While I enjoy all the Agent Carter I can get, it’s going to be a little difficult fitting two episodes’ worth of content into one post. “Life of the Party” was a fun episode especially because of the reappearance of Dottie Underwood. However, “Monsters” was one of the series’ best episodes and very much felt like Agent Carter’s Empire Strikes Back moment.
Agent Carter’s first season was definitely focused on Peggy and her struggles against the SSR’s misogyny. This season has really fleshed out Peggy’s relationships, which has gotten me even more invested in the show. Instead of primarily caring about Peggy, I find myself concerned for Jarvis, Souza, Wilkes, Frost and even Dottie. There are only three episodes left for Peggy to stop Whitney Frost and choose between Daniel and Wilkes.
Here are some other thoughts I had while watching “Life of the Party” and “Monsters.”
Integrity
Thompson and Souza are the perfect counterparts. They both fought in the war and they both are considered war heroes. However, Thompson’s heroism is a fraud, but seemingly has led to more opportunities. Souza carries the wounds of his heroism, but always seems to be lagging behind Thompson. In “Life of the Party” we saw Thompson reaping the benefits of his heroism, brushing elbows with important people at an important party. Thompson lacks integrity though, regardless of how many black tie events he gets to attend. In “Monsters” we get to see Souza as the true hero, even if he’s a hero with a limp. He doesn’t play ball with Masters and suffers for it. If integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching, Souza doubles down on that by doing the right thing even when it could cost him his life.
Dottie
Dottie was very easy to hate in Agent Carter’s first season. She’s still easy to hate, but Whitney Frost actually turned her into somewhat of a sympathetic character. One of my favorite parts about this season has been all of the strong women. Dottie is cunning, Frost is a genius, Ana Jarvis is charming and Peggy is the best. Instead of the female characters gaining depth from their interactions with just men, they’re really growing because of their interactions with the other women. Dottie’s character was transformed because of her interaction with Frost; something that would have never happened no matter how long Masters threatened her.
Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis
I love all of the female characters on Agent Carter, but I can’t forget one of my favorite male characters: Edwin Jarvis. He was great in the first season as Howard Stark’s butler and Peggy’s accomplice. However in this season we get to see an entirely different side to Jarvis’s character: that of loving husband. Jarvis’s revelation about his wife in the first season was powerful, but seeing them interact is even more powerful. As soon as he knew his wife was being threatened, Jarvis ceased to be the bumbling butler and became a heroic husband. Ana wasn’t a damsel in distress, but Jarvis was motivated by love to do anything he could for his wife, including threatening Dottie, which was somewhat cathartic.
I say it every week, but Agent Carter is really good. “Monsters” was particularly good and showed the wide range of emotions of which Agent Carter is capable. It had me laughing, gasping and worrying. I care a lot about these characters and I hope that’s enough to keep them going for another season.
What did you think of “Life of the Party” and “Monsters?”
Completely agree, Scott. I would have liked the situation at the end of Monsters to call on more of Ana’s athletic capabilities (which we are peripherally aware of) before she got shot.
I think most love triangles are forced by the writers just to get something juicy going. Technically I think this is true here too but they found a good excuse for it by putting Sousa literally on the other side of the country from Carter. We didn’t get to witness what happened to their characters in the interim but at least there was a reason for them to not immediately fall for each other when she arrived leaving open the relationship with Dr. Wilkes.
I hold out hope that the crazy stuff Dottie saw and the fact that Russia abandoned her might cause her to question whether she really wants to stay a villain.
I don’t think Ana was in much of a position to do anything. Apparently $400 wine is pretty strong.