By: Robert Murphy
The world of high stakes espionage can be a rather fraught with danger around every corner but Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) takes it all in stride. The plucky Agent Carter isn't able to spend too much time off of her feet after her last heroic adventure before she is off to the sunny shores of LA to solve a new mystery involving all the glits and glamour the city is famous for. But, the story isn't as grand as you would hoped it to be given it's flashy setting and returning main stage contenders.
As to be expect Hayley Atwell gives a commanding performance as she returns to the Peggy Carter character and all the doubts about her abilities as a female agent have effectively been dispelled here. People now treat Peggy with the respect she deserves, well except for Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), but aside from that she leads the charge once again in this latest adventure with the same take no nonsense attitude as before. But her character also gets a much deeper perspective this season as it's not all just fight scenes, smart come backs and British enthusiasm. Viewers get some insight into what Peggy was like before she joined the war and before she became so determined to never give up the fight. We also see Peggy reach a breaking point and let all her emotions out, everything she keeps pent up and hidden under a sweet smile.
Peggy's respected colleagues and adversaries also make their return along with her but some don't show too much in the way of growth. Mr. Jarvis (James D'Arcy) was a much welcomed return and he has actually been doing some secret agent training of his own since his adventures with Peggy last season. His character is ready for more missions and excitement once Peggy arrives on the sandy shore but the addition of his wife Ana (Lotte Verbeek) into the actual story proves to give his character new perspective as well. The scenes between Peggy and Jarvis become quite heated this time around and were frankly the highlight of this latest season. But outside returning Howard Stark, who only appears in a few spots like in season one, the rest of the cast is predominantly lacking in development.
Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) is now in charge of operations on the west coast with a whole new squad of fresh faced agents under his command. Which is not a good thing since they're all lacking in experience, this leads him to call for aid when a mystery involving frozen corpses begins to unravel. Jack Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) being the natural jerk that he is sends Peggy to help Agent Daniel out in this matter, which stirs up sorts of feelings best forgotten when he left New York. The problems begin when Peggy arrives on the scene, Daniel at first has a whole new story going for him with a new girlfriend and a new job. It's a fresh start for him that he needed but he ends up right back in the same rut he was before when Peggy arrives. The two flirt and become infatuated with one another and an odd love triangle forms with one of the other new characters that just didn't fit Peggy or the show. Agent Thompson is just the same as he was before as well, viewers saw a great episode last season that gave insight into him as a person but these new characteristics never stick. What's more is he becomes somewhat off a completely off the wall bad guy this season and it never pans out.
As for the new cast members things are just as split for the series. The creme of the crop is undoubtedly Whitney Frost (Wynn Everett) who battles it out against Peggy Carter this season. Her character is all around interesting as she pretends to play the Hollywood dream girl by day but underneath it all she possess a genius like no other on the show. She unfortunately has to hide it do to the same stigma Peggy put up with in the first season, she a female agent and Whitney a female scientist, neither are taken seriously. Whitney however breaks away from this mold early on and is a driving force for the story. Right alongside Whitney is new show comer Dr. Jason Wilkes (Reggie Austin) who is the aforementioned third member of Peggy's love triangle. But, even though his character continuously flirts with Peggy, he isn't a one trick pony. His level of expertise into "zero matter" proves to help drive the story as much as Peggy and Whitney do making him a great addition.
Other additions to the cast falter though as Matt Braunger (playing an annoying scientist) and Lesley Boone (Peggy's receptionist friend from season one) attempt to join in on the action in multiple episodes. The humor is definitely strained with their additions and I was never quite sure as to why the show felt the need to involve these characters when there was so many other members already in play. Kurtwood Smith making a surprising addition to the cast as the head of the FBI that is old friends with Jack Thompson. Ray Wise who returns as the Roxxon Oil CEO that has a habit of getting knocked out by Peggy. And Bridget Regan as the former member of the Black Widow experiments who ends up aiding Peggy after she is captured in the first episode of this new season. If more time had been spent including these characters rather than Braunger and Boone then I could have found more enjoyment with certain episodes.
In the end, Agent Carter's second season feels like an experiment into different ideas for the show to eventually follow up on with zero matter being an otherwise engaging part of the story that could have made the story truly compelling. But, this season struggled to find balance between telling an engaging spy story with the original humor brought forth in it's first season. What's more is new characters and returning ones do not fit the bill for their performances with character either falling back into old patterns or just not being engaging at all. Wynn Everett and Reggie Austin save the day in many regards alongside Haley Atwell's always commanding Peggy Carter but much more could have been done to improve the shows follow up second season.
Good:
- Haley Atwell as Peggy Carter is captivating once again
- Evertt, Austin and returning James D'Arcy all lead to great moments for the show
- Zero matter was an interesting new element for the Marvel universe
- Old Hollywood coming to life
Bad:
- The plot has trouble balancing the humor and the action
- Most new characters fall flat and old ones return to their usual routines
Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10
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