Marvel kicks off their newest foray into television shows with a trip back to the early cold war days and Agent Peggy Carters’ adventures with the SSR (Strategic-Scientific Reserve). The show starts with a refresher course in just who Carter is and her place in the MCU. With scenes involving her work with both Captain America and Howard Stark during World War II the episode quickly moves into a newspaper slide showing developments that congress is investigating Howard Stark for treason.
Stark is being accused of selling weapons to enemies of the state, weapons that he designed and kept hidden secret because of how dangerous they would be if they found their way to the wrong hands. Stark enlist the help of Agent Carter in secrecy and she accepts because of her feelings that the SSR are overlooking her value and treating her more like a secretary than a real agent. During Stark’s secret meeting with Carter we are introduced to our first new character from the comics, Edwin Jarvis, Tony Stark’s famous butler who has assisted both himself as Iron Man and The Avengers in Marvel’s comic books.
Stark informs Carter that he is leaving the states to go after some of his inventions that have found their way overseas. Meanwhile, he gives her the mission to find the ones that are still in the states the first being a chemical bomb that is formulated strong enough to level an area of 500 yards. Carter ease drops on a conversation in the SSR headquarters and learns that the man in possession of the bomb has set up a meeting with a buyer later that evening. She arrives to a bar owned by the seller and finds her way into his office, using her looks to get close to the man her interrogation is cut short when he kisses her and her lipstick causes the man to pass out.
Carter finds the bomb and calls Jarvis to find a way to disarm the chemical solution, after leaving the office the buyer passes her and upon discovering the bomb missing he kills the seller and pursues Carter without her knowing. Carter arrives to her and her roommate’s apartment and uses a chemical solution to disarm the weapon, when she hears a commotion coming from outside the bathroom she finds her roommate dead in bead with a gunshot wound to her forehead. Carter is successful in disarming the buyer and eventually throws him out the window after a struggle that displayed her fighting skills.
Agent Carter then traces the missing formula used to create the bombs to a location owned by a very familiar company in the Marvel universe, Roxxon Oil. When she confronts the people creating the weapons they escape using one of the bombs that Stark designed. The bomb shows awe inspiring destructive force sucking the whole refinery that was on the property into a meshed up ball able to fit on the back of a truck.
The SSR goes to Roxxon headquarters to investigate why a Stark weapon would be used to destroy a Roxxon building where the arrest a man that Carter recognized from the refinery. While the SSR was busy with investigating the suspect from Roxxon Agent Carter sneaks off to follow a lead about another man present at the refinery she obtained behind the SSR’s back. Her investigation into the lead results in her finding the buyer at a house on the New Jersey coast line with the man that escaped the refinery earlier.
While trying to move the buyer’s helper, who was willing to talk for protection, they are attacked by an agent working for a mysterious group that is also trying to procure the bombs. A fight ensues on top of the vehicle they are transporting the buyer’s helper in after Carter drives a knife into the attacking agent’s hand the van drives off a cliff into the ocean. With Carter, Jarvis, and the buyer’s helper narrowly escaping the van they witness a massive explosion that rocks the Cliffside and sucks brush down into the blast. With the buyer’s helper’s final breaths he draws a heart shape with a curvy line through the middle of it, unfortunately the helper passes away before any further explanation can be given. The SSR arrive forcing Carter and Jarvis to flee the scene before they are discovered. The show closes with the discovery of a license plate that was pulled from the car Carter was in during her investigation of the refinery and the subsequent bomb blast.
Review:
Marvel is showing once again that they are pulling no punches when it comes to their television shows. They gave us a heavy dose of comic book name drops for all the diehard Marvel fans to salivate over. With the first appearance of Jarvis and Roxxon Oil’s first major role in the MCU many fans of the old comics will have a nice memory of characters and companies that played such an important role in the comics earlier day. Where the show is going is still uncertain, will we get to see Stark and Carter found SHIELD while looking for his stolen weapons? Or will the original Human Torch make his grand Marvel debut in what couldn’t be a better opportunity going back to the time he was most prominent.
Marvel has a whole new slate of characters and events that they can pull from and insert into the shows for the first time instead of just their normal references or Easter eggs. A cameo by Nick Fury himself could shine a light on rather or not the infinity formula is alive and well in the MCU while it is much more likely to see the Howling Commandos get their television debut. Agent Carter has at the very least proven in its first episode that it will be a good weekly fill in for all your Marvel needs and wants put into motion on ABC. Agent Carter will return next week at 9e/8c on Tuesday night and you can find each weeks episodes recap right here on Vavel.
Episode Rating: 8
