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Some thoughts on Agent Carter 1x07
My thoughts on this episode are kind of mixed.
This is the first episode all season that I've been rather disappointed in. Not that there weren't fun parts, but I just kinda felt like the whole premise was squandered, somewhat. You've got a sleeper bad guy who can go anywhere in the building and make people do literally whatever he wants, and you end up doing that with it? It just felt like a whole lot of buildup/suspense for a rather anticlimactic ultimate villain plan. (Though I do kinda wonder if Dooley was supposed to kill Peggy and Jarvis, and ended up trapping them instead. He did seem to be fighting it the whole time ...)
This is also the first episode that's given me some logistical problems, such as: movies don't play themselves (especially in the 1940s, which I'm pretty sure was still the era where movie projectors had to be monitored closely so the celluloid film didn't burst into flames), so where was the projectionist while everyone in the theatre was tearing each other apart? How could you not notice that? Unless the gas got up there too, I guess.
And furthermore, Howard created a substance that makes people rip each other apart?! That's ... a bit on the supervillain end of things ... I mean, generally I've been assuming Tony's take on Howard is slightly biased in the negative direction -- he's a shit dad, and more interested in inventing things/making money than worrying about the uses his inventions could be put to, but he's more negligent than actually evil. This, though ... this is rather beyond the pale.
Also, I am going to assume until proven otherwise that SSR HQ has some kind of secret underground entrance through which they take detainees, and Jarvis only knew about the phone-bank entrance because of Peggy. Because otherwise I fail to see how SECRET your SECRET headquarters can remain if you interrogate all your suspects there and take them in the front.
All that said, though, it was a fun episode with a lot of entertaining parts, the cast is really coming together well, and Dooley got to go out a hero, at least. I wish it wasn't almost over.
This is the first episode all season that I've been rather disappointed in. Not that there weren't fun parts, but I just kinda felt like the whole premise was squandered, somewhat. You've got a sleeper bad guy who can go anywhere in the building and make people do literally whatever he wants, and you end up doing that with it? It just felt like a whole lot of buildup/suspense for a rather anticlimactic ultimate villain plan. (Though I do kinda wonder if Dooley was supposed to kill Peggy and Jarvis, and ended up trapping them instead. He did seem to be fighting it the whole time ...)
This is also the first episode that's given me some logistical problems, such as: movies don't play themselves (especially in the 1940s, which I'm pretty sure was still the era where movie projectors had to be monitored closely so the celluloid film didn't burst into flames), so where was the projectionist while everyone in the theatre was tearing each other apart? How could you not notice that? Unless the gas got up there too, I guess.
And furthermore, Howard created a substance that makes people rip each other apart?! That's ... a bit on the supervillain end of things ... I mean, generally I've been assuming Tony's take on Howard is slightly biased in the negative direction -- he's a shit dad, and more interested in inventing things/making money than worrying about the uses his inventions could be put to, but he's more negligent than actually evil. This, though ... this is rather beyond the pale.
Also, I am going to assume until proven otherwise that SSR HQ has some kind of secret underground entrance through which they take detainees, and Jarvis only knew about the phone-bank entrance because of Peggy. Because otherwise I fail to see how SECRET your SECRET headquarters can remain if you interrogate all your suspects there and take them in the front.
All that said, though, it was a fun episode with a lot of entertaining parts, the cast is really coming together well, and Dooley got to go out a hero, at least. I wish it wasn't almost over.
no subject
I'm assuming that wasn't what the substance was actually intended to do when he invented it, much like that jacket was supposed to help people survive the Russian winter on the Eastern front, not make them explode. Also in the pilot Howard explicitly says that what he has in the vault are those things which should not ever be used, let alone sold. (Peggy then asks why he invented them in the first place and Howard says because he can't unthink ideas, and once he has one, he has to see whether he can do it.)
BTW, I'm assuming we just got our explanation as to what happened at Finnau, and what Howard's fallout with the military (where he punched a general) was about. Remember, in Finnau you had lots of dead bodies and no one, Germans or Russians, taking the credit for actually killing them. So my current guess: Howard invents this gas (no matter what he tried to accomplish, that was what resulted) as part of the war effort, realises what it could potentially do, says it's not useable. US military uses it anyway, presumably intending to use it on Germans but accidentally getting the location wrong which means a lot of dead Russians instead. Howard arrives there, realises at once what the reason for all those dead bodies must have been, is horrified - as Dooley's reporter source and Jarvis mentioned last week - decks General and walks away from his contract with the US forces. General hushes this up because the Russians are allies, after all, major embarassment, and everyone thinks the Germans did it. The war ends, the Russians find out the Germans didn't, Leviathan gets on the case to a) trace down that weapon, and b) get it for themselves.
no subject
.... and yeah, I get that these are Howard's screw-ups; it just seemed like that was one hell of an evil screw-up, even for him. On the other hand, I guess it's a matter of historical fact that the U.S. government was sponsoring the development of even worse things during that same time period (not just the U.S., but we're especially famous for it ...) so Howard at least had the moral sense to lock it up and not sell it to anybody.
no subject
My guess is that's not what he intended to invent. He set out to invent a gas that did something useful, and he was horrified when he realised what it really did. We've seen all season that Howard's nastier inventions started out with good intentions--the massager, the survival jacket--but they went horrifically wrong in the execution.
Also, I am going to assume until proven otherwise that SSR HQ has some kind of secret underground entrance through which they take detainees, and Jarvis only knew about the phone-bank entrance because of Peggy.
...I hadn't even thought of that before, but yes, that's the only way it makes sense. I knew the operators had to be part of the SSR, but you can't drag people in through that entrance in hand-cuffs without raising suspicions!
Dooley got to go out a hero
I wasn't expecting them to kill Dooley, but I found myself liking what they did and how with him. He turned out to be a more interesting, nuanced character than I expected with what I saw in the pilot.
no subject
And yeah, I hope, at least, that Howard didn't set out to invent a frenzied-killer gas ... but if you're gonna go wrong, that's a pretty dramatic way to go wrong.
no subject
I do agree with everyone else that Stark didn't mean to invent the gas (it probably was supposed to do something else).
The moment Jarvis mentioned coming to SSR to get interrogated I thought the same. There is no way they let you see the location, right? No way they would let you see their front? That would make them the worst hidden secret base ever!
What I really did enjoy: The interrogation scene. There were so many more ways to break her but they all held back in their own ways. They interviewed her as a suspect but also with caution. Jack was playing the 'good cop' routine but I believe he really did know something wasn't adding up. He'd seen Peggy in action and he knew her strength of character from that alone. Going to Russia with Peggy changed him for the better. I had been looking forward to how Daniel would interrogate her but I found myself really glad for the Jack bits. If this series continues, I look forward to seeing who Jack will become.
no subject
And yeah, I hadn't really thought about their not-so-secret secret base, until Jarvis walked in the front door, and then I started thinking -- you know, ANY of the suspects they've interrogated over the years could do the same! It makes a dramatic entrance, but there must be other ones.