Agent Carter, “The Blitzkrieg Button,” was written by Brant Englestein and was directed by Stephen Cragg. Englestein has also written for Borgia and The Philantropist while Cragg’s long list of credits includes Nashville, Grey’s Anatomy, and ER. While both might not seem to have a lot of superhero experience, the episode marks a real turning point for Agent Carter (Haley Atwell). The episode features the promised cameo from Stan Lee, who asks Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) to share the sports section of the paper with him as they get their shoes shined. Most importantly, Peggy is forced to hear some truths, but the episode finally and satisfyingly seems to put Agent Carter on her destined path.
The episode begins with Carter and Jarvis (James D’Arcy) completing – or trying to complete – the deal to bring Stark back into the country. We get a nice hero shot of Carter as she takes out the bad guys while Jarvis deals with the ransom. D’Arcy continues to be charming and droll. He plays the polar opposite character in this season’s
Broadchurch, underscoring the great performance he’s delivering here. It’s Carter that realizes the SSR has even Stark’s most secret residence under surveillance. She warns him that the SSR is out for his blood since they now blame him for the death of Krzeminski (Kyle Bornheimer).
Carter resorts to smuggling Stark into The Griffith, and there’s a hilarious scene between Carter and Miriam (Meagen Fay) in the laundry room. I loved how disappointed Miriam is when there actually is nothing in the dumbwaiter besides Carter’s “laundry.” Stark is being cagey about why he’s back in the country, though he says he’s leaving again for Rio in three days. Meanwhile, he enlists Carter to find out which of his weapons the SSR actually has. No doubt, Director Coulson would love to have the pen camera that Stark gives to Carter to get the job done!
Back at the office, Dooley (Shea Whigham) is determined to do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of the case and catch Stark, including going to Germany to interrogate a Colonel Mueller (Jack Conley) who is about to be put to death for war crimes. Dooley thinks he knows what happened at the site of the battle in Russia. It sounded like they were saying Finaw or Finnau or some variant, but I couldn’t find a place with this name. However, FINAO is an acronym for Failure Is Not An Option… Dooley’s absence leaves Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) in charge. Thompson gives an interesting speech to inspire his agents – it’s telling that only Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) knew Krzeminski’s middle name. Of course, Thompson completely dismisses Sousa as the department’s last “yo-yo” and continually insults Carter by calling her Marge and relegating her to fetching lunch for the men.
Sousa manages to chase down a lead by canvassing near where the phone call was made on the docks and brings in a homeless man for questioning. I loved him easily taking the guy down after he took a swing at him! Proving, of course, that Sousa is a more than capable field agent. George (Tim De Zarn) is also a veteran, and Souza thinks he can appeal to him in this way. At first, Thompson completely discounts that George could have any valuable information. Thompson really comes across as a total jerk – and I feel badly that I dislike Chad Michael Murray so much for his portrayal! But we do get to see that maybe there really is more to Thompson than meets the eye.
Sousa tells George the story of going into a diner and having the patrons clap for him. He was touched until the next veteran came in and they didn’t applaud – they weren’t clapping for his service, they were clapping because they felt guilty because he lost his leg. Sousa strikes out, however. Thompson is watching the interrogation, and it’s hard to know exactly what he’s thinking. Is he possibly a jerk to Sousa because he too feels guilty for Sousa’s loss? Sousa does convince him that George must know something or he’d tell them he didn’t see anything.
Thompson then comes into the interrogation and sits down with a hamburger and a bottle of scotch. As soon as he offers them to George, George tells them everything he knows. Thompson actually does read people pretty well – he certainly knew what George wanted – or didn’t want. Thompson tells Sousa that no everyone who came back from the war wanted a “hug” – or some kind of validation. Perhaps Thompson himself is still searching to put more notches on his belt.
The interrogation is nicely paralleled by Dooley’s interrogation of Mueller. Dooley first offers to help Mueller escape and gets nowhere. However, as soon as he offers him cyanide to avoid a long and painful death hanging, Mueller opens right up and says that no Germans killed any Russians. In fact, there was no battle – just piles and piles of dead, mutilated bodies. Conley is a terrific actor and delivers an excellent performance here as Mueller. Of course, Dooley wasn’t going to really help him escape and the cyanide was actually just a breath mint – nicely stored in a hidden compartment in his watch – more Couslon envy there, I think!
Carter gets all the pictures Stark could want of his inventions. Just like at the office, however, Stark sends Carter off for food so she doesn’t work too hard. Of course, Carter isn’t stupid, and quickly realizes something is up when Stark sends her into the office to replace the real Blitzkreig Button with a fake. Jarvis is a terrible liar and this gives Carter all the proof she needs. There is another great hero moment when Carter replaces the real thing with the fake – as she rolls one off and the other on, I was struck by how much this reminded me of the scene of Indiana Jones replacing the gold statue with the bad of sand in
Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark!
As she’s trying to sneak out of the office, Carter inadvertently runs into Thompson, who may or may not be a little tipsy. He first underscores how she’s not a part of the team – only the men were asked to work overtime. The scene is nicely blocked with Carter right at the door – on her way out? Or at least about to embark on a journey. Thompson proves once again why he is a good Agent – he’s pretty perceptive. He asks her why she even works there. She tells him “To uphold democracy.” He points out that the rest of them actually “get to do more than take lunch orders.” And then he really lets her have it with the naked truth: “The natural order of the universe. You’re a woman. No man will ever consider you an equal. It’s sad, but it doesn’t make it any less true.” The fact that he says it’s true gives me hope that he can be persuaded that it’s not true. Atwell is simply outstanding in this scene.
Once Carter realizes that it’s actually Steve’s blood in the vial, she is outraged at Stark, and it finally helps her to get past her grief. It is perhaps a bit on the nose to use the actual blood of the quintessential "red-blooded American." Stark also has some interesting advice, words about the way the world works. He tells her, “I grew up on the lower east side. There’s a ceiling for certain people, depending on how much money your parents made, your class, your religion, your sex. The only way to break through sometimes is to lie.” Carter and Stark have more in common than she’d like to believe. Yes, he’s used her, and he’s made her lie to her superiors, but he’s also given her a chance to show what she can do and to break through that ceiling.
Is Stark really the mercenary that Carter paints him as? He’s definitely a womanizer. But he does apologize to Carter for lying to her – but is he sincere? Yet, this also provides the push that Carter really needed because it IS Steve’s blood. She tells Stark, “Steve Rogers dedicated his mind, his body, his life to the SSR and to this country not to your bank account. I made the same pledge, but I’m not as good as Steve was. I forgot my pledge running around for you like a corporate spy. So thank you Howard for reminding me who Steve was and what I aspire to be.” She then kicks him out. Jarvis tries to apologize and seems to really regret his entire part in the affair. Time will tell if they can make it up to her.
Lots of exciting things happened at the end of this episode. Sousa seems to be figuring out that the blond isn’t a blond. Dottie (Bridget Regan) is definitely NOT just a ballet dancer – but does she have some moves! I loved the scene when Mink (Gregory Sporleder) shows up and she just HAS to have his automatic pistol! I was sad to see Mink go so quickly as Sporleder was a pretty intriguing villain, but I loved how quickly Dottie dispatched him! Peggy hides Steve’s blood in her wall. And a message comes over the automatic typewriter!
I suspect that just as Thompson isn’t going to turn out to be the biggest jerk in the world, all the evidence that Stark is up to no good is going to end up being a false trail. I can’t wait to find out how Dottie fits in to all this – and more Angie (Lyndsy Fonseca) please! Did you miss her this episode? What did you think of the episode? Are you happy to see a more determined and focused Agent Carter even in the face of the obstacles still in front of her? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
