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That MCU meme made me realise it's been 10 years since the Agent Carter show came out, and while I know I've watched it at least once since the first airing, I couldn't recall when. So I decided to rewatch it.
I've just finished season one, and a few things stand out:
First, it's really engrossing. I have a really, really good memory when it comes to shows or video games and the like, especially ones I loved enough to watch multiple times so I remembered everything that was going to happen, up to and including full lines of dialogue, verbatim. But I wasn't bored. Usually when rewatching something I'm doing at least one other thing at the same time - on the laptop, a dumb phone game, drawing, sorting or tidying something - but I put these episodes on, sat down and watched them start to end with no moment of bordeom. They're well paced, well told episodes, and while there's a few moments where the plot is thin on logical reasons because they needed a way to continue the story, I didn't mind.
Also, there's nothing more satisfying than watching Peggy Carter hit people with blunt objects while jazz music plays. Every plot contrivance gets a free pass if it gets us that.
The characters are solid. Peggy and Jarvis of course, and Howard in his insecure sleezeball way, but what struck me in this rewatch were the SSR agents: Daniel, Jack and Chief Dooley were all really well done.
I didn't apprecite Chief well enough the first time: He's a hardass, but when he was angry or dismissive, it was for good reason (unfortunate baseline of 1940s sexism aside), and he was reasonable: He let Peggy go to Russia despite the car report because she was the best for the job, he listened to arguments and evidence enough to start doubting the 'fact' of Howard's guilt that, given that newsreel, definite came from his bosses rather than being his determination; then he went to Jarvis and had a civil discussion. He doubted Peggy's honesty, but trusted Sousa's gut, and when it was clear Peggy was both telling the truth and supremely competent, he handed her the responsibility of stopping his murderer. Honestly, his first scene is his worst one.
Jack, also, didn't get enough credit from me the first time I saw the show, but season 2 made it easier to like him then. Still, I saw more on this rewatch. PTSD aside, how much he was struggling was so much more obvious to me this time. (Maybe as I'm older and more familiar with similar shitty traumas, if on a smaller scale).
Sousa, of course, was my favourite from the start, but I saw him with rose-coloured glasses and didn't give him enough credit for being a rounded human being. I remember a piece of meta that went round during S1 that argued back against the criticism against Daniel for being so angry with Peggy when they arrested her, because yeah, it was entirely justified.
It also took me this long to realise that the final scene of S2, where Daniel tells off Peggy for being reckless when she thought he was going to thank her and was all "oh, don't worry about it :D", is a reflection of their first scene together in S1, where he stood up for her and she politely said "don't, I got this". Nice bookends :)
I also think Fenhoff and Dottie killed General McGuiness (? the general who used Midnight Oil); it's just too convenient that he died a month before the season (or halfway through the season even, which took place over several weeks, so it could have been even more recent).
I'm still processing, will probably have more thoughts later, but this was so delightful, I wish I'd done it sooner. I fully intend to rewatch S2 over the next week (Ana Jarvis! Cannot wait). And then, no doubt, go and re-read all the fanfic I bookmarked, because aside from one or two favourites, I don't think I've reread those in years either. Something to look forward to :)
I've just finished season one, and a few things stand out:
First, it's really engrossing. I have a really, really good memory when it comes to shows or video games and the like, especially ones I loved enough to watch multiple times so I remembered everything that was going to happen, up to and including full lines of dialogue, verbatim. But I wasn't bored. Usually when rewatching something I'm doing at least one other thing at the same time - on the laptop, a dumb phone game, drawing, sorting or tidying something - but I put these episodes on, sat down and watched them start to end with no moment of bordeom. They're well paced, well told episodes, and while there's a few moments where the plot is thin on logical reasons because they needed a way to continue the story, I didn't mind.
Also, there's nothing more satisfying than watching Peggy Carter hit people with blunt objects while jazz music plays. Every plot contrivance gets a free pass if it gets us that.
The characters are solid. Peggy and Jarvis of course, and Howard in his insecure sleezeball way, but what struck me in this rewatch were the SSR agents: Daniel, Jack and Chief Dooley were all really well done.
I didn't apprecite Chief well enough the first time: He's a hardass, but when he was angry or dismissive, it was for good reason (unfortunate baseline of 1940s sexism aside), and he was reasonable: He let Peggy go to Russia despite the car report because she was the best for the job, he listened to arguments and evidence enough to start doubting the 'fact' of Howard's guilt that, given that newsreel, definite came from his bosses rather than being his determination; then he went to Jarvis and had a civil discussion. He doubted Peggy's honesty, but trusted Sousa's gut, and when it was clear Peggy was both telling the truth and supremely competent, he handed her the responsibility of stopping his murderer. Honestly, his first scene is his worst one.
Jack, also, didn't get enough credit from me the first time I saw the show, but season 2 made it easier to like him then. Still, I saw more on this rewatch. PTSD aside, how much he was struggling was so much more obvious to me this time. (Maybe as I'm older and more familiar with similar shitty traumas, if on a smaller scale).
Sousa, of course, was my favourite from the start, but I saw him with rose-coloured glasses and didn't give him enough credit for being a rounded human being. I remember a piece of meta that went round during S1 that argued back against the criticism against Daniel for being so angry with Peggy when they arrested her, because yeah, it was entirely justified.
It also took me this long to realise that the final scene of S2, where Daniel tells off Peggy for being reckless when she thought he was going to thank her and was all "oh, don't worry about it :D", is a reflection of their first scene together in S1, where he stood up for her and she politely said "don't, I got this". Nice bookends :)
I also think Fenhoff and Dottie killed General McGuiness (? the general who used Midnight Oil); it's just too convenient that he died a month before the season (or halfway through the season even, which took place over several weeks, so it could have been even more recent).
I'm still processing, will probably have more thoughts later, but this was so delightful, I wish I'd done it sooner. I fully intend to rewatch S2 over the next week (Ana Jarvis! Cannot wait). And then, no doubt, go and re-read all the fanfic I bookmarked, because aside from one or two favourites, I don't think I've reread those in years either. Something to look forward to :)
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