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New Show Recap: Marvel’s Agent Carter 1×08, “Valediction”

Well, that was a great way to end the first season. Holy cow. Everything that happened in this episode was definitely telegraphed in all the preceding episodes. I appreciated this finale because it gave me all the feels. Seriously, this show needs to stop pulling on my heart strings; they were already so thin from the Parks and Recreation finale.

Peggy is the fucking best. She can do what she wants and she gives zero fucks. I know in the Marvel One-Shot that was included in the Iron Man 3 DVD, it seemed like she was just focused on recovering from Steve’s “death,” but in this show, though there were glimpses of that mourning, it seemed like she had definitely found herself. Peggy can best be summed up as one kick-ass woman.

Sousa proved his worth this episode at least. He helped stopped Dr. Fennhoff (aka Ivenchko) from unleashing the psycho gas, now named “Midnight Oil,” over New York City. He did this because he is smart and realized that if he wore ear plugs, he couldn’t actually be hypnotized. He actually helped Peggy and the SSR this time instead of hurting Peggy. His season arc was, of course, one of finding himself. He was considered the weakest male agent by the rest of the office. I think he was probably overcompensating for that by doing some awesome detective work, but then it didn’t help when he went after Peggy.

Enver is adorable. His tweet game is awesome.

https://twitter.com/EnverGjokaj/status/570414088511049730

There was a touching scene between Thompson and Sousa in this episode. Apparently the fandom has been ‘shipping them for awhile now, even Enver!

https://twitter.com/EnverGjokaj/status/570403513362042880

Jarvis and Peggy again served up some great chemistry on screen trying to wrestle Howard out of another problem. Howard was his usual self in this episode, though I have to admit it was was brave/stupid of him to volunteer to be hypnotized. Howard explains that Midnight Oil was made by him and stolen by the US government, which used it against Russian troops. This explains why Dr. Fennhoff is itching to get some revenge.

The real team of Agent Carter was Jarvis and Peggy trying to save Howard, like always.

Dottie pretty much kicked ass this episode again. Watching what could be Black Widow’s origin story come on my screen made me so giddy. Her ability to switch between personas so easily creeps me out. One minute aiming to kill a cop, the next minute, a doe-eyed lady looking all sad.

I couldn’t agree more with the above sentiment! Howard deserves a lot of things from the women he has hurt over the years.

We finally got the final fight scene we have been craving between Dottie and Peggy. I can’t even describe it. Just watch it! Enjoy it! Savor it!

Remember how in the early part of the season they had the Captain America radio drama featuring Steve and his lover Betty Carver? Well, that made a comeback. I was waiting for it to come back again, since in the media lead-up it seemed like it would play a bigger role, but it didn’t and I am kind of sad. I would love a Marvel one-shot full episode on the Agent Carter DVD set.

Peggy and Steve will be forever intertwined. She knows this and watching her pour Steve’s blood into the river made the room really dusty. I bawled my eyes out. Imagine flushing away the one remaining thing that you have that ties you to your soulmate?

Marvel is always great at teases and watching Ivchenko and Zola appear in prison together put two words into my head — “Hail Hydra.” I really hope that they can get Sebastian Stan to be in season two because I think you have the perfect setup for the Winter Soldier to appear. Given that Zola helped create him, I am guessing they use Ivchenko to connect Zola to the Russians.

I really appreciated the number of women involved in the show. Tara Butters and Michele Faezekas are amazing. They did so well with this show and I really hope they get to do more seasons. I do agree with the Twitter commenters who wanted more diversity. Even with a realistic show set in a segregated time period, there are ways to add people of color without doing stupid racist shit like the Mandarin or Wong.

ABC, please renew Agent Carter. I will even watch Agents of SHIELD again if that gets you to renew Peggy and the boys.

By Alyson

Queer Pop Culture Junkie in the Northwest. Addicted to Coffee, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fantasy Sports, The Mountain Goats, and Tottenham Hotspur.

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