Marvel's Agent Carter - Season 2 Review
While Agent Carter was always a show I wanted to watch, for some reason in the UK they put it on Fox, so I had to wait for the complete season release on Blu-ray - even if it took them almost a whole year to release it. Season 1 was a fun little distraction and a nice return to a corner of the Marvel Universe barely touched before, and had a whole host of cameos and guest stars to help sell the series as being part of the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe - certainly more so than the other Marvel Television Series, Agents of SHIELD.
How is the second season then? Well, its not quite as special as the first. It's almost as if the writers were confident in continuing the series for a while longer, dishing out a rather forgettable plot involving extra-dimensional black gloop, which feels a bit monster-of-the-week, but for some reason is dragged out to ten episodes, and that's my big problem with Season 2. They have an opportunity to jump straight in to everything, and end up wasting time establishing so much so that the season can pad out its rather weak story into ten installments. It also doesn't help that Toby Jones' guest appearance at the end of the last season is ignored, and that the show spends a lot of its new-found padding time on building a love triangle which...well, just doesn't quite work for Peggy as a character. It's so superfluous that the writers contrive her into making her eventual decision - and one we as an audience always assumed she'd make. It's rather pointless.
We also have a main villain who takes a little while to get going, but seems to only really work thematically, about a woman who's not valued in a male-dominated world seeking power, but sadly it doesn't entirely work. In fact, neither does the sub-plot involving new love interest Jason Wilkes, and the whole Peggy Carter back-story feels a little clunky in the way its worked into the narrative. It's good, but I'd rather that was saved for a more personal story.
But, let's be honest, the real reason we're here is for Hayley Atwell as the titular heroine in her adventures with Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy). They're a tonne of fun to watch together, and its such a shame we won't see them again - at least, not in this format. They get some fun extra characters in this season, with Souza taking a larger role and the introduction of Ana - Jarvis' wife - but some of the real tag-alongs like Rose, Dr Samberly and Chief Thompson all feel...well, a bit superfluous. Again, its all filler. And that's a shame, as this season could easily have been a monster-of-the-week show, or perhaps focused more so on that structure. I guess I was hoping for Agent Carter to go out on a bang, but it ended up going out more so on a slightly underwhelming note. Had the show been given a third season, I wouldn't feel quite so harsh on it, but I guess I wanted more, and to be honest season 2 just didn't do it for me. There's plenty to love in here, but for now I feel that the first season is the superior one. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't already though.
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