Also, it's pretty clear Leviathan knows the SSR has the magic typewriter. Between Dottie's spying on Carter for somebody and the trap set by the magic typewriter that just happens to whisk her away so Dottie can rummage through her room, Carter is obviously on their snoop-and-kill list. Dottie is going to be a great character, even if she's working for evil people. She was raised in a boarding school where the students are cuffed into bed at night, learn English from watching movies, and fight each other to the death while a nightmarish gym teacher looks on with perfectly crimped hair. The kid playing little Dottie has to make a few more appearances.
Breakfast in bed
Chief Dooley has an interesting 24 hours. His job seems to boil down to resolving squabbles, and going looking for people to tell him interesting stories. And he's still on the case of a "battle" at a Russian town called Finnow, where his reporter friend confirms that 247 Russian soldiers died and no nation was willing to take any credit for it. No one knows how they died, although Dooley finds out that Stark's later presence there was legit: he was part of the "clean up" crew that likely had to figure out what happened. Instead, a fistfight erupted between Stark and a general named McGinnis. After which, Stark stalked off from helping the US Army and eventually found himself in their sights as a possible traitor. Dooley insists that they have good evidence- but we know it's circumstantial. Dooley just knows that Stark manages to be at interesting places and invent dangerous stuff that goes missing; he doesn't know Stark has actually done anything illegal himself. And, even he comes to admit that to himself. He and Jarvis have a heart to heart later, at which Dooley tells Jarvis that he's willing to listen if Stark is willing to talk. Don't worry, Chief. Stark is always willing to talk.
Thompson and Carter spend the episode bonding, while Agents Ramirez and Li fill out the SSR team. When the magic typewriter surprises Dooley by typing, he brings in a code breaker from Washington to decode it; but the guy can't, while Carter non-chalantly starts translating it from her knowledge of Bletchley Circle's work. (If you don't know what Bletchley Circle is, go watch the PBS Miniseries. Seriously, go watch it.) In a minute, they've got coordinates, a time, and a lure. In two days, Leviathan will be paying Stark a boatload of moolah for one of his inventions. In Belarus.
Carter insists on going with Thompson, Ramirez, and Li. Thompson says he can't be responsible for a girl; Dooley worries that if the mission goes wrong, everyone will blame him for letting her go. To be fair to Dooley, he's right to be cautious. Carter "screwed up" Jarvis' interrogation, and Dooley would look terrible for letting her go if something horrible happened. But Carter has something neither Thompson or Dooley have: access to a support team that can get them in and out. It takes her a whopping minute to line up the 107th Howling Commandos, Captain America's old team, to meet them in Poland. It takes her even less time to pack.
Dressing for combat is tougher, as the women's room is downstairs and public. So, Carter does what she has to do and surprises Ramirez and Lee in their tighty-whities to change in the Men's Locker Room. It's smelly, but she does get her own alcove. Until Sousa arrives with background info they'll need, and Thompson decides it would be totally funny to engineer a middle-school-type prank. Before Sousa can cover his virgin eyes, he's seen Carter in her black slip. He's more embarrassed than she is, but it's a scar on the back of his shoulder that he ends up fixating on.
Thompson spends most of the mission trying to be in charge and failing to Carter every time. First, he's never parachuted for real. Then, he doesn't know the 107th's password. Then, his war story, though impressive, is given only under duress. It's obvious, as he tells it by the firelight, that he hates the story. Which is weird, because he got a prestigious medal for it. When they reach the coordinates Leviathan's magic typewriter gave them, Carter decides how they'll approach. Throughout the mission, the Howling Commandos are thrilled to see their old war buddy Carter. Dum-Dum Doogan's bowler hat is thrilled to see her. Thompson's the odd guy out from the beginning.
Hey, let's make the sexist pig uncomfortable!
The coordinates turn out to be some boarding school, in fact the one Dottie loved so much. The cuffs on the beds are still there, as are the goofy movies, only Carter figures out they're filled with subliminal messages. And the place even still has students. Or, at least, one student, a sad little crying girl who completely ropes Doogan in so she can stab him and shoot a Howling Commando, who dies along with Li in the dormitory. The mission gone to hell, Carter and the 107th decide to find what's so valuable here and get out.
It turns out to be a trap, yet something valuable was here anyway. One Nikolai and Dr. Ivchenko. One's a brilliant engineer who can see science. One's a shrink brought in to help the guy with his obvious mental issues as Nikolai builds a light bender for Leviathan. Nikolai explains the thing as somehow using the particles in light. What it achieves isn't described; but Nikolai is impressed, even if he hates being there. He shows them the blueprint he's building from, with the Stark logo all over it. Thompson is sure this proves Stark is working with Leviathan; but both Nikolai and Ivchenko pan the idea. They've never seen Stark there, and they'd be unnecessary if he was. They free the prisoners, but Nikolai makes the mistake of turning on his rescuers to save his own sorry ass, which prompts Carter to shoot him and arrange their escape. Carter could have been a nanny; she threatens their escape artist she's about to be very cross before their escape hole is formed, and she scolds Doogan into letting her get out last. It's Thompson who ends up being a burden; he freezes up and Carter has to bark at him to get him moving.
The 107th, the SSR, and the prisoners all lose one guy. Otherwise, they all get away to fight another day. Except Ivchenko, who agrees to go back to New York City with the SSR and provide information on Leviathan. All it takes is a bottle of bourbon. Doogan isn't so happy at seeing Carter go, and his new nickname for her doesn't help his case for keeping her in Europe. But, Carter's got an office to run.
On the plane ride back, Thompson is self-hating. Carter tries reassuring him, but he ends up disturbing her even more by confessing that he's not much of a warrior after all. Those Japanese soldiers he killed single-handedly? He killed them by mistake as they were trying to surrender. He had no idea what the white flag they were flying meant, and killed them before anyone could stop him. After realizing he'd just committed a war crime, he quick buried their white flag and told everyone a horribly untrue story. It's a horrifying confession; Carter seems unfazed, though. She seems more glad that Thompson's been able to be honest about it for the first time. The guy probably hasn't told his own wife.
Dottie and Sousa have secrets of their own. Sousa is shocked by Carter's shoulder scar because he's seen it before. He re-checks the pictures from the first episode of their mystery woman; the scar is a match for Carter's. When Carter and Thompson return to the office as heroes and drinking buddies, it's Sousa who's pushing her away now. Does Sousa leap to the conclusion that she's a traitor, or is he willing to hear her out first?
Dottie's secret is that she really, really, knows what's she's doing. And what she's doing seems to be finding out all she can about Carter so she can impersonate her. After conning Carter out of her studio apartment key, Dottie enjoys Carter's trip in Carter's apartment, carefully taking it apart. Carter's good; she keeps a few photos in a secret drawer compartment, and her knock-out lipstick hides in plain sight. Dottie is briefly interested in Captain America's photo- it's taken before he because a muscly hero, showing that Carter cared for him, not his persona. But it's a secret photo of a box with the Stark logo that interests her most. Dottie returns Carter's secret stashes to their locations. She returns the thread Carter used to detect intruders to its original spot. And somehow, no doubt, she'll figure out how to return Carter's room key without detection either.
Dottie ends her big day by repeating a girlhood ritual; she still handcuffs herself to her bed. Maybe it's reassuring. Maybe her boss requires it, and will know if she hasn't. Or maybe, she just can't let go of habit. It's a small price to pay for being a badass.
Can I kill her? Pretty please?
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