Agent Carter Review: "SNAFU"

– Spoiler Review –

If there’s one thing Agent Carter as a show has proven, it’s that you can pull off an adventure series and good character work even in a truncated season. “SNAFU,” lived up to it’s title, changing things in big ways and setting up one helluva season finale.

I wasn’t fooled by the final trance-induced dream that Dooley had of himself finally coming home at the end, but man did Ivchenko…or should I say Dr. ~~Faustus~~ Fennhoff (comic fans will recognize both names, but his official one in Agent Carter is Fennoff, revealed in the season finale) really work a number on him. I’d really like to learn the story behind that ring, because I feel like Fennhoff is only a threat because he has it. And we know its power of concentration can be used for good actually, when in the beginning he helped provide an alternative to painkillers for an injured solider, and I wonder what else that ring could help. But for the time being, it has only done harm.

Dooley wasn’t a character I completely sympathized with over the course of the season, but he was slowly beginning to grow on me. He had initially seemed too bullheaded about Stark’s guilt and Peggy’s uselessness, but he’s been giving her more credit as her accomplishments (that he knew about) stacked up. And even with all that in mind, his final moments were tough to watch still, and it was awesome to have him count on Peggy to bring his death to justice.

It was nice to have Thompson noticeable lighter on Peggy during her interrogation, especially after the events in “The Iron Ceiling,” but her interrogation was a scene I wasn’t completely sold on. Sousa had been such a reliable and friendly co-Agent who couldn’t bring himself to shoot Peggy last week and it was a hard pill to swallow that he was so vehemently and suddenly against her here. Thankfully, they don’t stay against her too long, which is partly due to the season being so short. But it’s more thanks to Jarvis’ plan backfiring and her spying Fennhoff signaling Morse code to Dottie which forced her hand to tell the truth about everything. Her not having to carry those secrets around seemed like a relief to her, and it felt the same way to the audience. And even more relieving was her scolding/calling out her fellow agents about them ignoring her this whole season (I almost found myself yelling, “You go, girl!”), with the looks on their faces realizing their indifference to her allowed her to pull off the side-mission for so long.

The Stark device Fennhoff steals and Dottie unleashes on the unsuspecting crowd at the movie theater is the answer to what happened at the Battle of Finow (at least it’s my educated guess at what happened): The US Army used the device against the Russian troops at Finow, against Stark’s wishes/orders. As what happened in the movie theater, the troops turned on each other and it was a complete massacre. Stark got pissed they used his weapon and pulled his support of the military, hence them trying to frame him because they really want a devastating weapon like that. Leviathan found out about it, maybe with some inside help, and set out to return the favor by using the same weapon against Americans. If that’s not what happened at the Battle of Finow and those aren’t the repercussions of those events, I’d be very surprised.

Here are a few other things:

I want to learn how to jump down stairs like Dottie.
So would it be wrong to guess that self-sustaining battery is the precursor to the one in Iron Man? Either way, cool suit.
The two unnamed Agents who had a perfect chance to shoot Dottie but didn’t felt like they hesitated a little too long, making her already obvious survival for at least one more episode a little extra obvious; It never felt like she was in that much trouble of being killed/caught. And this means we’ll get the face-off between Peggy and her that I’ve been waiting for since her introduction.
Who will be the new head of the SSR?
Will we get a twist of an inside mole still, much like I theorized back in the beginning?
Jarvis’ worries about smashing the table into the two-way mirror…and their realization they’re still attached to the table was a great scene.

With Leviathan on it’s way, Fennhoff and Dottie free, and the SSR in chaos after the death of their leader, the stakes could never be higher for Peggy and the others going into a season finale. This was a right proper penultimate episode and it makes the wait for the next episode hard to bear.

+ Peggy’s worth proven
+ Fennhoff’s simple, but deadly plan
+ Stakes are high heading into the finale

Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.

Agent Carter Review: “SNAFU”

+ Peggy’s worth proven

+ Fennhoff’s simple, but deadly plan

+ Stakes are high heading into the finale

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