eeeeee

[sholio]

A few comments on Agent Carter this week:

eeeeeeee I love this show SO HARD. It hits my buttons hard enough that I simply do not care about being analytical about it. Intellectually, I am sure there are ~reasons~ why I should not be won over this hard by the SSR guys, especially after last week, but the heart wants what it wants, and these new developments are totally hitting all of my "reluctant team" buttons and I basically love everybody in this bar show. All the banter with Peggy and Dugan was golden! ("Stop woo-hooing and come help!") And I loved the little glimpses of what I assume are proto-Black Widows, plus the super-creepy thing with Dotty handcuffing herself to her bed to sleep .... AUGH. D: (On the one hand, I really don't want comics!Natasha's backstory for MCU!Natasha -- I like the idea of her being younger, and I think she reads younger in general affect, as well as the different timeline meaning that if she is really as old as she is in the comics, she would have spent the vast majority of a very long life as an assassin, as opposed to being on Team Good Guy for a much bigger chunk of her life in the comics. But on the other hand, I like thinking that we just saw bb!Natasha meet Peggy Carter. And either way, I think we did get a glimpse of the sort of thing Natasha must have gone through as a child.)

Also, I think they called the Russian scientist guy Vanko? I had to look it up on Wikipedia to find out why that sounded so dratted familiar. Actually, see DW comments; I am completely wrong about who this is. NEVERMIND. >_>

In any case, only three more episodes to get to the bottom of things! Can all the SSR guys come and work for Peggy at SHIELD? I would be surprisingly okay with this. PLEASE DO NOT KILL ANYONE, SHOW. I WOULD BE SAD. Again with the "did not expect to be this won over" ... I spent a lot of this episode being terribly anxious that the Chief and/or Thompson was going to get killed. Just last week I wanted Thompson to fall down an elevator shaft! wtf.

I love to be surprised, and thus far this show has been surprising me at almost every turn, which is super fun for me. I am even kicking around the idea that Dotty might not end up being irredeemably evil herself. Most of the other characters haven't been. It would be fun if Dotty stays evil, but it would also be fun to see her do a heel face turn and ultimately end up on Team Good Guy.

This show is my stupid fluffy comics show and I love it. ♥

(Okay, I will say that one ongoing quibble is that every time the show has background characters who aren't white, as in this episode, it's a rather annoying reminder that it doesn't actually have to be as white, overall, as it is. I mean, it's kind of almost less insulting if they don't even bother dangling that tiny thread of "yes, we know there were people of different races in 1945, we're just not going to put them in the lead". Ngghh.)

Comments

[st_aurafina]

I thought we had already seen Vanko? He was Howard's tech in the first episode - maybe the second. The psychiatrist character in this episode was Ivchenko, according to IMDB. His patient was Kolya, but I don't think we got a surname for him.

OMG, the Dotty storyline is fantastic. How are they giving us all of that, and they can't see a Black Widow movie as an option? I don't understand.

[newredshoes]

Yeah, neither guy in this latest episode is Vanko -- he appeared in the first episode.

[sholio]

haha, thanks. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DON'T MARATHON SHOWS. >_>

[sholio]

Ohhhh! I thought they said Vanko in this episode, and I forgot that we hadn't already seen him. Thank you for the correction!

[selenay]

Ooh, I hadn't picked up on Vanko!

Last night's episode was the best yet. I'm torn on whether I want comics background or not for Natasha. It would make her quest to clear her ledger that bit bigger if she had all those years as an assassin to make up, which I'm all for, but she does read as younger in the MCU than in the comics. Guess we'll just have to wait until AoU to find out.

I really didn't expect to feel sympathy for the SSR guys. Argh, show, stop being so good.

Mostly I was just squeeing because Peggy was so awesome and funny and competent in this episode. It made me so happy :-)

[sholio]

Regarding Vanko, I picked up on it wrongly re: above comments, so ignore me. XD

But yeah -- I think the thing I'm loving most about this show is that they could so easily have made it into "us and them", bumbling evil comic SSR agents and competent Peggy, but they're not. Ultimately, the other agents are seeing the competence in her, and she's seeing the good in them, and this is REALLY NOT HOW I THOUGHT THIS SHOW WOULD GO (and I'm not even sure if you'd asked me last week if I would have said I WANTED this) but I'm loving it.

And yeah, it was really lovely, after having Peggy hobbled for so long, to see her back in a situation where she's in her element, where she gets to kick ass and be in charge and be surrounded by people who respect her. And her dynamic with Dugan was absolutely wonderful. :D You can totally imagine those two working together well at SHIELD.

[siria]

I think you could argue for Natasha either being born in '84 or being older (and knowing that she's older or not knowing) with about the same level of conviction, based on how MCU canon works and all its various shenanigans to do with the serum, mind-wiping, and super soldier shenanigans. However, the character was listed in the end credits of the episode as 'young Anya'—while this could be a fake-out on the writers' part, it does seem to indicate that she's not Natasha.

[sholio]

Yeah; I tend to headcanon MCU Natasha as her actual apparent age, but I can easily go either way depending on which way the movies go -- it's not something that will completely blow up the way I feel about the character. And yeah, I know people have been referring to her as Anya by way of the credits, but given the amount of mindfuckery going on at the Red Room, changing her name is really the least of it. I mean, yeah, I don't seriously think it's her, but it's fun to what-if about it. :D

[siria]

Oh, that is very true! Although trinityofone and I have been having fun texting back and forth today, wondering if this Anya is based on the Black Widow called Anya in the comics who's an old flame of Nick Fury's. I mean, a young Nick Fury as the romantic lead? Pierce no doubt trying to make a move on her and getting shut down by Anya? Fury being all admiring of the amount of ass she can kick? Please make this movie, Marvel!

[gwyn]

Oh, that little sparkle in her eyes when Thompson called her to come with them to the bar! I mean, I was also going "no, they're douchebags!" but I also knew that that was what she needed and the relationship has changed, so hopefully it's on an upswing.

I just want the Howlies to come back so bad. Even with the new guys we didn't get to know, I just loved seeing Peggy with them and the way they silently respected her, and the way Dugan loudly respected her. I wanted more than anything for there to be a scene where Dugan said something like "what's the problem with these yahoos?" to her in front of them, but even though I didn't get that, I sort of got it, you know? When Thompson took her advice about splitting the teams, I felt like they'd finally figured it out. It won't be perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better.

And of course, now we have to see what happens when Sousa tries to deal with knowing she's the gal in the photo. Whee!

Even though the show is pretty murky, I cannot wait to vid this.

[sholio]

Oh, that little sparkle in her eyes when Thompson called her to come with them to the bar! I mean, I was also going "no, they're douchebags!" but I also knew that that was what she needed and the relationship has changed, so hopefully it's on an upswing.

hahaha ... yes, basically, to both of these things. XD I mean, she shouldn't need those asshats' affirmation of her worth, but it's the specific thing she's been trying to get all season, so it's really lovely to see her winning them over and still playing the game her way. (At the start of the season, I didn't actually want it to go this way -- but now that it is, I find that I'm entirely on board with it. Good work, show!)

And yeah, I want to vid this thing too! :D Have you seen any vids for it so far, by the way? I haven't, though I don't know if it's just that I'm not seeing them or people are waiting 'til the end, or what. I think it's a very stylishly shot show, in spite of the darkness/lack of color in a lot of scenes.

[gwyn]

You know, I haven't seen any vids in my circle yet--but I don't really hang out with the YouTube type vidders, the ones who aren't really part of the vidding community as I know it, and they'd be likely to make a vid right after the first ep aired.

I imagine there will be quite a few at Vividcon this year. ;-) I already am thinking of a couple--one to Mink DeVille's Savoir Faire, especially, but can think of some more serious ones, too.

[sgatazmy]

I love Carter so much. It has hit every storyline I just adore. I think my favorite all-time plot in any tv show is when someone has to turn double agent in order to prove someone innocent of a horrible crime. So I think this show was bound to get my attention right away. Add to that Peggy as super awesome amazing woman, Daniel as everything I love in a character, a team that treats Peggy badly is somehow growing on me, other loveable characters such as the Jarvis and I'm having the time of my life watching this show.

My favorite character, interestingly enough, is Daniel (who I just keep calling Dollhouse guy because that's how I remember the actor). I love that he's a kind-hearted person but he's also very smart detective.

Have you seen the latest episode yet? I came on here looking for episode reactions to it and haven't seen any yet.

[sholio]

I have seen it! I just didn't get around to writing up anything on it ... or commenting on your post either. (I've been super busy.) I'm really loving the show, though, and loving it more as it goes on. I'm very surprised how much the whole cast has grown on me, even the not so nice ones like her blond male co-worker or the Chief. (I actually had a lot of fun this last episode with Daniel and ... Jack I think his name is? running around looking for Peggy -- as well as enjoying Peggy's efforts to avoid them, of course!)

This is totally my favorite show on TV right now! I'm glad it's a self-contained series so there's an end coming up soon, but I would be SO delighted if it gets picked up for another season or two.