Marvels Agent Carter S1.08 "Valediction" review

Sure, yeah, three and a half stars might seem a bit mean, especially when we’ve been raving about this show so much previously and, also, as there’s a lot to enjoy about this finale – let’s be honest, any show with a clockwork-powered automatic rifle is worth a watch. Plus, the one-liners are as sparkling as ever (“Is it true that you were hiding at the residence of Barbara Stanwyck?” a reporter asks Stark).

But as a finale, it just felt a little underwhelming. The miniseries seemed to be building to a big, jaw-dropping finale – some defining event in the MCU history – and instead we got what felt like a reheated instalment of Dick Tracy. A well-produced, sassy and witty instalment of Dick Tracy, admittedly, but not quite the fireworks the first couple of episodes promised. We don’t even appear to be anywhere nearer the formation of SHIELD (though Hydra seems to have a head start if the final scene is anything to go by – great to see Toby Jones reprising his role as Arnim Zola from The First Avenger and showing Ralph Brown how to do an accent).

Fennhoff’s big bad scheme is all so amorphous and off-stage (we never even see a Times Square crowd scene to ram home the potential tragedy) it fails to inject any tension into the plot, while the big climax is hampered by the fact that a guy in a plane talking to a woman over the radio isn’t particularly visually exciting. Okay, we get the Peggy/Dottie fight which is decent enough, but way too brief. Plus Dottie looks so much the superior fighter that when Peggy wins you can’t help thinking the Russian spy threw herself out of the window on purpose. (Though she does bid goodbye with an obvious piece of foreshadowing: “Maybe I’ll be an SSR agent next. What do you think of that?”)

There are also some really slow-moving scenes of Fennhoff doing his “conditioning” shtick when the episode almost grinds to a halt. To be fair, at least the Stark scene reinforces that the guy has some deep-seated insecurities under all his glitzy bluster so it almost counts as a character scene, but the Sousa scene is just a gag that goes on way too long before it reaches its – literal – punchline.

It’s also a shame that Peggy lets Thompson take all credit from the Senate at the end. She may be happy with the knowledge of her own worth, but it’s hardly striking a blow for her sisters, is it? Maybe the point is that she knows making a fuss is pointless, as the world isn’t ready for women’s lib just yet, but it would have been nice to see her deflate Thompson’s ego subtly in some way by showing up in front of the senator.

So, yeah, there was a lot of dissatisfaction with this final episode, but you know what? It was still a fine old romp, with some gorgeous period detail and a few lump-in-throat character moments. Hayley Atwell was magnificent as usual, James D’Arcy was a hoot (to use suitable vernacular) and the shot of Peggy on the bridge looked magnificent, though we’d be surprised if that were really Steve Rogers’s blood – there needs to be a McGuffin for the next series.

Because, yes, while the US ratings don’t look promising, we’d love to see another miniseries, or even series. Perhaps it’s a show more suited to an outlet like Netflix or Amazon Instant Video, because the people who liked it really liked it, going by press and internet reaction; it didn’t engage a big enough audience for ABC but enough people may be willing to pay a subscription service to see more.

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Best Line

Peggy: “I appreciate the finer things. I just don’t want to know what’s happened in and on the fine things.”

Best Jarvis Line

Howard Stark (having just trimmed his nasal hair): “How does it look?” Jarvis: “Like a nest of spiders… with very short legs”

Doctor Faustus

We would say “We told you so”, except we didn’t. We kinda convinced ourselves that Ivchenko wasn’t Dr Faustus despite having spotted the connection (see last week’s review), forgetting that TV scriptwriters can give a character a pseudonym for no better reason than merely to THROW THE AUDIENCE OFF THE SCENT! Because, honestly, there’s no real reason why Ivchenko shouldn’t use his real name, or even to pretend to be Russian.

Doctor Who?

And we’re still not sure if he is actually Doctor Faustus and not just some fanboy in 11th Doctor cosplay…

Blooper

This before-and-after screenshot is actually taken from the moment when the second bullet is shot at Stark. So how come there isn’t a bullet hole in the window already?

Diamond Life

There was never a soap brand called Diamond in the US in the ’40s, so we’re wondering if this is sly reference to Diamond Distribution, the company that virtually monopolises the distribution of (physical) US comic books?

Dolly Mix-Up

Between Fennhoff and Dottie’s first visit to Stark’s vault and their second, somebody seems to have moved the plane named “Dolly” from outside to inside. Which is odd since Dottie killed the only security guy who seemed to work there.

Taxis

The red and yellow Chrysler DeSoto S11 taxi was indeed introduced in 1946 (the year Agent Carter is set) but we can’t help wondering if they keep creeping into shot purely because their livery is Iron Man colours.

Missed Opportunity

The scene when Dottie deals with the security guard while Fennhoff listens to the radio in the car looks like it was intended to be achieved in one shot – which would have been great – but somebody chickened out and inserted a reaction shot of Fennhoff.

Retirement Plan

Hang on? Has Peggy secretly opened a restaurant chain? Well, she’s proved she can multitask.

Imaginary Precinct

There is no Precinct 59 in the real New York, but according to the Marvel Map of the city, the SHIELD headquarters are on 59th Street and Madison which makes it right on the border of Precinct 17 and Midtown North Precinct.

Marvel's Agent Carter is broadcast in the US on ABC on Tuesday nights.

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