We just got the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first musical number!
That it happened in Agent Carter is a testament to the vibrancy and flexibility of the show. An extended Busby Berkeley dream like the one Peggy has in “A Little Song and Dance” couldn’t happen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Daredevil, just Agent Carter. (It could maybe happen in a Jessica Jones flashback, probably one centered on “It’s Patsy!”). It is rare for any television show to be so playful and at ease with itself in only 17 episodes. More people should be watching Agent Carter.
Although…maybe skip “The Edge of Mystery,” as it’s the worst episode the show has ever done.
When moving characters through the plot of a story, be it in movie, television, or written form, one of the big no-nos of the craft is forcing a plot by having a character hold what is (affectionately?) dubbed “the Idiot Ball.” Simply put, this is when an actor is forced to act out-of-character in order to further the story. It’s a no-no for a variety of reasons: the Idiot Ball dismantles a character’s growth by having them ignore previously demonstrated competence or learning, and in doing so it throws the viewer or reader out of the story by making the script too apparent.
The Idiot Ball curses several of Agent Carter‘s characters in “The Edge of Mystery.” First, Whitney Frost agrees to a deal to trade Wilkes for the uranium, even though Wilkes is far more useful than the uranium in regards to her studies in zero matter, and even though Whitney knows that Peggy Carter will come for Wilkes eventually, giving Whitney a second opportunity to take back the uranium.
Jetlagged’ Jack Thompson is next, flying to London to wheedle out Peggy’s S.O.E. file, which he thinks claims that Peggy was involved in a massacre of…something. We never see, because it was obviously planted by the Council, and Redactin’ Jack Thompson is holding the Idiot Ball so tightly that Peggy herself points it out.
If this were the only instance of Idiot Ballin’ in the episode, it would be fine, because A.) It’s well within Jack’s previously demonstrated competency. and B.) Jack learns something from the experience and his reassessment of his situation organically furthers the plot. Unfortunately, Agent Carter has a couple more out-of-character moments to toss our way.
Jason Wilkes is up next. Peggy trades fake uranium for Wilkes–and gets away with it, too–but Wilkes suddenly has a change of heart and holds a shotgun to Sousa, demanding to know where the real uranium is and…why? Wilkes never actually explains! Presumably it’s because Wilkes would also like to Do Science with Whitney and figure out the whole deal with zero matter but also if he really needed uranium to do that then why didn’t he just wait for Sousa or Peggy to tell him naturally…? They totally ask him to build gadgets all the time. All he’d have to do is propose one and tell them he’ll need the uranium for it. They would bring it right to him.
Wilkes’ out-of-character heel turn is a very, very special scene, because it also contains Sousa’s crowning moment of Idiot Ballery. When Wilkes threatens to shoot Peggy, Sousa immediately cracks and tells Wilkes that it is located in the SSR office. This is so out of character for, you know, an agent practiced in espionage, that I thought he had given Wilkes a false location and that Peggy had played along. Except then it turned out Sousa had given him the real location. I was certainly…surprised…just not good surprised.
Clearly the show’s writers knew the episode needed to end with Whitney and the Council in the desert with the reconstructed bomb, and Jack, Sousa, and Peggy working together again. And it does, but these were foregone conclusions for the viewer. We knew that both of these events would eventually occur in the story because otherwise there would be no story. The band has to get back together. The bomb has to go off. The only interesting part, the part that Agent Carter usually excels at, is seeing how the characters move towards these conclusions. In this “The Edge of Mystery” fails spectacularly, shoving characters forward with all the grace of a rhino playing chess.
What makes it worse is that “The Edge of Mystery” also contains an emotionally powerful storyline without a foregone conclusion: The “death” of Jarvis.
“The Edge of Mystery” picks up where the previous episode left off, focused on the fate of Ana Jarvis, whom Whitney shot through the gut. Ana survives, but it is a long, dark haul for Jarvis, and the scenes of him by Ana’s bedside are achingly powerful. “The Edge of Mystery” unfortunately puts Jarvis on the periphery after these opening scenes, echoing Peggy’s own neglect of Jarvis. (Seriously, at one point she leaves the hospital, promising to get Jarvis his toothbrush, some fresh clothes, and a working radio, and then she never comes back.) Jarvis stews in his neglect, and this story should have been central to the episode. Jarvis’ character undergoes a massive change here, turning from subservient to murderous, and this change comments further on the consequences that are borne from Peggy’s neglect of those she cares about. Agent Carter had a real opportunity here to re-focus back on Peggy through Jarvis, but it’s an opportunity that is completely missed. This is Jarvis’ episode, and everyone else should have been on the periphery, losing uranium and building gamma cannons and all the other goofy shit that occurs. Whether Jarvis will actually shoot Whitney is a perfect question. He has understandable motive, but he’s also an intrinsically merciful being. We have no way of knowing what he will actually do until he does it, which makes Jarvis’ story a rare instance where the destination is just as interesting as the journey. Unfortunately, “The Edge of Mystery” never lets us go on that journey.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” the show says, and puts the MCU’s first musical number at the opening of the next episode, “A Little Song and Dance”. Angie’s back! And both Wilkes and Sousa (who can REALLY sing!) make their case to Peggy as Best Romantic Interest. Dottie is there too, but she doesn’t try to woo Peggy. She doesn’t have to, of course. “Oh Peggy, I’ll always be in your head.” Yes, Dottie, but JARVIS IN A TOP HAT.
Then Rose punches her awake and the episode continues its apology for “The Edge of Mystery”. Jarvis and Peggy have a big scrap over Jarvis’s justification for shooting Whitney point-blank, and Peggy is so certain that she is correct to reprimand him that she is stunned when Jarvis suddenly wins the argument. Peggy insists she isn’t a murderer, like Jarvis now is, and yet “everyone around [her] dies.”
God this scene though. Peggy has not even begun to nuke from orbit, and she rallies, pointing out that Jarvis has considered her missions as “larks” until he finally had to face a consequence. And when that finally happened, what did Jarvis do? Attempted murder! Congratulations on having to feel the pain of loss for a day.
Having now torn each other apart, the two quickly rush in with apologies. Jarvis reveals that Ana can’t have kids anymore, and that he hasn’t told her, and feels like a coward. I’m glad that the show is spending some time on unpacking this development, because it was a bit weird when it first appeared in “The Edge of Mystery”. It’s sad, obviously, because Ana and Jarvis would have the cutest, kindest children with the weirdest accents. And we know that Edwin at least will pour his fatherly instincts into Tony’s upbringing. But the implications of this plot development deserve careful attention. Is Ana being framed as less of a person because of this? Is Edwin crossing the line in keeping information about her own body away from his wife? That Jarvis feels shame at not telling Ana seems to indicate in the affirmative. Because Jarvis has this information and Ana doesn’t, their relationship is no longer equal. Jarvis wants to preserve his wife as she was, instead of accept how she is. Honestly, Edwin, if that’s how you act when put under pressure, as noble as the intent seems, then maybe it’s a good thing that you’re not raising children? As Ana says later, “It does you no good to protect me from the truth, Edwin.”
Everyone’s time in the desert changes them. Whitney succeeds in re-opening the zero matter rift and it sucks Wilkes into it, leaving Whitney behind.
Whitney is PISSED, she thought the Black Language of Mordor that she’s been hearing all season liked her better, so she bundles up Wilkes, who pops back out of the rift now chock-ful of zero matter, and sticks a huge needle in his heart so she can slurp out all of the zero matter.
Meanwhile, Schemin’ Jack Thompson reasserts his control over the SSR, playing Sousa, Vernon, and the looming spectre of Whitney against each other so well that they all end up on the same side: against Whitney. Even Peggy is forced to work with Vernon for the greater good. Jack is so excited that he did something right for a change that he just keeps going and heads over to Whitney to tell her the SSRs entire plan, which is…also a part of the SSRs plan. Pretty much everything at this point is part of a plan, so Plannin’ Jack Thompson hatches another plan, which is: turn the gamma cannon into a bomb and blow up all the plans.
This naturally leads to a guns-pointed stand-off between Detonatin’ Jack Thompson and Peggy, but Jack succeeds because, unfortunately, Samberley is the only actual obstacle between Jack and the detonation of the gamma cannon.
Except then Wilkes shows up, sort of apologizes to Peggy for holding the Idiot Ball episode, and explodes first.
Thoughts:
- The show actually treats Ana’s gunshot trauma somewhat realistically. The bullet went into her lower left abdomen, missing the liver and stomach, and while Ana would still have a tremendous amount of internal damage, she wouldn’t be in danger of bleeding out. Since she gets to emergency surgery in time, Ana’s biggest dangers are basically shock and infection, which the episode mentions Ana nearly succumbing to the former before she stabilizes.
- Ken Marino gets a scene in “The Edge of Mystery” so heavy with Italian stereotypes that I wish the show had just run this skit from The State in its place.
- The episode’s composer put in the tiniest xylophone scale as Jarvis swung around to Ana, all fake smiles, after learning she can’t have kids. Brilliant touch.
- “Piccadilly Commandos” was a term used for GIs that frequented and/or got the clap from prostitutes in Picadilly Square during World War II, which makes that scene between Jack and his British pal so much creepier.
- “Oh crap indeed.”
Here’s my problem: In 1947, they didn’t yet have jet aircraft capable of a trans-Atlantic crossing. Jack should not have been able to commute so quickly between London and Los Angeles.
@1. ChristopherLBennett
I haven’t seen the episode so I can’t judge the feasibility of Jack’s travels. A NY to London flight in 1947 would have taken about 15 hours.
I have a bigger problem with Peggy not dying from the rebar through her abdomen. Good thing she got stitches I guess.
I was surprised at how slimey they made Slimin’ Jack Thompson this season after the last one tried to redeem him a little, but I was disappointed when listening to a conversation on the phone was the big turning point for his character’s loyalties.
Also, I may have said “He’s going full-Ward!” to my wife when Wilkes pointed the gun at Peggy.
A couple gnarly plot holes here, but still streets ahead of most other shows.
I guess Sousa’s nurse had to go back to the Badlands?
So do we think that Sousa is going to end up telling Peggy the story of how he was saved by Captain America in the last episode, or are they going to leave that plot thread dangling for another love interest in the as-yet-unconfirmed next season?
@2/Werechull: And the fastest New York to Los Angeles flight in 1947 would’ve been about 11 hours, so we’re talking a round trip travel time of over two days, plus however long Jack spent in London. I’m not sure the story timeline allows for that.
Keep in mind that in 1947, having kids was really really important, especially for Europeans, who lost a shit-ton of people to the war. The baby boom didn’t just happen because people were feeling randy after several years of war, there was a perceived need to repopulate. The show is maddeningly inconsistent with remembering what year it is (see Christopher’s point above about air travel, not to mention how unrealistically blase almost everyone is about the Carter-Wilkes romance, which would be viewed by many denizens of 1947 as unnatural and icky), but this they nailed. Being declared sterile was a much bigger deal at the time.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Just when I thought I couldn’t love Souza any more. He’s just the dreamiest.
Also, Hayley Atwell… she’s literally a goddess among humankind.
I liked the first little flashback. Ana’s reaction when told Starks new associate was female., then Jarvis’s ‘I don’t think she’s like the others. I think he actually respects her.’ and Ana’s ‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep.’
The episodes seem to intentionally leave us confused about Thompson. I have no idea whether he’s going to end up good or bad. It also seems like Peggy has more respect for Thompson than he has for himself. ‘You’re better than that’. Maybe that’s why he made the choice that it was best to try and eliminate the whole threat with a bomb.
I definitely agree with Chris’s assessment of others acting out of character.
Liked the dream sequence. Luckily dreams aren’t supposed to make sense because if any dead characters are going to show up, I would have expected Steve as well as Michael to be there, because I’m pretty sure he was part of her decision to move to America. But that was probably due as much to availability of actors as anything else.
It looks like Peggys subconscious may understand her better than her conscious self. Evidenced by Dotties ‘I’ll always be in your head’ . I could do a lot of speculation based on which of her ‘beaus’ appeared first, which danced with her the longest and the fact that Sousa was no longer crippled. Probably be wrong though. .But I think it showed Peggy’s not ready to make a choice of men.
It will be interesting to see how everything will be wrapped up in one hour next week.
Feel obligated to point out it’s not the MCU’s first musical number. I think that honor belongs to Captain America and his USO troupe.
@6/krad: You’re right about how scandalous Peggy’s romance with Wilkes would’ve been. When Vernon was talking to Jack about digging up dirt on Peggy, I was expecting them to threaten to expose her romance with a black man, because that alone would’ve been enough to destroy her reputation and probably her career. I’m disappointed that, after being so forthright in portraying the sexism of the era, they’ve been more tentative and half-hearted about portraying the gross racism.
By the way… Was I imagining it, or was there a moment when Peggy and dream-Angie were dancing face-to-face and their body language got kind of seductive toward each other for a second or two? Maybe Peggy has some sublimated desires that would’ve been at least as scandalous at the time as an interracial romance?
Robotech_Master: Chris was speaking specifically of how this is the only MCU TV show that would have such a number, as the other examples he cited were the other television series…..
Christopher: it’s irritatingly halfway, too. We did see that one diner owner who had a problem, and there’s the fact that Isodyne is the only company that would even consider hiring Wilkes, so it’s not like they’re completely whitewashing it, but still…..
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@11/krad: This is sort of my problem with historical fiction in general. We love to romanticize the past, but the past was a pretty damn awful place for most human beings who had to live in it. So you either gloss over that awfulness or tell a really grim and depressing story. That’s why I’ve always preferred writing about a future where things have gotten better.
The other issue with Ana re: no unable to have children is how she was “introduced” (without being physically introduced) last season. Remember that Jarvis described his breaking every rule and getting himself thrown out of the military & diplomatic duty in getting his Hungarian Jewish wife away from the dangers of the German occupation – when Peggy asked “She was Jewish?,” Jarvis replied, “She still is.” Even in that sort of interfaith marriage, the idea that a Jewish woman who so narrowly just survived the Shoah has been deprived (and by that sort of deliberate evil act, as Frost could have just as easily shot her in the knee, or something) of the entirety of a continuing covenantal/family lineage that would continue through her (Ana very possibly being the only member of her family to have survived the war) is existentially devastating especially in light of the historical moment. At least that’s something that struck me as an understated callback of prime importance…
This is the world of Howard Stark. They can fly to London in less than a day.
In re: Racism. Here’s the thing. They have shown how people are racist about Peggy dating Jason. The only place it wasn’t remarked on was the club they met at. But at the same time, IF they showed the world as nasty as it was, there would be no room for characters like Vega. Most PoC I’ve talked about this with, feel like getting the representation is more important than reflecting reality.
And has been pointed out about Steve Rogers, a white man from Brooklyn who integrated his own Army unit, there were PLENTY of people who weren’t bigots in this time frame.
@1/CLB The whole timeline is kind of off. Not only does Jack fly to London and back (and carouses with his friend) but Peggy goes from barely able to walk last episode to fighting shape in this one. There really should be at least a week’s gap there between episodes. More really considering how severe her injuries were.
I disagree – I don’t think any of those examples constitute an Idiot Ball. To wit:
1. Frost: Of course Wilkes is more useful, and Frost knows that. And of course Peggy is going to try to rescue him. But she’s not going to be toting the uranium rods while she’s doing it. Having persuaded Wilkes to her side, the obvious thing to do is to make a deal with Team Peggy. If Peggy turns over the actual rods, great: Wilkes gets a little additional intel and then dematerializes out of the van. If Peggy tries to pawn off a fake, Wilkes finds out where the real rods are, and then dematerializes out of the van. The measured distance of the chase car shows that Wilkes absconding from his rescue was always the plan.
2. Thompson: I read that scene differently – Jack smelled something rotten from the get-go and was trying to give Carter a heads-up about the lengths to which the Council would go to remove her as a threat.
3. Wilkes: If time is a factor in his ability to maintain control of his (in)corporeality, getting the information about the uranium as quickly as possible makes sense. He also couldn’t count on Team Peggy not getting suspicious about why he suddenly needs the uranium now when it’s been in their possession for several episodes.
4. Sousa: The SSR is not an espionage organization – it’s more like the FBI. Expecting him to dispassionately stand there and watch the woman he loves get shot in the face seems a bit much. And clearly Sousa’s not the only character who would have made that call: Peggy obviously struggles with it when he turns the question back on her in his office later.
@1 A transit as quick as modern airliner trips is theoretically possible, if you assume Jack was using military assets for his trip. Some of the top line prop fighters of WWII flew at speeds not much lower than today’s jet airliners (and there was a two seat variant of the P-51, for example). And the US was already flying experimental jets at the time. If they set up a pony express relay from LA to Chicago to NY to Newfoundland to UK, swapping planes at each stop, Jack could have gotten to England fairly quickly. But you are right, even that quick a trip doesn’t fit the timeline, so I think it is more likely that the writers just weren’t thinking their timelines through. And like @15 pointed out, Peggy seems to have developed some Wolverine-style healing powers. A gut wound with rebar, even if it missed the major organs, is not something you get over within a few days.
@10 I also saw the moment in the dance scene when Peggy and Angie looked into each other’s eyes, and remember thinking the shippers were going to have a field day with that.
Overall, I enjoyed the episodes, even if the first had a few weaknesses (on her worst day, Peggy Carter beats pretty much everything else on TV). I loved the dance sequence (cudos to @9 for reminding us of another Marvel dance number preceding it). I thought the whole thing with Jarvis was well done, although I was surprised by his murderous turn. I love every scene with him and Ana together. I thought the tense scene between him and Peggy on the roadside worked pretty well also, and fit their characters. Like others, I can’t figure out what Jack’s end game is. I thought the shifting loyalties and deceptions all worked very well, as Souza, Jack and Aloysius tried to con Vernon. And Whitney Frost is a great antagonist–not a cardboard villain, but an opponent with well-thought-out motivations for her actions.
I am looking forward to next week!
Speaking of things that aren’t accurate for 1947…did anyone take a close look at the periodic table that covered the safe in the SSR office? I think there may have been too many elements…some of the actinide series wasn’t discovered until at least the early 1950’s!
The prime example of Idiot Ball was Whitney and Manfredo’s men leaving Peggy and Jarvis unobserved in the back of a truck.
Wilkes continues to be more of a plot device than a real character. Disappointing.
What do you think Dream! Wilkes line “I was just doing what you wanted me to” was supposed to mean?
@18/Gorgeous Gary: The present-day Marvel Cinematic Universe is apparently aware of considerably more elements than we are; the periodic table used in Agents of SHIELD has elements going up to atomic number 150 (though #130-133 are blank, suggesting they haven’t been isolated yet). So if their periodic table is so far ahead of ours in the 2010s, it may well have been in the 1940s as well.
@9 – Robotech_Master: I was going to say that too.
@11 – krad: He said “Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first musical number”; only afterwards he said the other shows wouldn’t do it. The MCU includes the movies.
@14 – Aeryl: Yep, the world of Howard Stark, you got it.