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Marvel’s Agent Carter (ABC) (1 Viewer)

TonyD

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I figured as much but things were wizzing past from behind it.


No biggie.

Either way the goo storyline is what's keeping me in.

Much like the first season I find it dull and too dark, not in tone but the look.
 

Jason Charlton

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Totally unrelated, but what's with all the misplaced "i"'s?

I know we're not all terrible spellers (and I spell-checked this post before posting).

First things first, let's figure out if there are gremlins afoot...
 

Matt Hough

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Enjoyable two episodes. I was immediately engaged despite being away from the world and its people for a year (never got the Blu-rays or DVDs to review), and I'm sure I'll enjoy the action and romantic escapades of the second season.
 

Jason Charlton

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Agreed. Back on topic, I'm really happy the show is back. The first two hours reeled me in and I'm anxious to see where things are going. Should be a fun ride.
 

Matt Hough

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It did my heart good for Peggy to tell off that New York chief jerk and to ignore his order to return to NYC.


I loved Jarvis' prediction about becoming a disembodied voice at some future date. And Stark is always loaded with snappy lines and fun misbehavior.


Such a fun show. So glad it's back.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I liked tonight's episode better than the two-part premiere. There was less plot shoved in, so the characters were given room to breathe.

And Dominic Cooper is just phenomenal as Howard Stark, and the writers on this show really know how to write for the character. After having him be on the run in the first season, it's nice to see Howard unrestrained and at the height of his faculties.

There are still certain hallmarks of being a mass-audience broadcast show that irk me, because they betray a certain lack of trust in the audience. Having various characters point out multiple times that the Arena Club is a gentleman-only establishment is one such example.

TonyD said:
I don't know what that means.
I didn't know how to explain it, so I took a screenshot during tonight's episode:
agent-carter-strobe-effect.jpg


If you look at the lamps hanging from the wall in the background, the glow from them "strobes"; it goes dark, then lighter, than darker again. It was more obvious in the nighttime outdoor scenes in the season premiere, where it had a rainbow-y shimmer to the strobe bands. I'm not sure why, but I find it very distracting.

Matt Hough said:
It did my heart good for Peggy to tell off that New York chief jerk and to ignore his order to return to NYC.
I was wondering how they were going resolve that, so having Thompson spot the newspaper Carter had talked about was an interesting development. Thompson is a self-serving son-of-a-bitch, but he's also a person who wants to do the right thing. The precarious balance between those at times mutually exclusive instincts makes for a fascinating character.

I loved Jarvis' prediction about becoming a disembodied voice at some future date. And Stark is always loaded with snappy lines and fun misbehavior.
Was that Paul Bettany as the voice of the security system? It sure sounded like him, more so than D'Arcy's Jarvis voice.
 

TonyD

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I don't see any strobe effect on my tv.

I see a glow or a halo around some lights.
 

Sam Favate

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Third episode was a lot of fun; nice to have Howard Stark back - he really does add something to the show. Lots of great dialogue, particularly from Jarvis and Peggy. I hope this show finds a larger audience, because it's really one of the best things Marvel (or DC) has on TV.
 

Joel Fontenot

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TonyD said:
I don't see any strobe effect on my tv.

I see a glow or a halo around some lights.

Adam is actually talking about the use of a soft cross-screen filter to get that lighting effect. Similar to the strong cross-screen filters used a lot in the 70s to get that star-like flare effect from light sources. Slight multi-point (5, 6 or more) reflections normally could be achieved just off the lens aperture if it was partially closed, but the longer streaks were usually the result of some kind of screen filter. Of course, I'm not talking about the reflective lens flares that J.J. Abrams loves so much.


I used to use an actual piece of screen door material for that effect with my 35mm camera when I was a kid.


It's not a "strobe", technically, since it's not a flashing light, but I know what Adam means.


It's a style for the show to give it that slight gauzy look, and I don't mind it too much.
 

Matt Hough

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The show's plot only inched forward a little bit this week, but we certainly got some tantalizing flashbacks to prime events in the lives of important characters.
 

Sam Favate

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Yeah, it was nice to see the flashbacks; in Peggy's case, it really informs her character. She was terrific last night, especially in the interrogation scene, where she never had any intention of hurting the guy.

You knew Kurtwood Smith was going to be an ominous presence on the show when he was announced, and he sure lived up to that last night. I don't see the season ending well for him. Or for Chadwick. Now that he's seen what Whitney can do, how long until she uses it on him?
 

Nelson Au

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I've been enjoying the new season. I think Atwell is a terrific actress and great in the role. In reading up about the show, I found that there was a one shot made in 2013 that set the stage for the character between the Captain America films and before they knew it would become a series. I dug out my Iron Man 3 Blu Ray and finally watched it last night after Agent Carter aired. That Peggy Carter short was great and is so cinematically made.

The series is really well made from costumes to the production design and camera and lighting work.

When they first introduced the black goo Zero Matter, I thought it was the same substance that was shown in Agents of SHIELD that teleported people to the alien planet. Not being very knowledgable with the Marvel universe, I guess Zero Matter is something else as another poster above speculates.

I wasn't looking for it, but the ratings look to be lower then last season so far, hope the series will complete the season and come back for a third.
 

Josh Steinberg

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I'm loving this season. I might even be enjoying it more than last season - at the least, it's on the same high ground. I like that there's one season long mystery, I like the development of the characters, the period atmosphere, the hints of things that we know will come in the future (our present day), it all works so well for me and is easily the most entertaining scripted show I'm watching right now.

When "Captain America: The First Avenger" came out, I really loved it, but I was disappointed that they ended the movie by "sending" Cap into the future. I thought they could have just as easily had Cap stay in the 40s period, portrayed him in the modern "Avengers", and just allow whatever incident would cause him to be able to be in the present to be portrayed in a later film. They obviously didn't go that route, but I'm glad that they recognized that there's a lot of fertile ground in the early years of SHIELD and period stories, and gave Agent Carter a chance as a show. I've been at least slightly disappointed by a lot of Marvel stuff in "Phase 2", including most of the first season of SHIELD and more than half the movies, but Agent Carter has been a consistent bright spot for me.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Tonight's episode was far and away the best episode this season. The humor all landed, and the imminent threat of the atomic bombs was a potent reminder than the real horrors we've invented are scarier than any comic book doomsday device.

I'm pretty sure my theory about Violet being a spy was wrong. The story we got instead was more ordinary but far more impactful for this viewer. Thanks to Lindsey Allen's teleplay and Sarah Bolger's performance, the proposal scene at the beginning actually had me rooting for Sousa and Violet, and then her seeing how Sousa looked at Peggy at the end just about broke my heart. The show's pretty heavy on equating female empowerment with physical prowess (Peggy, Dottie and Rose) so it was nice to see a more dynamic portrait of an empowered forties woman, much like Angie in the first season, but in a different kind of way.

Ray Wise just killed it tonight as Hugh Jones. The final beat with him coming out of his office, his secretary asking if he had a nice lunch, him looking down at his unbuckled pants and replying "I must've" damn near had me rolling on the floor.

Ken Marino was also terrific as the very hot-and-cold mob boss who supplied Whitney Frost with her extra sets of hands. Looking back, it's pretty amazing the deep bench that "Reaper" had which "Agent Carter" can now draw from.

My favorite little detail, though, was the Gomez Addams-esque portrait of Howard Stark in the bedroom Peggy's staying in at Stark's Hollywood mansion.
 

Sam Favate

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Agreed, it was a delightful episode that had me laughing out loud fairly often. The great thing is that the humor didn't take away from the dramatic tension. Really hoping we see a third season of this show.
 

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