Kyle’s Thoughts

“Hollywood Ending” tied up a lot of loose ends, while still finishing with a cliffhanger. The Peggy-Sousa-Wilkes love triangle got dropped. You could see Peggy choosing Sousa, and Wilkes fading into obscurity; figuratively, not literally. Thankfully, Agent Carter took little time to resolve the triangle in the manner they choreographed from the opening season’s minutes. The Whitney Frost story got wrapped up real quick, too, and I’m not sure I buy that the zero matter just left Frost and Wilkes’s bodies with little to no ill effects. That was too easy.

Frost did end up in an asylum at episode’s end, but Agent Carter introduced a substance in zero matter that could destroy all of existence, and it disappeared in less than an episode. That rang false to me. I didn’t want anyone to die, necessarily, but you’d think there’d be more repercussions. As a result, Agent Carter did an okay job setting up the concept of zero matter, but I’m not sure it set up the upcoming Doctor Strange film as much as I would’ve liked. We’ll have to wait and see.

The season (or series?) finale also showcased some clunky dialogue exchanges. Agent Carter has always been a tad off with its dialogue, but it was more pronounced in “Hollywood Ending.” The line deliveries exacerbated this flaw, too. I’m okay with humor but the actor who would make a joke, specifically Howard Stark, waited a beat for a rim shot that didn’t come. The result was something alien.

The closing minutes of “Hollywood Ending” ended with a cliffhanger, of sorts. I won’t spoil it here, but I’m not sure if it’s enough of a cliffhanger to get viewers clamoring for a third season. While “Hollywood Ending” wasn’t the best Agent Carter this season, I’d say the season, as a whole, was pretty good.

I’m worried that the fourth episode this season (“The Atomic Job”), where a Three Stooges episode broke out in the middle of Agent Carter, damaged the show’s chances for renewal. Agent Carter lost half a million viewers after “The Atomic Job,” and the show never fully recovered.

Don’t judge Agent Carter’s second season by “The Atomic Job,” ABC. The rest of the season was solid, even if the ending left me wanting.

Thanks for reading.