Agent Carter Season 2 Finale Recap And Review: Hollywood Ending
After spending the last four days in Walt Disney World, I’m not emotionally prepared for the ending of Marvel’s Agent Carter, but let’s do this anyway.
Not-So-Short Summary: Peggy’s gun still points at Thompson, cocked and ready, but Wilkes explodes inside and knocks them all down. They rush inside to find zero matter splattered everywhere–and Jason Wilkes under a table, whole once more.
The zero matter crawls into Whitney Frost instead. They flee and are picked up by Samberly, Jarvis, and Howard Stark (Jarvis runs over Whitney Frost).
Back at Stark HQ, Wilkes tries to describe what was in the opening when he was sucked in. It’s a disease, a cancer, he and Whitney were the carriers, and now it’s looking for a new place to infect.
Apparently Manfredi and Stark are old pals, but everyone else in Stark’s household hates him. Manfredi is there to discuss Whitney Frost. He wants them to save her; he knows it’s not his Whitney anymore. She won’t eat, doesn’t pay attention to him, all she does is talk about opening up a new zero matter door.
Howard suggests they steal Whitney’s research and use it for themselves. But they need to get her out of that room. They leave that up to Manfredi.
He gets her out of the room by saying he needs her to be his muscle. While he’s off “interrogating” one of his employees, Sousa and Agent Carter sneak in to take pictures of her work. They get it all–Sousa even changes a 6 to an 8 to slow her down–and Manfredi comes to find out that his employee is actually working for someone else, much to his surprise.
She has designed a portal that will open a rift between our world and the zero matter universe. “If she weren’t a homicidal maniac, I’d be in love,” Howard remarks.
As everyone works on all of the designs to pull off their heist, Thompson appears and offers his help. Peggy puts him on lunch duty and it cracks me up when he begrudgingly yet happily obliges. While on the phone placing the order, he finds Vernon Masters’ briefcase, Arena Club lapel pin included. Thompson discovers the lapel pin is actually a key–but to what? He gives it to Peggy later on in the episode.
Their test of the rift generator (patent pending) works! And it draws Whitney’s attention immediately. She shows up, speechless and moved, so much so that she notices no one around her. Not even the cannon in plain sight. Howard and Jarvis shoot the zero matter out of her and back into the rift while Sousa and Thompson cart her offscreen.
Of course, the shutoff for the gateway is malfunctioning, so the only way to shut it down is to turn it off on the device itself. Meaning the person who does it will more than likely get sucked into the rift (and potentially start this whole story over again). While everyone offers to do it, Sousa acts. He ties himself up with a hose, the other end to a lamppost, and takes off towards the device.
It’s barely long enough and comes undone. Peggy grabs on end with Howard, Thompson, and Wilkes holding her tight before Jarvis has an idea: put the gamma cannon in Stark’s working hovercar and explode it inside the rift.
It works!
Back at Stark Manor, Howard is complaining once more that he didn’t get his hands on any zero matter. However, he is starting a new facility in Malibu and he’s hired Wilkes to work for him. Peggy and Wilkes have a nice moment of wrapping up their relationship and what could have been. “I’ve learned that dwelling on what might have been is not a way to live,” she says, a lesson learned last season.
On her way to the airport, Jarvis tries to convince Agent Carter to stay, says she only needs one compelling reason. It’s too late for that since she has so much paperwork to fill out before heading to New York. Sousa finishes, only to rattle Peggy’s cage about not following protocol at the black sun’s zenith and smugly says she has no witty reply.
Oh, but she has a reply, and it’s to kiss him like she’s kissed no one else (except Captain America, but that’s another story). It’s been a long time coming, and it feels rewarding.
Whitney Frost is seeing visions of her husband telling her everything will be okay. In reality, she’s in a mental hospital, more or less, talking to her reflection and not paying attention to Manfredi when he comes to visit.
Post-Credits Stinger: Thompson’s packing up to head back to NYC and answers his door, only to be shot and killed over the fake/”fake” redacted Carter file. I’m still uncertain how to feel about this.
Badass Moment of the Week: Howard Stark shooting golf balls into the zero matter rift, and then Jarvis offering a seven-iron. Look, his swing just wasn’t good. Runner up was Jarvis literally jumping out the front door yelling, “Splendid!”
Best One-Liner: “We have a bigger problem on our hands–we’re out of mustard,” Howard mutters at lunch.
I will say, the dynamic of Joseph Manfredi and Howard Stark was perfection. It was nice to have a few moments of Howard Stark schmoozing it up with someone he has a ridiculous past with and obviously overlaps a few areas of social circles.
How does everyone feel about Thompson’s murder? I honestly don’t know. He was always that character you hated because he got under your skin, but at the same time…I don’t know! I want answers!
The quick little heartfelt moment of Agent Carter asking Jarvis how Ana is doing melted my heart despite it feeling a little shoehorned in. However, it works with their dynamic regarding that entire conversation, so I let it slide (not that I have a say in this show at all…). I snickered at Peggy’s comment saying he may be “the strongest of us all,” immediately thinking of JARVIS in Iron Man’s super suit. She’s not far off!
Well, we’ve come to the end of Marvel’s Agent Carter. I desperately hope that it comes back for a third season, but I won’t be surprised by the probable outcome of its cancellation. The writers did seem to wrap it all up in a neat, little package (though did Sousa ever say it was Cap that rescued him in the war? Or will that come out later in their relationship?). I am a little bummed that they didn’t close the season out with Johnny Mercer, but what are you going to do?
Regardless, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD returns next week with all of the Secret Warriors you could ever want, and an unkillable Grant Ward back in action.