Mark Watches ‘Agent Carter’: S02E08 – The Edge of Mystery

In the eighth episode of the second season of Agent Carter, a set of double crosses leaves everything in chaos. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Agent Carter. 

SO MUCH JUST HAPPENED.

Jarvis / Ana

I’m glad that Ana is not dead! I am also not entirely pleased with the use of the whole “We can no longer have children” trope, especially since Jarvis outright lied to Ana about it prior to going on a mission that he believed he would die on. That seems excessively cruel in general and almost out-of-character for Jarvis. True, we’ve never seen Jarvis in this kind of state, and James D’Arcy does a fantastic job of portraying a man consumed by anger and grief. My guess is that this is what the writers were intending to show us: out of desperation, Jarvis behaves foolishly. Which is a fine plot and one that is largely done well, but why is it that the most tragic thing you can do to a woman is take away her ability to have children? Did they even want them? Had they ever discussed it? Why lie to someone so immediately after begging them to wake up like Jarvis did?

Grief and anger do make people do things that seem strange out of context, so I think I’ll entertain this interpretation until I hear otherwise in the show itself. Jarvis’s anger has muddled his judgment so much that he’s willing to betray his wife’s trust and BE SUPER RECKLESS AT THE END OF THE EPISODE.

More on that later.

Thompson

OH GOD, FINALLY. It’s a little strange that this season has so little of Chad Michael Murray in it, and that means his characterization suffers because of it. So much is happening with Peggy, Jarvis, and Sousa, and Jack’s plot feels so simplistic in comparison. While he’s busy trying to bury Peggy with a forged document, the other characters are literally trying to save the world. It’s such a massively uneven thing, you know??? Thankfully, Jack’s suspicions – we’ve seen a few times this season – prove fruitful after he catches Vernon Masters working for Whitney Ford. His transition to ally is remarkably quick, but what does that mean for the future of his character? Will he finally stand up to Vernon (like Sousa already has, mind you) and stop pursuing career advancement?

Betrayal

Lord, this episode delivers two bits of double-crossing in rapid succession, and it’s kind of amazing how quickly we go from a high to a low. But I underestimated Whitney’s influence over Jason throughout “The Edge of Mystery.” All those scenes where she coached him led to his betrayal of Peggy, though I appreciated that the show isn’t painting him as a villain. I don’t consider him to be one, even if I’m disappointed that he chose to help Whitney over Peggy. I’m reminded of Sousa’s conversation with Peggy in this episode about desperation. You can view Jarvis’s story through that lens, but you can absolutely interpret Jason as a man so consumed with the desperation to live that he’ll do what he needs to in order to survive. Again, that doesn’t excuse his behavior; it just explains it.

But there’s a third betrayal in this episode, one that’s a lot more ethereal in nature. After getting the uranium rods from Vernon Masters and replicating the original detonation that brought Zero Matter into the world, Whitney is shocked when Jason is “chosen” by the rift instead of her. Indeed, Jason was always the more reluctant of the pair. Whitney had just barely taught him about controlling his corporeality; she had long ago accepted that her possession of Zero Matter was her destiny. Yet she assigns meaning to herself that simply isn’t there. We have no idea if there’s a sentient being behind Zero Matter, one that would choose a loyal adherent to evolve. We have no clue what’s in the rift, nor do we know why Jason was sucked into it. All we know is that Whitney was betrayed by her own expectations and now Jason is the one teeming with Zero Matter.

I have no idea what this is going to mean, but I’m eager for the next episode. SO EAGER.

The video for “The Edge of Mystery” can be downloaded here for $0.99.

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About Mark Oshiro

Perpetually unprepared since '09.
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