Amy Richau reviews the fourth episode of Marvel’s Agent Carter…
The fourth outing of Marvel’s Agent Carter is one of the series’ busiest episodes yet. It’s also the most entertaining episode so far.
Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) makes a lengthy appearance in The Blitzkrieg Button, as he is desperate to get one of his inventions out of SSR and back into his hands. What that invention is and the importance of it is at the heart of the episode’s storyline. While I won’t spoil what the blitzkrieg button is, I will say when you find out you also get a fantastic verbal and non-verbal showdown between Stark and Agent Carter herself (Hayley Atwell).
It becomes clear is this episode (if it wasn’t already) that Peggy Carter is a lone hero. She’s a super hero but her costume isn’t a cape, it’s her gender. Sure Peggy works at SSR (even though they expect her to only take everyone’s lunch orders) and sure she risks her career to help Stark when she thinks it’s the right thing to do (comically even Stark asks Peggy for some meal assistance when he’s hiding out in her women-only boarding house).
However Peggy isn’t a blind follower. If she doesn’t think you’re doing the honest and just thing, Peggy is going to dress you down (millionaire or not) and go it alone if need be. No one thinks a woman is capable of being ‘the hero’ so all Peggy needs to do is smile and nod until she’s left alone to save the day while everyone’s backs are turned.
While Stark and Carter are dealing with retrieving the blitzkrieg button, we get to see some SSR agents on their own solo missions in this episode. Agent Dooley, who up until this point didn’t interest me at all, makes a last minute flight to Germany to talk to a Nazi facing execution about the Russian Leviathan agents who have apparently died more than once. It was nice to see the Dooley character doing actual detective work, and not just yelling out orders for a change.
Agent Sousa also got a bit more screen time in Carter’s 4th episode. Sousa is clearly just as persistent as Agent Carter when it comes to finding the truth. And even though a lot has been made of Sousa’s war injury, it becomes apparent in The Blitzkrieg Button that Sousa can carry his own weight in the field just fine. It’s clearly just a matter of time before Sousa finds out that the mysterious blonde on his bulletin board is the same woman who just cheerfully took his lunch order.
With so many sub-plots Agent Carter will have to start bringing everything together soon to achieve any kind of resolution in the last four episodes of the short-run series. Luckily Agent Carter is fleshing out more of the supporting characters so the audience doesn’t solely care about what Peggy is currently up to.
On top of all of the above sub-plots The Blitzkrieg Button also threw in a Stan Lee cameo, a killer with a fun name and fancy gun, a special reveal about one of the residents at the Griffith Boarding House, and a new communication from the Leviathan typewriter, now in SSR’s hands.
I’m not exactly sure where Agent Carter will end up at the conclusion of eight episodes, but I do know that I’ll tune in to find out.
Amy Richau is a freelance entertainment and sports writer. Follow her on Twitter.
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