Here we finally see Peggy-Daniel-Violet love triangle sub-plot move along a little bit more wherein Violet recognizes how much Daniel really cares for Peggy. One thing I really liked about the development of this conflict is that nobody is a bad guy here. I feel like often somebody is considered a relationship wrecker or a cheater and that person is demonized. Somebody has to be the bad guy in these sorts of intimate troubles, but I think the truth of the matter in most cases is that people feel strong emotions and then they have to navigate them. Sometime people make bad decisions based on these feelings, sometimes people just stew in confusion, and sometimes people manage it and try to contain the potential damage. So I really liked that we see a more genuine struggle here that is complicated and doesn’t take the easy way out of defining any of the characters as the villain
Opening scene of the episode we see Peggy’s bedroom is appointed with a couple of decanters containing brown spirits and glasses. Seems like a fine thing to have ready at the quietest time of the day to unwind…but usually people don’t have these things in their bedrooms. Makes me wonder if having a couple of bottles in your room was standard in the 50s even for wealthy people like Howard Stark, or does this more likely demonstrate that Peggy is self medicating in the evenings as a stress reducer.
Daniel Sousa plans a surprise dinner at Violet’s house to set the stage for a wedding proposal. She comes in and sees the table set for two. There is a bottle of wine on the table. None is poured yet so we can’t see if it’s a red or white. What goes best with a wedding proposal?- We meet a new character, an old friend of Whitney Frost, Joseph Manfredi who is a Los Angeles crime boss with a volatile and unpredictable temper and/or personal code of honor. We get to witness him destroy one of his own henchman over a minor or imagined infraction of etiquette. The impression is that it is a display of power. We come in on him having lunch in a fine restaurant. It’s noticeable that he is the only one drinking alcohol, a glass of whiskey…he’s dining alone and his men are just standing around his table like mannequins
Calvin Chadwick and Whitney Frost come back from their raid on the Roxxon facility to recover the atomic cores from some bombs at the storage facility. Agent Carter and her team get them instead, but not before Frost demonstrates how much of a psychopath she’s become. With her new found powers she is less motivated to hide her terrible ambition and Chadwick is realizing he’s married to a dangerous and reckless person. When they get home, the first thing Calvin does is pour himself a drink from one of the decanters on a small table to steady his nerves. The glass is hurled to the ground before finishing. Tally from this scene is 2 decanters of brown spirits and one glass
