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I'm rewatching Agent Carter season one
And I watched the first episode tonight. (My comments as I go through these episodes will contain spoilers for the whole series, including season two.)
Don't expect anything particularly insightful, just random natterings.
THEY'RE ALL SO ADORABLE. HELLO BABIES. ♥
I was so surprised the first time I watched this episode when they killed her roommate Colleen! I knew there was going to be a major female character who was a friend of Peggy, and I spent most of the episode thinking Colleen was that person and not realizing it was Angie, so her death was a total shock -- and since Angie was only in that one early scene (and then a brief cameo at the end), I thought the "friend" character would be a new character in the next episode. Basically I did not see the Angie-Peggy friendship coming at all. It was nicely played; I really liked that.
REALLY, Howard (and Jarvis) ... could you two have made your approach to Peggy in the alley any more sinister? You're lucky she didn't shoot both of you. Howard's "buddy" dynamic with Peggy is so great, though.
I totally forgot how much the early Peggy-Jarvis dynamic made me think of the dynamic between the leads on the '80s show Remington Steele. It really shouldn't be at all the same (in particular, it's not sexually charged in the same way), and yet there is something about them, especially in the Roxxon scenes, that really makes me think of those two. I think it's the contrast between the female action hero, and the guy who's suave and handsome and basically useless at action-heroing. (Pretty sure Remington Steele was also a playful throwback to 1940s/50s detective movies, which this show to some extent also is, so that might be part of it, too.)
... on a shallow note, somehow early season one Jarvis is hotter than season two Jarvis, and I can't figure out why?? It's like there's something different in the way he holds his face, or like he gets very slightly Flanderized and is more butlery in later episodes or ... something? I'm not really sure.
Also, in season two, getting to see the Ana-Jarvis side of the Peggy-Jarvis phone conversation in this episode was a really neat callback; it's interesting to go back and see the original version here.
Awww, Dooley, I miss you. I like how, in spite of sidelining Peggy and the gratuitous nastiness of his "liaison" comment in the meeting, he is already starting to catch onto Peggy even at this early stage -- but she manages to derail him with the "ladies' things" remark.
So much fun seeing Sousa and Thompson's first appearances! Awww, babies, you have so far to go. And the show gets across so much about the characters (all of them, really) in just the few scenes that each of them get. They're all so solidly established by the episode's end.
I also remember how pleasantly surprised I was, the first time around, that the male agents were not just sexist caricatures for Peggy to knock down, but well-developed, competent characters in their own right ... while still being sexist jerks (most of them). That was really one of the first things that sold me on the show -- that it wasn't just The Peggy Show (as great as Peggy is). Her entire world was so fleshed out and real, and all the supporting characters had their own lives too.
I sometimes hear people criticize the show as, basically, a feminist caricature -- that it's just Peggy being absurdly competent vs. a bunch of sexist strawmen -- and ... I just ... that's so entirely not the show at all! PEOPLE ARE VERY WRONG ON THE INTERNET.
(Everyone should be smoking constantly, though. This show does SUCH a good job of nailing the 1940s -- the feel of it, the way the characters talk and think -- in all ways but that. There should be ashtrays on every table in the diner; I even remember that from when I was a kid in the '80s.)
Getting back to the characters ...![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sheron and I have been talking about Jack a lot in email, and one thing she pointed out is that even in their early interactions, he and Peggy banter. As much as he is obviously a) condescending to Peggy in their first scene together, and b) pissing her off, he actually does ask nicely (as opposed to just ordering her to do his files for him like Krzeminski does later) and her response is cutting but also ... it's sort of like the thing I was talking about awhile back, how Daniel and Jack banter even when they don't actually like each other yet. Peggy and Jack do it too.
Sheron also pointed out that the first thing Jack does after they find out about the Roxxon explosion is ask if anyone's hurt. I mean, he's still a total jerk at this point? But he's also good at his job and a basically decent guy. He's insufferable and yet, everything he becomes later doesn't come out of nowhere. That's the person he is here, too; it's just that the insufferable-jerk side is ascendant.
And it's interesting to think about Daniel's "got his personality shot off in Iwo Jima" comment (obviously it's a pretty common postwar joke, but it's also sort of true) and the exchange between him and Dooley about "how you did things in Okinawa", in light of later developments.
SPEAKING OF DANIEL. LET'S TALK ABOUT DANIEL. OH DARLING. He looks really startled when Dooley orders him out to the Roxxon explosion site. Oh baby, you don't get to go in the field hardly at all yet, do you? I still love the way he knocks his crutch against the shelves to let Peggy know he's there so she isn't caught in an awkward moment, and uses his own trauma to try to cheer her up. His reaction to her telling him he's one of the lucky ones (survivors in the war) breaks my heart all over again -- but it's another "oh, how far you've come" moment. (This episode was full of those.)
I was also thinking about Peggy telling him that she doesn't do this often, and what that defensiveness implies about her life at this point. She lost the man she loves ... but because of the rumors about them, and her desire to be taken seriously as an agent, she has to hide her grief, put on a brave face, and go on about her life as if nothing has happened. She can't even be caught privately grieving in a storeroom. OH PEGGY.
All the Leviathan stuff and the automated typewriter and the guys without voiceboxes was sooooo creepy the first time around. This time around is considerably less so, knowing what's going on. Still nicely done, though. All the 1940s spy-tech gadgets are so great.
I love Peggy's leather jacket in the scene where she blows up Roxxon! That's the only time we ever see her wearing anything like that. It may be anachronistic, but I would love to see her in something like that again.
I also can't believe how much they pack into any given episode of this show. Finding clips from season one was always interesting because I could remember scenes, but had trouble figuring out which episode they were in, especially in the early episodes -- there was just so much.
I loved rewatching this, and I'm looking forward to getting to the rest of the episodes!
Don't expect anything particularly insightful, just random natterings.
THEY'RE ALL SO ADORABLE. HELLO BABIES. ♥
I was so surprised the first time I watched this episode when they killed her roommate Colleen! I knew there was going to be a major female character who was a friend of Peggy, and I spent most of the episode thinking Colleen was that person and not realizing it was Angie, so her death was a total shock -- and since Angie was only in that one early scene (and then a brief cameo at the end), I thought the "friend" character would be a new character in the next episode. Basically I did not see the Angie-Peggy friendship coming at all. It was nicely played; I really liked that.
REALLY, Howard (and Jarvis) ... could you two have made your approach to Peggy in the alley any more sinister? You're lucky she didn't shoot both of you. Howard's "buddy" dynamic with Peggy is so great, though.
I totally forgot how much the early Peggy-Jarvis dynamic made me think of the dynamic between the leads on the '80s show Remington Steele. It really shouldn't be at all the same (in particular, it's not sexually charged in the same way), and yet there is something about them, especially in the Roxxon scenes, that really makes me think of those two. I think it's the contrast between the female action hero, and the guy who's suave and handsome and basically useless at action-heroing. (Pretty sure Remington Steele was also a playful throwback to 1940s/50s detective movies, which this show to some extent also is, so that might be part of it, too.)
... on a shallow note, somehow early season one Jarvis is hotter than season two Jarvis, and I can't figure out why?? It's like there's something different in the way he holds his face, or like he gets very slightly Flanderized and is more butlery in later episodes or ... something? I'm not really sure.
Also, in season two, getting to see the Ana-Jarvis side of the Peggy-Jarvis phone conversation in this episode was a really neat callback; it's interesting to go back and see the original version here.
Awww, Dooley, I miss you. I like how, in spite of sidelining Peggy and the gratuitous nastiness of his "liaison" comment in the meeting, he is already starting to catch onto Peggy even at this early stage -- but she manages to derail him with the "ladies' things" remark.
So much fun seeing Sousa and Thompson's first appearances! Awww, babies, you have so far to go. And the show gets across so much about the characters (all of them, really) in just the few scenes that each of them get. They're all so solidly established by the episode's end.
I also remember how pleasantly surprised I was, the first time around, that the male agents were not just sexist caricatures for Peggy to knock down, but well-developed, competent characters in their own right ... while still being sexist jerks (most of them). That was really one of the first things that sold me on the show -- that it wasn't just The Peggy Show (as great as Peggy is). Her entire world was so fleshed out and real, and all the supporting characters had their own lives too.
I sometimes hear people criticize the show as, basically, a feminist caricature -- that it's just Peggy being absurdly competent vs. a bunch of sexist strawmen -- and ... I just ... that's so entirely not the show at all! PEOPLE ARE VERY WRONG ON THE INTERNET.
(Everyone should be smoking constantly, though. This show does SUCH a good job of nailing the 1940s -- the feel of it, the way the characters talk and think -- in all ways but that. There should be ashtrays on every table in the diner; I even remember that from when I was a kid in the '80s.)
Getting back to the characters ...
sheron and I have been talking about Jack a lot in email, and one thing she pointed out is that even in their early interactions, he and Peggy banter. As much as he is obviously a) condescending to Peggy in their first scene together, and b) pissing her off, he actually does ask nicely (as opposed to just ordering her to do his files for him like Krzeminski does later) and her response is cutting but also ... it's sort of like the thing I was talking about awhile back, how Daniel and Jack banter even when they don't actually like each other yet. Peggy and Jack do it too. Sheron also pointed out that the first thing Jack does after they find out about the Roxxon explosion is ask if anyone's hurt. I mean, he's still a total jerk at this point? But he's also good at his job and a basically decent guy. He's insufferable and yet, everything he becomes later doesn't come out of nowhere. That's the person he is here, too; it's just that the insufferable-jerk side is ascendant.
And it's interesting to think about Daniel's "got his personality shot off in Iwo Jima" comment (obviously it's a pretty common postwar joke, but it's also sort of true) and the exchange between him and Dooley about "how you did things in Okinawa", in light of later developments.
SPEAKING OF DANIEL. LET'S TALK ABOUT DANIEL. OH DARLING. He looks really startled when Dooley orders him out to the Roxxon explosion site. Oh baby, you don't get to go in the field hardly at all yet, do you? I still love the way he knocks his crutch against the shelves to let Peggy know he's there so she isn't caught in an awkward moment, and uses his own trauma to try to cheer her up. His reaction to her telling him he's one of the lucky ones (survivors in the war) breaks my heart all over again -- but it's another "oh, how far you've come" moment. (This episode was full of those.)
I was also thinking about Peggy telling him that she doesn't do this often, and what that defensiveness implies about her life at this point. She lost the man she loves ... but because of the rumors about them, and her desire to be taken seriously as an agent, she has to hide her grief, put on a brave face, and go on about her life as if nothing has happened. She can't even be caught privately grieving in a storeroom. OH PEGGY.
All the Leviathan stuff and the automated typewriter and the guys without voiceboxes was sooooo creepy the first time around. This time around is considerably less so, knowing what's going on. Still nicely done, though. All the 1940s spy-tech gadgets are so great.
I love Peggy's leather jacket in the scene where she blows up Roxxon! That's the only time we ever see her wearing anything like that. It may be anachronistic, but I would love to see her in something like that again.
I also can't believe how much they pack into any given episode of this show. Finding clips from season one was always interesting because I could remember scenes, but had trouble figuring out which episode they were in, especially in the early episodes -- there was just so much.
I loved rewatching this, and I'm looking forward to getting to the rest of the episodes!
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And yes, the plot is always on the move and I love that! Every episode is action-packed.
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LOLWHA
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You are so right re the smoking -- they should all be drinking much more, too. There is some drinking in the show, but there should be a LOT.
I think re Jarvis -- I do agree he's much more suave in the first season. I think that was maybe a combination of his body language in the second season often being comic and broad, and maybe they toned down the interaction between him and Peggy because of Ana? I don't mean it gets dialed back exactly, it's just that by S2 Peggy and Jarvis's relationship has deepened and we in the audience see and like Ana, so it's less bantery coworkers and more serious.
I also NEVER understood people who were like 'this show is a total feminist caricature! Everyone is stupid but Peggy!' If anything it shows SMART guys who are often hamstrung by their own inability to see how much they've bought into the sexist system themselves, just by being in it. And Peggy does plenty of reckless/possibly stupid things. But it's like 'well the female lead is competent and awesome and gets most of the showtime, so of course all the dudes are sidelined and shown to be idiots,' even if that's....not what actually happened.
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*nodsnods* So much this!
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But it's like 'well the female lead is competent and awesome and gets most of the showtime, so of course all the dudes are sidelined and shown to be idiots,' even if that's....not what actually happened.
*nods* Yeah, I think you're exactly right. It's coming from the viewers rather than the show itself, and probably any show with a competent female lead would get that, doubly so because this show deals openly with sexism towards the protagonist.
If anything it shows SMART guys who are often hamstrung by their own inability to see how much they've bought into the sexist system themselves, just by being in it.
THIS. And I really appreciate that the show opted to make its point that way, by not surrounding Peggy with strawmen, but, instead, with intelligent and basically decent guys who have bought into this toxic mindset. Including Daniel, in some scenes.
It's optimistic (because they can learn better, and some of them do), and it's also ... I don't know, more realistic, more poignant maybe, or maybe just a more pointed warning, because the toxicity isn't coming from an easily othered "them", and you can't draw a clear line with allies on one side and non-allies on the other. People can be both; most people are, at different times.
Mad Max does this too, with Nux; the protagonists are able to win him over once they get him away from the rest of the War Boys, because he's not a bad person -- he's actually a pretty good kid, he's just been raised in an extremely toxic environment.
And I love that they both went for that option, instead of making it fundamentally a matter of being "good" or "bad".
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