Marvel’s Agent Carter S02E05 “The Atomic Job” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Fox TV, new episodes every Thursday
Writer: Lindsey Allen
Director: Craig Zisk

Essential Plot Points:

• After Dr Wilkes tells Peggy that he has found out where Jane Scott’s body has been hidden she decides to get it back with the help of Jarvis.
• When they get there they see Whitney Frost take the Zero Matter from the body and declare to Chadwick that she needs an atomic bomb.
• In order to stop her from getting her hands on an atomic bomb, Peggy decides that her team should break into the Roxxon facility where it is being kept. This means that Peggy must steal a special key from Hugh Jones, the owner of the company who she has previously ran into in the season one.
• After successfully getting the key, Peggy and a ragtag team of agants go to Roxxon to defuse the bombs, and quickly discover that Whitney Frost is also there to take them away.
• Peggy and Whitney finally face-off against each other, but it doesn’t end well.

Review:

Peggy Carter has always been able to fight her own battles, but when it comes to an atomic bomb it’s not wise to try and diffuse it without bringing back-up. After discovering that Whitney Frost wants to use an A-bomb to recreate a rift of Zero Matter in this week’s episode, Peggy decides to team up with not one, not two, but four people: Sousa, Jarvis, Rose and Dr Samberly. This group may not seem like the A-team but they are certainly the best people for the task.

“The Atomic Job” is the first episode in this series where secondary characters have truly been able to thrive. While they may have been present in past episodes it has always been Peggy who’s hogged the spotlight (well, she is the star of the show, it’s her prerpgative) but that’s not the case this time. As a result others get to shine.

Rose and Jarvis are particularly noteworthy in this episode for their respective roles in the mission, Jarvis for his ability to remain calm and diffuse the bomb on his own, and Rose for being provinf her ability as a field agent. While we haven’t seen her work as part of a mission before, that doesn’t mean that she isn’t capable. As Peggy says to a disbelieving Sousa earlier on in the episode, Rose has had just as much training as any man in the room and she is more than able to hold her own against a mafia goon.

While four of the team focus on the task of diffusing the bomb, Peggy goes up against Whitney Frost. Her powers are increasing rapidly, and she is an even stronger adversary against Peggy now. It is the first time that we see the pair actually fight with fists and not with words, and it was exciting to see them go head-to-head. The pair work incredibly well off of one another, and this is especially evident in their fight scene as they exchange words and blows.

While other supporting characters were able to thrive in this episode, Violet’s characterisation seems to have taken a step backwards. At first she seemed fine with Peggy and Sousa’s friendship, but when Peggy is near death in “The Atomic Job” and Sousa is worried about her recovery something clicks in Violet’s brain: Sousa had, and potentially still has, feelings for Peggy. It is a tired trope to have a female character see other women as love rivals, and hopefully it is not a road that Agent Carter will go down as Violet is too interesting a character to have to deal with such clichéd material.

Giving its quirky support characters a decent slice of the action adds to the show’s list of strengths, and it is clear that Agent Carter has yet to slow down — hopefully it never will.

The Good:

• Peggy can’t always save the day by herself, and secondary characters finally get the chance to shine in this episode.
• Jarvis, Rose and Dr Samberly all play key roles by helping her stop Whitney Frost, and it is great to see them work so hard. It was especially great to see Rose and Peggy fighting off Whitney’s mafia guards.

• The scene where Peggy confronts Hugh Jones with a memory inhibitor is hilarious, although it does border on the cartoonish at times.
• Whitney Frost continues to be a strong force in this episode, and her one-on-one fight with Peggy was intense.
• “I could have shot… Howard.”
• “You arrogant plonker.”
• “How’s the door coming?” “How’s the not blowing us up coming?”
• “For the record, that was nothing like making soufflé.”

The Bad:

• Violet has become aware of Chief Sousa’s past feelings for Peggy. She seems to be dealing with it well but there is the potential for it to become a bigger problem between the two. Hopefully future episodes will not see Violet become consumed by jealousy.

The Random:

• The van that Peggy and co use to infiltrate the Roxxon facility is advertising “Civil War Antiques”. This seems like a nice nod to Steve Rodger’s future collision with Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War.

Review by Roxy Simons

Read our other Marvel’s Agent Carter reviews