Check out Josh’s double recap of the double episodes of Agent Carter! Carter tries to figure out how to save Wilkes, while Jarvis mourns his wife’s injuries. All the while Vernon and Frost have to be stopped! Check out our thoughts on these two episodes!
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Episode Recap of Agent Carter, Season 2 Episodes 8 and 9: The Edge of Mystery and A Little Song and Dance
The Edge of Mystery episode opens up with a flashback, from 1946. Jarvis is talking on the phone with Carter, helping her disarm a bomb it seems, and Ana, his wife, overhears some of the conversation. Ana questions Jarvis about the person on the phone, and Jarvis explains to Ana that Stark actually respects Carter, and Jarvis tries to change the subject with putting on Ana’s favorite radio program.
Back in the present, Jarvis is tending to his injured wife. Carter comes in and Jarvis loses it, smashing the radio, where he is trying to tune in her favorite radio show again. Carter tries to calm him down and tells him that she is going to get some supplies for him to get cleaned up, so that when Ana wakes up, he looks like himself.
Meanwhile, Wilkes is chained up by Frost. She appears to be studying Wilkes, and Wilkes at first seems appalled by her motives. But then he seems to agree to her demands of figuring out this Zero Matter business. Frost asks Wilkes if he hears the “voice”, and it looks like they both do hear a voice.
Moving over to Sousa, he realizes something happened at Jarvis’ house. Carter pulls up and explains what happened–Ana was hurt and Wilkes was taken. Sousa explains Vernon’s searching for the Uranium Rods, and Carter has a plan: to give them to Frost–or at least make Frost think so. Sousa has a plan to reach Frost–through Manfredi.
They head down to one of his restaurants, and encounter some resistance from some of Manfredi’s cronies. Eventually Manfreti sees the ruckus going and invites them to “lunch”.
Meanwhile in England, Thompson is hanging out with an old British friend, and they seemingly have had some fun drinking time. Turns out Thompson might not be as drunk as he is acting–he seems to have been working on getting some intel. This intel is the “dirt” Vernon was wanting against Carter.
Back with Carter, Sousa and Carter try to get Manfredi to get a message to Frost. Things aren’t going well at first, but Sousa plays some leverage to get Manfredi to help out.
It looks like Sousa and Carter made their point. Frost is trying to get Wilkes on her side regarding Zero Matter when Manfredi shows up, and tells her about the Uranium Rod situation. Manfredi tells her that the exchange would be Wilkes for the Uranium Rods. Frost seems to agree with this bargain.
Back with Jarvis, he is still mourning Ana, but she winds up waking up. Jarvis is very happy about this, and grabs the doctor. But outside her room, Jarvis is told some grave news–Ana is unable to conceive children. Heading back inside, Jarvis decides to keep this a secret from Ana.
Back with Carter, Sousa is working with Samberly, and they have come up with a fake set of Uranium Rods. Jarvis shows up, and he seems keen on going on the mission, probably due to the fact Frost is a part of the mission. Carter tries to talk him down. It turns out that they are a driver short though, as Howard Stark has just provided plans to build a machine that will stop Zero Matter–he thinks.
But there is some bad news now–Thompson has shown up, trying to wave the dirt against Carter in her face. Carter says it’s fabricated, and doesn’t bite on the report, and even says she would not betray his trust with the “dirt” she has on him.
It is time for the drop, and Carter and Sousa arrive in a truck with the “Uranium” Rods. Frost brings Wilkes. Frost tests the rods, and they check out, but they actually fall out of their containment, which makes Frost realize these aren’t real. Wilkes is grabbed by Carter and Sousa, Carter and Wilkes take off.
Jarvis, driving, tells Carter that they are being followed. Wilkes begins freaking out, and Carter seems concerned that Manfredi’s men are not really trying to catch them. Wilkes turns on Carter though, aiming his gun at Carter’s head. He tells Sousa to give him the information. Sousa tells Wilkes they are in the SSR Safe. Wilkes leaps through the wall to escape, and gets in the car with Manfredi’s men.
At the SSR, Vernon is excited about the dirt on Carter. Thompson seems to question the validity of the file though. Vernon tries to calm him down. A phone call comes in though, and Vernon asks Thompson to step outside. Thompson, suspicious of the call, picks up a line outside. He hears pieces of the conversation, and winds up catching Vernon removing the rods from the safe.
Sousa and Carter reach the SSR, and Thompson seems to be missing some memories. It looks like Vernon got him with the memory-wiping device Carter used some time ago. Luckily, Thompson happened to write down the coordinates–which is the meeting place to receive the Uranium rods.
Thompson talks his way onto the mission, and the team heads out. On the way out, Sousa tells Carter that they need to leave personal feelings out of the mission, referring to Wilkes. Carter fires back with saying that Sousa shouldn’t have given up the Uranium Rod location.
Samberly, meanwhile, has gotten the machine built, and Jarvis has asked Ms. Roberts to look after Ana while on the mission. Jarvis is a bit odd, but then it becomes clear–Jarvis put his last will and testament in the “supplies” for his wife, seemingly hinting he won’t be back.
The team heads out, in two vehicles, to get their plan in place which seems to involve stopping Frost with this big gamma ray cannon.
They are too late though–Frost and Wilkes open up the Zero Matter rift. But, Frost seems to not be getting the results she wants. Wilkes, meanwhile, seems drawn to the rift, and winds up floating up into it.
Carter and the team pull over, and they prepare the cannon for use to close the rift. Meanwhile, Jarvis has disappeared–and Carter realizes that Jarvis is on a vendetta to kill Frost. She chases him down–leaving Sousa, Thompson and Samberly with no vehicles.
Samberly’s cannon closes the rift, and Wilkes has fallen to the ground, with his skin moving around creepily. Meanwhile, Jarvis confronts Frost and shoots her. Frost is not dead though. Manfredi’s men show up, but Frost tells Manfredi to keep the two alive. Frost plans to use the two to get whatever is in Wilkes, over to her, using these two as leverage. This ends the first part of the episode, which leads right into the second half of the night’s episode….
The beginning of the A Little Song and Dance episode is a musical number that starts off in black and white, then changes to color, which eventually leads to Carter waking up from her unconscious state. She wakes up, in the back of their truck they had brought, with Jarvis. In the truck, Carter gets the two of them free, and Carter is irritated with Jarvis. but she works on a way to get out of their current predicament–she happens to have a device that can cut through the chains holding the doors closed. The two make a jump for it out of the truck. The two begin walking, but the truck soon turns around to come back for them.
Meanwhile, Thompson, Samberly and Sousa are getting worried. They also have company–Vernon’s men. Thompson comes up with a plan, so it would seem. Thompson acts as a prisoner of Sousa and Samberly. Sousa and Samberly give up when they have guns pulled on them. Thompson is able to talk the agents down though–preventing the two men from putting all three of them down.
Meanwhile, Wilkes is trying to tell Frost he is not feeling well, and does not want to go to populated areas, worried he might cause some sort of catastrophe.
Carter and Jarvis bicker more and more, and Jarvis breaks down and tells Carter about Ana’s situation. Carter seems to calm down a little after hearing this. When they encounter the truck again, using subterfuge, Carter and Jarvis are able to take the truck over, leaving the men to fend for themselves in the desert.
Back at the SSR, Vernon shows up, and Thompson explains his plan for stopping Frost. Thompson plans to use this cannon on Frost, to get rid of her. Vernon seems excited about this plan, and asks Sousa and Samberly if they are on board. Sousa reluctantly agrees.
Meanwhile, Manfredi has created a “lab” at a garbage dump for Frost to do her experiments–on Dr. Wilkes. Wilkes again pleads to be taken away from the population, but Frost is set on trying to get this Zero Matter out of him. Her plan is a painful one though, using a giant needle to try to extract it from Wilkes.
Back at the SSR, Carter confronts Vernon, and gives him a few punches. Thompson rushes in and calms down Carter, telling Carter the plan, and tells Carter that Sousa is on board too.
So the next step in the plan is to buy some time on delivering this machine, so Samberly can get this machine up and running to stop Frost. Thompson volunteers to deliver this news.
Frost, meanwhile, is frustrated with the inability to get the Zero Matter out of Wilkes. She takes a break to visit with Thompson, who has arrived. Thompson then plays turncoat–telling Frost about Vernon’s plan to kill her. Thompson then says that he would like a seat on the council, and will help Frost take out Vernon, and deliver the cannon.
Back at the SSR, they get the cannon ready for delivery. Vernon decides to be the deliveryman. Sousa and Carter set to follow in their vehicle. But their fuel line has been cut–seemingly by Vernon. Carter and Sousa talk to Samberly for a vehicle. Samberly then tells Carter about Thompson’s plan–which was to blow up both Vernon and Frost. Carter asks Samberly to build a signal jammer, to prevent the remote from detonating the bomb.
Back with Ana in the hospital, Ana seems concerned about Jarvis’ lying about a few things–such as what is going on with Wilkes and Carter. He comes clean when Ana is not buying his excuses. Ana tells him that he should be helping Carter. Jarvis also tells Ana about the other secret he had been keeping.
Carter, Sousa and Samberly scout the area, and Samberly is having trouble getting the jammer up and running. Carter decides to head in despite the jammer not being operational yet. Inside, Thompson, Frost and Vernon chat, and Vernon and Frost dance about, trying to figure out how to get the other. Carter finds Wilkes in the meantime. Carter tries to help Wilkes out, but Wilkes locks himself in a room, demanding that she leaves. Back with Thompson, he tells Vernon about his plan to turn on him. Vernon tries to talk his way out of the situation.
Thomspon leaves Vernon with Frost, letting her clean up the mess. Thompson makes a run for it, and presses his detonator. Once it doesn’t work, he realizes that Carter is behind this. He finds Sousa and Carter and the three argue about how to handle the situation. Thompson tells Samberly fix the detonator, at gun point. Carter pulls her gun on Thompson now. Inside, Vernon is about to be killed, but the cannon looks to be about to explode. All of this is superceded by Wilkes though–he comes in, and explodes into a spray of Zero Matter. The episode closes out after this happens, leaving us to wonder what happens next.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 2 Episodes 8 and 9 of Agent Carter: The Edge of Mystery and A Little Song and Dance
Things are getting more and more interesting with this Zero Matter, in terms of what it does and how it affects people. It is curious that although Whitney Frost is the one who not only has had Zero Matter in her for longer, but has much more of it in her, and has wielded its power more than Wilkes has, that she was not the one “chosen” by the rift to be brought up to it. She obviously took this as an insult. However, maybe it’s better for her that she was not the one “chosen” since it looks like Wilkes is not in good shape, and that it’s possible we may have seen the last of him.
I am glad that one person we have not seen the last of us Ana. I’m relieved that she pulled through, though saddened that she is unable to conceive children, as this seems like a big deal to both her and Jarvis.
In any case, that was a huge cliffhanger to leave us on! What happens next? Who lives? Who dies? Who does Peggy end up with, if anyone? Is Thompson really doing this for a spot on the Council, or is he just pretending, and this is all part of some elaborate plan? We’ll soon find out on the season finale!
Josh’s Thoughts on Agent Carter, Season 2 Episodes 8 and 9:The Edge of Mystery and A Little Song and Dance:
The big deal about these two episodes I thought was the character arc of a couple characters–Wilkes and Thompson. I am not sure where either of these characters really left off by the end of the episode, which is a bit intriguing. Wilkes, at the beginning of the episodes, seems to drift towards the “dark side” it would seem, which the show plays with, with Carter believing that Wilkes is under the influence of Zero Matter while Sousa doesn’t believe it, thinking it is more about self preservation. For me, as a viewer, I couldn’t really determine, but towards the end of the episode, Wilkes seems to say that it wasn’t Zero Matter, but seems to indicate that Sousa may have been more right. But given the circumstance he says this, he could just be saying this in order to convince Carter to leave him be.
Up until this episode, for the most part, I have really liked Wilkes and he seems like a really good guy. I am wondering if we will ever know for sure where he ends up. By the end of the episode, Wilkes explodes himself all over Vernon and Frost, which I wonder if this was intentional, or if he just happened to explode at that moment. I do wonder what happens with him in the end though.
As for Thompson, he seems to have woken up to Vernon’s plan, and seems to be doing the right thing–or at least what he thinks is right, versus what serves his own purpose. Carter and him seem to have a fundamental difference of opinion though–Thompson is willing to kill to stop these evil guys, and even sees Wilkes as a bad guy. Carter, on the other hand, isn’t willing to kill, and doesn’t see Wilkes as a bad guy. I can actually see both sides to this in a way though. Letting Frost or Vernon go, who knows how many people could potentially die because of this? I don’t really know the right answer to this, but it is a moral dilemma, as getting “justice” by bringing Vernon and Frost in could lead to many innocent lives lost, and there is no way to measure that loss unless that plays out. Then again, sacrificing Wilkes for the sake of taking those two out might not be morally good, and killing as a sense of justice is not morally correct either, many would argue.
Jarvis’ story was compelling, but also stupid given how Jarvis basically ruined any hopes of stopping Frost in the first half of this week’s episodes. Jarvis should have known that Frost would be a target to take down, and should not have rushed into things.
We will have to see what happens with Wilkes, Frost and Vernon tonight, seeing the aftermath of Wilkes exploding all over them. The season finale is coming tonight!
Scenes from Agent Carter, Season 2 Episode 10: Hollywood Ending
Here are scenes from the next Agent Carter episode, titled Hollywood Ending:
