REVIEW: Agent Carter "The Edge of Mystery"/"A Little Song and Dance"
Finally, we’re down to the last two-parter. I won’t lie that there are still some interesting things to follow up on like Ana being shot, Wilkes being kidnapped, and…well those should be big enough for now. Until things get weird of course. That’s the definition of this series now: things get weird.
We start a year ago, if you can recall, when Jarvis helped Peggy with the nuclear core she stole for Stark. I know it’s hard to remember anything remotely relevant from season one because, well it’s season one, but don’t worry. It doesn’t really matter. What is it with Marvel openings with things that have nothing to do with anything important? Anyway, Ana’s out of surgery, but her future’s up in the air, leaving Jarvis worse off. In addition, Wilkes is still held captive by the going crazier Whitney Frost, but we knew all this stuff already.
Peggy and Sousa fortunately track Wilkes’s kidnapping to Manfredi and his Godfather mob. I honestly think that’s a stretch, but there are only three episodes left and only so many characters. We then move to London, England, and, before you get excited, no, we are not watching a flashback episode with Jarvis. We are instead treated to more development on Thompson trying to degrade Peggy after all. It’s great that he’s kind of on the wrong side now, but he’s still the least interesting character here. Taking down Peggy just gives me a reason to hate him.
Peggy manages to get a straight bargain out of Manfredi with uranium rods for Wilkes’s safety which never does any good. It also involves Dr. Samberly (whose middle name is Herbert by the way) to take apart the containment field and putting it back together. Peggy and Sousa plan a mission which becomes even more hyped when Howard Stark sends over designs for a machine to eliminate the zero matter. Of course, the situation’s made a little complicated since Jarvis also wants to join the mission to seek revenge and Thompson nearly screws up the night trying to discredit Peggy. For what it’s worth, I adore Peggy’s character that allows her to honestly say (and me to believe it!) that she would never betray Thompson. That reason makes this show a possibility, not the best, but still.
I also wanted to dedicate a paragraph to the moment between Jarvis and Ana. Something like that should really have taken center stage in this episode, but they at least dedicated a good five minutes. Lord knows these shows have a problem with good romantic relationships, so the moments when it works should be encouraged. They’re two characters who love each other unconditionally even in the hardest times, even when Ana can’t have children. It’s plenty better than the events that happen later anyway.
Peggy makes the trade for Wilkes which, of course, ends up being false uranium rods. In any show, I love it when the heroes actually end up being smart, but then Wilkes goes a little crazy and leaving so it’s all not worth it. Although the scene did introduce the term gamma cannon, because gamma rays never did anything bad in the MCU. What’s worse is that Thompson, after being blindsided by Vernon Masters for the uranium rods, actually starts to help Peggy and Sousa. Ugh, the writers may not be able to pick a side, but I already did.
The team plan a mission to take on Frost with Jarvis preparing for a suicide mission if necessary. It looks like we’re headed in that direction when Frost actually ends up blasting a hole in the universe that sucks up Wilkes like he’s some chosen being. I wish this was the weirdest thing on this show, but there’s a musical number in a few minutes, and that might literally be jumping the shark at this point.
Samberly, Sousa, and Thompson set up the gamma cannon to take out the rift while Jarvis takes matters into his own hands to stop Frost. In the one shot they’ve got, the group manages to seal the rift, returning Wilkes to Earth. Jarvis shoots Frost, but that somehow doesn’t work. Manfredi and Frost then take Jarvis and Peggy captive and plan to extract the rest of the zero matter from Wilkes. It’s not exactly the worst situation Peggy’s been in, but now’s she unconscious so I guess the bad guys are learning something.
We’re now onto the next episode where there is indeed a song and dance, and it is literally about Peggy trying to choose between Sousa and Wilkes as a romantic partner. It would be infectiously catchy if it wasn’t for the criminal waste of the return of Peggy’s brother Michael and her best friend Angie. We are almost nine episodes done season two, and I can still not think of a single downside it would have been to have Angie back for more than just five minutes this season. She’ll at least have a place in this review.
Without Peggy and Jarvis, Sousa, Samberly, and Thompson flag down an SSR car back to civilization. Unfortunately, this leads to (what else?) Thompson betraying the two to bring them into custody. Geez, it’s been less than one hour. You’d think they’d at least pretend to make this a twist, but now this is about as big a surprise as seeing Peggy and Jarvis escape. Don’t worry though, Frost and Manfredi are well aware of this.
I did enjoy Jarvis and Peggy’s talk, for what it’s worth. It speaks to their characters in why Peggy works better alone and why Jarvis feels upset about his circumstances. If this episode wasn’t preceded by a literal music number, this episode would actual mean something, but they definitely cancelled each other out. Alright, I’ll give the show one point now that Peggy and Jarvis have a ride out of the desert. Besides, I’m just about to take the point away when it’s revealed that Thompson was double-crossing the SSR to help Sousa and Samberly escape to fix the gamma cannon. New plan: they’re going to shoot Whitney Frost.
Peggy returns to the SSR, forced to work with Vernon Masters in the end to take down Frost. I’m not 100% why anyone’s choosing to do anything at this point besides Peggy and that’s because she’s a hero because this problem ends with Thompson informing Frost about their gamma cannon plan in order to move up places. And then to switch it to reveal it was a ploy. Kudos to the show, I didn’t think they could make Thompson more annoying to me, yet here we are. Yeah, this was definitely worth Angie having less than five speaking lines.
It doesn’t matter anyway. Vernon Masters cuts the fuel line for the car after Thompson tricks Samberly into turning the gamma cannon into a bomb to kill everyone. I’ll instead pay attention to Jarvis and Ana’s moment together. It lasts about one minute longer than Angie’s scene, but they have heart and so far have never overtly flaunted their own desires at the expense of others. Oh well, that’s what we have Peggy for, to boldly sneak into the lab with the bomb to rescue Wilkes. With only five minutes left, what else can I hope for?
Thompson holds Vernon Masters at gunpoint and plans to enact his plan to bomb the place only to be thwarted by Samberly’s machine. They make it seem like Thompson has a point blowing up two evil people, but he could be feeding puppies and I wouldn’t be on his side. Then we end with Peggy and Thompson at a stand-off with Wilkes exploding zero matter. This is the show now.
Honestly, my first thought after finishing these episodes is the fact that at least the finale’s only one hour. I’m just so tired in more ways than one. So far, this season has had much more…events than the previous one, but I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. I’ve gotten past the point of hating it, but I’m not sure what it’s worth yet. We shall see next week.
