AGENT CARTER: “The Iron Ceiling” Roundtable

This episode certainly brought all the drama and all the slowly deconstructed secret life of Agent Peggy Carter. What can happen when everything that we want to stay the same in Peggy’s life starts to fall apart?

Let’s find out how Rueben, Liz and I reacted to the episode.

1. Holy flashback! On a scale of 1 to 10, how scared of Dottie should we all be knowing that she’s an early prototype for who The Black Widow is and given how creepy she was in Peggy’s apartment?

Rueben: I would say we are beyond 1 to 10 and heading towards 20. Dottie was beyond deadly as a little girl and is obviously extremely lethal now. And, the whole scene of her going through Peggy’s room was beyond creepy; and what’s more, her pretending to be Peggy made my skin crawl.

Liz: I think we should be very afraid of her. She is deadly, for sure! I was very surprised she didn’t find Steve’s blood that Peggy hid in her wall. I thought for sure she would.

Louise: I’m scared at how much Dottie both can kill someone and how much she seems fixated on Peggy. Stalkers, or someone like that, are never good in my mind. Living next door is even worse for Peggy, who’s none the wiser right now.

2. Sousa knows that Peggy’s the blonde woman. Is this a secret he’ll keep or will he use it to his advantage later when tensions are high?

Rueben: He will definitely use it when it will best serve his investigation; and with the clip they showed for next week’s episode, what he knows about Peggy being the blonde will most likely be put to use.

Liz: First of all, I KNEW SOUSA WOULD BE THE FIRST TO FIND OUT ABOUT PEGGY! Just had to get that off my chest. LOL! I think he is going to believe that Peggy is a traitor. A double agent. He’s going to think that she’s there just to get all the inside information she can collect pass it on to Stark or whoever else he thinks she ay be working for.

Louise: I want him to do the “right” thing and leave Peggy alone, but I think he’s a dogged enough agent that he’ll reveal what he knows sooner rather than later.

3. While Dooley drinks with that ballsy reporter, we hear that there’s an incomplete whole story about Stark breaking contact with the US Military. Are we getting enough breadcrumbs regarding Stark or too few?

Rueben: First of all, how cool was it to see John Glover (Lionel Luthor on Smallville) as the ballsy reporter? Right?! I think we’re getting just enough breadcrumbs to keep us coming back for more, but they’re gonna have to start revealing more since we are down to only three episodes left.

Liz: I think they’re keeping a pretty steady trail going, leading up to the finale. I’m dying to know what happened in Finnow. The real story.

Louise: I could do with more info on Finnow and what it all means for how underground Stark has to go, but I suppose there’s still time for the reveal for maximum impact.

4. Our team in Russia has happened upon the boarding school training all the new Dotties and Natashas of the world. What do you think the connection is between the Red Room and Leviathan if any exists?

Rueben: There has to be some kind of connection (right?) otherwise they wouldn’t be focusing on both in one episode; nor having the prisoners the team rescued talking about Leviathan. I just know what that connection would be. This is the one time I wish I were better versed in the Marvel’s Universe.

Liz: I think if there is a connection, it’s that Leviathan is using the Red Room as muscle. It’s easy to do. Who would want to shoot a child, right? Even when that child kills one of the boys, Peggy stops Dum Dum from killing her.

Louise: I wish I knew how they connected, but I’m sure that the show can’t avoid telling everyone what it is. Like Liz said, there’s a good reason to have innocent looking girls guarding all these scientists, but I can’t think of it now.

5. Dooley’s only after the truth of what happened to Stark, or at least that’s what he’s telling Jarvis. Should we believe him?

Rueben: Yes, I think that Dooley told Jarvis the truth, but depending on how the clues continue to line up could change everything.

Liz: I don’t know! I think at the very least, the seed of doubt has been planted in Dooley. Now he’s forced to consider that there may be a side to the story he doesn’t know which could mean Stark’s innocence.

Louise: Right now I want to believe him, but he’s been such an odd boss for Peggy that I don’t know if I can.

6. Thompson froze in the heat of the moment before he shared his real story of his Navy Cross. Does that do anything to humanize his poor treatment of everyone in the team or is he still just a jerk in power?

Rueben: I have to admit that his admission of what really happened in Japan and then freezing up in Russia made me see him in a different light; but that doesn’t really make up for the way he has behaved in the past, especially towards Peggy and some of the suspects he’s roughed up.

Liz: He’s still a jerk, but now he won’t be able to play if off so well with Peggy. He also saw that Peggy was tough and brave and more than just the office girls who fetches coffee and lunch. It was just what I was hoping for and more.

Louise: He’s still a jerk, and I don’t think knowing that he lied for his metal helped. If anything, that makes him worse; his jerkiness isn’t newly learned, and he’s accepted doing it more and more.

7. Favorite moment?

Rueben: They were creepy moments, but all of the scenes with Dottie were kind of spell-binding because Bridget Regan made them seem so real. You believed that she was remembering her time in the Red Room in 1937, her searching Peggy’s room and even the short scene of her handcuffing herself to her bed. The indoctrination was all encompassing, wasn’t it?

Liz: I think the little moment between Peggy and Dum Dum in the back of the truck. I love the Steve Rogers mentions and that was a sweet moment for those two.

I also loved the respect the Howling Commandos showed Peggy. They truly know her worth. I love those guys!

Louise: Anything with the Howling Commandos far and away! I just love those guys, even if they changed out the group. What happened that they replaced Gabe with another African-American guy? Why? Unless that guy is now Triplett’s grandfather.

8. Rate the episode, 1-5 red hats, with 5 being excellent and 1 being a major fail.

Rueben: I have to give this episode 4 red hats simply because Peggy got to be in the action for once with more than Jarvis by her side, she deciphered the typewriter code when that analyst couldn’t and the scenes with Dottie made it pretty damn good.

Liz: Yes, yes, I know, you all have come to expect this from me, but I can’t help it! 5 red hats or baguettes. It was my all time favorite episode, with the Howling Commandos, who didn’t disappoint, and Peggy fitting in so naturally with them. I loved seeing Thompson freeze up while Peggy saves the day. All of it!

Louise: I’m upping my usual answer to 4 hats because there was so much happening and so many more secrets revealed.

Marvel’s Agent Carter airs on Tuesdays at 9 PM Eastern/8 PM Central on ABC.