After a week off Agent Carter returned with Howard Stark and Stan Lee in tow. Stark returned because he needed Peggy’s help in recovering one of his inventions from the SSR. I love Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark; he was definitely a bright spot in Captain America: The First Avenger. He brings Stark’s swagger to the small screen and definitely shows plenty of chemistry with Hayley Atwell.
I enjoyed “The Blitzkrieg Button” but, because of Stark’s appearance, Jarvis didn’t have that much to do. I missed Peggy and Jarvis’s interactions, as they have become my favorite part of the show.
Here are some other thoughts I had while watching “The Blitzkrieg Button.”
Bullies
Agent Thompson is a bully. When Chief Dooley left for Germany and Thompson was put in charge, he became an even bigger bully. Thompson gets things done, but I don’t know if the ends justify his means. On top of assaulting witnesses, he also demeans anyone who isn’t a healthy, white, American male. He doesn’t like Agent Sousa because of his crippled leg and he will never see Agent Carter as his equal. As someone who dealt with his fair share of bullies, I can’t stand Thompson. I want Peggy to punch him in the face or Sousa to stick his crutch down Thompson’s throat. I supposed that goes against what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount; it’s hard to turn the other cheek to bullies like Thompson.
Miriam Fry
Miriam Fry is the proprietor of The Griffith, the hotel/boarding house where Peggy lives. Was that a real thing? Did a bunch of women all live together in a hotel with old spinsters watching their every move? True or not, Mrs. Fry is a real stick in the mud. Her longwinded speech about protecting the virtue of the women in her hotel sounded vaguely pharisaic. The Pharisees excelled at making people follow rules and Mrs. Fry would have been right at home with them. While I’m all for upholding virtue, that’s a decision each person has to make on his or her own. Mrs. Fry wants all of her girls nice and shiny on the outside, as if appearances were all that mattered. Peggy may keep odd hours and did sneak Stark into her room, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have strong values and a virtuous life.
The Captain
Steve Rogers’s shadow definitely hung over this episode. The blitzkrieg button that Howard had Peggy steal wasn’t a powerful EMP device but actually a vial of Captain America’s blood. When Peggy found out she punched Howard in the face and realized that she may not be living up to the memory of Steve Rogers. The problem with living up to a memory is that the memory grows over time. If we hold on to the memory of a person or a situation, over time that memory grows more and more idealized. If we try reliving or chasing after that memory we will always fail, because memories grow more and more unreachable with the passage of time. Instead of getting what we thought we had, we’ll only end up missing out on what we actually have. Even someone as great as Captain America can’t live up to the memory Peggy had of him because our memories tend to magnify the good and minimize the bad.
I’m still enjoying Agent Carter and can’t wait to see where things go from here. Sousa seems to be getting closer to identifying Peggy as the blonde woman from the club and Peggy’s neighbor is some sort of trained killer. We’re halfway through the miniseries and I’m excited to see what’s next
What did you think of “The Blitzkrieg Button?”
Yeah, places like the Griffith Hotel did exist. Woman only, no men above the first floor aso. If the owner of such an Hotel actually went as far as telling their tenants that they can’t be trusted to control their sexual urges because they are too young to do so, I don’t know (the attitude in itself is certainly realistic). But one has to understand that places like this actually were a safe haven for single woman. A woman living alone could easily end up in a situation in which she was forced to fend off suitors, who thought that she was “easy” just because she was neither married, nor living with her family.
I agree, Thompson is a Bully. The sad thing is that back then (and even nowadays sometimes), this kind of behaviour was seen as leadership skills.
Thompson was definitely rewarded for his behavior. I’m glad we’ve somewhat moved beyond that type of leadership.
And thanks for your info on single women living in New York.
I liked this episode a lot, although I thought it played Howard Stark’s lothario nature for too many easy laughs. For a show with a strong female character at its center, and the subversion of the dominant patriarchal culture as a strong thread, I would have expected a little less “oh, Howard will be Howard.” But that’s a minor quibble (since I do think, overall, the show sends very positive messages about women and gender equality).
Love your calling out of Thompson and Fry – spot on, in both cases.