I finally got around to watching Marvel’s Agent Carter this past week, and while I enjoyed the eight-episode mini-series, and would definitely watch a second season, should it be awarded one, I wouldn’t be devastated if it didn’t. In fact, upon completion of the series I took to the internet to see how it was received by audiences. What I found was that its ratings dropped significantly as the series continued yet it received extremely strong reviews from major websites.
(IGN)
Agent Carter had three things going for it: very good acting, great characters, and it’s connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately that connection means nothing to those outside of the comic book community, but because they used it to supplement the story rather than rely on it, they were still able to deliver a strong series that anyone could watch and enjoy. Overall, though, I do feel that this series is a bit overrated. Maybe we were all just so overjoyed to see a fresh, new series starring a badass female lead that we allowed ourselves to completely overlook the weak storyline and sporadic sloppy writing.
**Spoilers to follow**
Let's start with the weak plot.
Midway through the season, we discover that there are two antagonists in this story. Dottie Underwood is introduced as Peggy’s neighbor from Iowa before we learn that she actually trained in the same program that Black Widow would eventually graduate from. Her partner, Dr. Ivchenko, is introduced as a prisoner of Leviathan but is later revealed to be a Russian doctor who studied hypnosis and survived the mysterious battle of Finau. The battle, though, never actually happened, instead the Russian army was exposed to Howard Stark’s failed Midnight Oil experiment. The gas, which was supposed to keep soldiers up through the night, instead turned them rabid and looking to kill anyone in sight. This resulted in a massacre at Finau even though there was no second army.
While the antagonists’ motives were plausible, their master plan was extremely simplistic: gas Times Square with Midnight Oil during a large event so that thousands will be exposed to the gas and destroy each other. Not only is it overly simple, but it has been done before in another comic book movie. Batman Begins has a very similar sequence of events that led to a portion of the city being exposed to Scarecrow’s fear toxin which resulted in the city “tearing itself apart”; only it was a much more complex situation in the film which pulled it off successfully. I’m not knocking the existence of the Midnight Oil, in fact, it was tied in beautifully with the battle of Finau and the main motive behind the conflict; I just don’t like how simply it was supposed to be used for the master plan. This would have been easy to overlook if the writing was strong enough to support the plot and didn't rely on multiple conveniences, especially regarding the second antagonist.
The Dottie Underwood arc was very interesting and added a nice tie-in to Black Widow and the MCU. Her character was extremely deadly and badass, that being said, she should have been dead at least two times before her and Peggy engaged in their final battle, which she, unsurprisingly, survives. The first occasion was when Agents Thompson and Sousa were looking for her in the office building across from the SSR HQ and Thompson essentially tells Sousa “if you see her shoot because she’s a crazy, deadly ninja”. Minutes later, Sousa is standing behind her and can easily put two bullets in her leg, at the very least, and instead let’s her get the drop on him and escape. The second occurrence came right before the final fight when Peggy, again, had her at gunpoint, again, knowing that she’s a crazy, deadly ninja, and, again, didn’t at least try to immobilize her with a flesh wound.
This can be shrugged off by saying “they didn’t want to shoot an unarmed woman” and maybe that holds a little bit of ground for the Sousa situation, even though he was just told how dangerous she was. But Carter had seen first-hand what young girls from that program could do. Instead of allowing her to knock her rifle away so we could have a sloppy fight scene, it would’ve been so much more intimidating and impressive for her to walk in, incapacitate her with the rifle, and apprehend the doctor. She knew the stakes and she knew that she didn’t have time to get into a lengthy fist fight, (which she had no business winning). This wasn’t the only time Dottie got away with the benefit of the doubt.
This might be nitpicking, but the baby carriage in the movie theatre scene also bothered me. It’s a small gripe, but why go through all the trouble of having the one guy complain about the baby’s inevitable crying and another old lady telling her not to mind him only for Dottie to then just leave the carriage in the aisle and exit the theatre without anyone having a problem with it?
That was a small grievance, but my biggest problem is Marvel’s continuous use of mind control. It’s one of the most overused ways to make up for lazy writing and lack of imagination. In Agent Carter, Dr. Ivchenko uses it on multiple occasions in order to get SSR agents, and even Howard Stark, to do his bidding until Sousa finally outsmarts him by stuffing cotton in his own ears; even the Midnight Oil could be considered a bit of mind control. This wouldn’t irk me so much if we haven’t already seen it used on multiple occasions in the MCU. Mind control is used on several characters in The Avengers by Loki, Thor: The Dark World (to an extent) by the aether, and in both seasons of Agents of Shield… (and from one trailer it looks like Scarlet Witch is trying to control Black Widow’s mind in Age of Ultron). Also, if you watch any of Marvel’s animated shows you know that they have relied on the use of mind control countless times. It’s a boring gimmick that writers use to throw a twist into films and shows, and Marvel has gone to that well far too many times.
The last problem I have is the ending with Thompson. It was so disappointing and didn’t make any sense considering the development the character saw througout the series. As the episodes went on they showed how Agent Thompson had come to trust and respect Agent Carter. But they erase all of this when he goes on to take all the credit from the congressman and doesn’t even mention Peggy (or any of the other agents) just so she can have her “I don’t care what people think of me, as long as I know I’m doing good” speech. They completely stomped on very nice character development as well as everything that Thompson and Carter went through after the mission to Russia, when Thompson began to see her as more of an equal. It felt like a metaphorical punch in the face to Thompson’s character arc.
Even with this list of complaints, I did still enjoy the series as a whole. But I would rate it closer to 7.5-7.8 rather than 8.5-9.7 as it has been rated. It was a solid show with great characters and acting. We were able to see the effect that Captain America’s death had on popular characters like Peggy and Howard and we were introduced to Edmund Jarvis, who was my personal favorite. Hayley Atwell proved that she can carry a series and, more importantly, that a woman can lead a popular, nationally-telvised series. Does this mean that the show is granted a second season? That’s for ABC to decide. If it does, I would hope that they make a point to strengthen their writing as well as delve into the inception of SHIELD as I was a little disappointed they didn’t lay any groundwork for that in season one.
We should learn the fate of Agent Carter this May.