Agent Carter 2x04 Smoke & Mirrors
Mar. 8th, 2016 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI watched episode 4 of season 2 of "Agent Carter" tonight and it reminded me of a Tumblr post I saw today about heroes and villains. Simplified, it talks about how very often the heroes of a tale start out with more resources than the villains, and that it's often the ambition to improve their poor circumstances that is shown as corrupting the future villain. "In short, villains WANT to be great, heroes have greatness thrust upon them. The key element in our distinction between the two is ambition." (![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
lokiago)
Of course there are exceptions, but "Agent Carter" follows that pattern pretty well. Even in the first season "Dottie" tells Peggy how good Peggy had it and that Dottie alternately envied and hated her for it (I don't remember exactly what she said but that's the gist of it.)
"Smoke and Mirrors" gave us some views into Peggy's and into Agnes Cully's/Whitney Frost's pasts. Peggy grew up in a moderately wealthy and presumably happy family, we see her have good relationships with her mom and brother. She is recommended for a potentially prestigious and hard-to-get job at the SOE by her brother, but declines it at first because she thinks she wants a quieter life. It's not until her brother dies that she decides to go out and have that adventure after all.
Agnes Cully, in contrast, grows up with a single mother with whom she has a tense relationship and whose boyfriend, who keeps them afloat financially, she doesn't like. She's not accepted to the science programs she applies to despite being a genius. (How old was she when she patented that reactor?) She actively wants to get away from her old life, but the only way she finds is by being an actress and playing a role.
She becomes a movie star and marries an aspiring and ambitious politician, adopting his goals as hers. She becomes ruthless in pursuit of his ambition - not more than her husband or his colleagues, but she now has superpowers. She could become a terrifying villain. (Pretty sure the Zero Matter will destroy her eventually because a human can't handle it, but I'll see.)
I don't really know where I'm going with this; if they meant for the backstories to make Agnes/Whitney look more sympathetic, they succeeded, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. Cool motive, still murder (I should find out which B99 episode that is from, I love the gif.)
The show does also have someone who rose from poverty and stayed good, Dr. Wilkes, though he seemed quite satisfied with his position at Isodyne - since he showed up I was counting the minutes until he died, at least him coming back temporarily was a nice surprise. It also has people who were (presumably) born wealthy and are villains, like the FBI guy. But it's Dottie, and now apparently Whitney, who have been presented as Peggy's opponents.
In other character-related news, I wonder how long we'll have to wait for Jack to turn back. I like that he'll get to see just how bad the other side is so he can make an informed decision of which side of the line he stands on. I really liked the scene where he tries to ask Sousa out for drinks.
I also wonder how many more episodes until Dottie escapes (or "escapes"), I don't think many.
Of course there are exceptions, but "Agent Carter" follows that pattern pretty well. Even in the first season "Dottie" tells Peggy how good Peggy had it and that Dottie alternately envied and hated her for it (I don't remember exactly what she said but that's the gist of it.)
"Smoke and Mirrors" gave us some views into Peggy's and into Agnes Cully's/Whitney Frost's pasts. Peggy grew up in a moderately wealthy and presumably happy family, we see her have good relationships with her mom and brother. She is recommended for a potentially prestigious and hard-to-get job at the SOE by her brother, but declines it at first because she thinks she wants a quieter life. It's not until her brother dies that she decides to go out and have that adventure after all.
Agnes Cully, in contrast, grows up with a single mother with whom she has a tense relationship and whose boyfriend, who keeps them afloat financially, she doesn't like. She's not accepted to the science programs she applies to despite being a genius. (How old was she when she patented that reactor?) She actively wants to get away from her old life, but the only way she finds is by being an actress and playing a role.
She becomes a movie star and marries an aspiring and ambitious politician, adopting his goals as hers. She becomes ruthless in pursuit of his ambition - not more than her husband or his colleagues, but she now has superpowers. She could become a terrifying villain. (Pretty sure the Zero Matter will destroy her eventually because a human can't handle it, but I'll see.)
I don't really know where I'm going with this; if they meant for the backstories to make Agnes/Whitney look more sympathetic, they succeeded, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. Cool motive, still murder (I should find out which B99 episode that is from, I love the gif.)
The show does also have someone who rose from poverty and stayed good, Dr. Wilkes, though he seemed quite satisfied with his position at Isodyne - since he showed up I was counting the minutes until he died, at least him coming back temporarily was a nice surprise. It also has people who were (presumably) born wealthy and are villains, like the FBI guy. But it's Dottie, and now apparently Whitney, who have been presented as Peggy's opponents.
In other character-related news, I wonder how long we'll have to wait for Jack to turn back. I like that he'll get to see just how bad the other side is so he can make an informed decision of which side of the line he stands on. I really liked the scene where he tries to ask Sousa out for drinks.
I also wonder how many more episodes until Dottie escapes (or "escapes"), I don't think many.
