Everything's played out here, with only a couple loose ends, notably whether Meat Head's extra-marital girlfriend will crash his funeral. Leviathan is still out there, but they've been unable to get possession of Stark's Bad Babies, and their agent, Mr. Green Suit (not in this epsiode) has lost his magic typewriter, Leviathan's only win this week was killing Meat Head and his captive, which didn't look all that impressive.
No Google? Don't worry, just grab a copy of a huge hardcover book of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It includes a Book of Symbols, complete with a heart with a line through it, calling it "Fission". Which, considering this is right after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is not ominous at all.
Team SSR Guys continues to do competent detective work while seeming like complete assholes. And their IDs need serious work. Despite not having badges or any Constitutional powers or restraints, people still seem to think they're a law enforcement agency of some sort. Despite not even being an official, overt government agency.
No, these are not playing cards. We swear.
Jarvis gets a turn being interrogated by the SSR. Because he can lawyer up, the SSR avoids beating him. They know from the NYPD paperwork that Jarvis reported Stark's car missing and technically can't be liable for it's appearance at the Roxxon Implosion, So, all they've got is Jarvis' past, which includes an unfortunate treason charge. Thompson has no details, but he spends a few minutes threatening to expose Jarvis with the paltry information he does have. It's Carter to the rescue, pretending to choose the worst moment possible to announce that the SSR does, in fact, know perfectly well that the car was stolen. Jarvis announces that he's free to go, which is fitting because the SSR doesn't appear to be a real government agency to begin with.
Agent Carter still has to play Dumb Girl, this week in such a way that Chief Dooley gives her a well-deserved lecture. She plays suitably chastised, suitably naive and inexperienced, and Dooley implies that he can't fire her. Seriously. Everyone else's war records are well known- was hers just never written down? When she's not convincing her co-workers that she's an idiot, she's decided to investigate the vault break in personally, starting with the vault.
Chief Dooley banishes her from the office, giving her time to prepare for her own vault investigation. Step one is pissing off new friend Angie who would rather spend the evening in a bitch session. As Carter manages to evade an evening of Schnapps and Rhubarb Pie only to find herself in the middle of meeting a new resident, ostensibly to replace the shameless hussy kicked out over breakfast. One wonders if Miriam Fry knows that Carter pulled a gun on the miscreant who snuck into her building the night before. Dottie is from Iowa, wants to be a ballet dancer, and instantly likes Carter, despite her polite reserve.
My gun and I don't like you
Onto the Stark Mansion, where she and Jarvis trade a couple one-liners about what's really necessary for brushing teeth, and lower themselves into the sewer main under Stark's vault. Because sewer mains are built under private property. Or, at least, this one is. It's also lit by semi-open manhole covers that would have to be under other parts of Stark's home. But I digress. Before the investigation can really get going, Carter manages to convince Jarvis to dish on his treason charge.
Turns out, it was dropped almost instantly. Partly because Howard Stark involved himself in the matter, and partly because it wasn't really treason. Jarvis forged someone's signature on a visa to get his Jewish then-girlfriend, now wife Anna out of Budapest and away from the Nazis. Worth a court-martial, sure, but who slapped a treason charge on this?
Anway, Carter figures out how Leet Brannis literally floated Stark's Bad Babies to the river, where they also discover the heart symbol on a boat, a private freighter called The Heartbreak, at the South Street Seaport. Where, exactly, is Stark's mansion, anyway? Conveniently, Stark's Bad Babies are loaded in crates, just waiting for someone, anyone, to find them. Which Carter and Jarvis do. Both are elated, and maybe someone will let them keep Stark's hi-tech back massager. Carter, at first, wants to openly call it in, as she thinks her sexist co-workers will think she's a great SSR agent for going behind their backs to investigate on Howard Stark's behalf. Jarvis uses role playing to convince Carter she's so, so wrong.
Sousa and Meat Head, sharing the night shift at SSR HQ, are having a rap session, with Sousa actually taking relationship advice from a married man with a girlfriend and on first name basis with local prostitutes. Meat Head tries to talk Sousa out of any attempts at Carter- she's been with Captain America. What could Sousa offer her? Sousa doesn't have a chance to respond, as Jarvis has a dockworker impersonation he'd like to try out on Sousa's direct line. Sousa is properly suspicious of the anonymous tip, but drags Meat Head out to the Pier anyway.
While waiting for Jarvis to return, Carter's only problem is the anonymous crewman who discovers her babysitting Stark's stolen merch. He's a tough guy, and Carter promises to make him break a sweat. She gets some good punches and kicks in, and she's faster than him, and more nimble. But all he needs is one good side punch, and she's on her back and about to be pummeled when Jarvis returns. He bravely tries to stop said crewman, but Jarvis is quickly held against a wall in a chokehold, requiring Carter to try out Stark's back massager on the crewman. His arm is instantly cramped into paralysis, and it seems to hurt quite a bit. Which, I'm sure, is why Carter knocks him out with a pipe.
Let's at least make this something we can brag about tomorrow
Carter doesn't want to leave a witness who can definitely ID her; but Jarvis argues it's better to discredit a witness than be caught red-handed. They scurry out, leaving nothing to find of themselves, just as Sousa and Meat Head appear and dutifully check The Heartbreak, finding Stark's stash and the knocked out crewman. Meat Head is jubilant, sure they'll be promoted. Sousa reminds them the anonymous tipper did all the work, and can't help wondering if it's all a set up. He quickly sends for the SSR, which is woken up in it's entirety to cart off Stark's merch to the SSR, and the crewman, who is regaining consciousness enough for Meat Head to drive him into HQ for interrogation.
Sousa and Thompson get the job of driving the van to the SSR. They seem to be successful, as we don't see any of their trip and we see them the next morning. It's Meat Head who gets hit, literally. While waxing poetically about Crewman's coming interrogation, he discovers that Crewman is more than willing to give them info on the British dame who knocked him out in the first place. Meat Head is two more clues to figuring it out when he's rear-ended, requiring him to get out of the car so a hired assassin can kill him with two quick bullet shots. Crewman goes down to, after desperately noting that he gave no one any information.
Agent Carter somehow manages to re-enter the Hotel Griffith without Miriam Fry knowing, because we see her at the office the next morning expecting to have a good day. Or, at least, she expects everyone to be so giddy at their success that no one's a dick to her. And while no one's a dick to her, it's because they're all so down over the loss of Meat Head. His desk has been preserved, with his snacks still open. The only change is two tasteful bouquets of flowers. Chief Dooley will call the wife, while Thompson volunteers to call the girlfriend. Sousa can only whine about how someone else's death reminds him it could be anyone next. He only goes on to tell Carter that the anonymous tipper somehow had his direct line, and he suspects the tipper was involved, and will pay for Meat Head's death. Carter realizes she'll never be able to proclaim her part in solving their mystery for them.
Dooley makes it clear to the office that, innocent or not, Stark is still responsible for Meat Head's death. When Sousa tells Carter the details, noting that it was a professional, she realizes that Leviathan is still out there, and still a problem. Stark's Bad Babies are in some SSR basement somewhere, but for how long?
That's a question for another day. For now, the evening after discovering Stark's merch, there's the Automat. Carter orders coffee from Angie, and offers to tell Angie about her crappy day. She can't explain why she's upset over the death of Meat Head, who sucked as a person. Maybe because she should have been called into work like the guys to ride shot gun with Meat Head and at least keep him from being shot. Deciding that maybe it's time for Schnapps and Rhubarb Pie, Carter and Angie decide to blow the Automat together.
A couple of things: after discovering Mr. Green's hotel room key, magic typewriter, and his fake passports, they now know of two Leviathan agents, although they only know that Leet Brannis had his voice box removed. And they don't know anything about Leviathan itself. But they're doing their due diligence, getting passport photos of Mr. Green, checking in with old war buddies for intelligence. Sousa is openly questioning whether Stark really had anything criminal to do with anything. Team SSR Guys seems uninterested in investigating the woman clues they had last week, concentrating on Jarvis, and now Stark's merch.
So, players out there: Leviathan, Stark, and any merch not recovered last night. Chief Dooley was suitably suspicious of how lax security around stolen superweapons was, and what the real plan for them could be. And next week, Stark makes an appearance so Carter can bitch him out about something. Let's hope we transition away from the Secret-Girl-Agent Show and into the Let's Work Together and Establish SHIELD Show soon.
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