Agent Carter Recap: "A Sin to Err"

Agent Carter came crashing back to Earth after last week’s amazing episode, and this week’s installment was all the worse for it. Ultimately, this episode was the very definition of a mixed bag. While certain subplots finally come to a head, it felt like such a long, plodding process (aside from the episode with the Commandos). Even in this episode when events happened like S.S.R. finally getting the drop on Peggy, you have to ask yourself, was worth some of the more boring sections? I mentioned in my review last week that I wished Agent Carter had focused on Peggy and the Howling Commandos bouncing around the world on missions of war, and this episode certainly cements that fact for me.

Let’s start with the bright spots of the episode, then swing into the dark, as the episode did shine through a few times. While I did grow a little tired of the “wild and whacky adventures of Howard Stark," I will admit that his exploits causing Peggy and Jarvis to search through his “conquests” of the past six months to find answers supplied a worthwhile amount of chuckles. It also gave more time for the dynamic duo to hang out with one another, which is always a plus in my book. Seeing Jarvis and Peggy getting along, albeit on shaky ground, was something I thought the show was missing when they had their falling out -- the two act as fantastic reflections of one another. In the action department, the two being cornered in the bar and fighting their way out had some fantastic choreography. I just wish that they had gone to this well a tad more in the show, but, it’s great for what we get.

On the antagonist side of things, I absolutely loved the Doctor from the P.O.W. camp being revealed to be in Leviathan (with the help of Dottie and a clever use of sniper scope). Him proceeding to leech his way into the corners of the S.S.R. office was as creepy and menacing as it could be. I do feel that Dooley’s constant gruff exterior took some the punch out of what could have been a more engaging scene, but the Doc carried his weight. What was especially great was the conversation and subsequent result between the Doctor and the S.S.R. rookie. The Doctor telling the rookie to enjoy his favorite bourbon before silently walking into traffic to die provided more menace and terror than anything we’ve seen from Leviathan so far.

It was odd that we were promised more answers about the origin of Leviathan, since we didn’t actually learn much of anything new. Granted, the opening scene of Leviathan “recruiting” men to their cause was scary, but it’s a point that’s been hammered home a lot to this point. We know Leviathan is bad, so it just comes across as more padding. This extends to Dottie to a degree, as last week gave us more than we needed to know about the character, and this week, we get a long sequence where Dottie has to pretend to try to get a secretary job with a dentist -- because she needs a good sniping position -- only to learn that the dentist wants her to sleep with him for the job? It’s just a lot of padding, again, when the scene could have easily been cut down immensely.

As I’ve said in my past reviews, we’re dealing with a limited series here, so the structure dragging its feet and introducing too many subplots is surprising -- that's something that should have been worked out before filming started. The last thing that I want to feel in a noir-style, World War 2-era spy thriller is bored. You can see where the cracks have formed throughout the show, and I understand that set pieces such as the Griffith allowed for the introduction of Dottie, but couldn’t she just as easily been one of the women working on the phones in the S.S.R. who had a chat now and then with Peggy? The Griffith subplot, and most of the plotlines and characters that make up the collective of the S.S.R., could have been jettisoned from the show and it would have helped to get down to the most important and thrilling parts of the series. We’ve been stuck in that S.S.R. office for so long, I almost feel claustrophobic whenever I see it.

I know that this show can be great -- heck, it was last week -- but I think they misjudged how attached viewers would be to the plights of say, Sousa and Co., versus taking an opportunity to flesh out Peggy more. Ultimately though, we only have two episodes left, so I expect that we’ll get a grand finale of some sort.

Episode Rating: ★★ Fair — Only for the dedicated

Agents of M.I.S.C.E.L.L.A.N.E.A.

- I’m going to pretend that the chubby kid that Jarvis encounters grows up to become the Kingpin thanks to the “mafiaso” crack.

- I think that the Doctor is actually Dr. Faustus, a Captain America villain who has yet to make an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper. Granted, Faustus in the comics is much heavier and sports quite the beard, but this wouldn’t be the first time things were changed from print to screen.

- Jarvis - “I suggest we start with the Western Hemisphere.”

- Jarvis - “Oh it’s shorter than I thought it would be.”