Welcome to Last Night on TV, our daily column that looks back at what happened on television the night before. If we’re going to stay up all night and watch TV, we might as well talk about it the next day.
Last night on TV, Christopher watched the season (series?) finale of Agent Carter and Neil got the week off because The Flash is on break. Have you guys watched The OJ Show?
Agent Carter
Christopher: The second season of Marvel’s likable little ABC show concluded with a light tap, but that’s okay. Narratively, we didn’t need a bang just for bang’s sake. I guess Jason (Reggie Austin) didn’t have to die, because orders for Peggy (Hayley Atwell) to return to New York City would tie-up that lost-cause romance. Oh wait…
We’ll get back to that in a second. Firstly, the best I can say for the Agent Carter finale is that Wynn Everett wrapped up her role as Whitney Frost – who also didn’t have to die, I guess – with a very classy portrayal of crazy. She really did get increasingly better over the season and in the end I’d weigh her quite heavily against most MCU villains. The special effects employed in her defeat were Howard the Duck level bad as far as Marvel movies go, but there’s some charm to how cheap the show looks at times.
More than Regan, though, the finale’s MVP for me, mostly because I just take Peggy, Jarvis (James D’Arcy) and Howard (Dominic Cooper) for granted as being always wonderful, was Ken Marino as the mobster Manfredi. The episode, titled “Hollywood Ending,” was his tale of trying to rescue the woman he loved from the strange evil power that’s come over her, and the way it turned out for him was tragically bittersweet. This has been my favorite Marino role since the recurring Louie character on The State.
I’d love for Manfredi to return at least in a small dose if there ever is a third season of Agent Carter. And it wouldn’t be strange for him to show up in New York or anywhere else (perhaps Washington?). But it’s apparently uncertain if there will be more. The general disappointment in that aside, this season’s finale left too much open in the end. Mainly the question of who shot Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) at the very end. I thought it was Dottie, but it appeared to be a man so I’ll guess Hugh Jones (Ray Wise) instead.
And now for the biggest deal of this Hollywood ending: Peggy and Sousa (Enver Gjokaj). I’ve never seen any chemistry in these two, save for maybe the dance in the dream sequence last week, and don’t buy her being in love with him any more than I tolerated Rose (Lesley Boone) falling for Howard’s flirtation. Peggy and Sousa are fine together, especially with him showing this season that he’s a little more of an equal to the great Peggy Carter than he seemed last season. Is he the one she goes on to marry, though? Does that kill everyone’s theory about her also having Howard’s baby (Tony aka Iron Man) in the future?
Poor Jason. He was let down with understanding that Peggy had to go back east. But she’s sticking around for another man. At least he made it known that he could tell Sousa loved her. Still, if there’s another season Peggy will have to deal with Jason’s greater level of rejection. Nah, just kidding. He should just die in a random explosion at Stark Industries so we don’t have to be concerned about him any more.
What did you watch last night?