Agent Carter continues to be one of my favorite parts of the MCU. Each week the show is consistently charming, with equal parts humor and suspense. This week the suspense was ratcheted up with the FBI invading the SSR and Vernon Masters threatening Peggy. This episode also provided insight into both Peggy and Whitney Frost by examining their younger lives and the choices that influenced their paths.
Here are some other thoughts I had while watching “Smoke and Mirrors.”
Distance
The Office is one of my favorite shows of all time, due in large part to Jim and Pam’s relationship. The will they/won’t they nature of their relationship through the first three seasons literally had me rolling on the floor in agony. If there weren’t so much death and potential for world destruction, I imagine that Peggy and Souza’s relationship with offer the same kind of turmoil. I’m happy that Peggy and Dr. Wilkes seem to be getting closer to each other, but that closeness is driving Peggy and Souza further apart. Souza feels the distance, telling Peggy that she has to stop pushing him away. I’m sure Peggy is just using a defense mechanism to guard her heart, but sometimes our defense mechanisms actually do more harm than good.
Belief
One of the best parts about this episode was seeing how Peggy ended up training soldiers for the SSR. She always had a thirst for adventure, but that thirst was almost squelched by the expectations of others. Peggy didn’t think she was meant to be in the field, an opinion shared by a lot of people in her life. However, Peggy’s brother saw something in Peggy that she couldn’t even see in herself. We need people in our lives who will believe in us even when we doubt ourselves. My youth pastor believed that I could be effective in ministry when I was a knucklehead teenager. His belief encouraged me to pursue ministry, even though I had my own doubts.
Roles
Peggy’s journey is definitely contrasted by the journey of Whitney Frost. While Peggy eventually went counter to what culture expected of her, Frost embraced those expectations. Frost was a smart girl growing up in Oklahoma, but eventually bought into her mother’s lies that all anyone cared about were her looks. As I’m not a woman, I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be told that my value rests solely in my appearance. Those expectations definitely had a profound impact on Frost as she abandoned her intellectual pursuits for a superficial life founded upon her appearance. As I’m about to have a daughter, I hope that I can find ways to encourage her to find her value independent of her appearance. Like Peggy, I hope my daughter can live counter to our culture’s expectations of her.
While I was watching “Smoke and Mirrors,” all I could hope was that Agent Thompson would eventually show up and stop being such a jerk. He knows Masters is a bad guy, but I don’t know if he can do the right thing. Thankfully Peggy never falters in her pursuit to what is right, which is part of the reason I’ll be showing my daughter Agent Carter as soon as she can handle lab rats being turned into black goo.
What did you think of “Smoke and Mirrors?”
Leave a Comment