"Agent Carter" season one discussion and spoilers

As I think I mentioned earlier in the thread, Peg comes from Meg, just as Ted and Ned come from Ed. Dick no doubt derives from Rick. My guess is it's a rhyming thing. Nancy and Ann seems obvious, Nancy. Ann to Nan to Nancy.

 

Name mutations seem to be common throughout history. When I took Latin in school, I always wondered how Iupeter/Jupiter in the nominative case became Iove/Jove in all other cases. This is where the expression "By Jove" came from-- Iove is the ablative of Iupeter, as in "By Jupiter" (which actually makes "By Jove" a redundancy along the lines of "and et cetera").

 

How long do I have to go away before this shit stops?

 

I feel ya.

Still, I have always wondered what "Peggy" was short for.

It is an odd name. Cute and sexy, but odd.

 

Al Bundy partially agrees with this.

 

I dunno, she seems straight to me.

 

I've been trying SOOO hard not to comment on how you get Dick from Rick...

 

I've been giving the show a chance but it's not really grabbing me (one who enjoyed damn near all the MCU's work so far). I think it's the time period. It was a very ignorant time and though I understand spreading awareness on this mindset that sadly still exist today, that latest "because your a woman" scene is depressing to watch. I'd rather watch a documentary on that topic (and I like documentaries) than trying to take it seriously while watching Peggy protect Captain America's blood.

Plus, the show isn't what I expected. In Captain America: TFA, Peggy was the type of person who'd knock a guy out for talking out of line, having connections with high ranking officials, being a part of the war planning process, and leading assults with a tommy-gun. Now, all of a sudden, she's ditsy and submissive around the office with the rank of taking people's lunch orders? I thought she'd be the exception to that "all men are better" mindset. I expected a female Dick Tracy meets X-Files in the MCU. I got a Legally Blonde in the 40's cop drama.

And it's also hard to believe she's doing all that she's doing in high-heels.

 

^Same here.

 

Double episode. Episode 3. Episode 4.

That's three weeks.

It feels like a year ago I watched the pilot, but it's been what, a month, 5 weeks?

 

Well, it was ignorant in some ways, progressive in others. Not long ago, I listened to the surviving episodes of the Adventures of Superman radio series, and in the post-WWII years, the show became really driven by progressive values, with lots of stories about Superman fighting racial and religious bigotry and politicians and demagogues who stirred up fear and hate of outsiders. There was this really utopian sense of America being this place that was moving forward into a united future and overcoming the intolerance of the past -- although at the same time, the fact that they were speaking out so aggressively against racial and religious hate groups probably reflects how active such groups were at the time.

And in a number of '40s movies and radio shows I've experienced lately, I've noted a real sense of modernism, an attitude that society was in a new, forward-looking age of science and reason and enlightenment and was on the verge of achieving great things now that it had outgrown the follies of the past. Of course, this was alongside ingrained sexism of the sort seen in Agent Carter, as well as deep-seated racial prejudices that weren't as easily overcome as those Superman writers in 1946-8 hoped they would be. So it was at once a very progressive society and a very backward one, by our standards. Maybe this show isn't focusing enough on the progressive side.

But that's the way it was in the post-WWII era. During the war, not only were women needed in the workplace once all the able-bodied men were out on the front, but a lot of societal conflicts and prejudices were put aside in the name of fighting the common enemy. But once that fight was over, those deferred prejudices reasserted themselves and the spirit of equality receded. And the men coming back from the front, seeing women in the jobs that were formerly theirs, wanted them to go back to home and hearth rather than staying in the workplace as competition.

 

The Superman Radio Serial vs. the KKK...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gopZ2X4FUiM[/yt]

 

Yeah, but Peggy went overseas and was seen on film reels serving on the battlefield. She should be a superstar, like a live action Rosie the Riveter, not an unrecognizable phone operator.

 

If Peggy is publicly known as "Captain America's girlfriend" then I can only assume that when the radioserial/War office(? I guess it really depends if the serial started as propoganda to sell war bonds, or post war to sell breakfast cerial.) asked permission to use her name in the show that Peggy kindly suggested that she would not be interested.

 

And that would make her a worthless spy. Hence minor sacrifices of logic being used to create a new story.

Considering this is basically a comic book show, it's hardly the first time that happens. It's about as absurd as Clark Kent's glasses or no one being able to figure out who Batman bought all his ultra-expensive toys from.

 

Those newsreels eventually helped people draw connections, though. Right?

 

Maybe i'm dense but which Batman are you talking about?

I'm not that familiar with Batman details but i always assumed comicbook Batman designed his stuff himself and may have had a special workshop to build it.

Nolan Batman though would be quite easy to figure out but they dealt with it soon enough with the scene of the Wayne Enterprises manager who tries to blackmail Fox and gets ridiculed out of his office.

As to Agent Carter.. it's a nice period piece but so far nothing that really blows my mind, the same as with Shield in its first season.

I know it's far too early to tell and judge but i hope they have some good things in store because this submissive character at work / awesome agent at night routine will wear off quickly.

It shows promise.. her male colleagues, while very mysoginistic, are thankfully not written as complete fools so they would make the lead even more formidable and superior but they do have skills and experience in their field of work. They are just a product of their time and it'll be interesting to see if Peggy will be able to turn them around.

It may be easy writing to have her be the founder of SHIELD (however that may happen if most males are mysoginistic) and then recruit her former colleagues to work for her but this is not Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad level of storywriting so it would be ok.

 

Any Batman that has a jet, or an atomic powered car.

You gotta wonder how many batarangs any given Batman goes through?

They cost almost a thousand dollars each to make if they're made out of some high tech poly composite that has to be carved with a super lathe made from diamond...

In the 70s, in the comics, that's how Ra's Al Ghul figured out it, and the animated series form the 90s almost copied the issue in question word for word, which was a wise decision that created an excellent episode.

Giimme a second...

 

My sentiments exactly.