Friday, February 6, 2015

Discuss: Marvel's Agent Carter


Karen: We've had some requests for this, so here it is. Feel free to share your thoughts on Agent Carter.



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13 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
February 6, 2015 at 7:25 AM
The Prowler said...

I DVR the episodes and watch them the next day. So far, I've been more Yeah than Nay.

Pluses: they have been trying to build on her established cast of characters as well as introduce new people into the mix. Angie the waitress and Stark's butler Edwin Jarvis are both new characters, well, a human Jarvis and wounded war vet Daniel Sousa. A fairly solid purpose/plot to the story. War is over, how do we meet with new threats that are rising. Showing what some of the prejudices that had to be faced/lived with in a post WW2 world.

Minuses: What exactly does the SSR do? What's their jurisdiction? Are they going after Stark because he's a traitor or because he's a scientist selling secrets? Are these secrets Government property or Stark's?
I know the show is called "Marvel's Agent Carter" but does she have to be so dang good at everything!?! Can she have a few things she struggles with?

Personal thoughts: I think the show is doing a good job in trying to bridge that gap between CA The First Avenger and the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe. We know somewhere in there came SHIELD, Stark marrying Mrs Stark, little Tony, Fury, Hank Pym as the first Ant Man, and so on and so forth. There are a few warning lights going off but that's just my perspective. As I've mentioned before, Stark the pere is becoming hard to pin down. Is he late twenties during this time period? Would that have made him in his 50s or 60s when Tony came along?

"I don't know, what does it all MEAN!?!"

IMHO, if you look at Ben and Reed, I see Stan and Jack. WW2 vets, one gruff but dependable, the other a bit lanky, maybe graying at the temples with a tendency to get lost in his work. And married to a real debutante/beauty. As I see MCU developing Howard Stark, he's right there in the Stan/Jack demographic. Maybe skewing more to Stan than Jack.

I'm anxious to see where things lead for the last few episodes.

General question for those who are more in the know than I: Why was the first episode number 3? According to my DVR, it has gone 3, followed by 5, then 4, then 6 as the last aired. What were the first two? The story has made sense, so nothing aired out of order......"I don't know, what does it all MEAN!?!" (I love Pee Wee!!!)

(when johnny comes marching home again
he's coming by bus or underground
a woman's eye will shed a tear
to see his face so beaten in fear
an' it was just around the corner in the english civil war

it was still at the stage of clubs and fists
when that well-known face got beaten to bits
your face was blue in the light of the screen
as we watched the speech of an animal scream
the new party army was marching right over our heads).

February 6, 2015 at 9:28 AM
david_b said...

Of all the Marvel Universe movies, tv shows and such, this would probably be the only one I'd watch (other than the Avengers film..)

Loved Ms Atwell in the 'First Avenger' movie, and she'd be engaging to watch here as well.

I just haven't had the time to commit as of yet. Other than Agent Carter, I'm looking forward to both the Antman and the Ultron flicks coming up, but that's about it.

February 6, 2015 at 9:37 AM
Dr. Oyola said...

I love this show from many perspectives and have even gotten my wife to watch it with me. Her complaint? "Why do they feel the need to reminds us that she was Captain America's girlfriend every five minutes? Who cares?"

Kit loves spy shows, esp. w/ woman protagonists or prominent women in the cast - so this show is up her alley, even if normally she doesn't care for superhero fare.

My favorite moment in the show so far is from the second episode when she is fighting that one dude while the character based on her in the radio serial is saying something like "What would I ever do without you, Captain America?" It struck me as effectively capturing the simultaneity and tension that is possible in comics between words and image that is not as often as possible in tv/film.

It is 100x better than Agents of Shield.

February 6, 2015 at 11:46 AM
Pat Henry said...

"It is 100x better than Agents of Shield."

I agree with that completely. What has impressed me is that the showrunners have not dodged or glossed the oppressive ubiquitous misogyny and paranoid conformity of the era, but have embraced it and ran with it Mad Men style.

Love the retro-tech.

I agree we don't have to be beat over the head every two minutes that this is the _MARVEL_ universe, and think they could be a bit more stylish and "Bond-ish" on the espionage themes.

February 6, 2015 at 12:06 PM
Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's definitely better than SHIELD (which I also watch); it's nice to see Peggy kick some ass and slowly gain some recognition. She and Jarvis have great chemistry.

Some of the subplots are boring, but the thing with Dottie and the Red Room is cool...I hope they do more on that. I'm wondering if the girl they ran into in Russia was a young Natasha Romanov?

Mike W.

February 6, 2015 at 12:20 PM
J.A. Morris said...

I like it so far, Prowler makes a good point about bridging the gap between WWII and the modern era. I hope it gets a full season and I wouldn't mind seeing some stories that take place between Cap's "death" and the first episode of 'Agent Carter'.
Atwell is very believable in the role and James D'Arcy does a good job as Jarvis.
I agree with those who say it's better than SHIELD, but I think that's another topic to fill a comments section on another day.

February 6, 2015 at 12:28 PM
Martinex1 said...

I've only watched a couple of episodes of Agent Carter so take my comments with a grain of salt.

The reason I have only watched so little is because the pace is so plodding in my opinion. The story seems all build and little payoff. I feel like I will watch multiple episodes and get one big impact per season, with each episode just being an individual tease. I like Haley Atwell in the lead and I've liked her interaction with Jarvis, but like Prowler I would like to see Agent Carter have some flaws. The always brilliant character causes a lack in interest.

Also, I feel like the drama gets undercut here and there. In one episode I watched, a more brutish male detective had a hint that Carter may be more than she seems. I was expecting some drama around that conflict, but (Spoiler Alert), that character was killed off literally seconds later. That seemed really off in that any tension was immediately removed.

The things I like are the actors themselves, the supporting cast, and the overall time period which is a nice change of pace. I also like that Carter's relationship with Captain America is frequently referred to and even shown in the opening.

I actually find myself enjoying The Flash series much more. And I am not particularly a DC fan. The story can get redundant at times, but each episode has some action and mystery. It builds on a larger story while still making every episode enjoyable. The build of Flash's Rogue gallery has evolved pretty quickly. This series has a comic book feel to it.

February 6, 2015 at 1:17 PM
Anonymous said...

I really liked the first night's two-parter, was pretty underwhelmed with episode 3, but last nights episode (4, I believe) was pretty good....I like the interactions with Jarvis the best, and the action is pretty good. I'm not blown away, but it's an enjoyable show.

To compare, I've tried to watch Arrow, Flash, and Gotham, and wasn't impressed....guess I'm a Marvel guy at heart. DC has always done better with cartoons than live action, IMO.

My current favorite is definitely STAR WARS REBELS, that cartoon is fantastic.

starfoxxx

February 6, 2015 at 3:46 PM
J.A. Morris said...

Has everyone seen Peggy Carter's tv debut?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJL0hOXFuvM

February 7, 2015 at 9:17 AM
The Prowler said...

Mike W: I don't think the young girl is Natasha. That would put her in her 60s now. I think that the program is a precursor to the one that developed The Black Widow. Much like the SSR spawned SHIELD the Red Room will become The Black Widow program. What would be cool is if she turned out to be Viper!!!

Or maybe not........you know, whatever.

In conclusion, the movie I'm waiting for is the training of a young Natasha Romanov, the SHIELD agents sent to stop her, we know it's going to be, at least Clint Barton and I'm hoping for a young Maria Hill. Can comic geeks still pray???

(Man I got that swag
My hat matches my bag
You know I'm popping tags
Cause man I got that swag


I'm on Hypnotic, exotic
This Polo on my body
Got a bad girl beside me
And her friend right behind me
And I'm swagging, I'm surfing
I'm swagging, I'm surfing
I'm swagging, I'm surfing).

February 7, 2015 at 5:53 PM
Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link J.A. Morris.

I like when Cap says...."This isn't woman's work!".....

I think the Black Widow would disagree.....

starfoxxx

February 8, 2015 at 9:10 AM
Martinex1 said...

I actually thought that this week's Agent Carter was really well done. I enjoyed it. There was a fair amount of tension and I will watch next week. It was better paced and advanced the story much better than I felt other episodes had.

February 10, 2015 at 9:54 PM

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