AGENT CARTER: Time and Tide Roundtable {Recap}

Agent Carter still asks all the tough hitting questions that makes the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe much more complicated than it was before.

So, this week Lexie joined us and we’ve found time to ask a few questions that are all making us think too much.

Unofficial question: we’re unsure of the voice-over in this episode and the less said about that the better.

1. Let’s ask a question about social mores first, but what do you think of Mrs Fry kicking out Molly for her beau coming to visit?

Liz: Molly knew the rules of the house. She knew the consequences. If Mrs. Fry were to break the rules for one, she’d have to do it for all and then it wouldn’t be her house anymore. If the girls didn’t like those rules, they could have gone elsewhere.

Rueben: No, given the time period – 1946 – and the clearly outlined rules of The Griffith (that’s the name right?), Molly knew what was right and what was wrong.

Lexie: My grandmother lived in one of these hotels—in Minneapolis, because she was from Wisconsin—and I love to listen to her stories about that time, about how they shared a kitchen and how many “girls” (she always called them girls) lived one each floor, and some (I suspect heavily edited stories) of what they got up to after hours at the phone company—OH MY GOD YOU GUYS MY GRANDMOTHER MIGHT BE PEGGY CARTER.

Louise: Even if Molly was Peggy’s first neighbors, I’m sad to see Molly go for what happened. Yes, she did know the rules and chose to violate one, but it always bothers me how often women have to maintain some level of purity when no one’s the same.

2. Should we trust the story Thompson told about Jarvis and his treasonous former ways? What do you make of that piece of information either way and what story Jarvis tells of what happened?

Liz: Since Jarvis himself confirmed the story to Peggy, yeah I trust him. The whole story made sense and seemed believable to me. I don’t know how it will all fit into this show, it seemed more of a character information thing.

Rueben: I don’t like Thompson and I think he will use any bit of information, twisting it to his favor. As for what Jarvis told Peggy about that whole situation, I believe him.

Lexie: Is Thompson Chad Michael Murray? Because I hate him, if so, and would rather believe Jarvis over him. The antisemitism is definitely a characteristic of that time period (and of current times, sadly enough), so that story strikes me as true (from Jarvis, not from WonderBoy McScrewsUpALot).

Louise: I’d rather have Thompson’s opinions shoved someplace indecent, but I suppose that Jarvis’ story is his own and he should time to tell his story how he wants to. Every story has more than one narrative and I’d rather believe Jarvis than Thompson.

3. Peggy’s doing a good job of looking foolish and stupid for the sake of her double agent work. Do you think it’ll come back to haunt her later?

Liz: I don’t think it will haunt her, but when the guys find out what she’s doing and what she’s capable of doing, I think they’ll do a couple of things: 1) they’ll have a new respect for this phenomenal woman; 2) they’ll be angry and feel betrayed by her unless she can prove Stark’s innocence at the same time. For my part I’d love to see her kick some ass right in front of them and show them all up. She’s already proven to the viewers that she is worth 100 of those men.

Rueben: I have a feeling that Souza is going to figure out at least some of the truth, as he is smarter than the other men at SSR. And, yes, some of it will come back to haunt her eventually.

Lexie: I think it’s coming back to haunt her now.

Louise: When Sousa figures out what’s what, I worry for Peggy. Someone else, besides Jarvis, needs to know her story.

4. If Angie gets the brush off by Peggy, what could (or will) happen to Dottie when she moves in?

Liz: I don’t really have any thoughts on that one. I guess I need to wait and see.

Rueben: Well, it’s hard to determine just who Dottie is in all of this since we didn’t get much of an intro to her, but I think Peggy will keep her at arm’s length at least for right now even though she is warming up to Angie.

Lexie: I have seen theories that Dottie is actually Yelena Belova, one of the Black Widows from the Red Room, and since Bridget Regan is sunshine and amazingness in a human-sized package, I am going to believe this until it doesn’t happen.

Louise: Dottie has all the potential to end up like Peggy’s dead roommate if something goes wrong. Or she could try to kill Peggy at every turn. Either way, nothing good is going to happen.

5. Any ideas what that symbol means? Does its existence confirm your suspicions about all this being HYDRA or not?

Liz: Peggy said it was a symbol for the Broken Heart Shipping Co. or something like that. I don’t know if they were hired by HYDRA or not. I think at this point on this show HYDRA is still very covert.

Rueben: I definitely think it’s HYDRA, but I’m not really sure what the symbol means. I wish I were better versed in the Marvel universe to answer this better.

Lexie: It means Peggy’s got to deal with a broken heart. *ba-boom-tish* That said, I don’t even want to hear the word HYDRA on this show unless they’re talking about the fall of the Red Skull. For HYDRA to be such a credible threat in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there needs to be ABSOLUTELY NO WHISPER of it until its reveal. So Leviathan is a great enemy, and I want it to be separate.

Louise: The broken heart seems like a good cover story, but there’s something about it – and how that boat connects to Howard’s treacherous ways that makes me think it’s HYDRA related, even if we won’t have it confirmed for weeks yet.

6. Atwell’s twitter feed has been filled with comments about her beating up stuntworkers. How awesome was her fight?

Liz: I’d like to see her and Agent May square off! Peggy can hold her own!

Rueben: I guess I need to follow her twitter feed since I didn’t know about this, but it would be hard for her not to end up beating up the stunt guys in one way or another. She does a terrific job with the fight scenes.

Lexie: Her fight was pretty great, but I could tell when it was a stuntwoman. I still loved it. I’ve seen some great reviews that point out that Peggy’s fighting style isn’t grace and beauty like Gamora or Natasha, but rather hitting men repeatedly with heavy objects until they fall down. And that’s wonderful.

Louise: I love these fights and I wonder how often she’ll get to be that physical all series long.

7. Favorite moment?

Liz: I found it very funny when Molly’s date looked up into Peggy’s gun while hanging off that ledge. I don’t know how he maintained his grip!

Rueben: It was just a small moment, but I loved when Jarvis called the SSR, using that really bad American accent to alert them to the Stark items found on the boat. That was quite comical.

Lexie: That moment where Hayley Atwell.

…no, really, that is always my favorite moment. I love all the details. Her hair up in those pin curls when Angie drops by, her outfits, the changes in her body language as she deals with her idiot coworkers, her take on everybody at the office. I LOVE IT ALL.

But favorite moment, if I have to pick one? The scene at the Automat between Peggy and Angie. Bar none. I want all the lady friendships on TV ever. I want every show to effortlessly pass the Bechdel Test without EVEN HAVING TO TRY. I want to take this show and give it to every single screenwriter who has killed off a favorite lady of mine for the plot, who can’t write lady friendships to save their lives, and I want them to watch it until it is CODED INTO THEIR VERY GENETIC MAKEUP.

Louise: The moment with Jarvis and Peggy where she found out more of his background. Mostly because I love hearing about Jarvis’ life since all I think about when I hear is name is the disembodied voice around Tony’s mansions. Tony being raised by Jarvis and Anna later will be make him what we all know him as now.

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

Liz: I think I give this one a 3 1/2. It was a tad slow moving, after last week’s explosion on the scene, and then we find out that we have to wait 2 weeks for the next episode already. What?!

Rueben: I would give this episode 3 ½ red hats.

Lexie: This episode goes to 11.

Louise: I’m sticking with my 3 and half from last week. The mystery side of Leviathan would probably be better served by binge watching and that’s sort of noticeable right now.