"Learn To Count!": The Short

[Wilowy]

Loved her in Captain America? How about when she got her own chance to shine?

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1b8lwz_%E0%B8%8B-%E0%B8%9A%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A2-marvel-one-shot-agent-carter_shortfilms

[ajay]

I had not seen that yet! Thanks. It makes me look forward to the show even more. 

[Goldmoon]

Wow!  Or Crichy!  I loved that.  Had never seen it before. I liked the premiere of AC.  Hope it keeps being what it is.

[Danny Franks]

Hands down, the best short Marvel has done. It convinced me that an Agent Carter show would be great, and that Hayley Atwell deserved the chance to continue Peggy's journey. And man, does she look good when she's kicking ass. I like that she's tough, but not superhuman, because again, it makes her feel so much more real.

 

But it does make me wish, again, that they'd managed to keep Bradley Whitford on for the show itself. Because he's such a smug, douchy buffoon in this role, and that makes me smile.

 

Also, I like that the picture Peggy kept of Steve was of skinny, diminutive, pre-serum Steve. Just reiterates that he was a special guy, regardless of his powers, and that Peggy recognised that.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Danny Franks

[Dandesun]

Hands down, the best short Marvel has done. It convinced me that an Agent Carter show would be great, and that Hayley Atwell deserved the chance to continue Peggy's journey. And man, does she look good when she's kicking ass. I like that she's tough, but not superhuman, because again, it makes her feel so much more real.

 

But it does make me wish, again, that they'd managed to keep Bradley Whitford on for the show itself. Because he's such a smug, douchy buffoon in this role, and that makes me smile.

 

Also, I like that the picture Peggy kept of Steve was of skinny, diminutive, pre-serum Steve. Just reiterates that he was a special guy, regardless of his powers, and that Peggy recognised that.

 

I squeed quite loudly when it was announced that there was going to be an Agent Carter short on the Iron Man 3 disc release. It was a great one. I was absolutely delighted.

 

Bradley Whitford playing in his wheelhouse as Infuriating Smug Douchebag is always fun. But I loved the final clip with Dum Dum Dugan just flabbergasted over the bikinis and Howard casually answering his questions. "It's called the bikini." "Did you invent it?" "No. The French."

 

Peggy having the picture of pre-serum Steve has always been endearing. It was obvious that she grew to appreciate him before he got all tall and strong. Erskine picked him for a reason, the reason being that Steve had that inherent goodness in him that the serum would enhance along with the rest of him. Steve figured out how to get the flag, Steve never gave up despite being targeted and picked on by Gilmour Hodge... the dude Peggy socked within minutes of meeting him. I always found it funny how in The Avengers Tony mocked Steve for being nothing more than a lab experiment "Everything special about you came out of a bottle!" when the thing that made Steve special was Steve. His enhancements came from a bottle (so to speak) but Erskine knew that Steve was the right one, the obvious choice. Steve was smart, had guts, was compassionate and just wanted to be useful.

 

In a lot of ways, just wanting to be useful is probably something Peggy was able to empathize with.

[Agent Dark]

Having not seen Iron Man 3 at the cinemas, instead watching it when it came out on Bluray, I though the Agent Carter short was pretty much the best thing about that movie.

[Bruinsfan]

I loved the short up until the phone call from Stark, but something about Cooper's glib delivery made it seem like promoting Peggy was an impulsive decision rather than her excellent work being recognized and rewarded by higher-ups. Also, what would telling someone she's going to run S.H.I.E.L.D. even mean to them in 1945?

[Danny Franks]

I loved the short up until the phone call from Stark, but something about Cooper's glib delivery made it seem like promoting Peggy was an impulsive decision rather than her excellent work being recognized and rewarded by higher-ups. Also, what would telling someone she's going to run S.H.I.E.L.D. even mean to them in 1945?

 

I guess I'd say that Howard seems like a guy who wants everyone to think he's glib and impulsive all the time, even when he's carefully thought things out. Tony is similar, in that respect. For the SHIELD thing, you'd have to assume that Whitford's character had heard at least bits about what it was going to be. Or that it just sounds pretty impressive to say someone is going to be running SHIELD.

[kennyab]

I guess I'd say that Howard seems like a guy who wants everyone to think he's glib and impulsive all the time, even when he's carefully thought things out. Tony is similar, in that respect. For the SHIELD thing, you'd have to assume that Whitford's character had heard at least bits about what it was going to be. Or that it just sounds pretty impressive to say someone is going to be running SHIELD.

 

Considering the fact that SHIELD was built from the SSR, I bet there had been talk amongst some of the higher staff about it, maybe even interviews about roles in the new organization. They had probably heard that the SSR was going to be subsumed into this larger group and had been playing their political games jockeying for top jobs. In the meantime, Peggy was her badass self getting the job done (and, we're finding out, clearing the name of Howard Stark, who's pretty integral in forming SHIELD in the first place).

[bagert]

So three episodes into the "prequel" mini-series, there are some potential continuity problems with the one-shot.

 

[Mild spoilers for the Agent Carter mini-series below, but I think they've pretty much all been revealed in publicity.]

 

So the mid-credits scene of the one-shot is sometime after July 5, 1946 - the date the bikini was publicly introduced.  (I am assuming that scene is the same day that Howard called Flynn.)  Peggy is in New York (same as in the mini-series) in what appears to be the same office as the one-shot.  Except there has been a complete turnover in personnel, with the exception of Peggy.  I wonder how they will explain that - maybe because of them going after Howard Stark (and his loyal butler) so vigorously?

 

Since according to the one-shot Peggy has been at work at the SSR New York office for 3 months.  That's not a lot of time - at the beginning the mini-series, Peggy had been there for at least a couple of weeks.  (And she had known her roommate Colleen for a "few months", implying that Peggy was in New York well before she started her current SSR position.)

 

So in the next 11 weeks, Peggy needs to clear Stark's name well enough so that Agent Flynn acts like nothing ever happened to Stark when talking to him over the phone and following his orders, Jarvis went back to taking care of Stark (which explains why Peggy didn't contact him) and they cleaned house at the SSR New York office.

 

Also, why couldn't Colonel Phillips get Peggy a better position in the first place?  I mean, during the war, Phillips sent his "best agent" (Peggy) to rescue Dr. Erskine before the first Cap movie.

 

[Danny Franks]

At this point, I'm prepared to consider the short a kind of alternate story to the one we're seeing. One where Peggy was working in a different office and Howard didn't get all his toys stolen. I don't mind discounting it, because I'm still getting plenty of awesome Peggy awesomeness from the show.

 

As for Phillips not being able to get her a better job, I think he did get her a good job. She's an SSR agent, and a woman. Two things that probably do not go together, and I imagine the work of women like Violette Szabo was forgotten or just not widely known, at this time. So I think he did what he could for Peggy, in terms of getting her a job she'd want, but he couldn't then force Bradley Whitford to give her missions. And I think Peggy would hate feeling like she was being given work just because she has powerful friends.