Snafu

It took a few days, but I finally got to this week's episode of Agent Carter -- another solid installment as this sort of mini-series is about to wrap up its run. What I most enjoyed this week were the ways in which they were able to take advantage of Carter not being a badass one-woman wrecking crew. Because six prior episodes have established quite well that she is a badass one-woman wrecking crew, her reputation is hardly in any danger from the audience.

For example, Jarvis swooping in with Stark's fake confession was a great moment that, several episodes earlier, might have come off like he was trying to rescue a "damsel in distress," taking Carter no more seriously than her SSR co-workers do. But with their working relationship well established, it instead read only for the pure gesture it was -- trying to help a friend.

Having established Carter's calculating toughness, we could understand and forgive her one moment of sentimentality, a moment even she herself could not properly explain: her relatively unstrategic decision to go back to her apartment to retrieve Steve Rogers' blood sample. Carter doesn't have to be robotic to stay tough in the eyes of the audience, and this element provided some appreciated emotion to the episode.

For once, Carter didn't have to have all the answers. It was a wonderful comedic scene when she and Jarvis worked together to bash through the interrogation room window, only to realize that it still hadn't really gotten them any closer to an escape.

All that, plus strong moments for Sousa and Thompson, and a nice swan song for Chief Dooley. The one moment that did feel a bit silly was the contrivance of Stark's "suicide vest" invention; the practical application for which it was supposedly intended didn't really ring true for me. But then, this sort of goofy retro gimmick is a regular part of the series, so love it or leave it, I suppose.

Another A- episode of the show in my book. I'd love it if next week could close out the tale with the best episode of them all.