The specter of Steve Rogers hang over the whole of Agent Carter ’s first time of year — but last dark ’s finale was all about him . To the point where this show started to finger a bit like an epilog to Captain America : The First Avenger again . That did n’t stop it from being fantastically move , and having a few great fist - pumping consequence .
spoiler ahead …
The “ Agent Carter ” one - guess on the Iron Man 3 DVD had a huge theme of Peggy Carter letting go of Steve Rogers , who ’s lose presumed dead after the events of The First Avenger . And that behave over into the first couple episodes of the actual Agent Carter TV series , with hints that Peggy was give birth a punishing prison term letting go of the man she ’d loved and fought alongside . But for the most part , when Captain America was brought up on this show , it was more about Peggy being accused of being Cap ’s girl ( or something sleazier ) , as a agency for people to put her down . The main mode that Captain America has been an ongoing topic in Agent Carter has been as a McGuffin , as a vial of his blood was one of the thing that Howard Stark , the Leviathan agents and the S.S.R. were fighting over .
So it felt up slenderly as though the show was going backwards , thematically , into a storyline that ’s all about find out to get go of Steve Rogers , and move on after his plain end . It felt jolly thematically disconnected from the clobber that this series had in reality been about for most of its running time — and yet , as I state , the result was super moving , and showed Peggy getting some final closure on her lost dear .
Part of what ’s going on here , of course , is that the major thematic and character arc on the show were actually dealt with , more or less , last week : 1 ) Peggy ’s S.S.R. fellow , who lowball and ignore her all season , had their big moment of realizing at last how formidable she was ( after already take care her in action in Russia ) . 2 ) Peggy ’s career as a double agent , work out to sack up Howard Stark ’s name while seemingly helping to hunt him down , was uncover and she already make do to win back the trust of her co-worker . These two things were the main issues of the season , and they were already pretty much break up . ( Although one of them gets revisited a mo this week — more on that in a moment . )
The patch synopsis : So here ’s what in reality happens in “ Valediction ” : Dr. Johann Fennhoff , the sadistic hypnotist antecedently do it as Ivchenko , has eight canisters of the “ midnight fossil oil ” gas that was presuppose to permit people to go without quietus but alternatively turns them into psychopath . He and Dottie Underwood plan to practice Howard Stark ’s own airplane to free the gas on the V - E Day Parade in Times Square . But after Stark turns himself in and bid himself as bait in a trap , Fennhoff capture Howard Stark and hypnotise him into fly the plane himself . It ’s up to Peggy to flap Dottie and then de - mesmerise Howard in meter , while Sousa and Thompson stack with Fennhoff .
Here ’s the perfectly brutal battle aspect where Peggy lastly beat Dottie , who ’s still kind of Single White Female - ing her :
So how did all of this end up being about Captain America ? essentially , that turns out to be Howard Stark ’s big impuissance , the affair Fennhoff act as on with his mind - control condition . With Dooley , it was his estranged married woman , and with Yauch it was his desire for more respect . But with Howard , it ’s his regret about all the terrible end he ’s wreak . He sees Captain America as the one good affair he ’s ever done , and repent that he lease Captain America go to his “ last ” and never grapple to recover his body .
So Fennhoff hypnotise Howard into believing that Cap has been found in the ice , and he ’s flying to go rescue him — alternatively of what he ’s really doing , flying a woodworking plane full of nasty natural gas to Times Square .
To lose it Howard out of his trance , Peggy has to win over him — and herself — that Cap is go and not come back , and that they still have to carry on . And that Howard ’s organized religion in Peggy is significant for its own sake , even without Cap in the picture . Peggy finally lead off to get over her own grief and denial about Cap ’s death — which would be even more effective if we ’d see more tinge throughout the series that she was ineffective to let go of Steve Rogers ’ memory .
To remind us of Captain America ’s literal fate , we get one more snipping of those radiocommunication - grievous bodily harm - adventure performing artist , acting out the adventures of Captain America and “ Betty Carver , ” whom we have n’t seen since the second episode . ( Again , I had a moment of feel like that would resonate more if we ’d realize those Guy at some point in the preceding six weeks . )
That leads to Peggy ’s outstanding mo of closure — the vial of Cap origin , which Leviathan stole from Howard and Peggy stole from the S.S.R. , has gotten back into Howard ’s willpower . And then Jarvis has basically stolen the ampule from his boss , because he ’s patriotic to Howard but Howard does not own his unity . Jarvis give the vial to Peggy , who ’s the only someone on Earth who might get it on what to do with it . ( And the mogul to make more super - soldiers that it may represent . )
In the close , Peggy go up on a bridge and pours it into the river . This is a beautiful tantrum , partly thanks to the reminiscent use of “ The agency You count Tonight . ”
A lot of last nighttime ’s instalment is actually about the piece of Agent Carter . Peggy ’s already clear her own name , last calendar week , so now it ’s time to clear Howard ’s . And Howard gets a smidge of redemption for all his awful inventions , which culminates with him decide to destroy them all . Jarvis , too , gets some great moments where he nearly has to snap down Howard ’s plane , and later proves that he has more integrity than his boss .
Meanwhile , Sousa get a few really beautiful minute . After he gets hit with the psycho gas and attempt to kill Thompson , Peggy ask him later how he ’s feeling , and he responds , “ I still want to kill Thompson , but no more than usual . ” And when Fennhoff essay to do his hypno - trick on Sousa , playing on his disability and his touch of insecurity , it seems to work — until Sousa gets secretive enough to clock Sousa in the headland . And then it grow out Sousa is bust earplug .
The theme of hoi polloi not hire Agent Carter badly enough comes back , briefly , at the destruction of the episode — with sort of a viciously ironical pull . Peggy make out back to the office after having give up a plot to gas Times Square , and everybody applauds for her . But when a U.S. Senator render up to commend Jack Thompson and put up him the opportunity of a citation , Thompson is on the spur of the moment happy to take all the reference for himself . But Peggy say Sousa that she does n’t wish — she knows her own Charles Frederick Worth , no matter what anybody else thinks of her .
And Peggy ( and Angie , rememember her ? ) get to last rent - spare in one of Howard Stark ’s luxuriousness apartments ! Is n’t that a little ethically dubious ? Oh , whatever , it ’s an awesome flat . There ’s a telephone in every room !
Meanwhile , there ’s a nasty epilogue — Fennhoff is in prison , jade a Silence of the Lambs fount masque to keep him from hypnotizing anyone . And his cellmate turns out to be Arnim Zola , who ’s already contrive what will be the eventual transformation of SHIELD into Hydra . Zola tells Fennhoff that he ’s lucky because even though he ’s in prison , at least he ’s in America — the farming of chance .
All in all , Agent Carter was a fantastic serial , and substantiation that an eight - episode miniskirt - season is sometimes a better vehicle for storytelling than 22 cushioned episodes . permit ’s desire this show , and its heroine , get another chance to show just what they ’re capable of , next year .
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