Agent Carter Finale

[osprey_archer]

I saw the Agent Carter finale! AND I WANT A SECOND SEASON SO MUCH, clearly it would be about Peggy's rise to power in the SSR: at the end of season 1 she's respected; at the end of season 2 she's poised to become the SSRs BAMF director, and even Agent Thompson has realized (or perhaps just admitted? I think he already knows this is true) that she will do an infinitely better job than he would.



- Howard takes responsibility for the absolute clusterfuck that his awful inventions have caused, THANK GOD. I think he does feel, on some level, genuinely guilty for the destruction, assuming of course that he's sincere when he says he plans to destroy these inventions and not using that as a blind for a plan to build a vault that will, no really! totally be more secure.

Howard being Howard, the likelihood of either outcome is about 50/50. He's incorrigible. Even in the depths of his guilt, he still takes the opportunity to steal Cap's blood.

- Of course, that's a bit different, because he thinks Cap is the one shining good thing he's created in his life (and let me just say, I am totally convinced now that Howard had a huge one-sided crush on Steve. His whole "flying Cap over enemy territory" thing was clearly a bid to get Steve's attention. Unfortunately for him, Steve was too busy making cow eyes at Peggy and worrying about Bucky to even notice the pilot.)

- And ugh, poor Peggy, having to talk Howard down despite her own grief. AND THEN POURING STEVE'S BLOOD IN THE HARBOR, oh my heart. (It's a bit like scattering ashes, I suppose? A final letting go.)

- JARVIS CAN FLY A PLANE! Of course Jarvis can fly a plane. I like how he has a wider skill set than one might expect, but not quite to the extent of being secretly a badass: he can fly a plane, but he's never shot anyone down.

- YAY DOTTIE DIDN'T DIE. Now she and Peggy can spend the rest of the Cold War playing cat and mouse games where Dottie is weirdly obsessed with Peggy and Peggy is like "How did this happen to my life, and why does she always put on the perky Midwestern girl persona whenever we meet and she tries to kill me, it's so disturbing."

- I liked Peggy's exchange with Sousa at the end, after the Senator walks in and is all "Let's thank Jack Thompson for saving the day!" Sousa's mad as hell on her behalf, and Peggy says, basically, don't worry about it. It doesn't bother me; I know what I'm worth.

On the one hand, she's saving face: we know it does bother her when people don't respect her, but there's nothing she can do about it in this moment. But it bothers her in a different way than it bothers Sousa: it makes her angry because she knows she deserves respect, whereas he worries that their lack of respect means he's not worthy.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Definitely like scattering ashes; that was my thought.

I loved how all your predictions re: the baddies came true. Or, well, the one prediction: that they were testing out the Midnight Oil for a big attack.

I understood Peggy saying what she did at the end, and it seems totally her character, and therefore right for the scene, but I wanted to argue with her on the point: acknowledgment isn't just for you; acknowledgment of you is a public thing that strengthens all women, and if he'd made an acknowledgment, it would have put a big dent in the whole department's assumptions, and also would have given them a sign that their superior would respect contributions from whoever made them. ... I know this wouldn't work in-story, but I think in real life it's important. It's great that someone like Peggy has enough sense of self not to need outward acknowledgement, but the outward acknowledgement is important for more than just her.

I am redundant for emphasis :-P

I liked that her nemesis got away, too. It's good to have accomplished women on both sides of the equation.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I mean, the department itself acknowledged her: they all clapped when she came in, they know she's the one who saved their bacon. It's only the Senator who doesn't know, and I don't think there's a good way, in that moment, for her to demand acknowledgement from him. Not with Jack Thompson soaking up the senator's praise rather than setting him straight.

(Oh, Jack Thompson, you were almost growing on me, and then you went and did this.)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Right; I understand in the show it had to be the way it is. I'm just imagining what OC me would say if she were to talk with Peggy about her stance. And it's not even so much about that particular moment, since as you say, everyone did know, at that point, what Peggy had done--I'm only trying to say (tangentially) that acknowledgment withheld is bad for more than the person from whom it's withheld. It's more than just a personal thing.

I mean, it is still a personal thing, too--not denying that. And, for instance, if a person didn't *want* acknowledgment, I think their wish trumps other things, etc. etc.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Remember, Thompson accepted that Navy Cross, so no...he's not going to refuse unearned accolades.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I was hoping that the fact that he told Peggy that story meant he was experiencing a moment of growth, but apparently I was wrong. Clearly he intends to gobble up unearned accolades until he dies.

[silverusagi]

I'm kind of wondering on Agent Carter about the continuity of that little webisode we got way before the series, where you see Howard saying he was going to run SHIELD with her? And how that ties into where we are now.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the webisode, so I don't know. But it would have to take place after this (perhaps quite a while after this), because no one has even contemplated founding SHIELD yet.

[silverusagi]

See, I don't know, because it almost seemed in the webisode that Peggy was working at a place where she didn't get any respect and then Howard pulled her out when he was starting SHIELD. And now in the series she does have some respect. I almost feel like the webisode was made before the TV series had an idea of getting off the ground.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1b8lwz_%E0%B8%8B-%E0%B8%9A%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A2-marvel-one-shot-agent-carter_shortfilms

Ah, okay, Wikipedia tells me that "They stated in March 2014 that the series would be set in 1946, occurring in the middle of the timeline established in the One-Shot", so it seems like the one shot was a thing that was made as an extra before they ever thought about telling the story as a longer TV series.