AGENT CARTER (9 out of 10) Action-drama airing Tuesday evenings on ABC, based on characters from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe; Episode 1.8 written by Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters, directed by Christopher Misiano; Starring Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, Enver Gjokaj, Lyndsy Fonseca, Bridget Regan, Shea Whigham, Dominic Cooper, Ralph Brown. Guest stars: [not saying because it’s a spoiler– but click over if you must know, or just stick around for the final scene]
This was a fitting end to this miniseries that I pray on Captain America’s vibranium shield returns very, very soon. It had action, it had heart, and it wrapped up all of the loose threads of this series while hinting at what stories there are left to tell.
And just like a Marvel movie, you want to stick around for the final scene, which feels very much like a post-credits sequence teasing about what is to come. In any case, when a certain actor from the Captain America movies appears in the final scene, I lost it a little bit. (And no, it’s not Chris Evans. Keep your pants on.)
But the best thing about this was how it tied everything up. From the callback to the radio drama from the second episode, to all of the personal feelings and growth in the characters, there was a lot of satisfaction.
I especially love the title: Valediction. This literally means a “farewell” or goodbye message, coming from the Latin roots meaning “to be well” (the same root as “valiant”) and “to speak” (ie, diction, dictate, etc.) This is the same root word that we use for “Valedictorian” — the student chosen to speak last at a commencement.
And so, in this, we say goodbye to a lot of things. Peggy Carter and Jarvis have a very poignant goodbye. While very buttoned-up and “Stiff upper lip,” you can tell how much emotion there was behind those words. It’s a testament to how good as actors both James D’Arcy and Hayley Atwell are. But the most poignant valediction is the one where Peggy, and Howard Stark, have to let go of Steve Rogers. There’s a final, tearjerking scene set to “The Way You Look Tonight” that delivers on all the feels. (While I personally think a better song choice would’ve been “I’ll be Seeing You,” this works just fine.)
I also can’t think of the word “Valediction” without thinking of the classic poem by John Donne, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (copied below) in which Donne tells his love not to mourn that he has gone away, because they will be reunited in the end. I can’t help but think that’s what the smarty-pants writers behind the show were thinking when they named the episode.
Now, for a little birdwalk, inspired by a fun conversation with Lucas “Kill-tacular-tron”: you know how the guy who played Agent Sousa is also in Avengers as an NYPD cop? You might call this just Joss Whedon being Whedon by castin some of his favorite people, as the actor, Enver Gjokaj, also played “Victor” on Whedon’s “Dollhouse” (and was generally one of the best parts of that show).
Well, here’s a theory: Is this NYPD cop related to Daniel Sousa? No reason not to believe this. I actually love this fan theory– Daniel Sousa’s grandson/great-grandson helped fight in the Battle of New York.
But Lucas brought up another interesting wrinkle: could he be Sousa’s and Peggy Carter’s progeny? Well, it’s not impossible. We do know Peggy Carter married, and that her husband was liberated from a POW camp by Captain America himself. While we know Sousa served in WWII, sustaining his injuries there, we do not have any mention of him being a POW or having any interaction with Steve Rogers.
While I love the idea of some romance between Sousa and Carter, I’m not sure it’s exactly right. Somehow, I think when Peggy Carter’s eventual husband is introduced, we’ll know. Lots of clues and knowing winks will be made toward the audience.
So, let’s file this one under “Neither confirm nor deny.”
And with that, we bid “Agent Carter” a fond farewell. For the last 7 weeks, you have been the best show on TV. We can hope we’ll get another limited series, or maybe some followup in the movies with these characters. No word, but there have been rumors that parts of Avengers 2 will be flashbacks to Cap in WWII. This also remains a possibility for Cap 3: Civil War, due out May 6, 2016.
The best case is to bring back “Agent Carter” for another round, possibly a longer mini-season that this series, or for even a full season commitment. They’re certainly hinting in that final scene where they are planning on going. The upside of having this mini-series or sort of “British style” tv seasons? In 8 episodes we got a complete story, and with a tease of what come later.
The only upside is that we will get “Agents of SHIELD” back, but I must admit, that feels like a step down, even as much as I love Coulsen and want to find out what the Inhumans is going on with Skye.
Adieu, Agent Carter. We’ll be missing you.
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourningby John Donne
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now, and some say, No:
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
‘Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers’ love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.
But we by a love so much refined,
That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.
And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th’ other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.