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You know, after this
series spent two episodes dealing with a single one of Howard Stark’s
inventions—the weaponized nitramene bombs—I was pretty certain that the rest of
the series would focus on a single invention each episode, with the cache of
weapons finally being discovered in the season finale. But what am I saying? This is Marvel TV, and they are pretty much
synonymous with “frenetic pacing” (especially after Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
season 2, amiright?), so of course they wrap up the question of where the
weapons are by the end of the third episode, after killing the thief himself in
the second episode!
Now, that phrasing may
make it sound like I’m disappointed by how quickly they wrapped up the
perceived-major plot of the season in the first third, and that couldn’t be
further from the truth. In fact, the
rest of the season is absolutely amazing for the amount of character
development that each of the main characters receives and for the way in which
it builds up the history of the MCU while simultaneously growing the suspense
until the dramatic finale. I’m just
saying that there are some surprises in store in this episode… at least if this
is your first experience with Marvel TV!
Reminder: Retro-reviews contain potential spoilers for
everything that has come out to-date.
The episode begins
with a short little vignette of Peggy’s life at the Griffith. A man is watching Peggy from the shadows
across the street while she prepares for bed.
While she is looking up Leet Brannis’ symbol in a book of Shakespearean
symbology the man begins climbing the drainpipe to her room. He is holding onto the ledge outside her
window, preparing to pull himself up, when he happens to look up at the window…
and finds himself staring down the barrel of Peggy’s pistol! Turns out he’s just the boyfriend of Peggy’s
next-door neighbor who stopped by for a late-night visit. Peggy gives him directions without letting
him into the building. The next morning
we see the repercussions of this visit when the landlady, Mrs. Fry, kicks the
girlfriend out for allowing a man above the first floor. There’s not that much to say about Miriam Fry
except that she is an extremely strict landlady—and at least she enforces her
rules. However, this scene gives Peggy
an idea: “no building is impenetrable,”
and figuring out how the thief managed to get Stark’s tech out of his vault
could help her find the stash. It does
seem surprising that this wasn’t her first move on taking the case, but
considering that the police had already investigated the case, she may have
assumed that the vault was a dead end.
But regardless, she goes over to Stark’s mansion to investigate the
vault before work.
However, before she
and Jarvis can actually look at the vault, Sousa and Thompson show up to
question Jarvis about the car which they had used at the Roxxon implosion—the
car whose bumper and license plate were found in the wreckage. Jarvis refuses to let them in, but agrees to
go with them. One of the best parts of
this episode is that it focuses so much on Jarvis. In this episode we learn all about his back
story and how he came to work for Howard, and it is done in a different way
than other character back stories have been done. During his interrogation, we see how cool he
is under fire but that his one weakness is his wife: he is extremely protective of Anna. Even Thompson’s revelation that Jarvis was
charged with treason did not illicit the same response from Jarvis that
threatening to deport them did. I find
it interesting how protective Jarvis is, especially since we never actually see
Anna in season 1.
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This revelation also
affects Peggy, who later demands to know the story behind his treason charge,
thus providing the opportunity for us to learn how Jarvis came to work for
Stark. Jarvis was in the Royal military
and served under a general, which brought him to Budapest where he met
Anna. However, because she was Jewish
she was in serious danger after the war started, so Jarvis asked the general to
sign a letter of transit for her. When
the general refused, Jarvis stole a letter and forged the general’s
signature. He was found out, arrested,
and charged with treason. However,
Howard Stark (who knew the general and had always liked Jarvis) found out about
his predicament and used his resources to have the charges against Jarvis
dropped and Anna smuggled out of Hungary.
This explains why Jarvis is so fiercely loyal to Howard Stark, and why
Jarvis is so fiercely protective of his wife.
I really like this method of telling us Jarvis’ back story, especially
with how it challenges and furthers his relationship with Peggy.
Peggy has a rather
rough story in this episode. After the
trauma of seeing another resident kicked out and her coconspirator arrested (by
her coworkers) on suspicion of having been involved in the Roxxon implosion,
Peggy learns about Jarvis’ treason charge and dishonorable discharge during the
interrogation. Then, in order to get
Jarvis off the hook, Peggy brings Chief Dooley’s wrath down on herself by interrupting
the interrogation and informing Jarvis (and Dooley and Thompson) that she had
the police report for the “stolen” car used in the Roxxon implosion. Dooley chews her out in his office for making
a colossal mistake, implying that he feels “stuck” with her when she just can’t
cut it as an S.S.R. agent. Thompson
likewise dismisses her for messing up his interrogation. However, I don’t think that this fully
reflects Dooley’s feelings toward Peggy; I think this more reflects his
frustration with the situation, and he is taking his frustration out on her as
the easiest target.
After work, Peggy brushes
off Angie when she’s trying to visit with her.
Instead, she goes over to Stark’s house, where she and Jarvis rappel
down through the hole in Stark’s vault, and Peggy realizes that Brannis could
have taken advantage of the rain on the night of the break-in to float a raft
full of inventions down the sewers to the harbor. When the two of them find the Heartbreak,
the boat where Brannis was keeping all the stolen inventions, Peggy is feeling
triumphant: her investigation has
succeeded, and she will be able to show the men in the office that she is every
bit as qualified for her job as they are—and even better than them, since she
was able to track down the inventions by herself (with help from Jarvis). However, Jarvis tells her that she can’t let
the S.S.R. know that she found them; she does not have a good explanation for
how she found them or why she was conducting her own investigation… and the
explanation she does have would only implicate her for colluding with Howard
Stark. In other words, calling it in
herself would not free Stark from suspicion, but would rather draw herself
under suspicion. Though Peggy is at
first unwilling to accept this, she finally resigns herself to the fact that
she can’t take credit for this discovery and allows Jarvis to call it in
(disguising his voice). I really like
how well Hayley Atwell plays Peggy’s bad day—I find it to be very believable
and it really helps to deepen the character.
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However, before Sousa
and Krzeminski (who are working the night shift) arrive at the ship, Peggy is
attacked by the guard that Brannis hired to protect the ship. The guard, Jerome Zandow,
is a massive former Boardwalk strongman who has a foot and about 100 pounds on
Peggy. However, when she can keep him
from getting his hands on her, she is able to use her agility and speed to her
advantage. As soon as he manages to pin
her, however, that’s about it for her until Jarvis comes in and hits Zandow
over the head. Peggy then uses one of
Stark’s inventions (a back massager that causes involuntary catastrophic muscle
spasms) on Zandow, subduing him. I
really like how well this fight highlights both Peggy’s abilities and her
weaknesses. On the one hand, she is an
excellent hand-to-hand combatant. On the
other hand, a larger and stronger opponent can hurt her if he manages to get
his hands on her and pin her.
Just after Peggy and
Jarvis drive away, Sousa and Krzeminski arrive at the ship, discover the
inventions and Zandow, and call in the rest of the team. Sousa seems pretty suspicious of their
“anonymous” tip letting them know about the ship, but he seems to be the only
one with any suspicions. Dooley is
worried about driving around with potentially dangerous unknown technologies,
but that is his primary concern. As
such, he assigns all his assets to protect the truckload of inventions, leaving
Krzeminski to drive Zandow back to S.S.R. headquarters alone. On the way back, Zandow is in the process of
blowing Peggy’s cover by describing the “English broad” with a “mean right
cross” who beat him up and left him for the S.S.R. to discover. However, no sooner does Zandow start talking
than their car gets rear-ended and Krzeminski gets out to confront the
driver. The driver pulls a suppressed
pistol and kills Krzeminski before turning on Zandow, eliminating the only
person with any reasonable suspicion of Peggy and the only witness who could connect
the break-in, Brannis, and Leviathan.
When Peggy comes into the office to find out what’s going on, she learns
of Krzeminski’s death as well as Sousa’s suspicion that the anonymous tipster
had set a trap for them. On top of that,
Dooley blames Stark for Krzeminski’s death because it happened while they were
investigating Stark. Peggy thought that
the investigation was over, but not only is it still ongoing, but it cost one
of her coworkers his life.
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Peggy finally goes to
the Automat where Angie is working, sits down for a coffee, and asks if Angie
has time to talk. She tells her about
Krzeminski’s death, and that even though she disliked him—“He was a brute,
rude, disrespectful,” and a notorious womanizer—she is genuinely sorry that he
is dead. I really like these kinds of
character-centric moments. The first two
episodes of the season did an excellent job of showing just how strong and
capable Peggy is while hinting at her vulnerabilities. This episode included a lot of scenes which
show Peggy feeling vulnerable. And Angie
gives Peggy a close friend outside of work with whom she can connect. It’s disappointing that Angie didn’t get a
lot of development in season 1, but considering where she was at the end of the
season, I expect them to amend that in season 2.
Overall, “Time and
Tide” is a fun episode which provides some excellent character development for
the main characters. It wraps up one
mystery in a neat bow, but simultaneously it introduces the even greater
mystery which provides the focus for the rest of the season. Krzeminski’s death was not entirely
unexpected as they hinted at it with his earlier scenes, but it still helped to
develop the other characters as they reacted to his death.
What did you think of
“Time and Tide”? Were you surprised by
Krzeminski’s death?
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