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If I hadn't been watching the show, I would want someone to tell me: "You must watch Agent Carter!" It's better than Agents of SHIELD (which I enjoy a lot, and I do intend to post more about it). It helps if you've seen the first Cap movie, Captain America: The First Avenger, but I don't think you need to have seen it: flashbacks and little info drops (I think they're not quite info dumps) give you what you should know. I'm avoiding spoilers here, I hope, as I tell you why you should watch:
The dialogue crackles, like a screwball comedy, but I can't think of any screwball comedies that blew stuff up or had numerous physical fights.
Hayley Atwell shines, whether trading insults or blows—or just having a quiet moment to herself. In the first two episodes (run back to back on the first night), she's onscreen most of the two hours, and she really carries it. Peggy Carter is awesome: not perfect enough to be unbelievable, but awfully, awfully good at what she does. Even when hardly anyone appreciates it.
James D'Arcy: why haven't I seen more of this actor? He's quite memorable here as Edwin Jarvis: the perfect, low-key butler who seems to have some talent (and possibly more of a yen than he admits) for spy work. His dialogue with Peggy is a high point of the show for me. She doesn't want help, and she doesn't think a lot of him at the start. Oh, and the moment of a phone call with Howard Stark we get near the end of episode 2 is screamingly funny. Brilliant Husband thinks he resembles Benedict Cumberbatch, and by the end, I was saying: "He's what I'd like Benedict Cumberbatch to be." He's very restrained and absolutely impeccable (most of the time).
Enver Gjokaj: why isn't he in everything? I didn't watch much of Dollhouse because I found it deeply disturbing from the first episode; I tuned in for the last several because I wanted to see the whole Dollhouse destroyed (got more than I bargained for there). Gjokaj played Victor—and a number of other characters. BH called me in for an episode I wasn't watching to see what happened when he accidentally got his programming changed to Kiki the Party Girl, and later I saw him plugging different flash drives into his skull to have different skill sets. He's brilliant. He was also good in Extant, though he had far less to do there. Here, I'm hoping his role will grow. He's an agent of the SSR, and the only one who seems to pay any real attention to Peggy.
Howard Stark appears at the start, though I don't know how much more he'll be in. There are several "I see where Tony gets that" moments, but he's also quite a different character.
So far, the dialogue sparkles, the storyline is a blast (interspersed with some more sober moments), the effects are more of a literal blast, and I can hardly wait for the next episode.
So who else is watching?
If you're not, go watch the first two episodes on ABC.com now. You won't regret it!
The dialogue crackles, like a screwball comedy, but I can't think of any screwball comedies that blew stuff up or had numerous physical fights.
Hayley Atwell shines, whether trading insults or blows—or just having a quiet moment to herself. In the first two episodes (run back to back on the first night), she's onscreen most of the two hours, and she really carries it. Peggy Carter is awesome: not perfect enough to be unbelievable, but awfully, awfully good at what she does. Even when hardly anyone appreciates it.
James D'Arcy: why haven't I seen more of this actor? He's quite memorable here as Edwin Jarvis: the perfect, low-key butler who seems to have some talent (and possibly more of a yen than he admits) for spy work. His dialogue with Peggy is a high point of the show for me. She doesn't want help, and she doesn't think a lot of him at the start. Oh, and the moment of a phone call with Howard Stark we get near the end of episode 2 is screamingly funny. Brilliant Husband thinks he resembles Benedict Cumberbatch, and by the end, I was saying: "He's what I'd like Benedict Cumberbatch to be." He's very restrained and absolutely impeccable (most of the time).
Enver Gjokaj: why isn't he in everything? I didn't watch much of Dollhouse because I found it deeply disturbing from the first episode; I tuned in for the last several because I wanted to see the whole Dollhouse destroyed (got more than I bargained for there). Gjokaj played Victor—and a number of other characters. BH called me in for an episode I wasn't watching to see what happened when he accidentally got his programming changed to Kiki the Party Girl, and later I saw him plugging different flash drives into his skull to have different skill sets. He's brilliant. He was also good in Extant, though he had far less to do there. Here, I'm hoping his role will grow. He's an agent of the SSR, and the only one who seems to pay any real attention to Peggy.
Howard Stark appears at the start, though I don't know how much more he'll be in. There are several "I see where Tony gets that" moments, but he's also quite a different character.
So far, the dialogue sparkles, the storyline is a blast (interspersed with some more sober moments), the effects are more of a literal blast, and I can hardly wait for the next episode.
So who else is watching?
If you're not, go watch the first two episodes on ABC.com now. You won't regret it!
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From:
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Me! Me! *raises hand frantically* I'm hoping to do weekly reviews of this one as well along with Elementary.
I'm very much in love with this show. The energy and the feel of it are pretty awesome and I love seeing Peggy in all her full agent glory.
James D'Arcy: why haven't I seen more of this actor?
I've been a fan of James D'Arcy for a bit now. He's been in a lot of British TV stuff and tends to get slotted into playing a villain (he's the current possible baddie in the second season of Broadchurch) but his comedic skills have been vastly underutilized. I'm really pleased he gets to stretch those acting muscles with this show. I chortled quite a bit at his face when he heard Peggy land on the top of the car.
Brilliant Husband thinks he resembles Benedict Cumberbatch, and by the end, I was saying: "He's what I'd like Benedict Cumberbatch to be."
D'Arcy trained at the same acting school as Cumberbatch (LAMDA). But he apparently took the course in "How Not To Scene Chew."
Enver Gjokaj: why isn't he in everything?
I've only ever seen him in Dollhouse which I did not go on with. But I like him as well as his character in this show. I was half-hoping they would reveal he was part of the group of soldiers rescued by Steve from Zola but that might confirm too early that he's the future husband of Peggy so I guess we'll just keep guessing on that.
Peggy Carter is awesome: not perfect enough to be unbelievable, but awfully, awfully good at what she does. Even when hardly anyone appreciates it.
I really like that Peggy is very capable, smart, and certainly far from perfect. She's a great spy and runs circles around her male colleagues but going back home after retrieving Howard's glowy bomb wasn't the smartest move and it sadly got her roommate killed.
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Oh, I'd forgotten that bit from the second movie! I am in any case also hoping that he's the future husband, but then I felt guilty worrying about whom she'll marry when she obviously isn't thinking about that right now. But I really want to see them at least work together!
D'Arcy trained at the same acting school as Cumberbatch (LAMDA). But he apparently took the course in "How Not To Scene Chew."
Ahahahaha!
Waiting for Broadchurch s2, which starts 4 March on BBCA.
I'm hoping to do weekly reviews of this one as well along with Elementary.
Please do!
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I've seen Enver in a few things and he has always struck me as talented. Joss generally does pick the best. And Enver is no exception, as he shows us again and again!
*Happy!Squishes!*
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So was my mother, who also watched it. :)
I've always been a fan of Enver's. <3
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As I'm watching, I'm flashing back to Hayley's many tweets apologizing to stuntmen and actors about hitting them. Now I see how that could happen, because Peggy gets to fight, and while she can use being female to make people underestimate her, if she's fighting, she's brutal about it.
I'm loving Jarvis too. I keep thinking that in a couple of decades, he'll be a man who influences young Tony Stark enough that he names his AI JARVIS. I'm starting to see why, especially after the revelations in episode three. But it's is kind of sad that Tony didn't really understand he was essentially being raised by the butler (and his wife?) because of his father's secret work with the SSR.
I think there's a bit of a gender role reversal with Peggy and Jarvis. Peggy is a spy acting as a spy within her own agency to clear the name of a friend and kicking ass while doing so, but Jarvis is shown as more of a "caring" type that women usually get slotted into, such as tending to Peggy's wound (and the line about Mr. Stark's zippers being under great strain had me in, pardon the pun, stitches). That's not to say Jarvis can't/won't do the spy gig, but he'd really rather it fit around his regular life so he doesn't have to let his wife know.
I'm really curious to know if we'll see Anna, and if there's a plot reason why we haven't. Was the name dropping of Budapest just an in-joke, or something else?
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I haven't seen the third episode yet.
Yes, I love Peggy and Jarvis! Well, Jarvis is a servant, which is kind of gendered female, and he does many domestic chores that are very specifically gendered female (and which we wouldn't always associate with butlers, but part of that may be lack of familiarity with what all butlers do). I love their dynamic, I love their dialogue—can't get enough of them.
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Jarvis is a servant to an outside observer, but I think he's much, much more than that to Howard Stark. Jarvis trusts Howard for a reason (part of which you'll see in episode three), and vice versa, enough that Jarvis seems to know what at least some of the missing "bad babies" can do, or has the access and ability to read Howard's notes about them.
I do love the dynamic between Jarvis and Peggy. They have a lot in common, yet not, and it works so well.
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I felt so bad at the end of that third episode, though! She worked so hard to do the right thing, and then it just blew up on her in ways she couldn't have expected.
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The irony in the third episode was doing the right thing wouldn't have worked, as Jarvis pointed out, so she tried to still get the information to the correct people and it worked, but blew things up even more spectacularly. They're out to get Howard on a personal level now, and are especially interested in their mystery caller.