Agent Carter Review: “The Lady in the Lake” and “A View in the Dark”

Peggy Carter returns, and relocates to LA for what looks to be a strong second season.

I get the fridged woman, but did there have to be a particle accelerator?

Titles: “The Lady in the Lake” and “A View in the Dark”

Director: Lawrence Trilling
Writers: Brant Englestein (first hour)
Eric Pearson and Lindsey Allen (second hour)

Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
James D’Arcy as Edwin Jarvis
Reggie Austin as Jason Wilkes
Lotte Verbeek as Ana Jarvis
Chad Michael Murray as Jack Thompson
Wynn Everett as Whitney Frost / Madame Masque
Enver Gjokaj as Daniel Sousa
Bridget Regan as Dottie Underwood
Reggie Austin as Jason Wilkes
Currie Graham as Calvin Chadwick
Lesley Boone as Rose
Chris Browning as Rufus
Matt Braunger as SSR Lab Tech
Kurtwood Smith as Vernon Masters
Ken Marino as Joseph Manfredi
Chad Michael Murray as Jack Thompson
Kevin Ashworth as Agent Fisher
Christopher Biel as Isodyne Supervisor
Sarah Bolger as Violet
Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
Nick Hoffa as All-Night Restaurant Owner

High Points

Jarvis has only improved with a year of training and a wife as helpmeet. Our other couple, villains a little reminiscent of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, look as though they’ll pay off.

Low Point

The Evil Conspiracy drops an irrelevant reference to having fixed the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Like the reference to the Plague in The Dark Knight Trilogy, it’s an unnecessary adding of tinfoil to injury.

The Scores:

Originality: 3/6 While we see nothing spectacularly new, the premiere feels fresh. Despite several ties with last year, Agent Carter isn’t just repeating itself.

Fans of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. will note some minor similarities to Cat’s Cradle.

Effects: 6/6

Acting: 5/6 Kudos to the script and Hayley Atwell for allowing our kickass female hero to have a plausible vulnerable side.

Emotional Response: 5/6 The show gets us into the feel of Carter’s 1940s, and develops in interesting ways. The critique of period racism was overdue; it might have been handled with greater subtlety and more realism, even in the context of the Agent Carter series.

Story: 5/6 The story features an interesting, Marvel-Universe mystery, and raises a number of problems for the rest of the season. They even connect with the forthcoming Dr. Strange flick.

If you’re trying to tail people inobtrusively, don’t send Caucasian hit men to an African-American nightclub.

Production: 6/6 Production remains very high. Nothing can match the surprise of the first season, but the LA visuals are a treat and a new corner of the ‘verse. The episode gives us Googie, Art Deco, and the Griffiths Observatory. We even see some vintage footage.

Overall: 5/6 It must be hard to be any other non-Netflix superhero show when Agent Carter is running its season. Only Marvel’s Neflix series best it.

In total, the first two hours of Agent Carter‘s second season receives 35/42

3 replies on “Agent Carter Review: “The Lady in the Lake” and “A View in the Dark””

  1. We really enjoyed these!

    Seems a little contrived that things in LA and NY are tied together, but it is comics… ;-)

    And Sousa’s nurse had better not turn out to be a Russian spy…

  2. Seems to be a good setup for the season, which as last time, will be too short. We need more!

    Of the new cast additions, I liked Jarvis’ wife the most. Sousa’s gal seems suspicious but we’ll see how that turns out. Given the actress in that role, there is likely more to it.

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