The heart of the (Zero) matter.
By Eric Goldman
This is our review of the second part of Agent Carter’s two-hour premiere. Click here for our review of the first hour.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
The second part of Agent Carter’s two-part premiere managed to answer the questions raised about Wilkes (he firmly seems to be a good guy – though just how healthy he is now uncertain), while we learned much more about the Darkforce – or “Zero Matter” as it’s called her.
In Season 1, we saw a lot of the struggles Peggy had to go through as a woman in the SSR in the 1940s and here, we got a look at what things are like for Whitney – an actress whose days as an ingénue are behind her, facing a casually sexist director who has no problems making jabs about her looks, age and weight. It’s enough to… make her into a mad scientist! But honestly, it is a compelling character and as crazy as “Hollywood actress/brilliant scientist” sounds, the fact that it’s based in fact – and Hedy Lamarr being just that, during this same era — certainly undercuts any cynicism about the idea.
Meanwhile, it was good to see this episode deal head on with the issues Wilkes, as a black man working as a scientist, would face in the 1940s – and show why he’d have some loyalty to Isodyne, simply for being the only ones who’d actually give him a job. Reggie Austin and Hayley Atwell have good chemistry together, helping sell the otherwise accelerated rate we had to buy into Peggy seeming so distraught by his apparent death at the end – in a moment very well-played by Atwell, as she held back tears, asking Jarvis to drive her home. Plus, it was nice to use Wilkes to give us a tiny bit of info on Peggy’s youth, as she shared stories with him.
We were introduced to an ominous council in this episode, which includes Roxxon Oil head Hugh Jones (Ray Wise, returning from Season 1). Is this some sort of prototype of the World Security Council, with similar Hydra-connected members amongst them, or simply an earlier shadow organization?
The final confrontation within Isodyne was tense and exciting, as Peggy and Wilkes attempted to steal the Darkforce/zero matter, only for it to be dropped – and after that earlier footage of the test explosion that first unleashed the zero matter effectively showed how dangerous it is. And certainly that glimpse we got of Whitney at the end, with the Darkforce running through her face, seems to indicate this version of Madame Masque may actually end up quite a bit more powerful than her comic book counterpart.
I still find some of Agent Carter: Season 2 a bit too farcical – I love Peggy, Jarvis and Ana, but that opening bit with him working out went from amusing (with him jabbing Peggy in the chest) to somewhat over the top. But the main plotline, with Wilkes, Whitney and Isodyne, is a really cool one and Peggy’s dynamic with all of these character in Los Angeles is really strong. With just 10 episodes in a season, albeit slightly more than Season 1’s 8, the story is moving quickly, with a lot of intriguing elements now set into motion.
