by Chelsea Dee, Editor-At-Large

It’s a day later and I’m still pumped about the Agent Carter premiere. Way to start out a season with a bang, right? Numerous bangs! I’ve been looking forward to this show starting for a long time, so I couldn’t even force myself to be cautiously optimistic. I was disappointed by Agents of SHIELD at first, I am so glad to say that this delivered. Agent Carter takes place in 1946, not long after Captain America: The First Avenger is over. Peggy Carter is a kickass British agent in the Scientific Strategic Reserve; that is where the Super Soldier project took place and Steve Rogers became Captain America. She played a major part during the war, fighting besides the others against the Nazis, and providing Steve with support, inspiration, and blossoming love. She also worked closely with genius inventor Howard Stark, who is the father of future Iron Man, Tony Stark. Peggy was heartbroken at the end of Captain America when Steve chose to sacrifice his life, and they do an excellent job cutting together segments of the movie in with the plot of this show. It never feels out of place, and it gives you the emotional punch all over again.

In the excellent short movie Agent Carter, they set the ground for this series, with Peggy moving to New York and not being taken seriously by her colleagues. Howard pulled strings and got her promoted, although she proved herself more than capable by kicking ass at a job all on her own. Now Peggy is a full agent at the SSR, but she’s still not being taken seriously. Her colleagues are mostly handing filing work to her, calling her sweetheart, suggesting that she was Captain America’s sweetie and that’s the only reason she had power during the war, and generally being typical 40s chauvinists. People who are not comfortable with chauvinism being called out regularly will hate this show, because this is only the beginning. A major portion of Agent Carter will deal with the time period and the realities that Peggy faces both as a woman and as a foreigner in the US. However she is more than capable of taking it all on and then some. The two hour premiere quickly sets up the major aspects of the show: the time period, the post-war complications, Peggy as a character, and a few of her co-stars. Howard Stark is being framed for selling weapons to the enemy, and he secretly meets with Peggy, asking for her help. The SSR is currently looking for Stark to bring him in, but he trusts her to help him find out the truth, even under the nose of her own department. She partners with Stark’s butler Edwin Jarvis (yes, the inspiration for everyone’s favorite AI system) to solve the mystery.

To get to the bottom of who is framing Howard Stark, Peggy goes undercover and quickly gets around her colleagues by mentioning “lady trouble” and mostly letting them ignore her. She is not a woman who has a problem using the sexism around her to get ahead. She embraces her femininity, both because she genuinely loves being a woman, and also because it’s a weapon just like anything else in her arsenal. Her coworkers include casual pompous sexist Jack Thompson, played by Chad Michael Murray, and war veteran nice guy Daniel Sousa, played by Enver Gjokaj. If you have never seen Enver before, prepare yourself, because he has incredible acting chops. He showed it in Dollhouse, and I hope he’ll get as much to work with here. So far he’s Peggy’s only ally in the office, a sweet man who lost his leg in the war, and respects her. While she does appreciate that, she also told him not to defend her to the others; she can defend herself, and it makes her look weak if she needs a man to protect her. I really enjoy that little touch, and it sets their friendship up well. She gets nervous because he has a camera that may have a photo of her (as a lovely blonde) while she was undercover for Howard. Meanwhile Peggy takes ten steps back from getting close to people because her roommate gets killed in her place. This leads to a fantastic fight in her apartment, however, between Peggy and some mysterious bad guy with a y-shaped laryngoscopy scar. He seems to be able to telepathically (?) communicate with a typewriter to some other bad guy. They mention working for Leviathan, which made the Marvel Comics fan in me go !!!!, and therefore set up probably the big bad organization for the season. It doesn’t sound like it will be Hydra after all.

The two hour premiere plays like a movie on its own. Peggy grieves over Steve, struggles at her job, loses a friend, makes a friend in Jarvis, agrees to be a double spy for Howard Stark, kicks a lot of ass and takes a lot of names, and decides to go back into the world. It’s incredible to see the parallels with Steve in Avengers and Peggy here. He too had a hard time allowing himself back into the world, and finding something worth fighting for again. They both had trouble letting go of the other. Jarvis gently reminds Peggy, who said Steve was able to handle the world on his shoulders, that she was Steve’s anchor. She needs to allow other people to be there for her. For right now that appears to be him and her new next door neighbor Angie. The action plot involves Howard having some magic bombs, I’m sure there’s a science-y explanation for them, but I’m going to stick with magic bombs. If they get set off, they destroy everything within a certain amount of space, and they’re highly volatile. The bad guys stole the recipe for it and have been making them in milk cartons, building it all up, and Peggy managed to destroy the milk truck (for real) that had all of it in there. But the bad guys were all dead, so she can’t get any real answers yet. Maybe you should ask Howard Stark, because he is definitely lying to you. We know that because Jarvis talks mysteriously on the phone with him, and do to previews for next week. Also because it’s Howard Stark, and he’s a secretive guy. Also a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.

Clearly the central relationship of this show is going to be between Peggy and Jarvis, and not in the romantic sense, he’s very happily married and not used to the extravagant action sequences he’s forced into here. He’s an excellent getaway driver though. He has a gentle heart and wise words, and he clearly respects her a great deal. I do hope that they develop the other characters as time goes on, because right now they’re bare basics. It makes sense, this is only the premiere, but Jarvis was more interesting and well written in his first scene than the others were in two hours. Peggy is a brilliant character: she’s determined, extremely competent, endlessly patient, lethal, passionate, and nuanced. Hayley Atwell does a marvelous job making her both relatable and somehow bigger than life at the same time. I very much enjoy how well they’ve thoroughly embraced the time period. The sexism jokes aren’t at Peggy’s expense, but rather a reflection of the obstacles she needs to overcome. She rises above it with grace. I did enjoy that one moment after she nearly exploded in her apartment, when she nearly chugged alcohol. It showed she does have a little fear in her, and it was very human. Leviathan is somewhat mysterious in the comics, but they are basically the Hydra of Communism. I can’t help but wonder if this will lead into Red Room/Bucky/Black Widow areas. It’s possible!

The only real criticism I have is that I’d like to see all the characters be humanized a little more. I would love to see a little more humor, the episode was sorely lacking in it, outside of a few laughs from Jarvis. This is only the premiere, so there is time, but then again there are only eight episodes. It’s a slick and polished show, and the energy was great, but if they can challenge of their cast more, that would be amazing. But not Hayley. She is perfect at what she does. I would watch that woman sit around for hours putting lipstick on. The point is, this show is everything it should be: a period piece, a feminist outcry, an emotional tale of heartbreak and moving on, an action drama, and a spy caper. At this point, I don’t want to Agents of SHIELD to get their time slot back. More Agent Carter!

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Agent Carter Premiere 5 out of 5 cheesy Captain America radio shows.

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