Thompson literally does nothing most of the day until it's time to arrest the one person who knows his true war story. Chief Dooley sits around while Ivchenko supposedly gives him useful information about Leviathan and then turns out to be a plant working with Dottie, who we've known is an enemy for two episodes. This week, Carter figures out Dottie. But Ivchenko is still out and about and now has a map of the SSR headquarters, courtesy of an Agent Yauch, who is now dead.
Rogers' blood is, for now, safe, thanks to Carter's persistence in getting it out of the Hotel Griffith before Dottie could find it. And, Team SSR Guys did manage to, unknowingly, foil Dottie before she could take the MacGuffin of all MacGuffins for herself. But, since Team SSR Guys don't listen to Carter at the best of times, no one will take any of her advice, whatever it turns out to be, for finding Dottie now. And nobody, not even Carter, knows that Ivchenko knows where Stark's merch is and how to quickly get away. How soon do you think Rogers' blood will wind up in the lab to be conveniently stolen?
Carter, before all the heady ass-kicking and name-taking, actually manages to score the work of tracking down the women Stark's been sleeping with over the last six months, telling Chief Dooley that one of them was very likely a Leviathan plant, sent to gather info on the vault and Stark for stealing his merch in the first place. Dooley doesn't buy it, but realizes he'll get rid of Carter for a day as she runs from woman to woman, accompanied by Jarvis and using a list supplied by Stark's jeweler, who sends each woman a ridiculously valuable bracelet to end his affairs. Jarvis hates the whole day, mostly because it involves being slapped and kicked by women who have already slapped and kicked him.
Carter and Jarvis finally hit pay dirt with Ida Emkey (or, something like that). She's got an apartment that's been emptied with a bed post that's been scraped repeatedly, like someone sleeps handcuffed to it. Which, we've all seen is Dottie's way of counting sheep. No one saw her, no one remembers her, no one knows when she moved in. Our out. Chances are, it's right before Dottie moved in to the Griffith. Carter's hoping to score a photo, somewhere, to canvas her old neighborhood with. Jarvis isn't enthused.
Dottie, while Carter is busy looking for her, is busy herself. She's got a dentist appointment. Sort of. The dentist mistakes her for a woman who will sleep with the boss for a job, but Dottie's got skills. Skills that enable her to quickly figure out his dentist drill. Skills that enable her to use a rifle as a signal instead of a long-range weapon. Considering that she could have used a mirror, this is nothing but a deliberate mislead for the audience. Which hints that the show's writers don't think there's enough intrigue on the show. Instead, the rifle is like an Anti-Chekov's-Gun, in the scene to deliberately not go off.
Also, Dottie needs to learn trigger discipline
But we like her sexual harassment policy
Who is she signalling? Well, we've already seen that she emerges from the subway (or the IRT as it was called then) in front of the "Phone Company", and stares longingly at the building, before slowly entering the building across the street. And, we know that Ivchenko, recently defecting to the United States, is busy with Chief Dooley unloading whatever he can about Leviathan. How much is it, really? All we know is that Ivchenko has related the story of how he was "recruited" for Leviathan by the Soviet military. Basically, it involves kidnapping and threats.
And then, as Dottie readies her rifle like Annie Oakley, we see Ivchenko choose that moment to get some air at the window totally facing the dentist. And, as if the shot wasn't already easy for Dottie, Ivchenko actually opens the window and leans out, so Dottie can get a perfect shot. We think the flashes from her rifle scope will actually ruin her chance, but it turns out they're deliberate flashes. Dottie is signalling Ivchenko! Who signals back with taps on the window sill, all the while trying to find the Empire State Building, while Dooley chuckles at the Soviet hick who doesn't even know where Midtown is.
Dottie, as she is a covert superspy, decides to write down her top secret instructions from her fellow covert spy: Kill Agent Peggy Carter.
Dottie, as she is a covert superspy, decides to write down her top secret instructions from her fellow covert spy: Kill Agent Peggy Carter.
Sousa has his own field trip to make. Namely, to see good ol' Sheldon the milk truck driver, first apprehended in the second episode, is now ready to talk. He and Sousa agree on a deal, and Sousa now has a picture for him to check- Carter's. She looks more dour than usual in the photo, but Sheldon identifies her right away, no doubts. And he details most of her activities that night, noting that she drove off with a truck of Vitamene bombs, which somehow ended up in a river. Sousa doesn't know Carter sent them into the river, he only knows that Carter found some of Stark's merch before they did. But, it's enough to instantly set Team SSR Guys against her, and bring in reinforcements.
Which turn out to be useless, because when a bunch of SSR agents show up at Carter and Jarvis' diner to arrest her, she literally beats them all while Jarvis blockades the door.
I'll kick the asses. You take the names.
They escape out the back, only to find Agent Thompson, lounging against the back entrance across the alley, gun totally lax and handled so poorly that it's easy for Carter knock it away and knock Thompson out. Jarvis manages to escape the alley, but Carter doesn't. Sousa shows up after Jarvis gets away, to try to hold Carter at gunpoint. Sousa demands she surrender, hoping that she will as a sign of her innocence. But, this show is all about setting up Carter as a double agent for a good cause, and there's a vial of blood in a wall that's got to be retrieved before Carter can skip town.
Put that back in your pants, young man!
She barely gets it out of the wall when Sousa and Thompson, a couple other agents with them, appear in the Hotel Griffith lobby. They flash their playing cards badges at Miriam Fry, who's dressed casual, not expecting to be raided by the feds today. Miriam tries to use her righteous indignation to block Team SSR Guys from getting any further, but they're kicking in Carter's door just as Carter is finding refuge on the way-too-small ledge just under her window, out of sight of the SSR and Miriam Fry, who turns on Carter the second she sees the hole Carter left in the wall.
Angie, who's Carter's other neighbor, happens to open her window at that moment and see Carter inching along outside, desperate not to fall if a piece breaks off. Angie wants her to come in right away, but Carter holds off, knowing that the SSR will demand to talk to Angie. Which they do.
Angie hasn't affected the plot of the show since the second episode, when she got Carter into the Hotel Griffith in the first place. Earlier in the day, Angie was beginning to realize that a stage life on Broadway is only for a very few. She was rehashing an audition for Nora in A Doll's House, and had almost convinced herself to go be a secretary after all. Not after today's performance for Agents Sousa and Thompson, where she convinces them both that Carter told her she was visiting a dying relative. Angie cries on demand, trapping Thompson into giving her a fake-tender hug and pat on the back, and making both men leave as soon as possible. Angie also makes sure to inform the Agents that Carter constantly complained about what jerks her male coworkers are, so now they can add that to Carter's list of crimes.
Once gone, Angie hauls Carter in and they hug and gush how they got one over the boys, and basically girl crush all over each other. But, Carter's success in dodging Team Guys only lasts until she's out in the hallway, ready to go the stair that will presumably take her to the laundry room and the underground exit she's been using for her night job. Dottie, back from the dentist's office, is so happy to see her and must shake her hand. And give her a totally inappropriate kiss. Carter is just about to tell Dottie she doesn't play for that team when she realizes Dottie swiped her Sweet Dreams lipstick. Carter's last coherent act is to grab Dottie's right hand and see the scuff marks from the nightly handcuffing.
Carter collapses, but before Dottie can fufill her order, Sousa and Thompson decide to return to Carter's floor because someone left their purse there, or some reason. Dottie quickly feigns total ignorance of how Carter got there, which Sousa and Thompson buy wholeheartedly as they cuff a slowly waking and still groggy Carter and perp walk her among her fellow tenants and past her very angry landlady, already composing her eviction notice. Carter doesn't even seem to remember that the Leviathan agent she spent all day looking for is back in the building. Or, rather, was. It doesn't take long for Dottie to clear out of the Griffith, leaving nothing for Angie to find as she looks for Dottie later in the evening. Is Angie going to mount her own investigation? Damn right she will!
It's back at SSR Headquarters, where Ivchenko is probably already roaming the corridors looking for Stark's merch, that Sousa, Thompson and Dooley frog march a composed Carter, who claims she's willing to tell all. Sousa is especially interested in showing Carter the picture he used to identify her, as well as the old Blitzkrieg Ball capsule containing a vial of blood.
Dooley hands the interrogation off to Sousa. It's now, that Carter has beaten up half his agents, and obviously been working behind his back, that Dooley makes a show of telling the whole room Carter's not going to get any favors or softness for being a woman. Does Dooley even realize that that's not what Carter's ever wanted? Of course not. For weeks, Carter's wanted to be treated like the other agents, or at least like an Agent, instead of a secretary. Dooley's been majorly embarrassed today- an Agent has been found to be acting behind his back, that Agent then single-handedly defeated most of his own other agents, and he'll be lucky if he doesn't get demoted. His threatening of Carter that he's getting tough with her is more to reassure himself that he's going to hang Carter to save himself.
And suddenly, we're back to the play Angie was reciting from earlier. A Doll's House. In the play, Nora, an 1870s wife, pretends to be a pretty useless and vain female for her husband and children, only to turn into a woman desperate to conceal her past, counting every little coin that will buy her freedom from her debtor and blackmailer. She forged her father's signature on a loan note, to save her husband's health and life, and never told her husband or father. Like Carter, she had to act behind the backs of the men in her life for good reason, because women had even less rights in Nora's time than in Carter's. When her husband finds out, he's also desperate to hide Nora's crime, not wanting the scandal, when Nora thought he'd openly support her if she was ever exposed.
Nora's shock at her husband's craven nature, and her own feeding of it, lead Nora to leave her husband at the end. Is Agent Carter going to have to officially leave the SSR to get anything done for the world she's more than capable of protecting? Well, at the very least, Dooley's going to toss her out, anyway. Only thing is, who will do all the work once Carter is gone? Here's hoping that next week, Team SSR Guys gets the verbal smackdown they've been asking for.
Angie, who's Carter's other neighbor, happens to open her window at that moment and see Carter inching along outside, desperate not to fall if a piece breaks off. Angie wants her to come in right away, but Carter holds off, knowing that the SSR will demand to talk to Angie. Which they do.
Should I look out the window that's been left open? Naah.
Angie hasn't affected the plot of the show since the second episode, when she got Carter into the Hotel Griffith in the first place. Earlier in the day, Angie was beginning to realize that a stage life on Broadway is only for a very few. She was rehashing an audition for Nora in A Doll's House, and had almost convinced herself to go be a secretary after all. Not after today's performance for Agents Sousa and Thompson, where she convinces them both that Carter told her she was visiting a dying relative. Angie cries on demand, trapping Thompson into giving her a fake-tender hug and pat on the back, and making both men leave as soon as possible. Angie also makes sure to inform the Agents that Carter constantly complained about what jerks her male coworkers are, so now they can add that to Carter's list of crimes.
Once gone, Angie hauls Carter in and they hug and gush how they got one over the boys, and basically girl crush all over each other. But, Carter's success in dodging Team Guys only lasts until she's out in the hallway, ready to go the stair that will presumably take her to the laundry room and the underground exit she's been using for her night job. Dottie, back from the dentist's office, is so happy to see her and must shake her hand. And give her a totally inappropriate kiss. Carter is just about to tell Dottie she doesn't play for that team when she realizes Dottie swiped her Sweet Dreams lipstick. Carter's last coherent act is to grab Dottie's right hand and see the scuff marks from the nightly handcuffing.
Carter collapses, but before Dottie can fufill her order, Sousa and Thompson decide to return to Carter's floor because someone left their purse there, or some reason. Dottie quickly feigns total ignorance of how Carter got there, which Sousa and Thompson buy wholeheartedly as they cuff a slowly waking and still groggy Carter and perp walk her among her fellow tenants and past her very angry landlady, already composing her eviction notice. Carter doesn't even seem to remember that the Leviathan agent she spent all day looking for is back in the building. Or, rather, was. It doesn't take long for Dottie to clear out of the Griffith, leaving nothing for Angie to find as she looks for Dottie later in the evening. Is Angie going to mount her own investigation? Damn right she will!
Nobody better touch any of my stuff back there
It's back at SSR Headquarters, where Ivchenko is probably already roaming the corridors looking for Stark's merch, that Sousa, Thompson and Dooley frog march a composed Carter, who claims she's willing to tell all. Sousa is especially interested in showing Carter the picture he used to identify her, as well as the old Blitzkrieg Ball capsule containing a vial of blood.
Dooley hands the interrogation off to Sousa. It's now, that Carter has beaten up half his agents, and obviously been working behind his back, that Dooley makes a show of telling the whole room Carter's not going to get any favors or softness for being a woman. Does Dooley even realize that that's not what Carter's ever wanted? Of course not. For weeks, Carter's wanted to be treated like the other agents, or at least like an Agent, instead of a secretary. Dooley's been majorly embarrassed today- an Agent has been found to be acting behind his back, that Agent then single-handedly defeated most of his own other agents, and he'll be lucky if he doesn't get demoted. His threatening of Carter that he's getting tough with her is more to reassure himself that he's going to hang Carter to save himself.
And suddenly, we're back to the play Angie was reciting from earlier. A Doll's House. In the play, Nora, an 1870s wife, pretends to be a pretty useless and vain female for her husband and children, only to turn into a woman desperate to conceal her past, counting every little coin that will buy her freedom from her debtor and blackmailer. She forged her father's signature on a loan note, to save her husband's health and life, and never told her husband or father. Like Carter, she had to act behind the backs of the men in her life for good reason, because women had even less rights in Nora's time than in Carter's. When her husband finds out, he's also desperate to hide Nora's crime, not wanting the scandal, when Nora thought he'd openly support her if she was ever exposed.
Nora's shock at her husband's craven nature, and her own feeding of it, lead Nora to leave her husband at the end. Is Agent Carter going to have to officially leave the SSR to get anything done for the world she's more than capable of protecting? Well, at the very least, Dooley's going to toss her out, anyway. Only thing is, who will do all the work once Carter is gone? Here's hoping that next week, Team SSR Guys gets the verbal smackdown they've been asking for.
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