The weekend is almost here! What geeky things will you all be up to? Sound off in the comments below! While you wait for the weekday to end and weekend to begin, here’s some geeky news from around the web.
Television channels are announcing what we can expect next TV season and ABC has announced that they won’t be renewing Marvel‘s Agent Carter which ran for two seasons on the channel.
This isn’t too surprising as the show’s star Hayley Atwell had signed on for another show called Conviction. The show’s second season saw ratings slipping as well, which again doesn’t make this much of a surprise.
It does leave open the season ending which left some questions hanging out there.
It is also being reported that ABC has passed on Marvel’s Most Wanted which was an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off starring Bobbi Chase and Lance Hunter. This is the second death for the show which was being worked on previously, not going anywhere, then being revived for this run, which didn’t go anywhere. Delyor Lindo had been cast to play Dominic Fortune. The show did get a pilot order, and then things fizzled.
It’s unknown if the two characters or Fortune will show up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Marvel‘s Agent Carter ends its second season with a sloppy episode full of bad acting, bad special fx, and a story that makes little sense.
The season 2 finale finds everyone facing a mission they may not come back from as Peggy urges Howard Stark to eliminate Zero Matter.
The team decides through a strange ally that Whitney Frost is too dangerous and that Zero Matter has to be eliminated for that to happen. That leads to a showdown that’s full of horrible fx, bad acting, and a final episode that I’d rather forget.
SPOILERS
The solution is opening up a rift to get Frost to show up and then shoot her with the gamma gun they designed. The Zero Mater would get sucked up after they zap Frost. They gun? Yeah, that’s out in the open where she can see it? What the hell?
Then there’s the closing of the rift which has individuals figuring out which person will sacrifice themselves. That acting just deteriorates along with the special fx which are some of the worst I’ve seen of any recent live action Marvel production. The story just makes no sense in individual’s actions, as if the writers couldn’t think of anything better.
And there’s that title of “Hollywood Ending,” with the episode doing its best to leave us with a rather expected one in a few ways, and those had me rolling my eyes.
The ending indicates we might see more and here’s hoping it’s better than this one.
Marvel‘s Agent Carter had another double dose of episodes tonight with back to back episodes eight and nine in another double punch before the season finale next week.
In episode eight, “The Edge of Mystery,” Peggy and Sousa propose a trade with Whitney Frost, while the SSR gets help from Howard Stark that may be the key to eliminating Zero Matter.
In episode nine, “A Little Song and Dance,” Peggy desperately tries to save Dr. Wilkes with a dangerous plan to stop Whitney Frost. But Thompson makes a surprising move that could destroy them all.
Again, with these two episode I think we see a lot of issues that have plagued Agent Carter this season placed before us in back to back showings. Part of that issue I realize is the fact these are two episodes.
The episode has the team attempting to take down Frost with a gamma gun that destroys dark matter. It involves double crossing and lots of drama, and some action, and very little humor. There’s a lot that feels drawn out and could probably have been packed in to an an episode half the length. The last four could have been put in to two episodes.
The series too is also missing the kick-ass feminist vibe of the first season. It’s lots of action and little else. The heart and soul that made the first season enjoyable is missing here. Part of what’s also missing is the “why.” I still don’t understand what Frost wants to do. Her end goal is non existent.
And that ending? What a weird cut. For as good as the first season, this one is falling very short. Thankfully it’s almost over.
Marvel‘s Agent Carter had a double dose of episodes tonight with back to back episode six and seven in a two hour punch.
In episode six, “Life of the Party,” when Peggy realizes she cannot save Wilkes on her own, she turns to her most unexpected adversary for help while Whitney makes a move to control the deadly Zero Matter.
In episode seven, “Monsters,” as Peggy plots a rescue mission, Whitney hunts for even more dark power; and Jarvis learns he should not make promises he cannot keep.
This second season has been very uneven, and these two episodes are examples of some of the issues the series is seeing. The episodes cover a lot of ground as Whitney moves to control Zero Matter and also get a nuclear weapon. I still can’t quite figure out what Frost’s plan is, it all seems all over the place. It just seems like she’s obsessed with Zero Matter.
The episode has some espionage, some action, some humor, some love interests. And I think that’s part of of the issue of the second season. The conspiracy is deep, and there’s an attempt to flesh things out and focus on other characters, the show has shifted a little from Carter herself. Each episode feels like it’s Agent Carter and her mystery gang getting together for the latest caper.
There’s also a loss of focus on Agent Carter being beyond her time and a kick-ass female character we can all look up to. That independence, that feminist strength, is diminished in this second season. This episode has some of that as Peggy is faced with two hunky guys who both like her! And she can’t believe two men would! It just feels like scenes like that misses part of what makes the character amazing.
I think what really bothers me about the second season is that the plot feels so over the top compared to the first. It’s all a bit goofy. And that focus on the over the top plot seems to be at the expense of what made the first season so special.
As Jarvis’ precision and quick-thinking skills are put to the ultimate test, Peggy must find a way to stop an atomic explosion that threatens to destroy all of California.
Marvel’s Agent Carter goes Superman III with a threat to destroy California (why do comic related live action things hate California so much?).
Tonight’s episode is a bit mix for me as there’s some solid humor, but also a lot of gadgets that feel a bit out of place at times, like a second rate Q from James Bond.
The good for me was the humor, especially early in the episode with Carter in disguise searching an office. There was some solid stuff in there that had me entertained. Then there’s an ongoing joke about pie which is also solid. Then there’s Jarvis and the uranium that ends with some nice humor.
There’s lots of use of goofy gadgets in this one, some of which you wonder why they aren’t used in the modern tv series or movies. But, it all comes to that bomb plot that bothers me. It seems so out of place and really random as to why it’s needed. It feels rather hokey overall and a bit grand for Whitney Frost. Plus the handling of getting the uranium out of there, and the fact that uranium doesn’t equal a nuclear bomb. It’s rather off.
The episode is decent, but not quite as good as last week. Still it’s one of the better ones this season, which is picking up speed as it moves along.
Agent Carter and the SSR learn there’s more than just a pretty face behind Hollywood star Whitney Frost, Peggy’s most dangerous foe yet.
I’ve been pretty down on the first three episodes of Marvel’s Agent Carter, but this fourth episode gets us closer to last season’s solid performance. The episode slows things down slightly, and instead of just focusing on the present, it also takes us back to the past revealing a lot of Peggy and Whitney’s pasts.
The episode does a good job getting back to the show’s feminist roots, especially comparing Whitney and Peggy’s experiences growing up and getting to where they are. Both have issues with their relatives telling them what they can and can’t do. In one case it’s their fiance, and in the other it’s their mother. Setting the two characters up like this is fantastic, and I wish this was done earlier this season and carried through the entirety.
I’m still not a fan of Whitney’s powers, and where that’s going I’m a bit weary, but this is much more to form and what I’d expect of the season. Here’s hoping they keep this up instead of going back to what we’ve seen.
Peggy’s quest to learn the truth about Zero Matter steers her into a confrontation with her superiors, as barnstorming Howard Stark shows up.
I’m not quite sure what it is about this second season of Marvel’s Agent Carter, but it’s not capturing me as the first season did. The three episodes so far are much more in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. quality, and that’s a show I only watch because I don’t want to miss something when it comes to continuity.
This third episode has Peggy teaming up with Howard and Jarvis to infiltrate a club they are sure are is connected to what’s going on and they have clues as to what’s going on. It’s dumb luck and a bit too easy they figured that aspect out.
Then there’s this whole thing about gravity around Peggy. That aspect is beyond silly, and the reveal is so bad it’s almost comical.
The series so far has been taking some bad aspects and mixing them in. The Arena Club feels like a bad Hellfire Club knock off. The girl power from the first season is missing. The story’s progression is much too easy.
In the first episode, dedicated to the fight against new Atomic Age threats in the wake of World War II, Agent Carter journeys from New York City to Los Angeles for her most dangerous and bizarre assignment yet.
In the second episode, Peggy discovers her murder investigation has huge ramifications that can destroy her career, as well as everyone near and dear to her.
Agent Carter is back in a two hour episode that sees her heading across the country to Los Angeles to deal with a strange death that of course turns in to so much more. Making the debut might actually have been a mistake as I found myself spacing out as the show moved along.
The episode kicks off with a dead body and some weird ice like substance and spins out in to weird goo that looks like a certain black mass from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The episode is a decent follow up to last season, but the pacing, and action all fall a bit flat with both too much attempting to be fit in, and not enough at the same. Finishing watching the episode, I feel like I’m unsure exactly what I watched and it was all forgettable in a way.
The good of it is the characters themselves.
Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter is fantastic as usual. Her back and forth with James D’Arcy‘s Edwin Jarvis is excellent. I will say that an increased role for Enver Gjokaj‘s Daniel Sousa was a nice addition. He’s an excellent actor and using him more is great.
The acting and interactions are solid, the plot though is almost forgettable, like we’ve seen it before elsewhere. It doesn’t feel unique or intrinsic to her, unlike the first season. Also missing is that solid feminist message. Some guys give her a look and check her out, but that’s about all there is. When the second hour came to a close, I had mostly forgotten what I watched during the last two hours.
While it’s nice to see Agent Carter back, I had hoped it’d have been better than this.
