A Sin to Err

Increasingly, it's looking to me as though the best way to improve the eight-episode Agent Carter series would have been to make it only six episodes instead. Where there formulaic repetition of the early episodes left me cold (and, looking at the ratings, caused the show to hemorrhage viewers too), these episodes in the back half keep getting better. This larger story they've been telling has an endgame, and the writers are now moving toward it with purpose.

No more double-agentry. Sousa finally revealed what he'd learned and exposed Carter's secret. It made the last half of this episode a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse. Of course, we've seen the ineptitude of the rest of the SSR on full display for weeks now, so it was no surprise who would win. Still, it was satisfying to see them face some real consequences for underestimating Carter all this time.

Perhaps even more satisfying was to have Carter found out in her personal life as well. Her friend Angie has been the awkward attachment in the storytelling (very much like the roommate on Alias, before they radically changed the character in season two of that show). This week, Angie not only learned the truth, she helped Carter make her escape.

Well, almost. The show also paid off the running threat of Russian agent Dottie. (The dichotomy of the phrase "Russian agent Dottie" is fantastic, by the way.) I liked that they didn't make Carter so supreme that she was able to slip away from everyone including her would-be assassin. I also liked that by having Angie save Carter's neck, we now have a bit of investment in whether Dottie is going to do something horrible to Angie or not.

There were a few hokey touches in the episode that didn't quite work for me. The Russian doctor's super-effective hypno-ring felt rather unrealistic, for example. Even though the 1940s Marvel Universe has been allowed to be a bit more campy than modern times, here it had tech that simply doesn't exist in the future. (Well, unless you're an Asgard.) And while Carter and Jarvis' investigation of Stark's women did produce a few funny moments, it was unfortunate that so much screen time was given to it, as the audience knew they were really on the wrong trail.

But once again, Agent Carter served up its best episode yet. I think it might finally have crept above the B line and delivered an A-. And it seems like the last two episodes are poised to pack as big a punch.