Agent Carter Recap: Episode 6: A Sin to Err
We’re on the home stretch now of “Agent Carter” and with only three episodes left for this mini-series there’s only time for paying off all these numerous subplots starting with the SSR finally gets their man … er woman.
In another flashback, we see a Russian general recruiting for Leviathan. His enforcer? None other than Dottie, who sticks a knife in the neck of the first potential recruit to turn down the offer. Between Fish and Dottie, knifes through the neck apparently were the way to kill a guy this week. One of those recruits was Dr. Ivchenko, the same doctor Peggy and the Howling Commandos rescued from the Leviathan camp and he’s recalling his experience to Dooley, Peggy and Thompson. Director Stephen Williams unintentionally tips his hand to the episode’s big reveal.
Peggy figures the doctor can shed more light on the entire mystery involving Leviathan, the set-up of Howard Stark and the Russian female assassin training camp. Peggy’s nearly got it all figured out now. One of Leviathan’s hit squad suckered Stark in with some sweet talk and showing a little leg and broke into his vault to steal his inventions. That same mysterious woman then killed Krzeminksi leaving the dock and is closing in now to get the final missing inventions. Dooley agrees that Peggy may be on to something and lets her chase down her leads. Since the only one who could possibly help uncover the labyrinth of Stark mistresses is Jarvis, Peggy reconnects with her series running buddy at Angie’s diner.
In a Derek Jeter-esque move, Stark gives his girl pals a bracelet to commemorate their special time together. Peggy and Jarvis go through the list to see which girl has marks on her arm — indicating a former resident of the Leviathan Camp for Femme Fatales — in a cute bit where the girls slap Jarvis before Peggy tries in vain to prevent.
Sousa is also closing in on his investigation and has a prisoner positively identify Peggy. That’s good enough for Sousa apparently and he’s off to break the news to Dooley. Dooley was busy nearly getting hypnotized by Ivchenko, who is still clearly deeply embedded in Leviathan and exchanges coded messages with Dottie from adjoining buildings. Williams teased that Dottie was staking out the office spot to kill Ivchenko, but the actual espionage tactics was much more fun.
Peggy meets back up with Jarvis at the diner and realizes before it’s too late that SSR agents have come for her. She fights them off (Hayley Atwell kicking tail is always an episode highlight) only to get cornered in the alley by Thompson. Now knowing he’s way more mouth than anything else, Peggy easily knocks him out only to run in to Sousa. That’s a no win for either of them as beating up on a crippled agent is probably the one way the writers could make Peggy look bad to the audience and Sousa has been the one redeemable SSR agent so he lets her go. That doesn’t end up making a lot of sense as Sousa is refocused on capturing Peggy once Thompson recovers.
Dooley orders a hunt for Peggy and assigns an SSR agent to watch Ivchenko. Since he didn’t get to do his parlor tricks on Dooley, Ivchenko has the agent reveal all the building exit routes before having him kill himself.
With the SSR in hot pursuit, Peggy barely manages to get to her room in the Griffith to take the vial of Steve Roger’s blood. She isn’t able to get out though as Sousa, Thompson and more SSR agents are fast approaching her room. One sorta big sticking point here. Peggy’s already seen a guy scale the pipes to come up into a bedroom and that guy was clearly not Peggy’s physical equal. Angie spots Peggy on the ledge and then shows off her acting talents, by occupying Sousa, Thompson and company by tapping into her ful acting potential, which seemed like an ideal time for Peggy to use the same dumb waiter she used to help Stark break in. Thompson was perfect as he had no clue how to be sympathetic to another human being and just asked Angie to sop.
Instead with the coast clear, Peggy walks right down the hallway (huh) and sees Dottie. Dottie grabs her and kisses her full on the lips (if this doesn’t bring in the ratings nothing will) with Peggy’s knockout lipstick and pulls out her knife. Before she can claim another victim, Thompson and Sousa return, which made little sense considering they’d already been in that hallway. Thompson and Sousa unknowingly save Peggy as they handcuff her and take her pocketbook back to SSR. Angie goes to Dottie’s room to get killed clearly and sees Dottie has already left.
Peggy tries to explain to Dooley, but he’s having none of it. Kinda hard to blame him here. Dooley tells Sousa and Thompson to get what they need and not to take it easy just because Peggy’s a woman. How’s Agent Carter gonna get out of this fine mess?
A lot more than usual happened this episode. The highlights again remain all the Peggy and Jarvis scenes, but Peggy’s escape plan seemed very out of character and felt more like a way to extend the story than provide a real obstacle for Peggy. Still, this is definitely one to watch as the series hits its final arc.