An opportunity for Jason leads Peggy to take potentially catastrophic action in Agent Carter 2×05.
Not unlike its title, “The Atomic Job” is something of a contradiction in terms. At times, the episode borders on the ugly side of farce, as when Peggy runs roughshod over Hugh Jones’ brain and bodily autonomy. (Not that we pity the man, but it’s still a little disturbing.) Other choices poke humor at Agent Carter‘s place in the hero genre, and fairly enough; the agent, her limping Chief, English butler, untested field agent, and peevish scientist make a hilariously un-intimidating squad.
But in spite of all its determined levity, Agent Carter 2×05 also has darker plans and painful intentions. Both the humor and the pathos work well enough on their own, but it must be said that the emotional extremes don’t blend very well together.
This is partly the nature of the beast, but it’s also due to the fact that the episode’s tonal vertigo is not delineated by character. It’s tempting to pin the darkness entirely on Whitney Frost; she is, of course, responsible for much of the violence and havoc that ensues in “The Atomic Job.” (The episode’s most inexplicable and uncomfortable scene, an awkward deal made with a criminal overlord, falls flat even as it drags.)
But Frost and Chadwick are only playing out one side of a performance directed by Zero Matter, and their roles are nearly as farcical as Peggy’s can be. As Whitney’s power and awareness eerily increase, Calvin Chadwick battles the tide in order to regain the life (and the wife) he believes he has lost — not knowing that neither it, nor she ever truly existed. Husband and wife struggle to speak a language the other will understand (to selfish ends, of course) but ultimately, the only communication between them can be force. Chadwick may think he’s played a trump card in summoning the Council on Whitney, but we suspect it won’t be long before Frost is holding the entire bloody deck.
In any case, the darkness surrounding Whitney is a major part of Peggy’s motives as well, though she seems not to have thought of it in those terms. Jason and Whitney’s exposure to Zero Matter may have different side-effects (though we’re now wondering if they are merely at different stages of its manifestations), but the power it exerts is clearly the same. Both scientists feel called to the mysterious substance, and both respond the same way to further contact, their eyes flushing with inky blackness.
And of course, it’s the allure of Zero Matter that ultimately leads to Peggy and Whitney’s nearly deadly confrontation. Unfortunately, this climax is less loaded than it ought to be, and contributes to the entertaining-but-warped tone of “The Atomic Job.” Peggy manages to do what no one else has (to pull away from Whitney when she begins her vacuum job) but winds up rather lamely flung off a ledge onto rebar-studded concrete.
Seriously wounding Peggy is a dramatic move for Agent Carter, but one that is frustratingly unfulfilled. Pardon the pun, but Peggy’s injuries are full of holes. (She lands on the one iron bar that won’t kill her and doesn’t crack her head open on the concrete? And how did they get her off that thing, anyway?) Unsurprisingly, the ordeal seems mostly orchestrated for the benefit of Sousa’s poor fiancé Violet. Not only can Violet effectively treat Peggy’s fully-perforated abdomen with linen and water, she’s keen enough to accurately translate Sousa’s concern for Peggy as romantic interest.
It’s familiar ground for TV, and frankly, both Agent Carter and the actors called upon to perform this trope have earned better.
On the positive side, Agent Carter 2×05 efficiently raises the stakes and further increases the season’s storytelling speed. It’s unexpectedly harrowing to watch Jason disappear once again as the episode concludes, and hopefully Peggy won’t be miraculously healed as she seeks out a cure for Jason.
And “The Atomic Job” continues to deliver on the season’s most important promise. We don’t mean Rose, though she is spectacular; with every episode, the season has amplified both the actual and thematic danger of Zero Matter. It’s not only a matter of expanding Whitney’s abilities, but the threat of sentience, and the allure of it’s ugly power, that packs such an intriguing punch. Zero Matter lives somewhere “dark and painful,” Jason warns Peggy. “It’s not a place you want to be.”
Which is why it’s so very interesting that Agent Carter, for all its emotional upheaval, seems to be drawing a straight line that very dark direction.