For what Agent Carter may have lacked in gripping storytelling (the dark matter was never going to be as thrilling as Jessica Jones facing down the Purple Man or the Flash first meeting Zoom) it more than makes up for in its sheer conceptual prowess. This is a show, benefitted by its slighter episode count, that from the exciting season opening to the climatic closer had a distinct sense of self, something it had floundered a bit with in its debut season. Season two, on the other hand, was airtight, bursting onto the screen with a refreshing confidence, unwilling to sacrifice its vision for what might have been more easily digestible direction and design.
It starts with the fight scenes. Peggy and Dottie’s fight is contained, brutal and shot to emphasize the skill set and strength of each character. The show has no wasted fight scene or bit of choreography, instead utilizing its clearly athletic performers to try and bring to life these, if not super-powered, super talented and capable agents and spies. It’s kinetic and tightly shot and it doesn’t expend space that it doesn’t need.
Aside from a villain or two, there is nothing gimmicky about the scenes – we’re impressed solely by the might of their fists. The first fight sequence has a stand off with detectives wearing their hats low, guns almost lazily pointed at the baddies as Peggy literally gets to knock Dottie out with a bag of money as gold coins come spilling out of it in slow motion. This is a show, and opening, that clearly adores the MCU’s comic book roots.
The style and tone follows through with the set design and costuming, which is very clearly going for the glamour of the time period and playing it big to accentuate the contrast between the lavish settings and violence that happens there. It makes it pulpy, leaping off the screen as if it were in it’s own comic strip. From Peggy’s red, pointed sunglasses, to Jarvis’s tailored suits and the vibrant pink flamingo strolling in the front of Howard Stark’s lawn, there’s is a distinct vibrancy, sun tanned and glamorous. This is demonstrated beautifully in a song and dance dream sequence that takes all of the heightened reality of the season and strengthens it.
It all culminates in the performances, which are clipped and polished, everyone playing into the eras over enunciated dialect and it, plus the action and design, produces a show that is uniformly excellent all throughout the second season. The tone, of course, doesn’t dictate whether a show is good or not, as there have been plenty of stylish shows that are also vapid. Agent Carter isn’t a success and, arguably, the best superhero shows of 2016 so far based on tone alone, it’s only aided by it.
Peggy’s story in season two is so excellent because it further explores how she operates away from the ties of being Steve Roger’s girlfriend and her history in New York City. It secures the bond between her and Jarvis – the heart of the series – and allows Atwell to further explore a character that is one of the richest in the MCU because of her performance alone throughout the films, short vignettes and series.
But what sets it apart from the other shows and the heroes that lead them is that from the start of season two it steps confidently into the California sun and knows exactly what its identity is, what it’s trying to achieve and which tonality will best express how they’re going to get there. Maybe Agent Carter doesn’t have the thrills of some of the other superhero TV shows, but the substance and the style never, ever relents.