"Agent Carter" season one discussion and spoilers

[Nerys Myk]

Carter is a traitor.

For her unAmerican behaviour in the pilot, she deserve to be retained to an SSR backsite.

It doesn't matter who she is working for, she is still working against America.

Actually considering what she did in the war, why doesn't she outrank all these coozers trying to marginalize her?

Her name is Margaret? How the #### do they get Peggy from Marcolonelgaret?

Its like Ted/Ed for Edward. Meg/Peg. Somehow the consonant changed. Probably a rhyming thing.

The SSR was not part of the Army and therefore did not hand out ranks.

I doubt it handed out uniforms.

It had a military elements present, Col. Philips who was it's directer. Carter seems to have a military background as well. The Howling Commando were part of the SSR's military arm too.

 

[Christopher]

Peggy has always been short for Margaret. I've known that since I was a kid. There are a ton of different diminutives for Margaret, according to Wikipedia, including the clear ones like Maggie, Meg, and Marge, but also things like Maisie, Mamie, Madge, Molly, Midge, Greta, and even Daisy (because Marguerite is the French name for a type of daisy).

All Star Squadron in the early eighties had a nice re-imagining of this by showing that the nice had a magical barrier around it placed by the Nazis that prevented super-heroes from entering.

"The nice" had a barrier around it? I can't figure out what that's a typo for.

All-Star Squadron (can't abbreviate that!)

A*S. It also works for All-Star Superman.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Peggy has always been short for Margaret. I've known that since I was a kid. There are a ton of different diminutives for Margaret, according to Wikipedia, including the clear ones like Maggie, Meg, and Marge, but also things like Maisie, Mamie, Madge, Molly, Midge, Greta, and even Daisy (because Marguerite is the French name for a type of daisy).

I dated a Margaret for three years and for some reason she wasn't fond of any of those. Occasionally one would slip out and she'd shoot me a look. So we usually called her Margaret.

All-Star Squadron (can't abbreviate that!)

A*S. It also works for All-Star Superman.

I've seen ASQ used.

 

[Turtletrekker]

We have a clip from Tuesday's episode...

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aciXTHVpb8[/yt]

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Wiki I found said that the SSR was founded/funded by FDR, and the allied answer to Hydra.

That makes it a civilian/political agency with the political capital to requisition military assets as need be.

Colonel Phillips may have retained the rank of a colonel but political agents have compensate ranks analogous to Military Rank to determine what levels of secrecy/clearance they are privileged to. To do what he did, he would have had to have the political rank = to a general even though he was only a colonel.

When President Bartlet was shot, a nurse tried to stop Josh from going where he wanted to go/find out what he needed to find, so he yelled at her "I have the equivilant rank of a 3 star general, get the hell out of my way" ...Or words to that effect but probably nicer and sexier.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

When President Bartlet was shot, a nurse tried to stop Josh from going where he wanted to go/find out what he needed to find, so he yelled at her "I have the equivilant rank of a 3 star general, get the hell out of my way" ...Or words to that effect but probably nicer and sexier.

No, that was after Donna was wounded in a bombing. The episode is "Memorial Day," and the line is, "I have the diplomatic rank of a three-star general."

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKQHCjC3wUI[/yt]

Here's some Wikiage on it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Thank you for agreeing with me. That takes a lot off my mind.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It's a memorable line.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Strategic Scientific Reserve.

It almost sounds like scientists should be running the show, or at least given enough room and protection to roll their sleeves up and scientificate.

Have you seen any scientists?

The SSR as it stands in 1946 is about stopping science.

Finding bad guys inventing stuff they shouldn't and locking it down.

That task wouldn't involve any scientists at all, just a lot of dynamite.

HST saw the bomb and said "fuck that, no further".

Did Truman alter the SSR's mandate or expand it?

One upping Hydra is not the same as stopping Hydra. Inventing Captain America is one upping the Masterrace, but the Howling commandos stopped Hydra with a lot of bullets.

FDR sponsored the bomb (and Captain America), but Truman had to deal with the culpability of using it twice. How hard do you think he really tried to reinvent Captain America until every country had their own army of steadily levelled up super soldiers? I'd almost believe that the SSR was very interested in making sure that no one (including America) got a super soldier to use in the coming wars, and the coming peace.

Keep the playing field level.

Claremont in the 80s mentioned a long standing treaty where the US and Russia agreed not to conscript their Mutant Populations into the armed forces.

Obviously Canada didn't sign that treaty.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I still don't see it, particularly for "it's my choice." You said it's used today as if defending a lifestyle preference. But he simply didn't do that. He used it in an entirely natural way that's exactly equivalent to "it's my decision" with fewer syllables.

"It's my decision" would have been more likely, but still kind of lame. As an aficionado of antique storytelling, I spend a lot of time with old literature, movies, comics, and radio shows, so when anachronisms crop up in period pieces they sort of leap out at me. This just happens to me something that leaped out at me.

"I've got no choice" and "There's nothing else I can do" are simply not equivalent sentences. They have an entirely different meaning. He's saying he evaluated the options and made a decision. No one else can make that decision. I assume you aren't going to argue people didn't make decisions for themselves before the 1960s.

That isn't the point. The 1940s was an entirely different socio-political environment-- the mindset and modes of expression were not the same. A soldier would not have said, "It's my choice." He would not have said, "It's my decision," unless he was being defensive. Probably the closest analog to what you're saying would have been "I've made my decision." But, since he was talking to his gal, I could think of much better alternatives to any of those.

Here is how the phrase "it's my choice" has trended over time in books. Here it is phrased as "it is my choice" (since we're talking books, it makes more sense to avoid contractions compared to every day speech). Note that the phrase was more popular in 1835 than it is today.

We're devoting an awful lot of thought to one phrase. But, since we're talking about dialogue and colloquialisms, it's definitely better to go with the contraction (especially if we're looking back to the 1800s, where it would be practically impossible to parse the context without extensive research). The phrase "It's my choice" looks like this:

It doesn't seem to exist at all before 1895 (which is probably an artifact of available data). The spike in the 1920s probably is related to Women's Suffrage, and it seems to have gone completely out of favor in the war years. The later dramatic upward trend is consistent with the socio-political changes of the past half century.

That Ngram Viewer is a nifty little tool.

"It's my choice" is also a modern, post-EST kind of thing

Eastern Standard Time?

Ok. Thanks for explaining. Disagree, but appreciate the clarification.

No problem. Nothing wrong with a friendly disagreement.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The line "It's my choice" was a call-back to earlier when Peggy was consoling Steve over the loss of Bucky.

"Did you believe in your friend? Did you respect him? Then stop blaming yourself. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice. He damn well must have thought you were worth it."

 

[Guy Gardener]

I just keep thinking "Pepsi! The choice of the New Generation."

 

[Shaka Zulu]

It could still be pre-empted for the big game.

You know how important sport is.

Monday Night Football is now on ESPN, and CBS/FOX has NFL football.

 

[Zaku]

I'm seeing now some bits of Wonder Woman on Youtube and the production design seems, I don't know, a little spartan compared to Agent Carter?

Probably this impression depends on director of photography choices too. At the time the sets were more bright and illuminated.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hiVg0X69-s#t=551[/yt]

 

[Guy Gardener]

Carter was paid $3,500 per episode in season one.

I can't imagine they planned on spending on money on this until they saw the ratings.

Carter was pad 1 million dollars for all of Season 3.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

The real (if unavoidable) anachronism is that it's 1946 and nobody is smoking!

By coincidence, I watched an old "Man from UNCLE" episode last night in which entire plot revolved around a booby-trapped ashtray. Probably not a plot we're going to be seeing on ABC in 20015, despite the period setting.

The real (if unavoidable) anachronism is that it's 1946 and nobody is smoking!

By coincidence, I watched an old "Man from UNCLE" episode last night in which entire plot revolved around a booby-trapped ashtray. Probably not a plot we're going to be seeing on ABC in 20015, despite the period setting.

It is the year 20015, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam the IV has outlawed smoking.

The real (if unavoidable) anachronism is that it's 1946 and nobody is smoking!

I remember watching old Mission: Impossible episodes and being struck by how much smoking was a part of the accepted cultural vocabulary and rituals of the time. For instance, if a woman took out a cigarette, it was a signal that she wanted a man to approach her and offer her a light, which was a way to initiate a conversation. And then there were things like slipping a secret message to someone in a matchbook.

You all can blame the anti-smoking organizations for putting pressure on movie-makers/TV showrunners to not have smoking in a movie or TV show.

ABC will be re-airing the first two episodes on Saturday.

As I have no cable or satellite, I won't be able to see that here in Canada (unless CTV also shows it on Saturday.)

 

[Nerys Myk]

The Wiki I found said that the SSR was founded/funded by FDR, and the allied answer to Hydra.

That makes it a civilian/political agency with the political capital to requisition military assets as need be.

Colonel Phillips may have retained the rank of a colonel but political agents have compensate ranks analogous to Military Rank to determine what levels of secrecy/clearance they are privileged to. To do what he did, he would have had to have the political rank = to a general even though he was only a colonel.

When President Bartlet was shot, a nurse tried to stop Josh from going where he wanted to go/find out what he needed to find, so he yelled at her "I have the equivilant rank of a 3 star general, get the hell out of my way" ...Or words to that effect but probably nicer and sexier.

The wiki I'm looking at has the following quote:

"The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man."

It does mention that FDR founded it, but not that he funded it. It's probably a joint military/civilian organization, akin to the Manhattan Project which was headed by Maj. Gen. Leslie Groves.

Both Dr. Erskine and Howard Stark were part of the SSR. There's your science. The post war version, or at least the office Peggy is attached to ,does seem a little light on the science.

 

[Christopher]

Both Dr. Erskine and Howard Stark were part of the SSR. There's your science. The post war version, or at least the office Peggy is attached to ,does seem a little light on the science.

Probably because one of their chief science guys was killed by a Nazi saboteur and the other one is currently their target under suspicion of treason.

 

[theenglish]

Peggy has always been short for Margaret. I've known that since I was a kid. There are a ton of different diminutives for Margaret, according to Wikipedia, including the clear ones like Maggie, Meg, and Marge, but also things like Maisie, Mamie, Madge, Molly, Midge, Greta, and even Daisy (because Marguerite is the French name for a type of daisy).

All Star Squadron in the early eighties had a nice re-imagining of this by showing that the nice had a magical barrier around it placed by the Nazis that prevented super-heroes from entering.

"The nice" had a barrier around it? I can't figure out what that's a typo for.

Deleted the wrong words I think. I will fix it, but it was Europe they couldn't reach.

 

[DEWLine]

There must've been others with science talent in the SSR. Whether any of them got the same respect given to the likes of Erskine and Stark Sr. is another question.