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

Poor Peggy, just when she finally got a win! Isn’t that how it always goes? She came back from Russia having done an excellent job, and gotten credit for it. In the beginning of this episode Chief Dooley even tells her to go chase her own lead, which was the first time for them. She said she was on to something with the Black Widows, and he told her to investigate. She was excited, although considering how competent she is that’s practically just handing over breadcrumbs. Still, that means she’s on a mission to find out if it was a Black Widow that seduced Howard and then stole from him. It looks like Dooley’s starting to believe maybe just a little bit that Howard isn’t guilty too, with that in mind. Jarvis and Peggy meet up again, and while she’s still only polite to him, they get to have good times again. In this case, it’s Jarvis having to meet all of Howard’s exes again and try and see their wrists. The Black Widows handcuff themselves to beds, as we’ve seen with Dottie, so Peggy thinks the scars will be on the woman. Jarvis is yelled at, slapped, and kicked on behalf of his boss, because he’s the one who had to break up with all of them. I feel like this is just preparation for him to one day deal with Tony Stark, although he probably died before Tony was old enough to be this troublesome for him.

While Peggy is on the hunt, Dooley talks with recently saved Leviathan psychiatrist Dr. Ivchenko. We see Dottie take over a dentist office from across the street with a giant rifle, and it’s a misdirect, since we’re supposed to think she’s there to assassinate him. Instead they’re communicating. He has infiltrated in an attempt to get to the SSR’s major weapons, and he has some special brainwashing technique using hypnosis and the light from his ring. He almost gets to Dooley, but he’s distracted halfway through. Instead Ivchenko gets into the mind of a junior agent so he can find out where the weapons are, but he can’t get to them just yet. He convinces the agent to go have a drink and throw himself in front of a truck. Yikes. He’s played very well here, since he’s very likable and easy to talk to, but his smile hides all kinds of secrets. Like the Black Widows, he knows how to play normal. Dottie is told to kill Peggy. Meanwhile Sousa manages to have one of the former criminals Peggy fought with identify her as the double agent. Heartbroken, he tells Dooley and Jack the truth about her. The whole place is put on lock down and agents are sent out to take Peggy in.

Peggy kicks the hell out of them first, which was fun to watch. I doubt they’ll ever underestimate her again. She knocks Jack out fairly quickly, although seems apologetic about it. Sousa faces off with her and begs her not to leave, because he’ll know she’s guilty, but she has to get back to her apartment. Why? To get Steve’s blood before she flees town. They’re racing with her to get there, but she gets there first. She hides out on the wall, and then Angie manages to distract the cops so she can come inside. I’m surprised they didn’t look out the window! There could be terraces for all they know, and it’s not like she’s the only person who would think of hugging the wall like that. Angie lets her go, but as Peggy’s fleeing she runs into Dottie. Who promptly kisses her. HA! That’s one way to distract her, and also distract her, because she’s wearing the pass out lipstick. Before Peggy officially gets murdered by the Russian spy, the SSR catches her. She’s brought in and she says she can explain everything, and that’s where it ends.

What a great episode! I didn’t think that they could do better than the Howling Commandos, but it really was a step above. The plot keeps unraveling, and there are only two episodes left. At least they seem to know that she’s dangerous enough to handcuff now, jeez. The doctor is still in the office. Is it Steve’s blood Leviathan wants first and foremost? I would assume so. And now Sousa has it in the interrogation room with Peggy. We know that Dooley was briefly on the hook with the doctor, so he might be hypnotized by him next episode. And Dottie’s still on a crusade, so everything’s coming to a head soon. Her confrontations with both Jack and Sousa were nice. I’m glad now that she bonded a little with Jack since he seemed genuinely sad she was a traitor. Sousa’s plea for her not to run was sweet; Enver is such a lovely actor, I keep hoping he’ll get more too with time. Angie was adorable as always, I really wish we had more time with her character. I wonder if Peggy would promote her to SHIELD agent when she takes over. Yes please! That acting skill could come in handy, although I don’t really think her acting was that great. I’m surprised they were dumb enough to fall for it. Oh no, a woman’s crying, let’s be embarrassed. Sigh. Anyway I’m excited to see how this show down is going to go. What about Jarvis? Is he going to warn Howard? Try to help Peggy? I doubt he’s going to leave her there to rot.  Dottie is terrifying. Bridget Regan is so fantastic. She so calm and composed and creepy.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Agent Carter Episode 5 5 out of 5 Leviathan Hypnotists

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