100 Days of Marvel: Road to Infinity War - Day 2: Agent Carter Season 1

Note: I will read for grammatical errors in the morning. I wanted to get this up tonight to keep with the 100 days

I will start day 2 of my Road to Infinity War Blog by stating blankly that I absolutely love "Agent Carter," and I had not watched any of it until today. I still haven't seen all of Agents of Shield, let alone this series that is a continuation of the 1940s Captain America story, with Hayley Atwell reprising her role as Agent Carter.

I watched season 1 across a full day, and that included time put in on my lunch break, in a small corner on my second screen while at my day job, on my phone while on public transportation, in the car while my wife was talking to me, and then finally the last two episodes at home on my couch at the end of the day. Needless to say, I missed somethings here and there, but overall have a grasp on even the parts of the show that I treated like a pod cast.

Agent Carter tells the story of Agent Peggy Carter post Steve Rogers' freeze and before his thaw in modern day. Carter, during the season, plays a double agent for Howard Stark, Tony Stark's father, and works a mission to clear his name without her organization, the SSR, knowing.

Proving to be the only competent agent in the SSR, Carter faces many roadblocks while attempting to clear Stark's name. The show can feel a bit slow at times, and I found myself waiting for the plot to hurry along. It was almost like Dexter. I remember when I watched that show, I was always on pins and needles in the earlier episodes - waiting for someone to discover Dexter's dirty truth. 3 seasons I watched and Dexter's circumstance never really changed, so much so that I asked myself - what are the real consequences for Dexter if he is never truly caught. Agent Carter, however, IS caught. And the second half of the show becomes a real power house of consequences and choices that matter.

Unlike Captain America, I don't know, or rather I don't remember, what happens to Agent Carter. I know there is a season 2, but that does not necessarily mean that Carter lives to be in it. When she is in danger, I can feel the tension - unlike how in Captain America there really isn't any because you know he makes it, especially if it is your second or any other viewing but your first.

The writing in this series is effectively engaging. It was witty. The pacing sped up when it started to feel too slow. I believed the characters' actions, though I did often find them to be incompetent actions. For example, the agent who fails to shoot the assassin, even though he knows that she is a trained murderer and that he was told to shoot her on sight. His failure leads to the deaths of many others. Or, how when the other SSR agent is escorting a key informant back to HQ -no blindfold or anything- and then gets out of the car casually when someone taps his bumper. I mean, come on! I am an overweight black man with no CIA training sitting at home on his couch and even I saw what a trained agent didn't.

I found the humor particularly good in the season. "Technically we're not sure if it works. But let's face it, I invited it so it works," Stark tells Carter. This line was not only funny a the moment it was delivered, but looking back on it, it throws the viewer off Stark's trail perfectly. The gas drug that was "Leviathan," was a Stark invention that didn't work. You question why Stark would create such a drug, easily believing that it worked just as he intended it to, and allowed Stark to not be so perfect in the end.

The music in this show is subtle, but effective. It really helped me get into the period. I really love the old-timey diner style music, like the Andrews Sisters and Connie Allen. There were so many small moments when you could hear the music on a radio in the background, or alternatively while a loud action shoot out was happening - and it worked for me on all fronts. One musical scene in particular where music is used effectively is when Carter has to hide Rogers' blood. She blasts her music, and it is always cool when the music that the audience hears is also the music that is in the diegetic (the characters universe, where Carter can hear the music as well as the viewer).

It was great to see Tony Stark's father in long form. Getting to know him and draw connections to him and Tony is pretty great, especially as the two are so similar. If Robert Downey Jr. was born to play Iron Man, Dominic Cooper was born to play his father. He fit the role better in the series than he did in the "Captain America: The First Avenger" film. I just watched Captain America on YESTERDAY, and I already forgot he was in the movie. I had to ask my wife, "wait, was this the same guy who played Howard Stark in Captain America?" And she flashed one of her "Duh," faces my way. Her words said everything about how we did just watch the movie yesterday, after all. And I certainly may be projecting that on her because I felt shame in my lack of memory.

Lastly, Jarvis. I really like him earlier in the series. However, episode 4 he became somewhat incompetent, and a little clingy. He was really cool in episodes one and two, but I did find myself getting frustrated with him. The show sets him up to be a badass butler character, like the Alfred of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, it drops the Jarvis ball about half way through the show as he does comically bad things, such as fabricate a Stark confession that barely even manages to buy them time. I hope there is more focus on his character in the season to come, and that he is more than a cool throwaway character that later becomes the name sake for Tony's AI. I mean, if you really bust your knuckles this is a character who inspires and AI, what then becomes The Vision. Jarvis SHOULD be cool, because he basically is a non-magical The Vision.

I will probably won't end up doing a full on Heroic Analysis of Peggy Carter in the future (not apart of my 100 Days of Marvel series if I do end up doing one, but maybe after season 3 comes out and I tackle it). But minor ramblings aside, is Peggy Carter a hero in the traditional sense?

1. Call to Adventure - She must clear Howard Stark's Name
2. Refusal Acceptance - The moments she is not on Stark's side and believes he may be guilty. She even stops helping Jarvis part way through after Stark lies to her. She does, however, end up helping him
3. Supernatural Aid - She is a bad-ass. Also, there are super amazing weapons every where. You could even claim that given the time period, she gets away with a lot of her double agentry because she is a women, so in essence her womanhood is a supernatural aid a profession dominated by men
4. Mentor - This is a tough one. Jarvis, to some degree earlier one. But the show fumbles him and becomes helpless.
5. Crossing the Threshold / Belly of the Whale - These things speak for themselves really. How many times is she in danger or has points of no return. She has a whole small heroic journey when she goes on the infiltration side quests and rescues the villain.
6. Enemies, Tests, Allies - Check
7. Woman as Temptress - I guess this is her neighbor who is the spy. They even kiss. Joking aside, her friend from the diner can sort of fit this role. Carter does not want anything bad to happen to her, so staying away from her when she could have a friend is difficult. However, she risks putting her in danger by getting too close.
8. Atonement - Maybe not with a father, but she pours out Rogers' blood in the end. That has to mean something. (Fun fact, he is alive so it actually doesn't mean shit. I just blew your mind, I know.)
9. Ultimate Boon - I can list them - Saving New York. Roger's Blood. Clearing Stark's name. The list is expansive. She paid money for this loot box.
10. Master of Two Worlds / Return - She still works as an SSR agent AND can live happily with a new friend.

Maybe not every heroic journey step, but I mean I just gave you 10 ones fast.