Why Agent Carter Season 2 Is So Bad.

Agent Carter is a Marvel show that aired from January 6th, 2016 to March 1st, 2016. It featured two seasons consisting of 18 episodes combined. The show follows Agent Peggy Carter as she uncovers secret operations and lays the framework for SHIELD, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. Peggy Carter was Captain America's love interest before he died and well after she died. Her first appearance in the MCU was in Captain America: The First Avenger.

The show does a lot of things right. In Season One, it captures the 1940's aesthetic in a fun and accurate way. The lingo is correct, the cinematography has a dated feeling, and the use of color is incredible. In fact, I love the use of color in film as it contrasts from the usual dated or neutral tones. The story is well written, and I think Marvel did a good job of making Peggy a likeable character. Season One starts off by showing us the struggles Peggy faces as a women in a workplace full of men. She's one of the few female agents in the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR), and gets treated poorly. She's often thought of as just a secretary or someone to hand out coffee. The only person that believes in her is her colleague, Daniel Sousa. He can empathize with how Peggy is treated because he is disabled. He lost his leg in the war, and people tend to think lower of him because of it. They bond throughout the season, with Sousa taking a romantic interest in her and Peggy being more focused on her career. Season One is amazing. With all of these great plot points, it seemed to set Season Two up for success.

It didn't.

Is it the writers fault or the fanbase? In Season One, Peggy Carter is an independent strong women who isn't currently interested in dating men–but she might be interested in dating women. That's the critical "mistake" in writing because the fans caught it. The relationship between Peggy Carter and Dottie Underwood is supposed to be cunning, but it comes off as a bit of flirting. In fact, in Season One, Episode Six, Dottie kisses Peggy. Instead of her pushing Dottie off, she seems more confused and her first instinct is to ask if Dottie was wearing her lipstick. Does that read as bothered to you? No, it reads as at least bi-curious. As I stated before, this episode aired in 2015. Homosexual marriage was approved the same year, and the fans were loving it. In fact, I think Peggy being bisexual only adds to her character. She goes against gender norms in the 1940s by being independent, living on her own, not wanting a relationship, leading an investigation, etc. Her sexuality would have complimented her character greatly.

I guess the writers didn't agree because in Season Two, something completely uncharacteristic for Peggy happens. She entertains a love triangle where two men fight over her and she doesn't know who to choose.

I believe that's what ruined Season Two for me. Peggy, an independent go-getter, gets distracted from her case by chasing two men. Season One Peggy would've thought this was foolish. I also have a problem with who her second love interest is: Jason Wilkes. Wilkes is an accomplished scientist working for an evil cooperation that gave him a chance when no one else did. He's respected by his colleagues and is loyal to his work. He's also a Black man in the late 1940s.

It's unrealistic. Black men weren't even allowed to use the same restroom as a White man in 1947. Black men weren't allowed to vote without poll tax and literacy tests, weren't allowed to eat with White people, were denied good healthcare, were denied higher education, restricted to low-paying jobs, and more. Wilkes says that that Isodyne Energy was the only place that would hire him as a Black man, but that sounds far-fetched. I've heard the argument that Hydra is evil and doesn't care who they use, but with a company like Isodyne having a Black men in the 1940s it would send a bad message to other companies they might need. Even if they hired him, it seems far fetched that he would have such a lucrative job with status.

Not to mention the obvious fact that interracial marriage wasn't legal until 1967. So her entertaining the interest of a Black men was illegal. In fact, Black men who tried to court White women were often terrorized and killed as Emmett Till was in 1955, years after this.

When Wilkes took Peggy to the Dunbar Hotel–a Black club and lounge–no one bats an eye. If a White person who would usually want nothing to do with a Black person walks into a predominately Black space, people would be at least a bit curious about it.

Even if Wilkes was a White man, it doesn't make sense for Peggy to entertain this. It is extremely out of character. If the writers wanted Peggy to have a second love interest, the fans would have been more than happy with Dottie Underwood.