Agent Carter (TV Series) Better Angels (2016) User Reviews

The Mystery is Gone

[ThomasDrufke · 7/10 · 27 January 2016]

Part of what made the first season so fun, was the mystery behind Leviathan and who the 'big bad' would be. I think season 2 is lacking that mystery. For whatever reason, I'm just not a fan of the Calvin Chadwick story line and it has hindered my liking of this season. Perhaps it's because I believe there is so much more they could be doing with a spy story in this time period. For one, the communism element that Wilkes has been accused of was definitely a huge issue for Americans during the late 40's and early 50's. So much so that it trickled into the Hollywood space creating many high profile scandals. I do like the fact that Chadwick is married to a Hollywood star in Whitney Frost and that's being used as a link for Hollywood and Isodine, but I just haven't been a fan of the overall direction this season is taking its lead villain.

With that said, how fun is it to watch and hear all the great Hollywood references this year? Adding Howard Stark into the mix this week proved to be the highlight of the entire episode. I don't think I'll eve get tired of the Stark balance of playboy billionaire meets straight up science nerd as Howard constantly tried fixing the problem of keeping Wilkes alive after the accident last week. I honestly have no idea how he even managed to bring him back, but in a world that will one day have a Hulk, I guess we can learn to accept it. It's worth mentioning that Peggy herself believed the mere idea of having a film based on a comic book was a "dreadful" idea, how meta Agent Carter, how meta.

So in all, this episode was a bit of step back from the two previous episodes this season and season 1 in general, but with all the Hollywood references and Howard Stark himself, it was definitely fun to watch. Even if that fun didn't have the spy mystery element I loved so much about last year.

+Hollywood setting continues to excel

+Stark is back

+Communism element is interesting

-Still not a big fan of Isodine

7.4/10

I know, I'm great. And so is she.

[jhudson-11704 · 7/10 · 26 July 2017]

The story continues and it brings back Howard Stark. I will say that he seemed to be in the episode a bit too much though. However, it is great that he hasn't changed. I loved the bit where he couldn't remember Dottie, even when Jarvis said she held him at gunpoint, like it happens all the time with other women. That was too funny. The meta reference about how comic book movies not being able to work in Hollywood was good too.

Stark was able to bring back Wilkes and I'm glad he isn't gone as he made an impression on the audience and Carter. It is a true mystery about how Wilkes was sent to another dimension yet Whitney was hit by the same blast and somehow absorbed the zero matter.

Thompson was starting to annoy me again since Vernon came along as he has basically been stonewalling Sousa and Carter. However, after he watched the video of zero matter, it seems like he might be coming back to Carter's side. Hopefully, he could come around.

The infiltration into the Arena Club was fun as Stark was up to his old tricks of bringing his women to the club in order to help Carter with her mission.

One complaint that I have is that it is turning away from the spy game and going further into the science fiction world. While this worked well for Agents of Shield, it isn't working so well for Agent Carter.

+ Thompson's coming around + Arena Club infiltration + Wilkes is still around + Stark... - ...a bit too much though - Stay with what you're good at: espionage

Final Score: 7.7/10

[7.9] Zero (in and on) the "pink" matter!

[cjonesas · 8/10 · 18 September 2021]

A much more interesting episode with stylish setup and v.good acting, though leaning too much toward SciFi. Is it going to be like that until the last episode?!