S01.E01: Now Is Not the End / S01.E02: Bridge And Tunnel

[Fiftyninth]

Enver Gjokaj! That is all.

Amen, forever and always.

[FurryFury]

I'm fearing this show will challenge my love for him, though. If there's nothing much to him behind being a disabled nice guy who'll eventually help Peggy, I doubt I'll be able to like Sousa. I just need more.

[Fiftyninth]

I'm fearing this show will challenge my love for him, though. If there's nothing much to him behind being a disabled nice guy who'll eventually help Peggy, I doubt I'll be able to like Sousa. I just need more.

I was instantly attracted to him on DOLLHOUSE, but it took several episodes for me to adore him and appreciate his performance. I see no reason to assume he won't have more unplumbed depths in this role, although not as many as Victor had perhaps.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

First, a high five to the casting people for getting Bubbles and Ray Wise (THE DEVIL!) as guest stars. I was even more excited to see Enver Gjokaj who I will always love thanks to Dollhouse.

Enver Gjokav is such a terrific actor that I can't understand why he doesn't get a regular TV gig.  Hopefully this will lead to one.

 

 James Tiptree Jr mentioned when she worked in the CIA, she and other women agents were disrespected all the time.

I thought of Tiptree also.  The sexism was very real and not just in the miltary.    People need to remember that even in the 60's when Alice Sheldon first started presenting herself to the SF world as "James Tiptree Jr.." it was her story about  her perfectly real war record  that was really the thing that made so many people certain she was indeed  a man. 

 

I may not have been watching or reading the right things, but I've never seen much on how soldiers adapted to going home after WWII. It's touched on in shows like Band of Brothers and The Pacific, and in movies like Saving Private Ryan, but rarely explored in any detail.

 

 

You could watch The Best years of Our Lives, a movie released in 1946, which focuses specifically on how returning WW-II veterans re-adapted to peacetime life.  It won seven Academy Awards, including best picture.

Seconded.  It's a great favorite of mine, and of everyone over in the Turner Classic Movies forum here on PTV.  The director, William Wyler, was a war veteran who lost something like 70% of his hearing as a result of his service, BTW. 

 

I will nitpick enough to point out that using the raw piece of meat for the punching sound effect was NOT the way that was done in the 40s, even though it often is today.  (Mr. Rat is a radio historian.)  Aside from anything else there were still meat shortages in 1946 and that would have been an incredibly expensive waste of meat.  I always enjoy portrayals of classic radio drama, though.

 

All in all, I really loved this and I'm sorry it's only going to be 8 episodes.

Edited January 12, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[Kel Varnsen]

I liked it. It some how managed to be really fun, and have serious stakes at the same time. Something the MCU movies have pulled off but AoS never really managed. Plus the production design looked awesome. 

 

Although like others, knowing what we know about the SSR, I will be watching to see if I see any hints of Hydra. I am kind of hoping the show doesn't go on for too long, because if it leads to the founding of SHIELD, and then Peggy being the director, I am not sure I could buy that someone they built up as so awesome, wouldn't notice the whole organization being infiltrated right under her nose.

My one criticism is the amount of sexism the guys displayed to Peggy. Yes, it was a sadly authentic look at the general attitudes to women in the period, but Peggy was as close to the front lines as women got in the war, and for them to all dismiss her so utterly felt a little contrived.

I kind of bought it. I suspect that most people have very little idea of what she did in the war (I mean look at the radio play). The fact that there aren't other women probably makes it worse for her, since I could imagine that a lot of the guys might think she got the job just because she was Captain America's girlfriend. 

 

James D'Arcy was pretty great as Jarvis. Mannered and prim, without being a punchline. Must be tough knowing he's playing a character that inspired a Paul Bettany voiced AI.

 

The Jarvis thing was funny. I always thought that spoiled genius Tony Stark would have named his computer Jarvis, because he was just to yelling for Jarvis for every little thing he needed. But with this Jarvis I am not seeing him putting up with that kind of crap from a spoiled rich kid. 

 

Speaking of Tony, Jarvis and his upbringing, have they ever given an idea of how old Tony's mom is, or when she married his dad. Because if Tony was in his 40's in the first Iron Man movie, that would have meant he was born sometime in the late 1960's. His dad was a grown adult in the 1940's so he must have had a crazy young wife, to be having a baby 20+ years later.

 

Also when they were in Howard's apartment, I thought it would have been funny if in the sexy costume closet, if Peggy had pulled out a really fake looking Captain America costume. Like something you would find at a Halloween costume store.

[Bruinsfan]

Although like others, knowing what we know about the SSR, I will be watching to see if I see any hints of Hydra. I am kind of hoping the show doesn't go on for too long, because if it leads to the founding of SHIELD, and then Peggy being the director, I am not sure I could buy that someone they built up as so awesome, wouldn't notice the whole organization being infiltrated right under her nose.

Didn't the Winter Soldier movie say that the Hydra infiltration began in the 1970s when Zola's computerized analog went into use by S.H.I.E.L.D.? Peggy might have been retired by that point. (I certainly can't see her signing off on the idea of relying on the electronic ghost of the top Nazi scientist. How could that possibly go wrong?)

Edited January 12, 2015 by Bruinsfan

[Kel Varnsen]

Didn't the Winter Soldier movie say that the Hydra infiltration began in the 1970s when Zola's computerized analog went into use by S.H.I.E.L.D.? Peggy might have been retired by that point. (I certainly can't see her signing off on the idea of relying on the electronic ghost of the top Nazi scientist. How could that possibly go wrong?)

I thought it was at the end of the actual war, when the US and other allied nations started bringing over Nazi scientists. Not sure about the actual timeline. Like has been suggested it could happen after the events of this season. But at the same time we know Peggy eventually is the founder of SHIELD, so how did she miss that?

[Sandman]

I watched that scene again where a woman's voice is heard and I agree it was not any kind of recording.  She said, "Edwin, I'm home, and he said "I'll be right there, Anna."  So not a phantom person.

 

I suggested upthread that I thought there was no Mrs. Jarvis, because I thought Jarvis needed a reason not to be available at all times to Agent Carter, the better to work on complementary (alternative?) hijinks with Stark Sr. I somehow completely forgot about the bit of dialogue above. Scratch that theory, I guess.

 

I second (third?) the love for The Best Years of Our Lives. It's a great movie; honest, moving, and almost completely unsentimental.

Edited January 13, 2015 by Sandman

[kennyab]

I thought it was at the end of the actual war, when the US and other allied nations started bringing over Nazi scientists. Not sure about the actual timeline. Like has been suggested it could happen after the events of this season. But at the same time we know Peggy eventually is the founder of SHIELD, so how did she miss that?

 

Here's a really good article about SHIELD's founding, Zola, and how the events mirror real life. My guess is that Peggy probably wasn't too keen on having someone like Zola on board, but I could see Howard vetoing her with the blessing of the US government.

[that one guy]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and just assume that most of what Peggy did during the war is so classified that the other SSR agents she's working with don't have clearance. This would neatly explain why the other agents underestimate her so much, and assume she was just Cap's press liaison. Probably most things Hydra related would be at least heavily redacted. Lots of top secret stuff from WWII wasn't declassified until the 1990s.

[Sandman]

That was my impression, as well. The tone of the word "liaison" in the mouth of at least one of the other agents implied "girlfriend" and suggested that he didn't know what Agent Carter's real role had been, or how much the General relied on her.

[SlackerInc]

Enjoyed this, but I had to chuckle at the notion that an entire imploded refinery could be hauled in on a flatbed truck without even sagging the springs.

[Bruinsfan]

Maybe most of it vaporized?

[Llywela]

Episode one aired on Fox UK this weekend, bringing the show to a British audience at last - it was lovely to be able to watch it properly, on my TV, rather than just on the laptop.

 

At the start and end of each advert break, they had little clips of Hayley Atwell answering questions from Twitter - little questions like, 'what was your favourite costume?' or 'what was your favourite scene?' and so on.

[ChelseaNH]

Jealous now.

[Raja]

Episode one aired on Fox UK this weekend, bringing the show to a British audience at last - it was lovely to be able to watch it properly, on my TV, rather than just on the laptop.

At the start and end of each advert break, they had little clips of Hayley Atwell answering questions from Twitter - little questions like, 'what was your favourite costume?' or 'what was your favourite scene?' and so on.

We have a network that does something similar when showing movies. So instead of two hours they stretch into a three hour timeslot.

[Chas411]

This just started airing in the UK and its fantastic. Agree with the raves for Hayley Atwell shes fantastic and brings so much charm and personality to Peggy. Also enjoying the background cast. I'm not familiar with Marvel so are Sousa and Thompson original characters for the show or are they an established part of the franchise?

[Raja]

This just started airing in the UK and its fantastic. Agree with the raves for Hayley Atwell shes fantastic and brings so much charm and personality to Peggy. Also enjoying the background cast. I'm not familiar with Marvel so are Sousa and Thompson original characters for the show or are they an established part of the franchise?

I am reasonably sure that Sousa and Thompson were created for the MCU and later went to print.