Agent Carter
Jan. 20th, 2021 01:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silverflight8So I have been watching Agent Carter through with anti_cyclone since about last fall, one episode a week.
I LOVE PEGGY.
*Did I mention I love Peggy? I also love her fighting style is just to brawl with anything that comes to hand. She's clever and determined but also, really really practical and pragmatic in terms of how to carry things out, and I love that she just kind of grabs whatever is nearby and then smashes whoever with it.
*I really like S1 and the whole atmosphere of New York and the city scenes and the 40's style clothing and the streets. I don't mind the California setting of S2 but I definitely love the NYC set stuff visually.
*Someone mentioned that what IS anachronistic is the lack of smoking. I can see that but it is nicer this way...and you can see clear across the bullpen when the air is clear. But it's true. I don't think I even saw a single ashtray and they would all probably have smoked like chimneys.
*My favourite scene of S1 is pretty much the whole Belarus segment and specifically, the one scene between Peggy and Jack in the plane at the end. It's a pretty awesome payoff emotionally. Jack has been a huge jerk for most of the season and right up till she goes to Belarus, Jack only stops protesting once Dooley tells him off bluntly about it. But he doesn't hold that against her in the field, and when she says 4 teams of 2 are faster but 2 teams of 4 are safer, let's do the second, he goes with her expertise immediately. The plane scene where he tells her probably his biggest secrets is so good as payoff. It's the guilt, the fact she saved him (and a lot of them) in the compound, feeling the need to explain why he froze maybe, the relief of finally telling someone. I also really, really find it satisfying that they are essentially mirror images, character-wise. Yes Jack is competent as an agent, but Peggy is incredible at her job and gets no recognition; Jack is wearing a medal he didn't deserve, which was partly a mistake and hugely that he couldn't face up to confessing the mistake. And it's absolutely eating him up inside. Peggy, on the other hand, really does know her worth. It's not a show where she discovers her self-worth or abilities at all; she's struggling against external forces who won't see her for who she is. It's sort of a microcosm of the show and some of its themes - recognition, especially as a woman in the 1940's as the pendulum swings back regarding gender roles. It's also Jack being really vulnerable and choosing Peggy as the person to tell it to, and Peggy listening. I'm not even sure Jack's family knows - probably not. Ahhh, it's so good.
*Close second (I mean I love the show, I have a lot that I like!) is the whole interrogation sequence with Peggy. The way it's shot and lit, with Peggy in the soft white shirt and the dramatic background but complete and utter defiance, the way it's cut with each of Jack, Dooley, Sousa saying "I'm confused/I'm impressed/I'm sick", and Peggy's later response: "To you I'm the stray kitten left on your doorstep/I'm the secretary turned damsel in distress/I'm the girl on the pedestal".
*Oh Peggy, you do not play politics well. I winced in S1E1 when Peggy flatly contradicts Dooley right in front of everyone. It's easier when you can let people save face...but I can see why she would (can't get a word in otherwise, she's upfront about a lot of things when she can be, plus it's a good way to establish character). But noooo this is no way to play politics in the office, arrghh.
*Personally, I found the grief and grieving scenes a bit too much while viewing, but I sometimes have this feeling towards visual media anyway - I also don't particularly watching characters kiss, it feels like a weird invasion of privacy. The thing is, I can completely get why they're freaked out and grieving when Krezminski and Dooley die - I mean, Dooley died right in front of their eyes - but I find the visual depiction less engaging than a written depiction where you are seeing more internally. I dunno. Still glad they included them though.
*I also LOVE Jarvis. He is so gung-ho and adventurous and forms part of the emotional support that Peggy eventually realizes that even she needs. I absolutely love Jarvis and Peggy's dynamic and how they interact; the one scene where Dooley under hypnosis cuffs them in the interrogation room, and they decide to break the glass with the table, made me laugh so hard.
*I ship Peggy/Daniel/Jack at the moment (wow they're all. so beautiful) and I think Peggy/Jarvis and Peggy/Jack are really growing on me. Ahhh!!
*I think I'd wear every single one of Peggy's outfits. I wish I could scroll through a website and just buy my favourites.
*Jack, trying to not underestimate Peggy and stationing himself outside the back of the cafe...excellent, but still not good enough. She laid him out cold in 3 seconds! And then after Peggy is knocked out by Dottie with her own lipstick, and is practically unconscious, I do enjoy that Daniel is all "is that necessary" to Jack as he handcuffs Peggy, and Jack just says drily: "Trust me, we need them."
*Genuinely some incredibly creepy moments like with the typewriter typing itself. It's the music, the lighting, we don't know who's typing...lots of great moments of actual suspense/horror in the series. Both anticyclone and I did a lot of yelling when Fennhoff was hypnotizing his victims - horrifying. That one second when Dooley refuses to let go of the suitcase and says "I feel like I should keep this" raised my hopes for a second before it was promptly dashed.
*I also really enjoy watching Atwell and Gjokaj act. Lots of small, subtle expressions which I'm catching on repeat viewings.
*The carrot and the stick thing. I understand the metaphor but the logistics make me giggle. Does this mean they have carrots on hand, just like a few batons, in case they haul in somebody? Or do you think Dooley sent someone out to the corner store to buy a carrot (and find a stick)? Either way, LOL.
anti_cyclone since about last fall, one episode a week. I LOVE PEGGY.
*Did I mention I love Peggy? I also love her fighting style is just to brawl with anything that comes to hand. She's clever and determined but also, really really practical and pragmatic in terms of how to carry things out, and I love that she just kind of grabs whatever is nearby and then smashes whoever with it.
*I really like S1 and the whole atmosphere of New York and the city scenes and the 40's style clothing and the streets. I don't mind the California setting of S2 but I definitely love the NYC set stuff visually.
*Someone mentioned that what IS anachronistic is the lack of smoking. I can see that but it is nicer this way...and you can see clear across the bullpen when the air is clear. But it's true. I don't think I even saw a single ashtray and they would all probably have smoked like chimneys.
*My favourite scene of S1 is pretty much the whole Belarus segment and specifically, the one scene between Peggy and Jack in the plane at the end. It's a pretty awesome payoff emotionally. Jack has been a huge jerk for most of the season and right up till she goes to Belarus, Jack only stops protesting once Dooley tells him off bluntly about it. But he doesn't hold that against her in the field, and when she says 4 teams of 2 are faster but 2 teams of 4 are safer, let's do the second, he goes with her expertise immediately. The plane scene where he tells her probably his biggest secrets is so good as payoff. It's the guilt, the fact she saved him (and a lot of them) in the compound, feeling the need to explain why he froze maybe, the relief of finally telling someone. I also really, really find it satisfying that they are essentially mirror images, character-wise. Yes Jack is competent as an agent, but Peggy is incredible at her job and gets no recognition; Jack is wearing a medal he didn't deserve, which was partly a mistake and hugely that he couldn't face up to confessing the mistake. And it's absolutely eating him up inside. Peggy, on the other hand, really does know her worth. It's not a show where she discovers her self-worth or abilities at all; she's struggling against external forces who won't see her for who she is. It's sort of a microcosm of the show and some of its themes - recognition, especially as a woman in the 1940's as the pendulum swings back regarding gender roles. It's also Jack being really vulnerable and choosing Peggy as the person to tell it to, and Peggy listening. I'm not even sure Jack's family knows - probably not. Ahhh, it's so good.
*Close second (I mean I love the show, I have a lot that I like!) is the whole interrogation sequence with Peggy. The way it's shot and lit, with Peggy in the soft white shirt and the dramatic background but complete and utter defiance, the way it's cut with each of Jack, Dooley, Sousa saying "I'm confused/I'm impressed/I'm sick", and Peggy's later response: "To you I'm the stray kitten left on your doorstep/I'm the secretary turned damsel in distress/I'm the girl on the pedestal".
*Oh Peggy, you do not play politics well. I winced in S1E1 when Peggy flatly contradicts Dooley right in front of everyone. It's easier when you can let people save face...but I can see why she would (can't get a word in otherwise, she's upfront about a lot of things when she can be, plus it's a good way to establish character). But noooo this is no way to play politics in the office, arrghh.
*Personally, I found the grief and grieving scenes a bit too much while viewing, but I sometimes have this feeling towards visual media anyway - I also don't particularly watching characters kiss, it feels like a weird invasion of privacy. The thing is, I can completely get why they're freaked out and grieving when Krezminski and Dooley die - I mean, Dooley died right in front of their eyes - but I find the visual depiction less engaging than a written depiction where you are seeing more internally. I dunno. Still glad they included them though.
*I also LOVE Jarvis. He is so gung-ho and adventurous and forms part of the emotional support that Peggy eventually realizes that even she needs. I absolutely love Jarvis and Peggy's dynamic and how they interact; the one scene where Dooley under hypnosis cuffs them in the interrogation room, and they decide to break the glass with the table, made me laugh so hard.
*I ship Peggy/Daniel/Jack at the moment (wow they're all. so beautiful) and I think Peggy/Jarvis and Peggy/Jack are really growing on me. Ahhh!!
*I think I'd wear every single one of Peggy's outfits. I wish I could scroll through a website and just buy my favourites.
*Jack, trying to not underestimate Peggy and stationing himself outside the back of the cafe...excellent, but still not good enough. She laid him out cold in 3 seconds! And then after Peggy is knocked out by Dottie with her own lipstick, and is practically unconscious, I do enjoy that Daniel is all "is that necessary" to Jack as he handcuffs Peggy, and Jack just says drily: "Trust me, we need them."
*Genuinely some incredibly creepy moments like with the typewriter typing itself. It's the music, the lighting, we don't know who's typing...lots of great moments of actual suspense/horror in the series. Both anticyclone and I did a lot of yelling when Fennhoff was hypnotizing his victims - horrifying. That one second when Dooley refuses to let go of the suitcase and says "I feel like I should keep this" raised my hopes for a second before it was promptly dashed.
*I also really enjoy watching Atwell and Gjokaj act. Lots of small, subtle expressions which I'm catching on repeat viewings.
*The carrot and the stick thing. I understand the metaphor but the logistics make me giggle. Does this mean they have carrots on hand, just like a few batons, in case they haul in somebody? Or do you think Dooley sent someone out to the corner store to buy a carrot (and find a stick)? Either way, LOL.
