A trip to Russia is exactly what Peggy needed – with the Howling Commandos.
What They Say:
The Iron Ceiling – When Peggy is finally trusted with a mission, she calls on the Howling Commandos squad for assistance.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Agent Carter had a really fun episode last time around, largely because of the inclusion of Howard Stark. While they played up his playboy side, to the frustration of some that’s understandable, it certainly made an impression and showed how he was spending some of his time when not focusing on staying out of the hands of the authorities. For Peggy, it showed her a side of him that she’s likely seen before to some degree, but ramped up a bit more. More frustrating for her though is learning how he was using her, which again was justifiable to some degree considering what she was going after, but it set a real wedge into things that should exist for a bit, and bleed over to Jarvis as well. Seeing his distaste for Stark at that point was welcome, though what I really liked was seeing the end bit with Dottie showing off her skills.
With the cold open here, we get back to Russia in 1937 where there’s rows of young girls handcuffed to beds in a large dorm. Showing us how these sleeper agents were put together, training to understand what it means to fit in as an American but also knowing how to kick some serious ass makes it clear what kind of program they run there, showing us some of Dottie’s past. Dottie stood out in a strong way the last time around as she took out the villain du jour, but getting to see more of her training that explains parts of it works quite well. Especially since we also get to see just how well she’s doing to fit in as a normal person, trying to see some of the touristy parts of the city and getting suggestions from Peggy as to what to see. With Dottie basically doing everything with a purpose, it’s amusing to see how she goes about getting what she needs, such as Peggy’s room key.
When Peggy does get back to the SSR, after a proper little talk with Jarvis along the way, the place is in a tizzy since the mystery typewriter went off with a new message and they have a cryptographer in to break it, but he’s proving useless. Interestingly, Peggy’s able to figure it out quickly since she knows some Russian and has figured out how to break it only to discover that it involves Leviathan, which she has to play a bit blank about, and that Howard is involved as well. While she does all of this in a quick and strong way, cementing her position a bit, she gets left out of the actual mission until she makes a forceful play. Which makes a lot of sense considering her past and abilities, as well as language skill set. Getting Peggy back in the field, legitimately, is definitely welcome to see after everything else she’s done. Not that she gets into the mix easily, but it gets frustrating considering the work that Peggy put in during the war itself.
Peggy’s cementing of her position by getting the 107th on the phone to meet them there is definitely fun and watching how it plays out with the chief and with Thompson since they didn’t expect it. While there’s a fun little moment with the whole changing room aspect, which also gives Sousa another clue about the mystery woman he’s been trying to find, the real fun gets underway when the team goes to the Polish side of the Russian border to meet the 107th, which means an air drop that shows how some of the guys handle it. It gets even sillier when meet up with the Howling Commandos, which puts a lot of awe in their faces. Of course, we get some nice little nods here and there that has Dugan, for example, making it clear that they’re deferential in a way to Peggy. They’re not playing her up, but they’re making it clear that they know she’s a solid player in all of this and is essentially one of them.
Though it’s just a brief sequence, the time with Peggy and Dugan in the back of the truck is spot on, showing the ease between them but also the understanding of how things have changed since the loss of Captain Rogers and the dialogue about Stark himself. It’s blunt in its own way, but it’s also nicely understated so that they don’t make a huge thing out of it. When we get more time with everyone together while a couple are on watch, it’s good to again see the the way Peggy fits in with all of them, but the way she also has a different kind of confidence here among “her people” and their shared history. It’s also an instructive sequence as we get Thompson prodded into talking about how he got the Navy Cross during the war, which is pretty dark and explains a bit about the character and just how effective he can be but also the kinds of losses he’s suffered. It doesn’t exactly make him one of them, but there’s that proper respect thrown into play.
When we get to the teams making their way into the facility, which they know must be a trap since as Peggy said, they know Howard isn’t going to sell weapons to the Russians, it brings them to where we saw Dottie being trained before when she was a child. THe facility is in good shape, but is otherwise largely abandoned. The one exception seems to be a young girl that’s crying in the dorm wearing her full uniform, which is obviously a huge trap that Dugan falls for while trying to explain why his hat is called a bowler hat. The kid is definitely skilled as she uses it to grab Dugan’s gun, kill one of the others and makes a fast escape. The further they go into the facility, the more they find, first with a Leviathan guard and then with a group of prisoners being kept there. Leviathan has gotten a couple of good mentions in general and getting to see a little bit of their operation here definitely starts raising more questions.
The situation provides for a few answers as they learn that Leviathan got the Stark schematics on the black market and have an engineer named Nikola to build it, and someone to help him with his mental condition as well. It turns into a pretty good firefight down below, including Nikola trying to turn the tables on his apparent saviors in order to save himself. Peggy makes some solid but hard choices here, which certainly surprises Thompson but we also see that Thompson is having a hell of a time handling this situation, as opposed to the way Peggy is dealing with it in top notch form. Considering what she’s had to deal with before back in the war, it’s also welcome to not only see her in this position but to deal with Thompson in the right way, going back to the soldier mentality of following orders. It’s a busy and very fun action and firefight sequence.
The epilogue aspect of it all is important, particularly in seeing Thompson as he’s coping with his freezing up during the firefight. As we learn a little more of his past here, it explains even more of the issues he has and how it haunts him, as so much haunted so many during that work and the things they did. While it may be a bit heavy handed, you can understand how this might draw him and Peggy closer together as he finds himself able to reveal his dark secret to her, and that can over time change the nature of their relationship to being open to more. It also has the two of them changing the nature of their work relationship a bit as Thompson knows what she’s capable of, and she’s not quite so dismissive of him and his ways after what she learned
In Summary:
Agent Carter has been a lot of fun from the start for me and I’ve enjoyed seeing Peggy working on her own or with Jarvis to figure out what’s going on. But after revisiting Captain America:The First Avenger this past weekend, it reminded me again of just what kind of character she is. So seeing her more in that form here, reuniting with the Howling Commandos for a mission with a couple of guys from the SSR presents her in a great light. As much as she might want peacetime, she’s very comfortable in these situations as she’s spent years being a part of it. There’s a lot to like in what they find, the flashback material we get and the bit of exploration that Dottie does in Peggy’s room while Peggy is off in Russia. That’s just the least of Peggy’s problems though sine Sousa is starting to narrow his focus on her with his discovery, which is going to complicate things even more. With an episode focused on the Howling Commandos and time overseas, i expected this to be one of the strongest episodes and it definitely fit my expectations.
Grade: A-
