Agent Carter, Season 1, Episode 1: “Now Is Not the End”
Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Directed by Louis D’Esposito
Agent Carter, Season 1, Episode 2: “Bridge and Tunnel”
Written by Eric Pearson
Directed by Joe Russo
Airs Tuesdays at 9pm ET on ABC
Agent Carter is an interesting property, in that it is a spinoff of an ongoing movie franchise centering on a major supporting character from that franchise who is also being portrayed by the same actress as in the film. Audiences who watched the first Captain America film (which is presumably most of the series’ initial audience) are already familiar with Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter of the SSR, giving the pilot episode the task of not only reestablishing her as a character, but doing so for any new viewers without alienating existing fans with repetitive exposition. On top of that, the show has to fill in the blanks as to what has changed for Peggy since the war ended and her high-flying adventures alongside Steve Rogers came to a close. It does all of this succinctly, with the wise decision to pour a ton of background information out all at once in the beginning of the pilot and then sprinkle references to her time as Captain America’s sort-of-partner throughout the rest of the two-hour premiere.
Hayley Atwell is magnetic in the two back-to-back episodes that make up the beginning of what is currently being billed as a 7-part event but will surely receive more air time if the ratings come in at a remotely satisfactory level. Translating a movie character who was a straight man to a television setting where she is now the larger-than-life hero in need of a straight man (hello, Jarvis) is no mean feat, and the audience can hardly see the seams of Atwell’s performance, so easily does she slide into the role in a smaller scale. There is no separation between Peggy Carter’s feminine side and her ability to lay waste to every style of antagonist, even if he is just a rude diner patron. The show draws enough attention to the juxtaposition between Peggy’s status as a woman and her high-powered job (saving the world) from the start that it is initially distracting, but the continuous reminders of just how much she stands out in 1946 New York City also puts the audience in her head when it comes to the treatment she experiences on a day to day basis. Walking literally against the grain of dozens of men in gray suits as she struts to work at “the telephone company” in a bright blue and red suit is the most obvious example, but her undercover venture as a blonde in an evening gown and her use of beauty products to defuse the nitromene bomb also serve as reminders that, hey, this broad sure can do her job and be a woman! In a show set closer to present day, all of this would come off as far too over the top, but with a home in the mid-’40s, Peggy really does have to pick through a lot of misogynistic co-workers to do her job properly and the annoyance of how woman are dismissed is in the fabric of her character instead of being superficially laid on top of everything.
Her treatment in the office is a directly contributing factor in Carter operating outside of SSR guidelines in order to clear Howard Stark’s name and get to the bottom of the nitromene weaponry that is the main concern of the premiere. If anyone took her seriously at her day job, she might not have to sneak around in the middle of the night and save the day. But this is where most of the fun and excitement from the show hails, so it works out in the end. If Agent Thompson being a prick (and Peggy summarily getting one over on him at every turn) is the price to pay for Peggy in a bomber jacket, hiding under a desk in the office with a key in her mouth, and stalking around a dairy in a medical coat (a scene in which Atwell more than accomplishes playing a character who is playing a character), than we’ll take it. Chad Michael Murray as Agent Thompson is clearly being set up as the office rival who is dismissed with snarky and clever takedowns, which works well enough. Murray’s accent has a long way to go to be passable, but he is passable, with not a lot to do here. Enver Gjokaj, meanwhile, as the quite obvious potential love interest, is a lot of fun as a semi-ally and the one person in the office who watches Peggy’s back. Kyle Bornheimer as a doltish agent, Lyndsey Fonseca as Angie Martinelli the quaint diner waitress, James Frain as a bomb trafficker, and James Urbaniak as sinister foe all round out what ends up being a nice stable of guest stars in the premiere, not to mention Andre Royo as the short-lived fence. Dominic Cooper and James D’Arcy however, are the supporting characters who really stand out, which is assumedly what Marvel wants at this point.
With Dominic Cooper making minimal stops to the small screen (he is billed as a guest star in the pilot but looks to be returning for at least one more episode), Jarvis is the only recurring character connecting Agent Carter to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cooper as Howard Stark is a lot of flash and pizzazz in the first episode so once that flash transfers to Peggy, Jarvis is her connection to the Stark empire and the origination of the ongoing plot. In these two episodes, he is a grounded family man who considers espionage an obstacle to time with his wife and tightly scheduled evenings, but he’s also a fountain of wise advice. D’Arcy is fine as the sage sidekick who translates Peggy’s weekly adventures into neat packages of life lessons, but he is capable of more than that characterization. Hopefully the show allows Jarvis a longer leash as time goes on and lets him be more than the butler who talks Peggy through her roommate’s murder and how that makes her feel.
It is unclear whether the scope of the show itself will maintain the scale of the premiere throughout this first season. Pilots are known for their large budgets and set pieces, but if Marvel has proven one thing with its other television property Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, it is that they will not hold back monetary support on the same level as a network may. The action in both episodes is expertly choreographed and watching a car race away from an explosion visible for five counties will never not be entertaining, but “Bridge and Tunnel” has the benefit of being directed by Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and being built solely to hook the audience with moments that will blow everyone away. Fortunately, in the first two hours of this abbreviated run, Agent Carter proves that even without blockbuster sequences the show will be entertaining and captivating. It has momentum that few freshman shows get a whiff of in their first two episodes, which is promising, and if that flags, Hayley Atwell’s performance and the snappy writing can handle everything from there.