain. Peggy seeing this finds a way of tipping Jarvis off and helping him get back to an even keel, but this not in any way ingratiate herself with Dooley. Peggy is berated by Dooley and although he does this in his office with only Thompson present it is very obvious to all of the other agents what is happening and while she comes out of the office suitably chastened she is also visibly flustered and angry.
When she meets up with Jarvis later that evening she immediately confronts him about the treason accusation and he admits that he did make a mistake and explains it as a way of getting his wife out of the country he had to falsify some documents for the General that he worked for. When Stark found out about the fact that he had been cashiered he helped him get his wife out and at the same time also found him a job as his personal assistant / valet.
Now while the rationale for the accusation make sense I think American audiences could perhaps be concerned or question the speed at which the reveal happens (as this is typically something that could be dragged out for several episodes over the course of a season) however having some experience from the UK and television shows there that have a much smaller run of episodes – in this case Agent Carter only has 8 – I can understand why they had to go through it as quickly as they did. In fact I think we will see that over the course of the show the secrets are going to be coming hard and fast and as they simply do not have time to draw things out! This is one area that Carter far surpasses Agents of Shield as while I love that show and its ensemble cast, it did drag things out at times with too many filler episodes – more so in Series One than so far in Series Two I have to agree but still something that I cannot discount.
When Peggy and Jarvis eventually manage to track down Stark’s stolen goods through some good old fashioned detective work … another climactic fight sequence ensues – matching my previous comments about a single fight per episode it seems. In this case Peggy is very lucky to have Jarvis along as while she’s managing to hold her own its only when he distracts the thug that she is able to use one of Stark’s inventions to take him out.
The SSR team arrive after Jarvis’ call and Agent Krezminski (Kyle Bornheimer) is tasked to bring the thug back to headquarters. On that drive, the thug reveals to Krezminski that an “English broad” is responsible for his beating. While Krezminski is gradually putting things together (you can almost see the light bulb go off in his head) he is stopped by an unidentified hitman who kills both the thug and the Agent.
Peggy walks into the SSR HQ the following day to find it a much more sombre place and when she hears about what happened with Krezminski she echoes the mood of the rest of the agents. Dooley of course blames it all on Stark so I guess he’s got a bit of a one track mind!
Review
Overall very very solid episode and one that I actually quite enjoyed I have to say. The interaction between Peggy and Jarvis continues to improve and get tighter and while Peggy’s reputation in the office is literally in the toilet at this time in can only improve!
The death of Krezminski I have to admit actually took me by surprise as it is not something I was at all expecting and while he is hardly a main character I thought that he would be in the show a little bit longer if for nothing else simply as a foil to show how bad men in the forties are. However keeping in mind my earlier comments about this being a show that will have to move the story along simply because of its limited run, I can see why it had to happen. I guess the question is who will miss Krezminski more – his wife or his girlfriend!
Dottie while she was kind of glossed over looks to be one of those characters that could amount to something … I might be watching too much TV but you can sometimes see the characters that are kind of just “slipped in” as ones that will grow. Lets table this one for a bit, but I’d be interested to see what happens there.
I look forward to seeing where they take this show next as while it has dropped in its market share, it is simply getting better and better in terms of its reviews and reputation.Stay tuned for the next update coming shortly.
4 thoughts on “Agent Carter – Time and Tide”