Agent Carter (spoilers).

[The Romulan Republic]

Marvel's Agent Carter premiered tonight (two episodes).

It was nice to see Howard Stark and Agent Carter again, Agent Carter is a bad ass, and there was some good character development of Agent Carter.

However, the frequent sexism got tiresome (but sadly, I guess that's realistic) and I felt the episodes' approach to it was contradictory and heavy-handed. Also, they seemed to be going with the bullshit that torture is effective. And I am tired of stories where a rogue agent has to take things into their own hands since it reinforces the ideas that the government is bad and that only vigilantes/criminals can accomplish anything. That's not something that needs feeding, especially in a country where the Tea Party is powerful.

And apparently Jarvis was originally a human (Howard Stark's butler).

Edit: I edited this to add a poll.

[Enigma]

Did Jarvis sound the same? Same actor?

[Broomstick]

However, the frequent sexism got tiresome (but sadly, I guess that's realistic) and I felt the episodes' approach to it was contradictory and heavy-handed.

Yes, regrettably, the level of sexism was realistic (well, as realistic as any TV gets). It really did used to be that heavy-handed.

It made it hard for me to watch because I'm just old enough to remember when that level of sexism was the norm. It's things like my grandmother being paid half the wages of men doing exactly the same work as her, of the "you're only working until you find a husband and get married" meme, the "women's hotel" with the curfews and restrictions. My first job involved getting coffee for everyone else, and having to remember how they took it without asking, was definitely part of the job, without question, in addition to everything else I was doing. Men were never asked to do that, even men on the same company level. Being praised with "that was well done - for a woman". On the other hand, there has always been a certain acknowledgement that there ARE highly competent, capable women. And men willing to take credit for their efforts.

Also, they seemed to be going with the bullshit that torture is effective.

Is that why they had to get a new stick? Seems to me it wasn't very effective in getting what they wanted.

[Tsyroc]

I liked it, probably more than I initially liked Agents of SHIELD.

Judging by the first couple of episodes I'm kind of thinking that maybe this is replacing the Agent Carter one-shot in the continuity. A lot of the crap Agent Carter is putting up with seems very similar to what happened in the one-shot, and they don't appear to be in the process of building SHIELD yet. Possibly that could be explained by Howard Stark suddenly being busy dealing with what he's dealing with in this show.

I guess I'm just getting the feeling that this is the expanded and more fleshed out version of that one-shot that will lead to the very beginning of SHIELD, and probably set up some more villains for AoS.

There are some nice pieces of the Marvel Universe that they are using/introducing. Probably more than I actually caught but the two big ones were cool.

[Joun_Lord]

I'll probably give this a shot when I've got the time, maybe after a couple more episodes air, much as I enjoyed Agent Carter in the Captain Mantits movie.

I've just starting to get really burned out on super hero comic book stuff. Just way, WAY too much crap coming out in movies and tv shows with even more on the way. I stopped watching Arrow, long since given up on AoS, have no intention of seeing really anymore DC movies after the grimdark wannabe Batman Man of Steel with its fucking psycho ass Pa Kent, told the X-Mon movies to git out, and have little intention of seeing Spiderman 3.2 .

Agents of Shield was okay but Sky was annoying and oh so mysterious and way too much of a Mary Sue. Ward despite looking like he was set up as the main-ish character was boring and when he started getting likable and interesting they made him a Nazi who will probably wind up being a non-bleach blond Spike. Combine that with stories that were either uninteresting or were just "MARVEL MOVIE REFERENCE!!!!!!!!", plus the time they stranded some dude on an alien world just for being kind of a creeper led me to drop the series. I'm tempted to pick it back up but only because nothing really on TV right now is all that interesting.

For Agent Carter, getting into it might suffer the problem of the prequels. You already know whats going to happen, you've seen the future of many of the characters. There is no suspense. Much like you knew Obi Wan or Yoda wouldn't kick the bucket or Anakin and Asoka wouldn't make some babies and anything they do to save the Republic is useless, you know Carter isn't going to die (baring cloning or robots, it is a comic book tv show after all), Howard will die, and everything they do for Shield will be for nothing considering it get taken over by Nazis and then is disbanded. You know they ain't going to find Steve if thats ever a plotline, they ain't going to destroy Hydra, they ain't going to build a long lasting agency to protect the world from threats, and Howard ain't going to do much with the Tesseract except stuff that is conveniently forgotten.

Still, I'm somewhat optimistic and will give it a shot eventually.

[Crazedwraith]

Alas I will not find out. UK's Channel 4 did not pick up this show with AoS Season 2...

[Block]

I'll give it a chance, but it's pretty boring so far.

[The Romulan Republic]

What's particularly boring about it? I find it about as entertaining as a lot of Agents of Shield.

[Simon_Jester]

They have a little flexibility. For example, they could legitimately try to defeat another Hydra offshoot. They might encounter superpowered threats on Earth that really do need countering- just for starters, all the 'Soviet supervillain' stuff is fair game, I imagine?

The real challenge is that they will need to create plots and antagonists that aren't just a reprise of the ones covered in the movies.

[fgalkin]

Seen the third episode. It's....surprisingly not bad. I've found that I'm genuinely beginning to enjoy this show, and I wasn't expecting that.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Block]

What's particularly boring about it? I find it about as entertaining as a lot of Agents of Shield.

The story so far and the characters? It just hasn't grabbed me at all. Neither did Agents of Shield, which I stopped watching after about 5 episodes, because if it takes longer than that to become interesting, it's badly written.

[The Romulan Republic]

I like Carter as a character most of the time, and Jarvis's backstory and interactions with Carter are somewhat interesting. But the other agents and villains have thus far been pretty dull I'll admit.

[Enigma]

But is the actor that plays Jarvis the same one that lent his voice for the Iron Man movies?

[Atia]

No, Paul Bettany is the voice of Jarvis in the movies.

[Gaidin]

My one problem is they seem to have to have her co-agents keep sticking their feet in their collective mouths to show her own competence. It'd be nice if she wasn't the only one capable of doing something. Though, all things being equal, with the latest event, I suspect that might change and she might be up for a challenge from both sides.

[GuppyShark]

I haven't really felt that her fellow agents have been incompetent so far. They're being sabotaged from within, and that's probably their real blindspot.

[Gaidin]

I haven't really felt that her fellow agents have been incompetent so far. They're being sabotaged from within, and that's probably their real blindspot.

Her fellow agents are trying to prove Stark guilty. If I'm trying to 'sabotage' them, I'm thinking "here's the evidence you need!" not roadblock.

[Adam Reynolds]

I liked it, probably more than I initially liked Agents of SHIELD.

Probably because Agents of SHIELD was effectively stalling until The Winter Soldier came out.

Judging by the first couple of episodes I'm kind of thinking that maybe this is replacing the Agent Carter one-shot in the continuity. A lot of the crap Agent Carter is putting up with seems very similar to what happened in the one-shot, and they don't appear to be in the process of building SHIELD yet. Possibly that could be explained by Howard Stark suddenly being busy dealing with what he's dealing with in this show.

Though I haven't seen the series, presumably it takes place before the one-shot. They generally don't have a huge role in the continuity, but haven't been retconned yet.

[The Romulan Republic]

I missed this show for a while, but I saw most of the new episode yesterday.

It seemed a little weak at times but not terrible. Carter taking out a diner full of agents was impressive, though I wonder why they didn't use guns sooner.

And now Carter's been captured by her own side.

[Iroscato]

Just watched the first ep. It was a pleasant surprise to see how good it was, very stylish and pretty funny. Jarvis seems like a laugh in that charmingly eccentric way we brits possess
I look forward to seeing how this pans out...

[Iroscato]

All finished. I must say I really liked the whole mini-series. The short, tight focus may have helped the overall quality. I found it at least as enjoyable as series 2 of AoS, and the 40's setting was really well done. Zola's cameo at the end was unexpected but makes sense as he would find a man with Ivchenko's talents highly useful for his own cause.
Also, Peggy got to kick a LOT of arse through the run, which was endlessly entertaining, as was Jarvis.
I'm not really sure I get why people were underwhelmed by it, but different strokes, I guess

[Gaidin]

I just don't get why they'd put those two in the same cell, but that's neither here nor there.

Technicality, but I don't think season 2 of AoS is over. You have 2.0 yes, but, what we used to call 2.5 for all the old sci-fi channel shows is coming up this week.