Thursday, January 8, 2015

Marvel's Agent Carter

The first 2 episodes were a lot of fun. I saw a comment on Reddit that puts Agent Carter as James Bond meets Alias meets Mad Men. James Bond with the secret agent with gadgets, Alias with the kick-ass female spy, and Mad Men with the period (even though Agent Carter is technically set two decades earlier than Mad Men). I happen to like all three of these things, and I am definitely liking Agent Carter very much so far.

The show is set right after Captain America: The First Avenger, and I believe it will end at the "Agent Carter" Marvel One-Shot. It's 1946; World War II has just ended and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is still grieving over the loss of Steve Rogers. Peggy, seemingly the only female agent at the SSR, was getting tired of being pushed towards administrative work instead of being allowed more prominent duties. In comes old pal Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), who was being suspected as a traitor. He enlisted Peggy's help to clear his name, running secret missions from within the SSR. Howard loaned Peggy his personal, faithful butler in Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy) to help her.

Of course, with a Marvel Cinematic Universe show, they must throw references around. I mean, the first episode started with clips from The First Avenger, and it never stops. My favorite is definitely Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark, and how Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony is pretty much the same as Howard, whether he likes it or not. I guess, in reality, it's Cooper who based his performance on RDJ's, but it's still amazing to see two very different, but very similar performances. The scene of Howard joking around in front of the Congress made me want to rewatch Iron Man. Love the snarky Starks.

Jarvis, who's the inspiration behind Tony's AI that powers everything J.A.R.V.I.S., is also full of snark. I really would love to see Jarvis meet J.A.R.V.I.S. and see how they would react to each other. At the end of the first episode, Jarvis was on the phone with Howard, and it was revealed that they were keeping a secret from Peggy. The one theory I like, and it seems very plausible, is that it wasn't anything bad like the scene made it seem like. Instead, they were just talking about the possibility of appointing Peggy as the first Director of SHIELD. As I've mentioned earlier, the season is set up to the One-Shot, which is when Howard invited Peggy to run SHIELD. Hopefully, this means that season 2 will feature more of Howard Stark! And lots and lots of Peggy-Jarvis action, because I love their relationship.

Speaking of Jarvis, I find it interesting that James D'Arcy stars in the only two shows that I'm currently following weekly: Agent Carter and Broadchurch.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

I'm actually watching new shows!

I've just watched the first episode of Orange Is the New Black, and I'm definitely in. I'm currently wondering if I could survive even a day in prison. Anyways, I'm still waiting for the next episodes to be...ready.


In the mean time, I'm giving Arrow a second shot. I have faith, seeing how highly rated it now is, but I'd have to be patient and go through the early episodes. Hopefully I can keep myself interested enough to then watch The Flash, maybe Gotham as well. Constantine is also getting decent ratings so I'm adding it to my future-watch list.

Speaking of comic book shows, I am insanely excited for tomorrow's/tonight's (timezone confusion) Agent Carter! Reviews have been very good and my expectations are high, but I'm confident they will deliver. I just wish for lots and lots of Dominic Cooper/Howard Stark.

Other than Agent Carter, the other show I'm following weekly will be Broadchurch season 2. I'm currently watching the first episode and it's as good as season 1. I have yet to watch the American adaptation, Gracepoint, mostly because the mixed reviews. And I don't know if I'm ready for David Tennant in an American accent.

Hopefully, all of these new, shiny things will keep me from going back to rewatching old shows!