kattahj

The scene plays out a little differently in the book, because Jack basically buys a session with Fergus from Madame Elise, and Fergus gives up the struggle pretty quickly because he's been in that situation before and figures it can be over with before Jamie's finished with his business. So it's a pretty brutal rape, but because Jack has to answer to Madame Elise, not as brutal as his rape of Jamie. The whole thing is immensely messed up, and I don't know if the show will go with that background for Fergus or not, or whether I'd want them to. It's a part of his character as written, but it's also a part I wouldn't mind sparing him...

Lotte Verbeek is the same age as Hayley Atwell (a couple of months younger, even). And she might not be playing her own exact age. There's a point about the Jarvises having been married for quite some time, but if they had postponed having children for whatever reason, it would certainly not have been too late for them!

The "hasn't knocked out a single tooth" comment? That's barely more than descriptive, and sounds more surprised than anything else. Note that his boss doesn't take any issue with the comment either. But fine, twice in three episodes. That completely puts him on the same level as the guy who actually knocks out the teeth.

Thanks for the lesbian recs! I'd forgotten Orphan Black, it's been a while since the latest season... Of course, that show has plenty of platonic f/f friendships as well, if that's what you prefer. (Come to think of it, almost every show or movie I know with lesbians in it also has female friendships.) As for the Sousa discussion, it's still pretty upsetting to me, and I may have to bow out again, but here goes: First off, and to clarify something: Sousa makes exactly ONE snide comment behind a fellow agent's back ("Poor guy" etc), and it's right after Peggy specifically tells him not to try to fight her battles for her. Short of ignoring her wish ten seconds after she makes it, I don't see what else he could have done. He's called out both Thompson and Krzeminski to their faces when he finds them annoying, and when he lets a comment slide it's been because it targets his disability. Which, considering that he probably lost his leg a couple of years ago at the most (since he's still adapting to the crutch), I don't blame him for taking to heart in a different way. Where Krzeminski's "No girl's gonna trade..." comment is concerned, it's not in the same BALLPARK as being right, because Krzeminski is talking about "Captain America", the perfect soldier with the fawning girlfriend, which is the antithesis of who Steve and Peggy are. Steve was chosen by Abraham Erskine specifically because he was a scrawny little guy who knew what it was like at the bottom of the ladder (a weak man knows compassion). Because Erskine had come from Germany to the American army, and he'd drawn the conclusion, just like Harald Ofstad, that contempt of weakness is not a Nazi-specific trait. Both the Cap movies are largely about how Steve consistently works from an underdog perspective and undermines the übermensch image other people try to make of him. (The perfect soldier in Cap 2 is the Winter Soldier, who doesn't even have a mind of his own anymore.) When you get right down to it, Steve's the little guy who hates bullies. So when Krzeminski uses Steve's memory to bully his colleague, the only reaction I can imagine Steve Rogers having to it, had he been there to overhear it, would have been a punch in the face. And likewise Peggy, regardless of what she'd think of Sousa as a romantic partner, would NEVER dismiss him on such shallow grounds, and she would NEVER let such a gross comment stand, either. (If she'd been there, chances are she'd plant one on Sousa just to make a point.) Thing is, it's not possible to divorce Krzeminski's statement from Sousa's disability and pretend that he was just saying "she's out of your league". He wasn't. He was saying that Peggy wouldn't want Sousa specifically because of his disability, and furthermore he framed it as "No girl's gonna trade...", i.e. claiming that any woman at all is going to think less of Sousa because of his disability. Which reminds me rather a lot of when my best friend, who is paraplegic, tried to apply for a theater class and they told her, "We don't take people in wheelchairs, and we don't think anyone else will either." That kind of generalization is an attempt to push responsibility over to the disabled person - I'm not being an ablist jerk, you're just naturally inferior. And let me tell you, after a lifetime of crap like that thrown at her, it still got to her - I could see how much it got to her. She's learned how to push against the crap and refuse to let other people define her, but that's a long process, and I don't think it's any wonder Sousa hasn't learned it already. TL;DR the bottom line is this: in a Captain America spinoff, bullies with fascist notions of human worth aren't right. (On the "unless he's Hydra" front, maybe I'm reading into things, but Enver's veiled words and body language in this interview makes me think that there's at least one point in the show when Sousa and Peggy will be antagonistic. I'm hoping it's not in the Hydra sense!)

I think that's pretty baseless. He's made no pass on Peggy or requested anything of her, he hasn't been following her around or done anything around her except talk to her in a friendly manner and offer support - and when she asked him not to white knight her, he did it without any sign of resentment. The only evidence we have that he's even thinking about her in a romantic fashion is because he didn't deny it when Krzeminski suggested it. He's certainly never acted like she shouldn't be dating someone else. Like, the rest of it I can at least somewhat see your point of view, but this is just so out of left field that... I mean, I feel about the same way about this as I do about the notion that Jarvis's wife is a robot. Actually, truth be told, this notion is upsetting to me. That if a guy is nonconfrontational, that automatically means that he's going to be a skeeve in romantic situations. I know I kind of brought the "nice guy" concept into it with that comic, but... the ability to take romantic rejection with grace is in no way connected to the ability to impose your will on the world. I may be overreacting because I'm personally a bit of a wuss, but yeah, I'm gonna need to back off and calm down.

Wait, there are that many lesbian romances on TV? I am clearly watching the wrong shows! I will happily trade Peggy/Angie for some titles. (I've got Lost Girl and The Fosters already, but I'm assuming they're not what you're talking about.) Seriously, though, when I ship, I mostly just do it for fun. I don't insist on any of it becoming canon. (Though, admittedly, I have occasionally given up a show when a ship goes south... but that tends to be because my favourite characters aren't in it as much, or at all.) As far as this show goes, as someone said, a coffee date in the final episode (with whichever character) is pretty much the limit to the amount of romance I'd want. Especially since Steve/Peggy didn't even get that and are still played up as a Big Romance in canon. I do wonder how much gender expectations matter here... not necessarily with you personally, just that I'm surprised that the lack of force in his nature is such an issue. I mean, yeah, he's basically Steve Rogers without the fire, but that's still 90% of a great guy. (Assuming it's not all a cover for evilness.) I think if they wanted Peggy with Thompson they wouldn't hire an actor who gets people backing away from the show just because he's in it... This thread is starting to remind me of this Tiny Sepuku comic, which amuses me. :-)

He's the one who's got the photo that shows Peggy's bullet wounds. He's the one who answered the phone call and heard Jarvis's attempt at an American accent. He's the one who questioned how Stark's stuff was so neatly placed in their way. He's the one who's sworn to "find that bastard". And he's the one who actually knows Peggy well enough to be able to guess that she'd pretend not to have heard of Joe DiMaggio I think it's highly unlikely that he's not meant to be doing something with all of those clues (though I don't know how far he'll get with them). And the fact that he's casting "soulful looks" at Peggy (which he actually does less than he's investigating stuff) means that he's a) paying attention to what she's doing and b) not underestimating her. I mean, I could be wrong, but to me it looks like they're Chechov's Gunning his every other scene. I know, I know. A girl can dream.

Well, I'm primarily judging by Archive of Our Own, which presently has 39 Peggy/Angie stories, which is a lot more than any other ship for this show (not counting Peggy/Steve ships written before the show aired). The general viewing audience probably sees things differently.

I think Sousa's weakness of will is actually an interesting character trait. He's got a lot of things going for him - he's smart, funny, polite and righteous, but then he has this tendency to just roll over and take it whenever the world throws shit at him. Which seems to be deliberate; I saw an article where Gjokaj described how Sousa accepts his position, in contrast to Peggy who fights back (though she chooses her battles). And considering that they seem to know exactly what they can get from Gjokaj, I doubt that his current characterisation is all we're going to get. Evil, though? I don't know. At the moment, he seems more likely to be to this show what Art Bell was to season 1 of Orphan Black, the guy always on the heroine's tail. (ABC writes that "his sharp acumen could make him Peggy's most dangerous rival", which could mean this or that he'll go evil, either way.) Truth be told, I have a soft spot for the lad, but right now my favourite scenario is one where he's Peggy's beard to cover up her romance with Angie. As for whether the topic of "future husband" is even a legit one, I think we're in a special situation in that we know so much about Peggy's future. We know what her profession is going to be, what her aims in life will be, how long she'll live (more or less, she's not dead yet!) and whether or not she'll find out that Cap is still alive. So speculation on the more obscure bits of her future seems valid enough. As for shipping in general, it's gonna happen (regardless of gender) and it's overwhelmingly Peggy/Angie at this point anyway.

Chiming in (hi!) to say that if this is the article discussed, the way it's written makes me think that they just threw Thompson in there as a red herring. I find it more likely that it's either Sousa or someone yet unseen (like a Howling Commando). I wish it could be Angie, but alas... Of course, it could just be that I really don't want it to be Thompson.