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Marvel Cinematic Universe: ‘Agent Carter’ Recap: Season 2, Episode 2 — Jarvis Learns Judo

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 12:23 PST, Jan 21, 2016

Even before episode 2, “A View in the Dark,” a lot has already happened in season 2 of Marvel’s Agent Carter. Peggy flew from New York to the new SSR office in Los Angeles, where Daniel Sousa is now chief. Dottie Underwood was apprehended and has a new obsession with Agent Carter. Edwin Jarvis has to take care of Howard Stark’s flamingo. Peggy appears to have eyes on quirky physicist Jason Wilkes, who works for Isodyne Energy. The president of Isodyne Energy, Calvin Chadwick, is a very bad guy, and he’s married to a Hollywood starlet — Whitney Frost — who’s even less likable.

In the second episode, the romance between Carter and Wilkes heats up, Peggy meets Sousa’s new nurse girlfriend, and we learn more about “zero matter” as Carter continues to investigate the icy murder from episode 1. A lot was packed into the first episode, but the conspiracy grows much deeper in “A View In The Dark,” which will likely keep Agent Carter in California for some time.

In a nutshell — a recap

As Sousa tries to figure out how to tell his Peggy about his new girlfriend, Violet, he walks in on the two of them eating cookies together. Violet appears to have no knowledge of the feelings Carter and Sousa had (have?) for each other, and she gets along with Peggy so well that she invites her to join them for dinner. Sousa had planned to propose to Violet during this episode, but things rarely go as planned.

Back at Stark’s L.A. mansion, Carter walks in on Jarvis working out. He explains he’s quite the Judo expert now. Carter takes him down almost effortlessly, although he does trick her and takes her down once as well. Peggy goes to dinner with the handsome Jason Wilkes, where they talk about the case she is working and they get to know each other a little better at the same time. We learn that the substance Wilkes was observing at the end of the first episode is something they are calling “zero matter.” Wilkes has been tasked with containing the substance, and he explains everything he can to Carter. He’s working for Chadwick and Isodyne, but as Flickering Myth notes, he genuinely seems to want to help Agent Carter.

Once they find out that Isodyne is under investigation by the SSR, Chadwick has a meeting with a mysterious group of apparently rich and powerful men (they claimed to have caused, and profited from, the Great Depression). The door of the room they meet in has the same symbol that was on the lapel pin that Dottie Underwood was after in the last episode; Peggy will find a lapel pin with that symbol in Stark’s car, identical to the one Dottie was after. Since Isodyne’s work with zero matter has yielded no results and the government is investigating his operation, these men tell Calvin that the project is over. They will no longer fund the work being done with zero matter, and they urge Chadwick to focus on his senate race, which they are also funding.

Back in New York, the FBI takes over the investigation of Dottie Underwood from the SSR. Chief Thompson is told that the SSR may not be around much longer, now that the war is over. Thompson begins to toy with the idea of leaving the SSR before it is completely done away with.

By the end of the episode, we also discover that it is Chadwick’s wife who is even more interested in zero matter than the Isodyne president. When Carter and Wilkes realize that Isodyne and the zero matter project are being shut down, they decide that they should retrieve the substance. Just as Wilkes is retrieving the zero matter, Whitney Frost shows up. Wilkes is confused as to why the actress is there, and a fight ensues over the zero matter. While we don’t see the full results, we hear Calvin mention that something went terribly wrong at Isodyne with the zero matter. Frost is curled up in a ball on the floor, crying. We are not given any further information about Wilkes.

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins

The following list contains tie-ins that weren’t present in the first episode.

  • The group of nine men who tell Chadwick that the Isodyne Project is being shut down are called “the council,” a reference to the Council of Nine, leaders of the Secret Empire, which is often linked directly with Hydra. Additionally, as TV Over Mind noted, the symbol seen on the door of their meeting room was revealed to be an old Hydra symbol on the third season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Thompson learning about the coming end of the SSR points to the beginning of S.H.I.E.L.D., which Peggy Carter will play a significant role in.

ABC airs Marvel’s Agent Carter Tuesday evenings at 9/8c as Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on a mid-season break.

[Image courtesy of Marvel Entertainment]

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