Inspired by the films “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, “Marvel’s Agent Carter” is a series created for ABC based on beloved Agent Peggy Carter. Our writer, DeShawn Blankenship recaps the mini-series each week, updating you with the very latest in his series, Before SHIELD.
Picture Credit: ABC/Marvel Studios
Welcome back, Agents! Our latest episode, “A Sin to Err”, throws our heroine from the proverbial frying pan and straight into the inferno! Peggy’s walked on the razor’s edge between keeping her personal and professional lives from colliding with her commitment to helping Howard Stark all season. Tonight, however, puts all of Peggy’s work in jeopardy. Let’s get started!
Tonight’s episode opens with a flashback. Four captives are unhooded by Dottie the Proto Widow while a Russian general explains that they’ve been granted the honor to serve Leviathan. He asks if anyone wants to decline. When one captive wants to go home to his family, Dottie unties and kills the man as The General asks another captive if he also wants to decline.
Dr. Ivchenko is quizzed on Leviathan by Peggy, Thompson and Chief Dooley. When Peggy starts asking about young girls being used as living weapons, Dooley pulls her aside. He praises her good work in Russia but asserts himself as the leader of the agency and the investigation. When she speculates Howard Stark, notorious playboy, was tricked by a woman into allowing access to his home and lab, Dooley challenges Peggy to prove it and grants her a field assignment. Peggy, speechless, accepts and Dooley just seems happy that she isn’t talking..
We find Angie reading a monologue at the diner. Peggy thinks she’s a natural but we learn that Angie’s had seven bad auditions in a row so she’s quitting acting for secretary school. She gives Peggy her new room key and Peggy still doesn’t know that Dottie stole her other key last episode. Peggy encourages Angie pursue her dream, but Angie leaves her to speak to Jarvis. The Brits fall back into their rhythm as Jarvis explains that Chief Dooley visited him regarding the Battle of Finnau.
Jarvis admits that Howard was there and that something deeply disturbed his boss. He started constructing his lab once he returned to the States. Peggy gets an idea and asks for the names of all the women Howard’s seen in the past year. Jarvis suggests that they start with the western hemisphere and go from there, to Peggy’s chagrin. While there’s still distance between the pair, it was good to see them back together tonight.
Dottie stands across the street from the SSR headquarters before heading into a nearby building to meet with a dentist for a job interview. This dentist seems more interested in Dottie than her filing skills and invites her to his office.
Souza meets with Sheldon, the man Peggy put through a table in “Bridge and Tunnel”. He offers Sheldon a reduced sentence if he’ll identify the woman who caught him. Sheldon agrees and Souza shows Shelton a photo of Peggy whom the crook positively identifies.
Jarvis and Peggy visit the jeweler who makes the “gifts” for Howard’s female friends. Howard orders a bracelet for every woman he’s with as Peggy tries not to vomit. Howard is fortunate that he’s on the run because Peggy would lecture him on respecting women right after she punched him out again. The jeweler provides the pair a list of every woman Howard has ordered a bracelet for. Peggy quickly eliminates the models, socialites and actresses, narrowing down the list to several names. Peggy and Jarvis visit each one and we’re treated several scorned women venting their anger at Howard…on Jarvis. None of them are the possible spy, however, and the search continues.
The Dirty Dentist gets fresh with Dottie and she kills him with a drill through the eyeball. He should have led by complementing her smile.
Chief Dooley goes over stolen blueprints with Ivchenko, who claims only to be a therapist. Ivchenko evaluates Dooley, noting that he’s living in his office. Dooley admits to trouble at home as Dottie aims at the building from inside the dentist’s office. She finds her target as Ivchenko opens the window under the pretense of being awed by New York’s tall buildings. She uses her rifle lens to send a series of light flashes to the headshrinker. He taps out a message on the windowsill with Dooley none the wiser. I retract my previous statement about Dooley being a traitor. Ivchenko reports needs more time to obtain “the item”. He instructs Dottie to kill Peggy.
The list leads Peggy and Jarvis to the home of a woman named Ida, who is long gone when they arrive, convincing Peggy that they’re on the right track. Jarvis keeps watch with a weak cover story about being an exterminator and is silently extorted for a quarter by a young man. Meanwhile, Dooley opens up to Ivchenko about his wife’s infidelity while during his wartime service. They compare hard luck stories over a drink. Under the guise of relationship advice, the bad doctor tries to hypnotize the chief with his ring. Souza arrives and calls Dooley away to present his findings.
Peggy and Jarvis rendezvous at the diner to compare notes, but Peggy notes that SSR agents are clearing out the diner to isolate her. We are then treated to the best action/music montage of the show thus far as Peggy defeats a whole SSR team and dashes into the alley, where Thompson is waiting. He tells her to turn herself in; she knocks him out, too. Jarvis tells Peggy they need to escape but she won’t leave without Steve’s blood. Souza arrives next and also demands her surrender. She tells Souza he won’t shoot her and walks away, leaving Souza to believe that she’s really a traitor.
Dooley has the SSR office in high gear trying to apprehend Peggy. Agent Yauch guards Ivchenko, who starts his psychoanalysis on him. He pegs Yauch as a middle child, eager to please, and wanting to get into Chief Dooley’s good graces. The bad doctor offers to give the young agent some tips on standing out, starting by twirling his ring.
Peggy collects Steve’s blood from her apartment at The Griffin as Thompson and Souza barge into the lobby. Miriam Fry attempts intimidation on the federal agents but it’s not effective. Bursting into Peggy’s room, they find it empty, including the hole in the wall. Peggy hides on the ledge outside her window until Angie finds her. Peggy begs her friend’s help and Angie delivers, going into actress mode and telling everyone that Peggy went to visit her sick grandmother, reminding Angie of her sick grandmother. She bursts into tears and Souza can’t leave fast enough. Thompson looks lost as he tries to comfort Angie before making his own escape. The agents search elsewhere while Angie and Peggy bid each other farewell.
Ivchenko learns from Youch that Dooley has locked up all of Stark’s inventions and how to escape the building. He then tells him to leave for the day, go to his favorite bar and enjoy a good drink. Once Yauch does so, he follows the doctor’s last command and walks in front of an oncoming car. That’s definitely one way to tie up a loose end. I was starting to like this new agent just because he wasn’t Jack Thompson.
Peggy’s is nearly free when she runs into Dottie, who slows her down with small talk long enough to plant a kiss on our favorite agent. Peggy earns the line of the night with “You’re wearing my brand!”, learning too late that Dottie stole her Night–Night lipstick. Peggy sees the cuff marks on Dottie’s wrist as she falls unconscious and realizes her enemy was in front of her all along. Dottie brandishes a knife to kill Peggy when she’s saved by none other than Thompson and Souza. These guys finally learned how to get to a crime scene first, for once! They haul Peggy out of the Griffin like a common criminal as Peggy’s world comes crashing down around her and Dottie revels in her handiwork.
We close with Angie trying to collect Dottie for a meeting with Miriam and finding her neighbor’s room empty and Dottie gone. At SSR headquarters, Peggy stares down Dooley, Thompson and Souza while handcuffed to the wrong side of the table. Dooley warns them not to go easy on her because she’s a woman. Both men glare at Peggy, ready to get to work.
Peggy’s worst nightmare is now her reality. Jarvis is gone, her allies believe she’s a traitor, and the enemy she’s worked to find is free to act while she stares down a long prison sentence if she’s fortunate. Thus far, Peggy’s had a support system and almost everything in her favor. With two more episodes left, we’ll learn if Peggy can operate as the underdog and still come out on top.
That’s it for tonight, Agents! Join me next week for the penultimate episode, title “SNAFU”, as we find out how the now–incarcerated Agent Carter saved the world…BEFORE SHIELD.
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Can Peggy save herself? Will Jarvis finally become a hero? Leave a comment with your thoughts!
The Hudsucker 
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