Agent Carter Recap And Review: The Atomic Job

Marvel’s Agent Carter gives us a doozy of an episode this week with “The Atomic Job.” Plus there’s excellent music yet again, and we may or may not have a new favorite character in rose the secretary. More on that later…

Not-So-Short Summary: Wilkes wakes up Peggy in the middle of the night to show her that the zero matter in Jane Scott’s tissue sample is drawn to him. It makes its way out of the jar and into him, making him whole and tangible for but a moment.

Agent Carter and Jarvis break into a cold storage facility where Jane Scott’s body is being held. Unfortunately, as they hide in the air ducts, Whitney Frost and Calvin Chadwick show up. The zero matter called to her, much like it calls to Wilkes. Whitney absorbs it all. “I need an atomic bomb,” she drops after her eyes return to normal.

She’s trying to replicate the first atomic test in the same location to find that zero matter rift. Agent Carter’s plan to stop her involves infiltrating a Roxxon Oil facility where they hold the atomic bombs. She needs to get a key that cannot be replicated, so she heads to Hugh Jones’s office to see if she can’t find it.

And that’s when we get a ridiculous yet hilarious scene of Agent Carter constantly knocking Hugh Jones out with the SSR short term memory detractor (title pending) while she searches his person for the key to his facility.

Severely outmanned, Peggy and Sousa bring in Rose to help their cause… and Aloysius Samberly, a lab rat at the SSR. He brings all of his toys.

Aloysius and Rose pose as a married couple to knock out the guards outside the facility. Unfortunately inside, it appears that Whitney Frost has beat them to the punch. Also… did anyone realize Rose is a complete and utter badass? …And did she just casually have brass knuckles on her or did I miss something? Anyway…

Jarvis gets stuck in the room with the bomb and does not handle it very well. Sousa walks him through disassembling the bomb. “It’s like taking a souffle out of the oven,” Sousa remarks.

Agent Carter tracks down Whitney Frost, who is going insane (in an entertaining, good way). She tries to tell her that the SSR can fix her, but Whitney wants none of it. They fight, per Peggy’s norm, and Whitney grabs hold of Peggy’s arm. She kicks her way out of Whitney’s grip, only to end up falling down to the first floor and onto some steel rods, one piercing her abdomen above her left hip.

It’s painful and heartbreaking, and downright dark. I definitely didn’t anticipate something like that in this episode. Honestly, it’s grounding, seeing our heroine getting seriously wounded…even though we know she can’t die since she’s alive in both Ant-Man and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Sousa takes her to Violet because Peggy refuses to be taken to a hospital. Violet stitches her up and Jarvis takes her back home.

On the Whitney Frost-side of things, Chadwick is losing his mind in a completely different way than his wife. He tries to talk her out of it, only to realize she has the upper hand with her evil super powers. He calls the Council for an emergency meeting.

Post-Credits Stinger: After being tucked into bed, Peggy and Wilkes turn on the radio to get some rest (Butler’s orders)…and then Wilkes disappears.

Badass Moment of the Week: Rose Roberts and everything she did this episode.

Best One-Liner: “For the record…that was nothing like making souffle,” Jarvis breathes as he exits the room where he just diffused two atomic bombs.

Firstly, as always, whoever is choosing the music for this season of Agent Carter is absolutely nailing it. This week, it’s “Pistol Packin’ Mama” by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, which I thought I had on 78, but I believe my oldest brother has it.

Sousa proposes at the beginning of this episode (horribly, though it’s cute). But it all backfires, more or less, when Violet catches him interacting with Peggy after she’s injured. She instantly notices the look in Sousa’s eyes, the concern, and she jumps to the obvious conclusion that he fled to the West Coast to try to leave her behind, not for just a fresh start.

Shout-out to all those Ford Woodie owners who now can say Howard Stark owned one. I had a family friend drive me around in a 1949 Woodie on my wedding day; it was awesome and also felt like a deathtrap because everything swayed and creaked. Sounds like the perfect Stark car.

Next week’s Agent Carter is the return of Dottie Underwood, who I was just asking about in my brainstorm session yesterday! It’s a two-hour spectacle, so you know it’s going to be good.