Agent Carter S1Ep5 The Iron Ceiling Review

After last weeks episode of Agent Carter, The Blitzkrieg Button, the show turned a corner. The mystery of the battle of Finow and the darker side of the war was brought forward. The silliness that occurred during the first few episodes lessened. Also more effort was placed on fleshing out secondary characters such as Roger Dooley (played by Shea Whigham) and Jack Thompson (played by Chad Michael Murray). Thompson is hard to like, but Dooley shows that he is not aloof of Peggy’s accomplishments or the possibility that Howard Stark is innocent. After this weeks episode of Agent Carter, The Iron Ceiling, there are only three more to go until its first season is over. If the show improves at this rate I will be more looking forward to season 2 than I will to the return of Agents of Shield after its mid-season hiatus.

Agent Carter The Iron Ceiling Review

The episode starts with flashbacks of a Leviathan program intended to train girls as killers and infiltrate American society. In the flashback on of the girls breaks the neck of another during a fight to the death. The flashbacks are revealed to be the memories of Dottie Underwood, one of Peggy’s new neighbors. Dottie manages to steal Peggy’s house keys during their conversation at the diner, seemingly wanting to use them to spy on Peggy.

Meanwhile at SSR the mysterious Leviathan typewriter has sent out a message nobody knows how to decode. Only Peggy (Hayley Atwell) is able to decode it. It reveals the existence of a Leviathan operation in Russia which may have a connection with Howard Stark. Dooley and Thompson are initially hesitant to admit Peggy to the team that will infiltrate the complex. She manages it by calling in a favour from Timothy ‘Dum Dum’ Dugan.

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Dooley sends her in a team with Thompson and two other agents to the map coordinates she deciphered. Arriving there after teaming up with the Howling Commandos, they find a Soviet military complex which seems to be a training site for children to infiltrate the United States as sleeper agents. During the mission, she and Thompson reach an understanding as she proves her value in the field, and helps Thompson deal with his own insecurities with being back in the line of fire. Back home, Dottie (revealed to be a product of the same training site) breaks into Peggy’s apartment and finds the photos she took of the inventory of Stark’s weapons.

Meanwhile Dooley attempts to uncover what happened at Finow from his end in the United States. He makes inquiries with a reporter who tells him Stark was called in to clean up the aftermath of the massacre. He also tells Dooley it caused a permanent rift between Stark and the US Army. Dooley realizes there is more to the manhunt against Stark. Agent Sousa continuous his investigation of the mysterious blonde seen in the nightclub of the fence. After nearly walking into Peggy when she is undressing he recognizes her two scars on her shoulder and begins to suspect that the mysterious blonde might be Peggy.

Conclusion

Just like the previous episode, The Iron Ceiling sprints the story along nicely. The fast paced development suits Agent Carter well. The use of the Howling Commandos and the introducing of the very creepy Leviathan assassin Dottie Greenwood made this episode more memorable than any of SHIELD. Through the Howling Commandos Peggy proved to Dooley and Thompson she has considerable experience. Meanwhile Dooley proved he is not as inflexible as he seems when he slowly begins to consider whether Stark may have been set up. Thompson got his comeuppance this week when he was forced to show to Peggy that he is anything but a war hero. The fact that Peggy didn’t reveal his past to Dooley means she is willing to work with him in the future.

Special mention should go to the shows cinematography. Ever since the pilot episode the depiction of the late 40’s has been gorgeous. Due to the limited budget I will give my hat off to the creative staff for doing their best in this episode. This was Agent Carter The Iron Ceiling Review. I hope you are enjoying the show like I am. I think it is becoming an excellent companion to Agents of SHIELD.

Score; 8.9 / 10. Agent Carter slowly heats up, but I hope some of the mystery will be lifted as soon as possible.

Source; http://abc.go.com/shows/marvels-agent-carter