by Chelsea “Dee” Doyle, Editor-At-Large

I can’t believe this show is almost over. There’s only one episode left and it’s still up in the air about whether they’ll do a second season. It’s a damn crime that the ratings haven’t been better than they are. Agent Carter is a masterpiece in many ways. It makes full use of the canon material, the time period, the excellent actors, and the plot has been expertly executed over a short season. Personally I always prefer shows with shorter seasons, I think it takes away filler and gets to the point better. I don’t want Agents of SHIELD to come back, regardless of the fact I do think that show is excelling in its second season. Ah well. Next week is going to be hard to watch. Previously on Agent Carter, Peggy was finally caught by her SSR coworkers. This was thanks to the Black Widow Dottie knocking her out with her special lipstick. They have Peggy and they have Steve’s blood, and Leviathan baddie Dr. Ivchenko has infiltrated the office itself. What is she going to do?

Own her coworkers, of course. Both Thompson and Sousa try the good cop/bad cop routine, which is hilarious since Peggy’s been watching them do it on other people for a long time now. What made them think the same thing would work at any point? Sousa’s filled with fury because he feels personally betrayed. Peggy keeps insisting they don’t know the full story, and the office is in a lot of trouble because she knows Dottie at least will come looking. She does a pretty epic verbal take down when she points out to them that she’s only angry because she’s partly spoiled their concept of her as a stereotypical woman, either someone who needs to be protected or has Howard Stark in the brain. That part was particularly cringeworthy, implying she’s only going it because she’s in bed with Howard. Yuck. Anyway Jarvis shows up to save his BFF, saying he has a signed confession from Howard that says he’ll hand himself over in exchange for Jarvis and Peggy. I’m honestly surprised that even slightly works; they’re locked away, but they do seem to think it’s possible Howard did it. Of course he didn’t, because Howard kind of sucks.

Everything changes when Peggy observes Dr. Ivchenko using morse code at the window across the office. She and Jarvis translate it and she realizes he’s a danger to them. This time she does call her coworkers in and tell them the full truth, and she proves she’s being honest with them by showing them Steve’s blood. It does get Sousa and Thompson at least to agree they think she’s being truthful, and they go across the street to see if Dottie’s there. Chief Dooley is now wary of his pal Ivchenko, and Ivchenko senses it, so he uses this “focus” hypnotism trick. We all saw that he managed to talk an agent into killing himself last week, so this was coming. Dooley falls completely under his control and locks Jarvis and Peggy into a room. He then helps Ivchenko steal something important and wears essentially a bomb on himself. Sousa doesn’t listen to Thompson and doesn’t shoot Dottie on sight; I yelled JUST SHOOT HER DANIEL. Instead she does some very impressive parkour, jumping down the stair wells, and escapes with Ivchenko to do something nefarious.

Back at the office, Peggy and Jarvis have a hilarious scene where they attempt to break out of the interrogation room by throwing a table through the window. We need that comic relief sometimes! They do get out but the Chief is wearing a Howard Stark created vest that’s fit to explode. They snap him out of his hypnotism, but he chooses to sacrifice himself when he realizes there’s no way to fix it. He says goodbye and insists that Peggy promise she’ll get Leviathan for them. He then jumps out the window and explodes. Harsh. Dooley was kind of a jerk sometimes, but he was clearly a good leader and one who cared deeply for his people. He seemed to finally understand how valuable Peggy was enough to get the promise from her and no one else. It was a great heroic death for him, and RIP to Dooley. Meanwhile they’re trying to figure out what the plan was, and then we see them test out the weapon they stole in a movie theater. It released a gas and made everyone turn on each other, killing one another. If you saw the Kingsman like I did, this was a particularly amusing moment. So they’ll probably try to do it on a large-scale attack next week, and we’ll finally see the Peggy-Dottie show down we’ve all been waiting for.

This was an excellent episode. It was intense. The acting was all fantastic. Peggy is impossible to take down, and her finally unleashing hell on her coworkers for their treatment of her was delightful. Jarvis’ adorable loyalty made me want to hug him. They’re doing a great job of ramping up to the finale. So it looks like they’ll be able to take on the evil duo and probably save the city next week, and Howard’s name will be cleared. I wonder if they’ll have a cliffhanger of some sort, or clean it up in case they don’t get a second season. I’m going to be sorry to see this show go.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Agent Carter Episode 5 5 out of 5 Unexpected Character Deaths

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