I waited a few days too long to type this up and now I've not got very strong impressions anymore, lol.
But it was a good season. It took way longer than I remembered to get Jack definitively in the "not antagonist" role - I suppose because he wouldn't have had anything to do otherwise. Shame.
Violet was great, I wish we'd gotten to see more of her. She was clearly only there to make things hard for Daniel and Peggy, but she was a good person and I liked her.
Speaking of, I still don't like Jason Wilkes. Don't dislike/hate him, just never warmed to him. His role in the plot was thin compared to his role as "potential alternative love interest that we know Peggy will not choose in the end, there just to add tension", which is a trope I hate anyway. But then! Then he holds a gun to Peggy's head after siding with the baddies to save his own life, later goes out of his way to say he was entirely sane and making his own choices at the time, but it just gets brushed off as "oh well, desperation"? Really? If Jack had done that there would be an entire season of angsting about trust issues. And it wasn't necessary for the plot, especially as two episodes later Jason is a, once again, a genuine prisoner just so Peggy can be all "he's a good person! I have to genuinely be willing to shoot Jack to save him!" He was a much better character in the last few episodes where was doing science with Howard.
Ana Jarvis is the best, no notes. The character and acting, that is (and wardrobe/hair choices). I don't love that they decided the one time being shot has permanent consequences would be to take away her fertility, nor that it was mostly there for Mr Jarvis's angst, glossing over Ana's very legitimate feelings with a "we had a cry, but she's awesome and got over it fast". Though I recognise that they were setting up a reason why Jarvis and Ana were effectively parents to Tony in the future without him having 'siblings'.
Dottie was great. I like that the answer they came up with to "how do we get her back without everything being a fight to the death with Peggy?" was "let her be sort of obsessed with Peggy and want to be some twisted kind of friends". I fully expect that in later seasons there would have been more "forced to work together" plots until they could pull a Natasha and make her part of the team. Would've been fun :(
I like that between Peggy, Dottie, and Whitney we get three very different kinds of female power, and that Whitney in particular got to explore going from having "I'm beautiful and can manipulate men" power to "obey or die" power. Don't love the going insane part at the end, but for neutralising her as a plot threat I guess it was that or death, so... hm.
I feel like I'm only listing negatives again; don't like that. There was so much I liked. Rose! Daniel being a good balance of Responsible Chief and Man In Love Who Loses Objectivity When Peggy's In Danger. Jack having a very in-character struggle and teetering back and forth a few times before landing on Team Do The Right Thing - and how despite his jealously and snide criticisms, he always believed in Peggy throughout, even if silently.
About the final scene: we all agree the shooter was Michael Carter, right? And that the redacted SOE file was probably about him? I think so, but it occured to me that, since it was so heavily implied that the file was fabricated to blackmail Peggy, maybe Michael heard about the forgery and stole it to protect her. Potentially? Either way I wish we got to see where season 3 would have gone with it.
And now, back to fanfic! There must be something on Ao3 I haven't read yet, it's been years since I looked for fic in this fandom... Anyone have recommendations? (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sholio I'm already rereading a some of yours. Still good :) )
But it was a good season. It took way longer than I remembered to get Jack definitively in the "not antagonist" role - I suppose because he wouldn't have had anything to do otherwise. Shame.
Violet was great, I wish we'd gotten to see more of her. She was clearly only there to make things hard for Daniel and Peggy, but she was a good person and I liked her.
Speaking of, I still don't like Jason Wilkes. Don't dislike/hate him, just never warmed to him. His role in the plot was thin compared to his role as "potential alternative love interest that we know Peggy will not choose in the end, there just to add tension", which is a trope I hate anyway. But then! Then he holds a gun to Peggy's head after siding with the baddies to save his own life, later goes out of his way to say he was entirely sane and making his own choices at the time, but it just gets brushed off as "oh well, desperation"? Really? If Jack had done that there would be an entire season of angsting about trust issues. And it wasn't necessary for the plot, especially as two episodes later Jason is a, once again, a genuine prisoner just so Peggy can be all "he's a good person! I have to genuinely be willing to shoot Jack to save him!" He was a much better character in the last few episodes where was doing science with Howard.
Ana Jarvis is the best, no notes. The character and acting, that is (and wardrobe/hair choices). I don't love that they decided the one time being shot has permanent consequences would be to take away her fertility, nor that it was mostly there for Mr Jarvis's angst, glossing over Ana's very legitimate feelings with a "we had a cry, but she's awesome and got over it fast". Though I recognise that they were setting up a reason why Jarvis and Ana were effectively parents to Tony in the future without him having 'siblings'.
Dottie was great. I like that the answer they came up with to "how do we get her back without everything being a fight to the death with Peggy?" was "let her be sort of obsessed with Peggy and want to be some twisted kind of friends". I fully expect that in later seasons there would have been more "forced to work together" plots until they could pull a Natasha and make her part of the team. Would've been fun :(
I like that between Peggy, Dottie, and Whitney we get three very different kinds of female power, and that Whitney in particular got to explore going from having "I'm beautiful and can manipulate men" power to "obey or die" power. Don't love the going insane part at the end, but for neutralising her as a plot threat I guess it was that or death, so... hm.
About the final scene: we all agree the shooter was Michael Carter, right? And that the redacted SOE file was probably about him? I think so, but it occured to me that, since it was so heavily implied that the file was fabricated to blackmail Peggy, maybe Michael heard about the forgery and stole it to protect her. Potentially? Either way I wish we got to see where season 3 would have gone with it.
And now, back to fanfic! There must be something on Ao3 I haven't read yet, it's been years since I looked for fic in this fandom... Anyone have recommendations? (
sholio I'm already rereading a some of yours. Still good :) )Tags: