For the record, I like Agent Carter. Its first season has been genuinely
entertaining. The production value of
the show was impeccably gorgeous – it successfully rendered the the era it is
set in. And the bickering and chemistry
of Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter and James D’Arcy’s Edwin Jarvis resulted into
many engrossing and amusing moments.
However, I won’t be declaring that Agent
Carter’s 8-episode season has been strong and very exciting. It’s a good show, but it isn’t really a
“must-watch” one.
Agent Peggy Carter is not a boring character at all. Again, she and Edwin Jarvis make good TV when partnered together. And as a female character, she’s as strong, independent, and appealing as you would expect from a lead heroine. Moreover, her struggles for personal validation in a man-dominated world – to shed the typecast of being Captain America’s dame, to be taken seriously by her peers, and to be judged by her own merit – add additional depth to the character. But it’s not enough to make her significantly rise above other badass, competent, attractive heroines. For me, she’s only a tad above “generic.”
Agent Peggy Carter is not a boring character at all. Again, she and Edwin Jarvis make good TV when partnered together. And as a female character, she’s as strong, independent, and appealing as you would expect from a lead heroine. Moreover, her struggles for personal validation in a man-dominated world – to shed the typecast of being Captain America’s dame, to be taken seriously by her peers, and to be judged by her own merit – add additional depth to the character. But it’s not enough to make her significantly rise above other badass, competent, attractive heroines. For me, she’s only a tad above “generic.”
The plot of the first season was
lackluster. It didn’t really enrich the
MCU’s TV world-building, and the narrative didn’t have a “gripping”
factor. Heck, I probably wouldn’t have
tolerated the story if this has not been made by Marvel. A big part of what kept me following the
narrative was because of – again, for its third mention – the great fun in all
the scenes Peggy and Jarvis are together.
Agent Carter didn’t provide much points for Marvel’s campaign of gaining a dominating foothold in the small screen as they do
in the big screen. Marvel is doing a swell job with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and
they will always have a huge advantage because their TV universe is shared with their movie
universe. However, DC is still on the lead
so far. DC’s Arrow and The Flash are
the benchmarks here. Those two shows are
generously pumping DC mythos into the
construction of a DC shared TV universe.
Hence, more and more DC comic book characters are being adapted into the
small screen. It’s a superhero universe
after all, and DC is just delivering what is expected from such: superheroes
and superhero mythologies. I understand that
Marvel is maybe trying to be “diverse” and “fresh” in its TV programming by
producing material like Agent Carter. But they have to remember that what they have
in their hands is a superhero universe, and in a superhero universe, adaptation of superheroes and superhero mythologies – especially the familiar ones – are just
much more desired and exciting than spin-off series of a secondary non-superhero
character. No matter how beloved she may be, Peggy Carter is just not an equal to Green Arrow or the Flash.
It’s true that Marvel does have a
couple of upcoming Netflix web TV series featuring Marvel’s street-level
superheroes, starting with a Daredevil series
in April, and only then could we really tell how much Marvel has caught up (or is
lagging behind). But my main point is
simply that, in a superhero market that has Arrow
and The Flash in it, an Agent Carter – and something that lacks
impact to boot – will definitely pale in comparison and won’t be fully appreciated.
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