Agent Carter ended its run with a firework show. With time running out on both the series and a group of unexpected tourist celebrating VE Day, Agent Carter had to be at her very best. Last week we saw the after math of Dr. Ivchenko's attack with a mysterious gas in a movie theater. This week Howard Stark himself returns to help set things right with the world and take down Leviathan.
The show starts with Agents Carter, Thompson, and Sousa investigating what happened at the movie theater. While they are canvassing the area Sousa finds the canister of gas Ivchenko used on the audience and accidentally sprays himself with it. The gas kicks in on Sousa and in a fit of blind rage he tries to strangle Agent Thompson before everyone can subdue him. Sousa loses consciousness and awakens at the SSR headquarters and explains the effects he felt to Agent Carter, claiming he wanted to kill everyone.
While Sousa is recovering Howard Stark makes his entrance into the SSR headquarters, apparently uninvited. Several agents draw their weapon on Stark who claims their security is second rate and says he can help bring down Leviathan. Stark informs them that the gas that was released is called Midnight Oil and was initially developed as a way to keep soldiers going for days at a time on no sleep. Stark says the carnage seen in the movie theater was the side effects and the project was scrapped, but before he could destroy it the government stole it and used it against the Russians claiming it would aide them in on the Eastern front.
Stark comes up with a plan to use himself as bait to draw out Ivchenko and allow the SSR the opportunity to take him out for good. The SSR holds a press conference to announce they are clearing Stark of any wrong doing and to entice Ivchenko to make his move. When Stark steps up to the podium shots are fired from a hotel room across the street. The shots miss high and the SSR team moves Stark to safety in a police car before pursuing. The team gets to the hotel room only to find a rifle rigged to shoot its self and is aimed well above where stark was standing, realizing it was a trap they rush back down to discover that Stark has been taken.
Ivchenko has stark held captive at one of Stark's private hangers the SSR never discovered. Once there Ivchenko tells Stark the reason behind his conquest for revenge is that his brother was one of the Russian soldiers killed when the Allies released the Midnight Oil on the Russian soldiers. Stark tries to tell him that he didn't release the gas to the government but Ivchenko dismisses the notion and starts to hypnotize Stark.
Back at the SSR headquarters the team tries to figure out what Ivchenko's plan is. They realize that there is a large crowd gathering in Times Square to celebrate VE Day and that an aerial release of the gas would devastate the city and give Ivchenko his revenge. Jarvis informs them of the hanger they never found and they race off to try and stop a catastrophe from occurring.
When the SSR arrives at Stark's hanger they see Stark taking off in a plane headed towards New York. In a twist of fate they realize the only person able to fly the other plane to possibly shoot down Stark is his closest friend and ally, Jarvis. With Jarvis taking off to pursue Stark, the rest of the team moves into the hanger to try and take down Ivchenko and Dottie. Agent Carter moves into the radio tower to talk Stark out of his hypnotized state, but is attacked by Dottie before she can communicate with him. After a brief fight, Carter throws Dottie out of a window before returning to the radio to try and talk Stark down.
Agent Thompson encounters Ivchenko but is knocked unconscious from behind before he can do anything. Agent Sousa then moves into the room with a gun drawn on Ivchenko. Ivchenko starts his hypnotic words right away and Sousa points his gun at Thompson and walks beside Ivchenko. In one swift moment Sousa hits Ivchenko in the back of the head with his pistol to the relief of Agent Thompson.
Back in the radio tower, Agent Carter is trying to talk Stark down. Stark in his hypnotized state beliefs he is flying a plane to rescue Captain America instead of attacking New York City. While Carter is trying to bring Stark back to his senses, Jarvis maneuvers in behind his friend and lines his sights up for the kill shot. Stark is almost over land when Jarvis places his finger over the trigger preparing himself to do the unthinkable when Carter finally breaks through to Stark and breaks his hypnotist. Carter goes down to check on Dotties body only to find her gone and apparently not dead at all. The scene with the team ends with the notion they haven't seen the last of Dottie Underwood.
The ending scene shows Dr. Ivchenko in prison with a very interesting cellmate, Dr. Arnim Zola. Zola tells Ivchenko that they may be in prison but they are in prison in America, the land of opportunity. The last scene shows them sitting down to make plans together.
Review:
While this episode tied up most of the important questions from this season it did leave a few story lines to set up a season 2 of the show gets one. This show needs a season 2, while the series laid a foundation for what transpired after the first Captain America movie it really lacked in connections to the future of the MCU. Many people expected more of a foundation laying show about the earliest days of SHIELD, we got a series that only showed the rise of Peggy Carter.
The Winter Soldier tie in at the end of the episode was a nice touch and Zola's work with Ivchenko could be what resulted in the brain washing technology Dr. Whitehall used in Agents of SHIELD. The show faced the problem of the audience knowing the future, if this show didn't have any set way the future would go there would have been a lot more to explore. No one ever believed Carter or Stark could have any real issues because they found SHIELD and Stark eventually fathers Tony Stark ( Iron Man). If Stark is branded a traitor or commits mass genocide it would be a stretch for even Marvel to explain how he returned to everyone's good graces in time to do either of those things.
Even with these issues the show has great potential to introduce many aspects of the early SHIELD days in a second season. The possibility of seeing Jim Hammond (the original Human Torch) in a second season would be exciting for many fans. Depending on who owns the rights getting a mention or a glimpse of another Invader in Namor could even be an exciting possibility. With all the success of the MCU it would be hard to believe that the show won't get picked up for another season but with Hollywood there just aren't any certainties.
Episode Rating: 7.5
