5 Reasons Why Agent Carter Needs a Third Season
Agent Carter has entered yet another battle for renewal after its second season. Personally, I think season 2 made for a fun watch, even if it did lag behind in the ratings. Here’s my list of five reasons why I think the show deserves to get renewed once again.
If you prefer text over videos, I’ve included a transcript below.
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Agent Carter’s second season just ended. Unfortunately, this season hasn’t fared too well in the ratings. Although I hope to see Agent Carter make more appearances in other Marvel properties — she’s had a few cameos elsewhere already — this week’s finale might well be the last official episode that we see of her TV series. That would be a real shame, though — and here’s why. Spoilers to follow!
- First off, let’s discuss the cliffhanger at the end of the second season: the death of Jack Thompson. This is a comic book show, so he might not stay dead, but let’s just assume he does. In addition to providing Peggy Carter with a brand new mystery to solve, Jack’s death also would allow us to watch an entire season without enduring his condescension towards Peggy, his jealousy of her successes, and his attempts to undermine her work. At this point, she’s proven she deserves his job (or better).
- Speaking of promotions, we already know Agent Carter’s career ends up going places thanks to her other appearances in comic books and also in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ant-Man. What’s the story of Peg’s career trajectory from the SSR to S.H.I.E.L.D.? It’d be nice to see how that plays out. We know she continues to fight against Hydra’s efforts and Leviathan over the decades. We also know that her tenure at .S.H.I.E.L.D. lasts all the way to the 1980s, when she worked with Ant-Man and the Wasp. It would be amazing to see Agent Carter meet Janet van Dyne — especially since it seems unlikely that the Ant-Man movies would ever do a flashback to that.
- On to reason number three! Peggy deserves to have a season that doesn’t revolve around her relationship status. I didn’t mind that most of the second season got devoted to a love triangle plot — but I sure am glad that’s been resolved so that we viewers can move on. Even though I was disappointed that Peggy didn’t end up with Dr. Wilkes, I do understand that many other fans will be happy to see Peg end up with Sousa. So, now that it’s settled, can Peg have some other side-plots? Worrying about who Peggy Carter might end up dating has never been my favorite part of the show, and I’d like to see a third season in which that plot point ends up way further in the background.
- The villains on Agent Carter steal the show time and time again, and they definitely deserve more chances to go toe-to-toe with our heroine. This season brought back Dottie Underwood, and it also introduced us to Whitney Frost — both incredible characters, both left with opportunities for their storylines to return. Last we saw Dottie Underwood, she had already escaped the SSR — what’s she going to do next? Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem like any cell could hold Whitney Frost’s genius for long. And, hey, whatever happened to Armin Zola?
- Hayley Atwell has already mentioned several historical events that she’d love to see Agent Carter approach, if the series continues: the civil rights movement, the various political groundswells that happened in the 1960s, and the Cold War — just to name a few. From comic book storylines to real-life events, there’s just so much ground left to cover.
Back when the first Agent Carter one-shot premiered at San Diego Comic Con in 2013, director and co-head of Marvel Studios Louis D’Esposito expressed his regrets that Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers got frozen after Captain America, but not Peggy. His words at the time were, “We should have frozen her.” Marvel did the next-best thing with this show, giving Agent Carter the opportunity to tell storylines set in a time period that no other show explores. I don’t think it’s time to put Peggy into stasis just yet — not when she has so many more adventures in store.
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