Agent Carter Season 2 Episodes 1-3 Reviews: Westward Bound (Season Premiere)

"Agent Carter" is back on ABC. Sousa has been promoted and is now in Los Angeles. When he calls Thompson for reinforcements, Jack (still a jerk) sends Peggy. The two agents still have feelings for each other so this should be interesting. Peggy joins our favorite butler (Mr Jarvis) who is already in town.

"Lady In The Lake" begins with a woman in a red hat entering a bank. We think its Peggy but psych... it's actually Dottie Underwood (ie the Black Widow). She and her men attempt to rob the place (but the SSR is lying in wait). After a fun fight sequence, Peg clobbers Dottie in the back of the head with a bag of coins. Jack attempts to interrogate Dottie but that doesn't go well. She tries to strangle him with a table. Dottie will only speak with Peggy. Remember last season she seemed a bit obsessed with her. I would love to see Underwood as a regular character.

Jarvis is coming into his own in LA. We also meet Mrs Jarvis (ie Ana). I was beginning to think she was a figment of his imagination. Ana is super cool and even sews Peg a garter with a pocket to hold her pistol. She doesnt bat an eyelash when she catches Jarvis and Peggy on the ground together while practicing Judo.

Sousa's case involves a dead woman frozen in a block of ice. It eventually leads to a company called Isodyne, it's owner Calvin Chadwick and his actress wife Whitney Frost. She is secretly a brilliant scientist who will eventually become Madame Masque. We meet another Isodyne employee-- Dr Jason Wilkes. I'm initially unsure if he's a bad guy or a good guy.

Peg and Sousa have a chat. They're both still interested in each other (but he has a girlfriend now and plans to get engaged). Peggy goes to dinner with Dr Wilkes. He reveals the origins of the mysterious substance we saw in the containment jar. It is called "zero matter" and is really bad stuff. In the MCU comics, it's known as Darkforce. Wilkes recounts how it was unleashed during a nuclear test. It seems like a wormhole to me.

Whitney shows up at the lab. She and Jason struggle over the dark matter. It crashes to the floor. Dr Wilkes is sucked into it and presumed dead. Whitney escapes but she has a black slash on her head (and later develops some interesting powers).

Peg is unset over Jason's death. Jarvis tries to help in anyway possible. Tony Stark arrives and goes straight into action. Wilkes is still alive. He's just "no longer corporeal" (that's invisible to you and me). Tony heads to somewhere far away (sorry I dont remember where) to find the foremost expert on such things. Meanwhile Whitey's zero matter is getting out of control. She sucks up her sexist director. Good for her. Maybe she's not all evil.

Whitney gets all weepy on hubby Chadwick and he sends an assassin to kill Peg. They fight and end up in the pool. Jarvis arrives to help. The guy eventually escapes but that was a fun scene. Whitney also frames poor Dr Wilkes as a communist. Luckily Peg and Sousa know the truth.

Miscellania:

Kurtwood Smith from "That 70s Show" and a million other things, makes an appearance as FBI Chief Vernon Masters. I think he's a baddie but I'm not entirely sure. Either way, he tells Thompson the SSR's days are numbered.
Tony crashing the men's only Arcane Club with the ladies was great fun. Their "pale and male" policy excludes not only Jason but also Howard and Jarvis. Peg's line about books confusing her was hilarious too.
Why do evil guys always have secret rooms behind bookcases? That's the first place I would look. Oh and those gentlemen are apparently the Council of Nine of The Secret Empire (per tv.com) and not Hydra. It is all very confusing. Anyway, they are setting up Chadwick to be senator.

Episode Guide:

Episode 1: "Lady In The Lake"

Episode 2: "View In The Dark"

Episode 3: "Better Angels"

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). I like "Agent Carter" but the beginning seemed to drag. It may be because they ran episodes one and two together. They probably would have been fine as stand-alones. All in all though, I'm still loving the show. Hayley Atwell is wonderful as Peggy Carter.