| Agent Carter: A Sin to Err |
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| Wednesday, 11 February 2015 03:48 |
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Oh, Peggy, Peggy, Peggy—what’s going to happen to you? While the show is all about the various obstacles she has to overcome on her way to espionage greatness, nothing challenges her more than the demands of the show itself. Established as a brilliant, calculating, hyper-competent agent, it was nonetheless impulse rather than strategy that drove her to accept Stark’s request to clear his name on the sly from the S.S.R. As the season went on, it became less and less clear why she had to risk treason and her credibility by continuing the subterfuge, especially after last episode showed positive turnarounds in all her colleagues’ thinking.All of a sudden, by no fault of her own, the show has set Peggy up to look like a fool. Had Thompson remained an unmitigated ass and Dooley a biased investigator, Peggy would have more justification to beat down then run from her peers. But with Sousa and even Thompson sincerely urging her to turn herself in and explain, she just looks ridiculous declining with such vagaries as, “You know I can’t do that.” Why the hell not? Now Peggy’s committed the same stupid mistake Howard did at the start of the series: running, at a time when it couldn’t possibly look worse. It’s never a comfortable position for a lead to look like the bad gal in her own show, but that’s how it seems. Even for a medium in which poor conflict management is the norm, Peggy’s series of bad choices is hard to take. And then to have the obliviousness to protest, “This isn’t necessary,” when they drag her in cuffs to be interrogated (this, after knocking out a half-dozen S.S.R. agents in the Automat), Peggy practically forces you to wonder where all her brains went.While it’s discouraging to see Peggy lose the standing she worked so hard to earn last episode, enough to persuade Dooley to let her go out chasing her own lead, the timing for this fallout is ideal. Better that we get this brouhaha out of the way now, rather than let Peggy rise to a nice peak within the agency then shoving her over. Getting caught this soon into the season means she picks up only a couple scrapes and bruises from the fall, and she has way less to answer for.But while the S.S.R. is distracted by her apparent betrayal, the real traitors can seize the opportunity to work unimpeded. The revelation that Dr. Ivchenko is a snake in the grass reflects well on Leviathan’s masterplanning, and Dottie remains at large, though her mission to eliminate Peggy is actually hindered by Peggy’s capture. The plot hasn’t thickened much from the basic premise of Howard’s stolen tech, but maybe this is the motivation everyone needs to kick the story up another notch.And yes, Angie, I’m mostly talking about you. A vestigial character from the get-go, the show’s strained to find a place for her. For a while, that place seemed to be mild comedy relief, but now that she’s mostly in on Peggy’s world and unintentionally wading into its more dangerous shallows, we can hope she’s due for a more critical role, though she’s limited by her narrow skill set. Her mediocre acting* has few applications, even as a diversion; Peggy’s the more convincing actress on the few occasions she’s gotten into costume and character to infiltrate a place of interest.Some Musings:* Her stilted, slightly one-note monologue at the top of the episode reminds me a lot of my acting, which is not a good thing. That said,- Ginger Rogers has crazy eyes in Jarvis’ estimation. If you watch Stage Door or Swing Time, you might be inclined to agree.The post Agent Carter: A Sin to Err appeared first on Weekly Comic Book Review. Read more: http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/2015/02/11/agent-carter-sin-err/ |
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