kennyab

One note on the recap -- Peggy didn't kill Bubbles. She just used the knock-out lipstick on him, typewriter guy was the one who killed him.

Very right, thanks for that. While I'll be disappointed to see Agent Carter take a bow (a temporary one, hopefully), just looking at the picture of Leslie and Ben on the Parks and Rec homepage already has me all kinds of emotional.

But it makes sense more for his character than any other. When we first met Tom, we thought he was a womanizing, cheating cad. It turns out, though, that he was literally hopelessly devoted to his wife. For all his talk, he's always longed for that connection, he just didn't know how to find it -- until he met Lucy, and she told him what a dumbass he was being. It's great that he's successful, but his real character arc was maturing to the point that he was ready for the type of relationship he wanted back at the beginning with Wendy.

Ha! I actually like Howard more than Tony, but truth.

I don't think it'll be as bad for him this time. He moved on and created something new, and that's kind of what the the barber storyline was about. As much as he hates change, he saw by the end that there are new opportunities out there. And I think that after the initial break-up of the Parks department, he's resigned himself to the fact that these people are going to spread out eventually.

Other than not doing his one job (thanks up-thread posters, I will now have that in my head all day), he actually handled himself pretty well. Heck, he's not the one who died. A little more practice and he could become a master of crutch-fu. Super excited for next week, but why does it have to come on immediately after the Parks and Rec finale? I'll likely be a blubbering mess already. Going to have to pull out the old TiVo and see if it works enough to pause Agent Carter for a few minutes when it comes on.

Situation Normal: All F*****d Up

The ratings were up a tenth of a point to 1.4 (assuming it doesn't adjust, as it hasn't through most of its run). Fresh Off the Boat seemed to provide a pretty decent lead-in. So it's holding steady and didn't totally lose its audience like Galavant, I'm pretty sure its still doing well in timeshifting, and it's continuing to generate positive buzz. While a second season isn't a sure thing by any stretch, I don't think it's currently off the table. Especially if they fast-forward to the 50s and capitalize on the next Cap movie by utilizing Sebastian Stan's 80-gazillion-picture deal for a couple of appearances.

This, to me, is the most believable. Because she's hitched her career to Leslie at this point (or rather, Leslie hitched April's career to her own), April has a killer resume. In a fairly brief span of time, she went from an intern to assistant to city manager to working on a (successful?) congressional campaign to assistant director of a regional National Parks Service office. She's made hella political connections in DC. That type of upward mobility would shine in a career-services-oriented job.

My second reaction (after rolling around on the floor after that gut punch) was that they brought in Trevor Noah a couple of months ago to test him as replacement. He's politically savvy, very funny, and incredibly personable. And he's one of those people who can just bring up relevant facts on seemingly any subject on command. All host qualities. I'm intrigued by the idea of Jessica Williams or Wyatt Cenac. For me, they've been the best correspondents of the last ten years. I've never seen Jessica out-of-character, though, so I'm not sure what she'd be like as host. Wyatt's got the goods, but I don't know if he'd be interested in the gig. He strikes me as being in the point in his career where he doesn't want to be at a desk. But my #1 pick is still Trevor. He just seems to have the complete package ready to go.

Yes. I've been thinking lately that with the changes in media and distribution that are happening, shows don't necessarily ever have to truly die. And to me, this is a great example of a show they could revisit over time. They're always going to be able to explore the social and political issues of the day through the lens of the ParksVerse. Kind of like what they're doing here, with more compressed character beats and a sharper focus on commentary-based humor. Honestly, I think this is the funniest and smartest the show has been in quite a while, and I could easily see revisiting the universe every so often via a movie or mini on Netflix/Hulu/platform of the day. PS: It's awesome to see them getting to revisit everyone, like the Langmans and the accountants in this victory lap.

I disagree with the change in Coach Bieste's character, but Dot-Marie is always a class act, and I'm glad she acknowledged what the character's represented up until now. While I do want to see more transgender and transexual representation, Shannon's just the wrong character to do this with, as she was already compelling and spoke well to an underrepresented audience. But it's Glee, so whatever. If it weren't for Dot's warmth, I wouldn't care one bit for the character, as he's essentially become an inconsistent spokes vessel at this point. It's totally because of the talented person playing Bieste that I want him to have a happy ending.

I wondered at first, but I totally buy that Diane's not a wedding person and was just staying home with the kids instead of getting a sitter. Not to mention the fact that any person Ron would probably allow as a sitter was already at the wedding.

I believe it would make a difference for him to see her in action. He was speaking as an unreliable narrator there, as we know from history that he's wrong, there are plenty of men capable of seeing women as equals. I think that because he hasn't had his viewpoint challenged, there's no reason for him to think differently. But if he had been on the front lines of the siege of the Red Skull's fortress, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with Peggy and the Howling Commandos, I think he'd have a different perspective. I think Cap's wartime activities were known to the public once he actually became involved in the fight. Probably not the specifics, but I think the public came to realize that he was actual out on the battlefield.

I know it feels like they're burning it off, but I mentioned last week that I don't think that's actually the case. NBC originally had four midseason comedies that they could program into two 1-hour blocks. Parks and Rec, Kimmy Schmidt, Undatable, and, uhm, something else. My gut is that their original plan was to launch Kimmy Schmidt with the final season of Parks and Rec (you get the Poehler-Fey connection that way), but then they decided to make a deal with Netflix to move the show over there. They didn't want to leave either of the other two shows floundering on their own, and they didn't want a hole of reruns in their schedule paired with 30 minutes of new programming, so this is what we got. I doubt anyone finds it a satisfying solution, but they can't leave either of the show's they're trying to grow out in the wilderness by itself, so this is what we end up with.

I think it's a riff on pretty much all of them. They've got a social media platform like Facebook (I mean, no one really uses Google+), the name definitely evokes Google, the headquarters and the solid device market seems like a take on Apple, the delivery service is straight from Amazon. They've got it nebulous enough to just be a stand-in for whatever they need for the story, which I think is a fair way to do it, and certainly Parks and Rec's style.

That would be awesome (and Disney/Marvel pretty much owns Sebastian Stan's soul at this point), but it's probably a little too early. I don't think he really gets going until the 50's. Now, if we get a season two that jumps forward a decade...

I agree with you 100% about that. I meant that maybe there's a twist with Angie in that she meets Gabe and ends up marrying him, thus actually her own little part in the future of the MCU. My guess is both. If I read it correctly, the guy she killed was just some rando who helped Stark get in the country and was looking for some payback after Peggy and Jarvis retrieved Howard. Dottie's there to do long-term surveillance on Peggy, so she can't just have a random nutter blowing all of that. Ultimately, I'm pretty sure she's a bad guy working for Leviathan, but in that moment her actions actually served Peggy's interests.

I think they're basing that plot on Apple's upcoming "spaceship" campus, an very ambitious project, and one that has its share of detractors and naysayers. Converting unused urban spaces is yesterday's fad. Building super-ultra-green and to very precise spec is where it's at (being a bit sarcastic with these last two statements, but the way). While they may be a bit optimistic on the timelines, the technologies themselves aren't so far-fetched. Amazon Air, their drone delivery service, is in development right now. Glassless 3-D TVs have been demonstrated at CES for the last two or three years, and transparent OLED displays already exist. And of course Google Glass and Oculus Rift VR have been out for a while. The show's taken some liberties for how long it will take them to be widespread, sure, but I consider that totally fair in the name of satire, especially as they're making a point of how enmeshed into people's lives Gryzzl has become.

As far as the SSR is concerned, Howard was only involved in Operation: Rebirth. The call he places at the end of the one-shot is to recruit Peggy as the head of SHIELD as the newly-forming SHIELD.

I liked it, as it represents a shift that's starting to happen in-universe for the MCU. Up until this point, they've been worried about HYDRA and the Skull's energy weapons. WWII's over though, and they're more in clean-up mode with HYDRA (not realizing what Zola and his crew are starting to get up to). We're now in a transitional phase, what with the Red Scare and Cold War looming on the horizon. Leviathan represents that change in power and tactics, and Dottie, who I assume is Soviet spy working for Leviathan, is the first taste we're getting of that world change. Leviathan's rise may even be the impetus for the formation of SHIELD. And it's an interesting parallel to the shift that's occurring in AoS with the presence of the Inhumans becoming known. I'm loving what a rich history they're providing in the MCU. I'm looking really forward to the look into the 50's MCU we're going to get in Ant-Man, and it's awesome that Peggy is basically serving as the backbone that holds the whole of the MCU together.

Howard's lying has nothing to do with the fact that Peggy's a woman. He respects her more than just about any other person in the world. He knew that she'd wouldn't like the idea of him profiteering from Steve's blood, so he lied to her to avoid the whole thing. He knew that she'd help no matter what, as she wouldn't want Cap's blood to get into enemy hands, but he knew she'd bring up the type of ethical argument that he tries very hard to ignore (hence her bringing up the guilt he was trying to avoid).

Can we have a whole episode that's basically an homage to Oscar Wilde? That's be great.

She is trying to make it in show biz, so... But they've already got one Black Widow, I don't think they need two. And I think it's important for Peggy to have someone in her life who isn't in the spy game. But if they end up wanting some sort of twist, then I suggest she end up marrying Gabe Jones and being Trip's grandma.

I think the show did make their statement through Ben's speech (although I'd argue that these services should require an opt-in rather than allow an opt-out). They pointed out that the services can be both helpful and creepy, and it should be up to the individual as to whether Grizzgle can mine a user's data. And it was also a great character moment for Ben. He usually becomes a human train wreck any time he feels the shadow of Ice Town looming overhead. But he overcame it here and was composed and articulate. We've seen how capable he's become, but it was his moment to actually move past it himself.