Character Highlight: Daniel Sousa (Agent Carter)

Sigh… pour one out for Agent Carter – still hurts.

Given that he’s played by Enver Gjokaj, who was so utterly Everything in Dollhouse, Sousa doesn’t really live up to my (admittedly-high) expectations.  Sousa, Peggy’s fellow SSR agent and potential love interest, isn’t bad, but he’s a little generic.  Unfortunate, because I know what Gjokaj can do when he has something to really sink his teeth into (a few season 1 spoilers.)

Like I said, Sousa really isn’t a bad character.  He’s a hard-working agent with fairly solid instincts – since he doesn’t know that Peggy is running her own counter-investigation in season 1, his deduction that she’s in league with the baddies is reasonable, and props to him for following through on it even though he clearly doesn’t want it to be true.  Like Peggy, he’s used to having his talents dismissed.  While her gender keeps her on the outs of the SSR boys’ club, Sousa’s disability has his colleagues viewing him as less of a man.  He uses a crutch as a result of a wartime injury, which makes him have to fight harder to prove himself worthy in their eyes.

Because of this, Sousa is better able to recognize the unequal treatment Peggy receives at the hands of their fellow agents.  He knows what it’s like not to be judged by his merits and sympathizes with Peggy.  However, while he’s a good, decently-open-minded guy, he’s also something of a product of his time.  So, his first reaction to Peggy’s mistreatment is usually to stand up for her – on the face of it, there’s nothing wrong with that, but as someone who’s so often viewed as lesser or incapable, he ought to realize how important it is for someone in a similar position to fight their own battles.  He’d be better served by supporting her in private and letting her speak for herself in public, which he starts learning to do only gradually.

I do like him better in season 2 (will-they-won’t-they-ness aside.)  In season 1, Sousa, like the rest of the guys, don’t know what Peggy’s actually up to, which makes it much harder for him to relate to her as she really is.  When the second season rolls around, though, he’s more up to speed and they’re able to work together more than at cross purposes.  He gets to see firsthand what Peggy can do, which helps him to treat her less like a “lady” and more like an agent.

I suppose the real problem with Sousa is that he just doesn’t measure up to so many of the other male characters in Peggy’s life.  There’s Cap, obviously – Thompson needles Sousa by asking what woman would possibly go for a guy like him (ie, a disabled one) after having been with Captain America – but Peggy’s relationships with Jarvis and Howard are definitely more interesting as well.  I’ve already written about how much love I have for Peggy and Jarvis’s partnership, and while Howard is a decidedly-sexist playboy, he clearly respects Peggy’s abilities and treats her as such (at least, as much as someone so self-centered is capable of doing.)  Not that I would want to see either Jarvis or Howard with Peggy romantically, and Cap isn’t an option on the show, but I still prefer the friendships she has with these men to the maybe-thing she has potentially going on with Sousa.  That’s never a good thing, but unfortunately, Sousa’s not alone in this less-than-stellar characterization.  Provided it’s not a dual-protagonist show, being the “designated future love interest” of the main character doesn’t usually bode all that well for character development.  I think female love interests tend to get the worst of it, but men aren’t immune, either.

Favorite Characters: Edwin Jarvis (Agent Carter)

I don’t know if the uptight, possibly-tweedy Brit who can throw down surprisingly well when necessary is an actual archetype for genre shows or if it’s mainly Whedon and Whedon-adjacent shows that make me think that (see also, to varying degrees, Rupert Giles, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Adele DeWitt, and Jemma Simmons.)  Regardless, Jarvis is a top-shelf example of this potential archetype – my love for him is strong and abiding (a few Jarvis-related spoilers.)

The long-suffering butler of Howard Stark, Jarvis is essentially gifted to Peggy when Howard recruits her to find his stolen inventions and clear his name.  He’s offered up as a tireless gopher for Peggy, the extent of his services knowing no bounds.  Having spent years in Howard’s employ, tidying up after the genius playboy’s assorted scandals and sexploits, Jarvis comes by these intentions honestly and is ready to do anything and everything Peggy needs him to.

The slight hitch, of course, is that Peggy is in full-on lone-wolf mode and doesn’t want him for anything.  Her first reluctant foray into asking for his assistance isn’t really helped by his desire to keep up his usual domestic routine with his wife, leading Peggy to question whether Jarvis is really committed and/or cut out for this.  To be sure, there are a few early-stage scheduling conflicts along these lines, and Jarvis tuts a bit when the secret spy stuff gets in the way of laundry, cooking, or the wireless program he and his wife enjoy in the evenings, but really, any objections on his part are short-lived.

The truth is, however much it inconveniences him, Jarvis is incredibly eager to help Peggy in any way he can.  Not that he doesn’t mend Howard’s zippers and wash the sexy costumes worn by Howard’s overnight guests – with consummate professionalism but a witheringly-dry world-weariness.  But he wants to do more.  He wants to do something exciting and complicated and dangerous, he wants to help keep the world safe from the unsavory people who’ve gotten their hands on Howard’s weapons, and he wants to support Peggy in her mission.

And once she begins to let him in, Jarvis very willingly obliges in his oh-so-British way.  Whether he’s called on to drive a getaway car, handle volatilely lethal materials, or back Peggy up in a fight, he gets the job done.  What’s more, he’s a wonderful source of emotional support for Peggy, encouraging her to allow herself to lean on others when she needs to.  I love how much he admires her for her strength, ingenuity and bravery, but that he’s also aware of how human she is and isn’t afraid to speak up when he sees her going down a needlessly-reckless path; even knowing that she’s likely to brush off his concerns, he still makes himself heard.

And finally, Ana, in addition to be a fab character in her own right, tells us so much about Jarvis.  I love that she’s not a “female Jarvis” and has such a different temperament than him – and that, rather than be stuffy about it and fret about decorum, he loves that about her.  I love that he risked his (former) military career to get Ana out of German-occupied Europe, doesn’t make excuses about the treason charge that resulted from it, and puts up with Howard’s antics in part because of his gratitude for Howard’s help in saving her.  When he’s relating these events to Peggy, who realizes, “She was Jewish,” I absolutely love the quiet, utterly sincere smile he gives as he replies, “Still is, I’m happy to say.”  What a beautiful moment.

Relationship Spotlight: Peggy Carter & Edwin Jarvis (Agent Carter)

Another great Marvel friendship here – this one doesn’t even need superpowers to be awesome.  It’s too bad that Peggy and Steve didn’t get their dance, but if she’s going to be kicking ass and taking names somewhere without him, I’m glad she has Jarvis to back her up.

The unwanted sidekick who ultimately proves themselves invaluable is a tried-and-true archetype, and Jarvis (not to be confused with  J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony Stark’s intelligent computer system) fits the bill.  When Peggy agrees to help Howard recover his stolen inventions, she’s in a fairly solitary place.  She’s still privately grieving Steve’s loss, and she’s silently seething at the way the SSR treats her like a secretary and wastes her skills as an agent.  She’s not in the mood for a tagalong, and she’s very insistent about handling things herself.  The last thing she wants is Howard’s butler, Jarvis, foisted upon her to help with her secret mission.

And at first glance, Jarvis doesn’t seem like he’d be much help even if Peggy did want it.  He doesn’t give off the air of being made for the field, and he’s used to a routine and neatness that belies the grime and unpredictability of spy work.  It’s understandable that Peggy would look at him and only see a stuffed shirt.  However, Jarvis isn’t just anyone’s butler – he’s Howard Stark’s butler, which inevitably means that he’s dealt with grime and unpredictability plenty of times.  And, as ill-suited as he seems for the task, he’s more than willing to do whatever will help Peggy in any way he can.  Not that he’s a spy extraordinaire, but he’s hard-working, fastidious, loyal, and extremely eager, all of which are good qualities to have in a pinch.

So, slowly, they start to become partners.  It’s still definitely a hero-sidekick type of situation – Jarvis never condescends to Peggy, which is a major point in his favor – but Peggy comes to value Jarvis’s support.  As she fights for her worth, she recognizes Jarvis’s as well, learning to appreciate a punctual get-away driver, a, extra pair of eyes applied to a problem, and someone who has her back when things get dicey.  She doesn’t always show that appreciation very well, partly because it’s hard for her to open up to someone again (albeit 100% platonically) and partly because, like most Marvel heroes, she doesn’t always listen to other people’s advice as well as she should.  Over the course of the (too-short) series, they come to mean a lot to each other.  They don’t always see eye-to-eye, and when they fight, it’s hard, because each knows how to get to the other, but when it really matters, they’re always there for each other.

One of my favorite scenes on the show comes early in season 1, when Peggy recovers Howard’s weapons cache and immediately begins planning her victory walk through the SSR offices, proving what she can do once and for all to those self-important misogynists.  Jarvis, though, realizes she can’t do this because they’ve been carrying out their investigation in secret, counter to the one the SSR is running.  When he tells her as much, she brushes him off, too caught up in relishing the chance to finally be recognized as the incredible agent she is, and so he starts in with the tough love.  Taking on the role of her superiors, he starts bombarding her with questions, and Peggy is forced to accept his point – that there’s no agency-sanctioned explanation for her actions or her discovery, and that, as much as it kills her to do it, she has to call in an anonymous tip and let another (male) agent take the credit for what she’s done.  Jarvis is tough but honest in getting her to see this, as well as empathetic in seeing what she has to sacrifice.  I enjoyed these two before that scene, but this is when I knew I loved them.

Favorite Characters: Agent Peggy Carter (The Avengers)

By The Avengers, I of course mean the general Avengers universe – while Peggy only has a cameo appearance (as a hallucination, no less!) in Age of Ultron, she’s an enormous part of Captain America and obviously anchors the fantastic Agent Carter, which recently finished its second season.  (By the way, I know I just did an MCU post on Kilgrave recently, but you can never go wrong with Peggy.  Besides, it’s International Women’s Day; she knows her value!)

We meet Peggy in Captain America, as Steve’s potential love interest and much more.  Though her contributions to the SSR in that film are mostly behind-the-lines – overseeing projects, liaising, helping with strategy – her place as a woman in a prominent position in a government-military organization during World War II is huge.  There’s just enough screentime for sexist douchebags to show how tough and determined she had to be to get where she is.  And she proves her value time and again:  facing off against enemy agents, bending the rules when it’s important, and helping Cap on his journey to being more than just a liberty bond poster boy.

Agent Carter picks up with Peggy after the war and the losses at the end of Captain America, and if anything, she’s even more fabulous there.  The ante is upped from every angle.  The show allows her to do more spy stuff, using gadgets and getting out of dangerous situations.  She does more infiltration, donning accents and disguises and being generally awesome.  She shows off her mad combat skills like a boss, she works out intricate plans, she takes on multiple cool female villains, and she does it all in the mid ‘40s, which were even more sexist than the war years.  By various necessities, much of her BAMFness has to be conducted without the knowledge of her superiors, and it kills her that those good-old-boy misogynists don’t know what she can really do.  There have been times when she’s flirted with the idea of revealing herself to them, but, begrudgingly acknowledging the reasons why that won’t work, puts her desire for recognition aside for the greater good.

She has flaws, too, by the way.  Like so many heroes, she has a tendency to rush into danger without backup, sometimes out of a stubbornness to prove she can do it (informed by the issues mentioned above,) sometimes because she’s so focused on the goal that she can’t think practically, and sometimes because she thinks she has to take on everything herself to keep her friends out of danger (which is admirable, but it’s still misguided.)  She’s gotten so used to shouting to make her voice heard that she doesn’t always listen to other people’s input, and that can make her miss important details.  She’s so good at pretending she doesn’t need people that she can sometimes push others away, sublimating all her need for companionship (platonic or otherwise) into her work.

But when she opens up, she can be an excellent, loyal, if still somewhat commanding, friend.  There aren’t a huge number of people who are close to her, but she would do anything to protect them; her friendship with Jarvis is a highlight of the series.  The show as gone light so far on romance, mostly teasing will-they won’t-they stuff, which feels right.  Steve was such an important figure in Peggy’s life that it can’t be easy to move on, but I’m glad the show seems to be heading in that direction.  I think there’s a lot of potential in a story about Peggy taking a risk on love again, and I’m excited to see where the show takes us with it.  Wherever that is, I just want it to be as great as her.

Agent Carter (2015-Present)

Oh, I needed this show.  From the moment I heard of its impending existence, I needed it to be amazing.  While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has smoothed out some of the bumps from its rocky first season, it’s still not everything an Avengersverse TV series could be, and Captain America’s sterling Peggy Carter deserves nothing but the best.  Well, the season just wrapped up, and I couldn’t be happier with the show – I’m only disappointed that it’s over so soon, and I’m desperately hoping ABC/Marvel give us more Agent Carter next year.

Set in 1946, several years after the events of the first Captain America film, the show finds Peggy still working for the Strategic Scientific Reserve (the SSR, a precursor to SHIELD that oversaw the super-soldier project that gave us Cap.)  The days of working alongside Cap and the Howling Commandos on highly-classified, larger-than-life missions are long over, however – the war is over, the world is moving on, and women are expected to quietly bow out of the workforce (it’s like The Bletchley Circle, but with comic-book technology.)  Though Peggy is an agent, she’s treated instead like a secretary who’s there to file reports and fetch coffee for the male agents doing the real work.  Her coworkers, whose only knowledge of her war history is that she was Captain America’s girlfriend, disregard her ideas, mock her abilities, and scrutinize her body.

It’s in this crucible of frustration and indignity that Howard Stark, one of Peggy’s old-days friends, becomes the target of an SSR investigation after a number of his deadliest inventions show up on the foreign markets.  Unable to convince the agency that Howard isn’t the culprit, she sets out on her own mission to learn the truth, recover the weapons, and exonerate her friend.  She’s helped by Edwin Jarvis, Howard’s butler on loan, who is entirely new to the spy game but eager to do his part.  It’s been too long since Peggy worked with someone who recognizes her competence, and while trust is slow to develop, Jarvis soon becomes an invaluable ally.  Also, Russian assassins and comic-book explosions and female boarding houses, oh my!

It’s a terrific series through and through.  The period setting feels sleek and stylish, and the story highlights the sexism and inequality of the era in a way that feels genuine, never preachy.  With one main arc for its eight-episode season, the narrative builds and crescendos almost like a movie.  There are one-off side plots (chasing down specific Stark Industries McGuffins, a splendid appearance by another Captain America familiar face, etc.,) but each episode also makes progress on the central arc and ramps up the tension.  Can Peggy stop the bad guys?  Where will she the proof she needs?  Will the SSR discover she’s working at cross purposes with them?  It’s been such a treat to watch that the hardest part of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s winter hiatus is that it’s coming back next week because this one is done.

As Peggy, Hayley Atwell is predictably sublime – tough, sincere, clever, and badass (she staples a guy in the face!)  Even when the show’s plot has comic proportions, she’s an eternally humanizing presence.  Dominic Cooper makes recurring return appearances as Howard, and James D’Arcy is both amusing and affecting as Jarvis.  Additionally, we get the incredible Enver Gjokaj (Victor from Dollhouse) as a fellow SSR agent – the only coworker who seems to value Peggy’s work – and a very funny Lyndsy Fonseca (Alex from Nikita) as a non-work chum of Peggy’s.