Agent Carter, season 2, the second half
Mar. 26th, 2020 08:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWe’ve reached the part in season 2 of Agent Carter where the show begins to unravel. The first half of the season is actually pretty solid (which surprised me; I suppose the song-and-dance “which man shall I choose?” number in episode nine colored my memory of the whole season), but things start to go downhill after Peggy gets mildly impaled in episode 5. (Don’t worry, she’s back on her feet in episode 6.)
I’m fairly sure the impalement occurs mostly so there’d be an excuse for an unlikely team-up with Dottie Underwood, and in theory I love this idea - more Dottie! More of Dottie and Peggy forced to work together!!! Of course it’s inherently a rather silly plan, but this is a superhero spy show, I’m willing to revel in silly plans if the characters pull them off with competence and panache.
Unfortunately that’s not the case here. Peggy has no reason to believe that Dottie will cooperate, or indeed do anything at all except run the moment she gets the chance - and she does nothing that might change Dottie’s mind about that. Her approach is all stick, no carrot, even though we’ve seen before that this approach doesn’t work on Dottie (it ended with Jack Thompson pinned to the floor with a table at his throat) - and also that Peggy knows that, because she knows how to handle Dottie, at least as well as anyone does.
Of course, the carrots that Peggy can offer are somewhat limited: given the nature of Dottie’s crimes, Peggy can’t exactly let her go free, for instance. But there are other carrots she could offer. A long personal chat with Peggy is probably high on Dottie’s wishlist, for instance, and the prospect might at least make Dottie delay her inevitable escape.
At very least, Peggy ought to pretend to be friendly, instead of being so clipped and cold. As Whitney Frost notes, Dottie wants to believe that Peggy is her friend; Peggy could win a lot of ground simply by playing into that hope. Yes, still take all possible precautions, but talk to Dottie as if she’s a valued and trusted teammate, and the tracking device that will explode if Dottie tries to escape is an unfortunate bureaucratic necessity. Sure, Dottie will see through it, but she’ll eat it up anyway.
As it is, Peggy gives Dottie no reason to cooperate, so when the plan goes all pear-shaped it feels like a foregone conclusion. What did Peggy expect? She gave Dottie no reason to cooperate, and so Dottie didn’t.
And I think this sort of encapsulates a lot of the problems in the second half of the season: the characters, who hitherto have been so clever and on top of things, suddenly seem like incompetent pinballs tossed around by the levers of an increasingly out of control plot. I think the writers made the villains in the story just a little too powerful (the Arena Club controls everything; Whitney Frost is an unstoppable force of destruction); even by the generous standards of “realistic” one expects in a superhero spy story, it’s hard to see how our heroes could realistically win. So the story loses its thread.
I’m fairly sure the impalement occurs mostly so there’d be an excuse for an unlikely team-up with Dottie Underwood, and in theory I love this idea - more Dottie! More of Dottie and Peggy forced to work together!!! Of course it’s inherently a rather silly plan, but this is a superhero spy show, I’m willing to revel in silly plans if the characters pull them off with competence and panache.
Unfortunately that’s not the case here. Peggy has no reason to believe that Dottie will cooperate, or indeed do anything at all except run the moment she gets the chance - and she does nothing that might change Dottie’s mind about that. Her approach is all stick, no carrot, even though we’ve seen before that this approach doesn’t work on Dottie (it ended with Jack Thompson pinned to the floor with a table at his throat) - and also that Peggy knows that, because she knows how to handle Dottie, at least as well as anyone does.
Of course, the carrots that Peggy can offer are somewhat limited: given the nature of Dottie’s crimes, Peggy can’t exactly let her go free, for instance. But there are other carrots she could offer. A long personal chat with Peggy is probably high on Dottie’s wishlist, for instance, and the prospect might at least make Dottie delay her inevitable escape.
At very least, Peggy ought to pretend to be friendly, instead of being so clipped and cold. As Whitney Frost notes, Dottie wants to believe that Peggy is her friend; Peggy could win a lot of ground simply by playing into that hope. Yes, still take all possible precautions, but talk to Dottie as if she’s a valued and trusted teammate, and the tracking device that will explode if Dottie tries to escape is an unfortunate bureaucratic necessity. Sure, Dottie will see through it, but she’ll eat it up anyway.
As it is, Peggy gives Dottie no reason to cooperate, so when the plan goes all pear-shaped it feels like a foregone conclusion. What did Peggy expect? She gave Dottie no reason to cooperate, and so Dottie didn’t.
And I think this sort of encapsulates a lot of the problems in the second half of the season: the characters, who hitherto have been so clever and on top of things, suddenly seem like incompetent pinballs tossed around by the levers of an increasingly out of control plot. I think the writers made the villains in the story just a little too powerful (the Arena Club controls everything; Whitney Frost is an unstoppable force of destruction); even by the generous standards of “realistic” one expects in a superhero spy story, it’s hard to see how our heroes could realistically win. So the story loses its thread.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-26 02:49 pm (UTC)YES, and it's so frustrating. Peggy isn't going to want to be friends with Dottie, but her inability to connect with Dottie is glaring, given their connection in S1 and that Peggy canonically makes a deal with Zola and he says in TWS that SHIELD was always rotten to the core. TWS doesn't inform Agent Carter as closely as TFA does, but Dottie and the Soviet pre-Red Room program are links to Natasha, who came in from the cold decades later, and while the relationships between the TV shows and movies were fucked until the Disney+ deal, they could have at least alluded to it. (And the writers of TWS wrote a number of Agent Carter eps and co-created the series, to boot.)
talk to Dottie as if she’s a valued and trusted teammate, and the tracking device that will explode if Dottie tries to escape is an unfortunate bureaucratic necessity. Sure, Dottie will see through it, but she’ll eat it up anyway.
....I NEED THIS FIC
As it is, Peggy gives Dottie no reason to cooperate, so when the plan goes all pear-shaped it feels like a foregone conclusion. What did Peggy expect? She gave Dottie no reason to cooperate, and so Dottie didn’t.
It's so OOC for Peggy, too. She's not empathic exactly, but she's very just and honest, and she's actually good at dealing with hostile not-quite-allies she needs something from -- it's been her whole working life, and her element in the show! It makes no sense that she can't coordinate something with Dottie, or Whitney, for that matter. (My favourite moment in all of S2 may be Peggy going back for Dottie -- if I'm remembering that right.)
And I think this sort of encapsulates a lot of the problems in the second half of the season: the characters, who hitherto have been so clever and on top of things, suddenly seem like incompetent pinballs tossed around by the levers of an increasingly out of control plot.
Yeah, I remember someone making the point that there are more women in season two, but Peggy interacts with them much less than she did Angie and Dottie in the first season. Ana's character was great and they had an intriguing spark, but it felt like Ana became a plot device to come between Jarvis and Peggy so we could have a fight between them. Sousa having a fiancee was the same kind of silliness. I personally think it's a sign of lazy plotting when characters are pushed apart for no reason so there can be Angst and then have a Happy Reconciliation later.
ITA about the villains -- Frost in particular is way too overpowered, and . Agent Carter often glories in its pulpiness, which is fun, but it felt out of control in the second season -- it felt more cartoonish and there was WAY too much emphasis on Jack and Masters et al. It's a shame because it started off with a bang, but S2 really was disappointing. The finale, with Peggy and a bunch of guys literally physically pulling down a bad special effect, was really shallow compared to the S1 finale with "I know my value" and Peggy moving on from Steve into her own life on her own terms.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-27 01:07 am (UTC)You could imagine a scene between Peggy & Dottie that mirrors Jack Thompson's confession scene in season one, for instance. Dottie, shaken by her encounter with Whitney Frost, confesses some moment of weakness to Peggy, and even if Peggy still doesn't like her exactly (the scene of slaughter in that theater is still fresh in her mind)... still, it's a bonding moment, and in that moment she does feel some compassion for her.
Plus, if Peggy and Dottie had achieved an even slightly friendly rapport in their earlier scenes, Peggy's decision to go back for Dottie would have had more impact.
I don't know why the writers thought Daniel's fiancee Violet was a good idea. In a way it's nice that they have this romantic rival character who is a perfectly nice person and actually really likable... but at the same time, that just makes it sad when Sousa breaks up with her, and also there's so much going on in the season already that they didn't really need another subplot. For goodness sake, just have Sousa pine for a year, or date around without getting serious with anyone, or something.
Re: Zola & SHIELD. The fact that SHIELD was always rotten to the core was always a potential albatross around the show's neck, so in a way I'm glad it got canceled before we actually see Peggy found SHIELD: it wouldn't have been enjoyable to watch Peggy found an organization that is not only going to go bad, but is already rotten at it's hard. As it is, Agent Carter exists in its own pocket universe in my mind, and maybe in that universe they never found SHIELD at all.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-27 02:10 pm (UTC)And Dottie is way cuter! They could talk about lipstick....knockout lipstick!
More seriously, it's a little fascinating to me how Peggy is bulletproof femme (altho obviously some of that's Hollywood convention) and that's emphasized in the scene with her fuschia hat, and Dottie uses her codeswitching femininity to hide, not stand out. And it's Peggy's glamour outfit of blonde wig and shoulder-baring gown that betrays her to Daniel (altho that made NO SENSE to me, a SPY would not know how to cover up identifying bullet marks? Ditto Natasha in TWS, altho the laugh line "Bye-bye bikinis" is classic. Anyway).
You could imagine a scene between Peggy & Dottie that mirrors Jack Thompson's confession scene in season one, for instance. Dottie, shaken by her encounter with Whitney Frost, confesses some moment of weakness to Peggy, and even if Peggy still doesn't like her exactly (the scene of slaughter in that theater is still fresh in her mind)... still, it's a bonding moment, and in that moment she does feel some compassion for her.
//whimpers Why do you make me yearn for things I can never have --
Plus, if Peggy and Dottie had achieved an even slightly friendly rapport in their earlier scenes, Peggy's decision to go back for Dottie would have had more impact.
YEAH, as it was, it was Peggy going back for Dottie because it was what Peggy would do, not so much her being connected to Dottie. And I love that it's what Peggy would do, and does, but it's also another big missed connection in a season that's full of them. I get impatient with missed connection/noncommunication setups unless there's a really good reason for them (and this season had bad plots galore anyway, what with the literally vanishing black man, Ana becoming INFERTILE because Dottie shoots her, Peggy choosing Between Two Men, sigh....).
I don't know why the writers thought Daniel's fiancee Violet was a good idea. In a way it's nice that they have this romantic rival character who is a perfectly nice person and actually really likable... but at the same time, that just makes it sad when Sousa breaks up with her, and also there's so much going on in the season already that they didn't really need another subplot. For goodness sake, just have Sousa pine for a year, or date around without getting serious with anyone, or something.
Yeah, fandom typically sees Daniel as the Good Guy, but I was intrigued by the elements in S1 where he was less flawless -- he keeps things from Peggy, and gets called out by her in that great monologue where she says, they don't see her -- he doesn't see her any more than the other men do. There could be a really interesting conflict where with the L.A. office, it's an award but also a comedown, and he'll have to work to prove himself with the guys but there's also this other network of people who aren't white guys. IDK. I know it's not that dark a show, but they managed to give Jack a lot of conflict in BOTH seasons. (I know they were stuck on the idea of having every season in a different locale, but there was just no reason for Jack to have that big a role in S2 beyond "he's a great actor and signed a contract.")
The fact that SHIELD was always rotten to the core was always a potential albatross around the show's neck, so in a way I'm glad it got canceled before we actually see Peggy found SHIELD: it wouldn't have been enjoyable to watch Peggy found an organization that is not only going to go bad, but is already rotten at it's hard.
Yeah, I think they also had the idea that the show would end with founding SHIELD, which was a little frustrating -- I guess they would have brought in Tommy Lee Jones as a guest star? and maybe we'd even see Peggy rescue Dr Erskine and bring him to the States. I don't particularly want to see MCU's take on Operation Paperclip. D:
As it is, Agent Carter exists in its own pocket universe in my mind, and maybe in that universe they never found SHIELD at all.
I wonder if they're going to do anything with her on Disney+! They had signed up Hayley Atwell for a What If? ep as I recall...well, I guess we can write the fanfic, anyway. ITA we can enjoy Agent Carter in a little bubble, altho I've seen some good fics that explore the ambiguity.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-28 11:02 pm (UTC)I'm never going to get over the fact that they ended an episode on a cliffhanger! with Peggy and Jarvis captured!!! and they thought that the best way to start the next episode was a song-and-dance number about Peggy Choosing Between Two Men. NO ONE WAS WORRIED ABOUT THAT AT THAT PARTICULAR MOMENT, good God, I had waited a week to see if Peggy and Jarvis got out of it safely and this is what they're giving us?
Plus, it had the season's only Angie Martinelli cameo... in a song and dance number about heterosexual love. Good grief.
I'm kind of hoping they don't do anything with Peggy on Disney+ (aside from the What It? ep), because they'd have to reckon with the Endgame ending, wouldn't they? We in fandom can just ignore it, but Disney might feel that it has to abide by its own canonical decisions, no matter how stupid.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-26 02:51 pm (UTC)I also was thrown off by the song-and-dance number—me, who loves musicals!—but I remember being particularly turned off by Jarvis' "you can't be in love with two men at the same time" speech. I get that he was trying to be a supportive and sympathetic friend (and I still appreciate that this is one of the few shows that contains a genuinely platonic friendship between opposite-sex characters without any of the extended will-they-or-won't-they-ing, even if they had to queer-code the heck out of one of them to do it), but like, have you lived at all, my dude? Love (or attraction, anyway) is nothing if not inconvenient.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-27 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-27 01:11 am (UTC)