Excellent performances by both Hayley Atwell and Wynn Everett to compliment great back stories for both. Sharp writing and nice emotional payoffs as the story progressed.
The Circle of Nine seems a bit more powerful than they should be. If this isn’t Hydra, are they the Illuminati??
As the effects of Zero Matter intensify, Whitney Frost may finally be finding the place in the world she’s fought so hard to reach, but that bubble may burst quickly if Agent Carter has any say.
CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD IN OUR DETAILED REVIEW
Agent Carter — With the realization that Whitney Frost (Wynn Everett) is an exceptionally gifted, but cleverly hidden genius, Peggy (Hayley Atwell) is more convinced than ever that Frost is the real threat. During surveillance of Whitney’s husband, Calvin Chadwick (Currie Graham), Peggy and Jarvis spot Rufus Hunt’s (Chris Browning) injured hand that identifies him as Peggy’s mysterious attacker. In a daring move, the two kidnap the would-be assassin. After an incensed Agent Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) is let in on the plan, a crafty interrogation reveals that proof identifying the culprits behind much more than just the Zero Matter incident lies in the Arena Club. Before a raid can secure the evidence, Vernon Masters (Kurtwood Smith) stops everything putting everyone at the SSR in immediate danger.
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Meanwhile glimpses into the past for both Peggy and Whitney reveal how each gradually lost their identity through years of difficult circumstances. As they grew older, the similarities ceased dramatically. Tragedy moved Peggy to embrace her true self, but the culmination of a hard life pushed Whitney to let the embattled identity of Agnes Cully finally fade into obscurity. Believing the Zero Matter will allow her to be whatever she chooses, Whitney must now confront the fact that Peggy and the SSR know far more about her than she would like and that puts everyone, even a weakening Dr. Wilkes (Reggie Austin), in harm’s way during this episode of Agent Carter!
A tale of two embattled women and two divergent paths.
Through two backgrounds shown in a clever series of paralleled flashbacks, we get to see key moments that helped shape both Peggy Carter and Whitney Frost into the women they have become. Both have overcome adversity and tragic circumstances to emerge as unique and independent women with formidable skills and talents. These two women also share a common thread. They’ve both endured evaporating personalities and later found their places in a world dominated by men.
Whitney Frost lost herself over time by a world that encouraged her to hide her gifted intellect and she took the ultimate step toward erasing Agnes by venturing into the Hollywood scene. She learned to become a chameleon and hide in plain sight. The true Agnes that defied her mother and Uncle Bud (Chris Mulkey) is gone. A different woman fills that shape now. A woman that molds herself into whatever is needed to get what she wants now exists in Agnes’s place.
“’Cause you need a name as pretty as you are. That’s the beauty of Hollywood. You can be whatever you want.” ~ Ned Silver
A rough-housing and adventurous tomboy by nature, Peggy also eroded over time and became a thin version of the “lady” her mother constantly begged her to be. But the death of her brother, who knew her heart best, shook her into shedding the skin she’d carefully crafted over her true self. Peggy stopped living the life everyone else expected and started pursuing the one she was always destined to lead.
“Don’t worry what other people think. You are meant to fight. Stop pretending to be someone that you’re not.” ~ Michael Carter
Unlike the confident Peggy, Frost seems right on the cusp of imploding. Oddly, she also appears to have inner fortitude ready to burst at the seams if properly ignited. That’s a complex balance of emotions the writers have asked Everett to tackle and she has been flawless. She IS Whitney Frost and we not only see her strengths and weakness, but thanks to insightful writing we now understand them much better than before.
Frost may be slowly growing into a villain, but it’s one we understand. Those are the best kinds of villains. In some ways we can root for them even though we know they are flawed and destined to break upon our heroes’ desire to win and survive. Peggy Carter is our champion, and like Sousa, we’re with her until the end, but Wynn Everett has made us understand Frost’s flaws as desperate attempts to overcome a world that treated her poorly.
Frost believes she is doing what is right and her morals are sliding because her past molded her that way. Peggy is the opposite and will fight for truth and justice above all else. The conviction both these characters possess on either side of this conflict should make for an explosive clash when things finally come to a head between these two brilliant women.
Your real friends are the ones that will risk life and limb to ride out the tidal wave with you.
Can we just start here by saying just how much we love Daniel Sousa? Good, we got that out right at the beginning. Because we do. Yes, we saw the “dagger in the heart” look that Sousa let slip when he saw Peggy glowing in the presence of Dr. Wilkes, but that only strengthens our resolve to love this man that refuses to completely give up. Sousa is a man of integrity and we love the strength Enver Gjokaj has shown us in Sousa when the chips are down. That was never more evident then when Vernon Masters side-tracked all their efforts and it was clear that danger was on all sides and few could be trusted.
“What’s the next step?” ~ Sousa
“Your next step is to stay here and save your hide.” ~ Carter
“Why? ‘Cause a tidal wave is coming, and all my friends are gonna be branded commies? Yeah, I got that speech, too. I’m in this with you till the end, Peggy.” ~ Sousa
Lesser men could have shunned Peggy when she arrived in California, but Sousa isn’t a lesser man. He tried to avoid her by going to California, but good things tend to find their way back to you and that’s exactly what stands in front of him. At some point soon he’s going to have to make a hard choice. He will either have to completely let Peggy go from his heart and move on with Violet or burst Violet’s bubble by confronting his emotional attachment to Peggy once and for all. That’s not a pair of shoes we want to be in, but Enver Gjokaj has proven time and again that he’s up to the emotional task and well be waiting on pins and needles to see which way he goes. We do know this, regardless of his emotional decision Sousa will stick by Peggy in their work no matter what happens. We all need friends like that don’t we?
The past sets the future for two women destined to clash.
Human beings are very much the product of our surroundings and experiences. Agnes Cully and Peggy Carter may very well have been close friends if they met as children. Both defied the stereotypes that the world encouraged them to fit into and both were bright and inventive in their own ways. The world could have benefited tremendously from great things they could have accomplished together.
But the world can be a cruel place that bends good souls into ones that do questionable things. The pure and innocent young Agnes was exposed to the harshness of life through her mother’s indigent attitude and the poor adult influences that came with it. The venture into Hollywood must have felt like a wonderful opportunity to start anew and pretend the world from which she came didn’t exist. With no encouragement to be who she really was, Agnes Cully ceased to exist and the double life of Whitney Frost was born.
Peggy on the other hand was much more fortunate. Her mother may have forced her into a life that didn’t fit her true self, but Peggy had someone that believed in her and encouraged her to be who she was despite living in a world that might not be ready for a brash young woman to confidently take command and call the shots. Her brother believed in her from the start and though we only got a moment with him, it’s clear his effect on Peggy’s life is profound.
The loss of an endeared sibling can be a soul-crushing event that can truly make or break a person. Peggy could have easily slipped into obscurity after her brother’s death, but instead she chose to use the seminal moment as inspiration. We have no doubt now that we’ve seen the relationship that thoughts of her brother often drive Peggy to do the right thing or push for the truth. He believed in her and his spirit lingers as motivation. Her words to the weakening Dr. Wilkes, a fading spirit himself, showed that Michael Carter’s (Max Brown) influence helped define the Agent Carter we know and love.
“My brother used to say to me that I was meant to fight. I believe you’re cut from the same cloth, Jason. We will fix this, I promise you. But you can’t let go. You must hold on.” ~ Peggy
Wynn Everett played the young and impressionable Agnes beautifully outside of the theater in which she was discovered by a Hollywood agent. The razor thin shell of confidence felt tangible and real. The glow from the rare compliment was perfectly played. It wasn’t overly done and the very fragile edge on which Agnes constantly teetered was felt clearly.
That shell is hardening quickly through the influence of the Zero Matter. After her rat experiments and the death of Rufus, the Whitney Frost that Agnes has worked so hard to create is finally emerging and the true stroke of genius in the character is that we can see exactly why she’s behaved as she has. Who are we to say we wouldn’t do the same thing if we had lived her life?
“What happened? What was that?” ~ Chadwick
“That was me Fixing another one of your problems.” ~ Frost
“What are you?” ~ Chadwick
“Whatever I want.” ~ Frost
Peggy and team may not yet know what Whitney is just yet, but they definitely know she is capable of evil deeds to get what she wants. The bug on Rufus’s back was a genius move, but with him now gone, evidence is disappearing as fast as the crimes pop up. There will come a time when someone in Peggy’s world may find out the hard way that Whitney Frost is capable of doing. We just hope it’s not someone we all truly care about.
FINAL VERDICT: Two women that have struggled to find their way in a man’s world find themselves on opposite sides of a Zero Matter crisis. After shocking twists and revealing back stories, it looks like sparks are about to fly on Agent Carter!
Hayley Atwell’s talent is well known to fans who have watched her numerous MCU appearances. She’s also shown off her range through powerful performances in Black Mirror or the mini-series The Pillars of the Earth—for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. Agent Carter is most certainly the role for which she is best known, but that comes with the territory when an actor breathes such amazing life into a character across multiple hit movies and cult series as Atwell has done.
On the flip side, we’re still getting to know Wynn Everett, but all signs point to her casting as a brilliant opposite to Atwell and Peggy Carter. Everett has created a very fragile character in Whitney Frost who has trouble seeing her own beauty or worth and falls back upon her intellect and manipulation when everything else fails her. It seems crazy for anyone to doubt Frost’s beauty, after all, Everett didn’t emerge Homecoming Queen at Auburn University without looks and charm, but that juxtaposition is the mark of a great performance.
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Writer Sue Chung did a fantastic job mixing humor, emotion and plot elements with sharp dialogue. She was given a well blocked episode to play with, but her Agent Carter writing debut was outstanding. Charming moments made the episode fun to watch. Peggy’s playful dodging of Sousa’s inquiries about Rufus in the trunk plus humor between Jarvis (James D’Arcy) and Peggy were gold. Those light moments were balanced nicely with more emotional ones and the clever dual back stories for Peggy and Whitney.
Rufus’s rant of futility in opposing the Circle of Nine genuinely gave them an Illuminati feel and Sousa’s emotional support to stick with Peggy until the end tugged on the heart strings. Chung’s best work was perhaps the exchange between Vernon Masters and Peggy. As the two danced carefully around each other, each was cautious not to give to much away to the other. Every word of that sequence was a calculated move each character.
Director David Platt helmed his second straight episode, which will be the pattern for directors this entire season, and he helped Chung’s writing debut become a success. With an even larger scope to work with than the last episode, Platt did a good job of weaving the back story for both women in with the current story of capturing Rufus. For the second week in a row an episode ended with Whitney Frost consuming someone using the Zero Matter, but where the first was a mistake, this one was a bold move to eliminate what could be perceived as a problem going forward.
Whitney Frost has taken a firm step down the villain path and that doesn’t bode well for Peggy or anyone in the SSR. Dr. Wilkes didn’t play a huge role in this story, but there is a definite connection between his state and the Zero Matter. It’s only a matter of time before he confronts Whitney Frost again, but will he or Peggy be able to stop her from wreaking havoc with her newfound power? We don’t know, but we’ll be watching to find out on the next episode of Agent Carter!
Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…
- Did someone turn up the heat in here? Peggy and Dr. W. have got some sizzle.
- Looks like Peggy was always the Tom Boy. Not a shocker.
- I’m Jarvolous! Okay, that moment was priceless.
- Uh oh. Peggy Engaged? What happened with that?
- Love this dual back story. Frost had a chilly disposition from the start.
- This is all you’ve got in this world. Hmm. The open actress/hidden genius is born?
- So much for the rat snacks. That crack is getting out of control. Is Frost?
- lol The really bad cold gig is working it seems.
- The circle of nine. Are they Wringwraiths or from Hot Fuzz? They’d probably make me disappear for that snide remark. lol
- Vernon vs Peggy. Her Spidey sense is tingling. And he sees her weakness is her friends. Wait, did a Spidey reference just go Star Wars??
- Okay. The fiancee is a shmuck. You’re brother is right. That’s not you Peg.
- Oh Sousa. In til the end huh? We do love our crafty Sousa.
- Is it me or does Peggy both look a vision in that dress and not right at same time?
- Unfortunately sometimes death shapes the course of our lives.
- “My brother used to say that I’m meant to fight. I believe you are cut from the same cloth Jason.” ~ Peggy. Kindred spirits.
- “What did you tell her?” ~ Whitney. Chadwick is so shallow and narrow. Whitney is the one that sees the big picture.
- I think it’s safe to say that if Whitney didn’t wear the pants in this relationship before, she will now.
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Christopher Bourque