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Agent Carter: Time and Tide

What do you think the Leviathan
version of 'Hail HYDRA' is?
"Actually, the death ray is accounted for. It's in Nevada, I believe."

It was back-story time for Mr. Edwin Jarvis this week. But first, let's talk about Dottie.

Dottie Underwood (played by the always wonderful Bridget Regan) is the new girl at Peggy and Angie's convent building after poor Molly was Fantine'd for breaking the 'no men after dark' rule (she probably belting out her own 'I Dreamed a Dream' as I type). Dottie appears to be a sweet and naive small-town girl from Iowa with dreams of being a ballerina. And I'd be willing to bet my entire collection of Star Wars memorabilia that she's not only a Leviathan agent, but also the one who killed Krzeminski. I'm so sure of this that I expected the episode to end with her watching Peggy from outside the dinner. I've got my eye on you, Kahlan Amnell.

Now, back to Jarvis. After finding the license plate last week, the S.S.R. brought Jarvis in for interrogation. Seeing as Stark is currently classed as a fugitive from justice, I'm surprised they hadn't done this already. Still, with the exception of the late Agent Krzeminski (may he rest in peace), the boys at the S.S.R. proving to actually be quite good at their jobs. They may still be several steps behind Peggy, but they're catching up fast. They quickly identified Leet Brannis and Green Suit (real name Sasha Demidov) as both being Russian soldiers who were allegedly killed during the war. And they were just as quick to find Jarvis' weakness and use it to get under his skin.

Turns out that before he started handling Howard Stark's dirty laundry, Jarvis was serving as a batman (a type of valet for high ranking officers) for a general in the British army when he met his future wife, Anna, in Budapest. Being Jewish, Anna was not safe there so Jarvis forged the signature of his unwilling superior to get her out, but was caught and arrested for treason. Stark was the one who saved him from being hanged for treason and got Anna safely out of Hungry, hence his unwavering loyalty to Tony's daddy.

Thompson and Dooley didn't know the full story, they knew just enough to put the squeeze on Jarvis to get him to talk. This was James D'Arcy's chance to shine. Jarvis has been a lovable, bumbling and supportive sidekick for Peggy so far, but this is the first time we really got to see him as a fully fleshed out character. As Thompson chinked away at his armour, we saw the rage and frustration in Jarvis slowly build and build. I don't know if he would've talked, but I do think he was close to punching Thompson.

Peggy has been fighting an uphill battle to gain even a smidgen of respect from the "adolescents" in her office from the very first episode. She wants nothing more than for her colleagues to see her as an equal, something all women deserve. So to see her have to throw it all away to save Jarvis (and, by default, herself) by making herself look incompetent in order to sabotage Dooley and Thompson's interrogation, was a pretty big deal.

After that painful humiliation, it was no surprise that Peggy wanted to call it in when she and Jarvis located Stark's stolen weapons. But Jarvis was right. They won't respect her for this. Their egos won't allow them to. They won't see the good work she has done to find these weapons and suddenly accept her as the amazing agent she is. No, they will turn on her, cast her out or worse, lock her up as a traitor. As frustrating as it is, Peggy will have to complete this mission anonymously and allow all the credit to go to one of her male colleagues. Hopefully, it will be Sousa.


Intel and Assets

--Not too keen on the saga sell/recap.

--The fight on the boat between Peggy and Butch was the best yet.

--Dottie saying she's a ballerina might indicate that she is a graduate of the Red Room, a Soviet training programme for assassins, like Black Widow.

--Peggy was looking up the symbol Brannis drew in a big book of symbols. Oh, the days before Google.

--I honestly think I would be happy watching this show if it was just Peggy and Jarvis walking around being very witty and English together.

--How adorable was Jarvis' attempt at an American accent?

Sousa: "Unbelievable, a known fugitive isn't answering his door."
Thompson: "Knock harder."
Sousa: "Sure, can I borrow your forehead?"

Jarvis: "Well this will be novel, I haven't been in the back of a car in years."

Peggy: "Mr Stark would trust a shark not to bite him if it was wearing a short enough skirt."

Three out of four bone breaking massage thingys.
---
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011. More Mark Greig.

12 comments:

  1. Nice catch about the Red Room. I hadn't gotten there yet. Dottie did have "trouble" stamped on her forehead didn't she? At this point, it would be a bigger twist if she was innocent and it was - gasp - Angie who was Hydra, er...Leviathan.

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  2. What do you think the Leviathan version of 'Hail HYDRA' is?

    "Hail, whale!"


    I spent most of this episode trying to figure out who was evil. This is what I came up with:

    Hopefully, it will be Sousa.

    Yeah...about that. So we can all agree that Enver G. is a fabulous actor, right? Good.

    So, given his record of fabulosity, why has he utterly failed to create a convincing or, more importantly, consistent limp? Seriously. Which leg is missing? At the knee or above? I dare you to answer me. Double-dog-dare you.

    It is so inconsistent that I think it's fake. That is, that Sousa himself is faking his limp. Because I maintain faith in Enver G.

    I really, really hope that Sousa isn't Evil. Because 1) I ship Carter and Sousa, and 2) Fake disability to cover evil has pretty much been done and done again.

    Now, back to Jarvis.

    The story about Anna and treason and Nazis was the cutest thing in the world. It almost made me tear up when I watched it the first time. Then, I watched the episode again. (That's when I noticed Sousa's inconsistent limp.) That's also when I noticed that Peggy steals paperwork from her boss and misuses it (technically) to do a good (moral) deed for her friend/ally, even though she knew she was putting herself at risk.

    And that is exactly the explanation Jarvis gave Peggy: he stole paperwork from his boss and misused it (technically) to do a good (moral) deed for his friend/lover, even though he knew he was putting himself at risk.

    Despite all those suspicions, I really suspect Dooley's tie. That tie is far to short to be a real tie. It's clearly an evil gadget masquerading as a tie.

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  3. Re: Sousa's limp, creating a convincing limp is pretty hard. If it's not fake in the show, it could just be that Enver G. hasn't quite got it yet. I just finished binging on House, M.D., and it's amazing how much Hugh Laurie's limp improves/becomes more realistic over eight seasons. Though I'm basically only saying this because it seems like it would be hard for Sousa to fake missing a leg over, say, simply having a serious leg injury. You'd think someone would notice - I guess there's no locker room at the SSR office?

    Fairly convinced someone in the female supporting cast is going to turn out to be a) Russian, b) Leviathan and c) an early, blonde Black Widow. I'm pretty sure there was a blonde Black Widow in the comics - Yelena something, maybe? My money is on Dot, since given what we know so far, it wouldn't make sense for Angie to be Leviathan. They seem keen on removing witnesses/links to their organisation (cf. the witness and Agent K.) so it seems unlikely Angie wouldn't have done something about Peggy by now if she was Leviathan.

    Bue, Angie is totally suspicious. Stark plant? HYDRA? Are HYDRA and Leviathan separate?

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  4. Definitely not keen on the saga sell. What a horribly clunky way to kick off episodes of such a fun series. Ugh.

    Yes, let's suspect Dottie of being the turncoat spy. It's her. Not Angie or Sousa (please, oh, please). No good guys that I really like and want to keep liking will be revealed as traitors. Got it, writers?! Plus, it would be really nice for Peggy to get to have an actual friendship with a woman. Who doesn't betray her or end up dead.

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  5. Plus, it would be really nice for Peggy to get to have an actual friendship with a woman. Who doesn't betray her or end up dead.

    Jess, that's an excellent point.

    The cast and creators have emphasized character a lot in a few of the interviews I've seen. They almost seem to answer some of these questions about who is a traitor, but I also wonder if they're intentionally misleading us.

    Both cast and creators keep talking about this as a "season" rather than an entire series, too. They seem to expect it to be renewed for a second season, which would be awesome. I'd thought this was just a mini-series.

    In stupidly happy news, I found a vintage leather coat that is very similar to Peggy's for only $30. It just arrived today, and it fits perfectly. This is the best day ever.

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  6. I'm enjoying Agent Carter but I must say that the comments are even better!

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  7. Josie, I believe ABC are promoting this as a mini-series event as a face saving measure just in case it doesn't pull in enough viewers to justify a second season.

    Korlis, Yelena Belova was a second, blonde Black Widow and I think Dottie could be her.

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  8. Hello, Russian here!

    Again, they didn't get it right. "Sasha" is not a name; well, it is, but not the kind of name you put in official documents. It's simply short for "Alexander", so, this guy's papers would read "Alexander Demidov".

    On the other hand, the last name "Demidov" is a real Russian last name.

    I must say, when I first saw this man climbing to Peggy's window, I thought for the moment it was Sousa. I admit I didn't have a good reason to think so. Then I remembered that Sousa has a limp and thought "No, it couldn't be him". A moment later, I realized that Sousa might be faking his limp and, again, expected it to be him. Well, turned out I was wrong two times out of three.

    And now a question for you, native speakers. Do you usually pronounce "Budapest" as Jarvis did it here: Budape-sh-t? Because in my English lessons I was taught to pronounce it with "s", not "sh", while the correct, magyar (hungarian) pronunciation is with "sh", and I would expect someone who spent there a lot of time and even married a girl from there to pronounce it that way. I am primarily interested because I am in Budapest right now and plan to stay here for a while.

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  9. migmit, if you're actually in Budapest, I dare say you should be telling *us* how to pronounce it. :)

    If it helps, I usually pronounce it with an 's', not an 'sh'.

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  10. A moment later, I realized that Sousa might be faking his limp...

    I'm going to interpret this as someone on my side in the suspecting-Sousa category.

    I pronounce Budapest with an "s" like Billie. But one of my colleagues is Hungarian: born in the US but grew up speaking Hungarian at home, and still speaks it with his children. I'm pretty sure he says it with the sort of harsh "sh."

    However, Jarvis's pronunciation might be appropriate to a British man in the 1940s. Or maybe he's one of those people who tries to pronounce all foreign words correctly, even if doing so seems out of keeping with standard English pronunciation.

    Have fun in Budapes(h)t!

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  11. Billie, Josie, thanks!

    As for suspecting-Sousa theory — well, everyone is under suspicion (except for Peggy), but I really hope Enver Gjokaj is a good guy here. He is criminally underused nowadays; I've almost missed him in Avengers.

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  12. I accidentally clicked into this review before watching the episode and saw the picture and caption at the top. Naturally, I spent the entire episode waiting for the "reveal" that Dottie was Leviathan, especially the final shot where the camera slowly pulled out of the diner. It was kind of fun that it ended up being an unintentional misdirect for me.

    I totally did not recognize that Dottie was Bridget Regan. I watched her scene again, and could only barely tell it was her. It's always nice when actors seem to be totally different people in different roles, rather than the same person playing the same variation of themselves.

    I love Angie and the way she refers to Carter as "English."

    If Sousa is indeed a mole, he reacted a little too quickly in response to the phone tip.

    The assassin at the end looked an awful lot to me like a female that they're trying to disguise as a male.

    "Now I got to call Krzeminski's wife."
    "I'll call his girlfriend."

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