Now is Not the End

"Now is Not the End"
Agent Carter episode

Critics praised the episode's period setting, and the performances of Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter (L) and James D'Arcy as Edwin Jarvis.
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 1
Directed by Louis D'Esposito
Written by
Produced by
  • Tara Butters
  • Michele Fazekas
  • Chris Dingess
Featured music "That Man"
by Caro Emerald
Cinematography by Gabriel Beristain
Editing by Chris Peppe
Original air date January 6, 2015 (2015-01-06)
Running time 42 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

"Now is Not the End" is the first episode of the first season of the American television series Agent Carter, inspired by the films Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the Marvel One-Shot short film also titled Agent Carter. It features the Marvel Comics character Peggy Carter as she goes undercover to try and clear the name of her friend Howard Stark, and is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The episode was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directed by Louis D'Esposito.

The episode had been written by Markus and McFeely, the writers of the Captain America films, by January 2014, with the episode being officially ordered that May. Hayley Atwell reprises her role as Carter from the film series, and is joined by regular cast members James D'Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, Enver Gjokaj, and Shea Whigham. Dominic Cooper guest stars as Stark, also reprising his film role, while Costa Ronin portrays the younger version of another film character, Anton Vanko. The episode contains several other connections to the films, including the use of archive footage from The First Avenger. Costume designer Giovanna Ottobre-Melton and visual effects companies Industrial Light & Magic and Base FX worked on establishing an authentic period setting for the episode, a fictionalized 1940s New York.

"Now is Not the End" originally aired on ABC on January 6, 2015, and according to Nielsen Media Research, was watched by 10.16 million viewers within a week of its release. The episode received praise from critics, especially the performances of Atwell and D'Arcy, the period setting, and its relative independence from the rest of the MCU. The visual effects for the episode were nominated at the Visual Effects Society Awards.

Plot

In 1946 New York, a year after the apparent death of the love of her life, Steve Rogers, Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) Agent Peggy Carter is stuck doing administrative work while her sexist male colleagues carry out field assignments. The latest case at the SSR is the hunt for Howard Stark, who has been branded a traitor for selling weapons-grade technology to U.S. enemies, and is now in hiding. Stark, a friend of Carter's from World War II, covertly meets with Carter to ask her help in clearing his name. He believes that his formula for molecular nitramene, which he says has been stolen, is about to be sold somewhere in New York.

At the SSR, Carter learns from the crippled war veteran Agent Daniel Sousa that the chauvinistic and promotion-seeking Agent Jack Thompson is following a lead on club owner Spider Raymond, who is looking to fence Stark's inventions. Raymond indeed sells the formula to the silent Leet Brannis. Infiltrating the club in disguise, Carter breaks into Raymond's safe and discovers that the formula has already been turned into a weapon. By the time Thompson gets there, Raymond is dead, killed by a man in a green suit, who follows Carter back to her apartment and kills her roommate. Carter pushes him out a window, and notices that he has a scar on his neck where his voice box once was. After attempting to comfort her, Stark's butler Edwin Jarvis takes Carter to see Dr. Anton Vanko at Stark Industries, who deduces that the weapon was created at a Roxxon Oil refinery.

Carter finds Brannis mass-producing the nitramine weapons at the refinery. Brannis also has a scar where his voice box once was, and by holding an electronic device to it is able to warn Carter that "Leviathan" is coming. Brannis drops one of the bombs, giving Carter 30 seconds to escape, and the subsequent implosion destroys the building. Carter and Jarvis get away safely, as does Brannis with a truck full of nitramene bombs. Later, Jarvis calls Stark to assure him that Carter is an excellent choice.

Production

Development

On May 8, 2014, ABC officially ordered a series starring Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, inspired by the films Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as well as the Marvel One-Shot Agent Carter.[1] Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, writers of the Captain America films, had already written a script for the first episode by January of that year,[2] and at San Diego Comic-Con 2014 Marvel revealed that Louis D’Esposito, who directed the One-Shot short film, would direct the episode.[3] In December, the title of the premiere episode was revealed to be "Now is Not the End".[4]

Casting

Special guest star Dominic Cooper reprises his role of Howard Stark from other MCU projects.

In December 2014, Marvel revealed that main cast members Atwell, James D'Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, Enver Gjokaj, and Shea Whigham would star as Peggy Carter, Edwin Jarvis, Jack Thompson, Daniel Sousa, and Roger Dooley, respectively.[4] It was also revealed that the guest cast for the episode would include Lyndsy Fonseca as Angie Martinelli, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, Andre Royo as Spider Raymond, James Hebert as green suit, Kyle Bornheimer as Ray Krzeminiski, Ashley Hinshaw as Colleen O'Brien, Carrick O'Quinn as tall bouncer, James Frain as Leet Brannis, Tim True as tipsy guy, Johnny Marques as bartender, Jeffrey David Anderson as short bouncer, James Urbaniak as scientist, Bill Kalmenson as Senator Webster, Lesley Boone as Rose, Costa Ronin as Anton Vanko and Kevin Heffernan as Madison Avenue guy.[4]

Cooper reprises his role from The First Avenger and the Agent Carter short.[5][6] Anton Vanko was previously portrayed by Yevgeni Lazarev in Iron Man 2;[7] Ronin plays a younger version of the character.[8] Gjokaj previously had a minor role in The Avengers.[9] O'Quinn, Marque, and Anderson did not receive guest star credit in the episode. Additionally, Chris Evans appears as Steve Rogers / Captain America via archive footage from Captain America: The First Avenger.[10]

Design

When Carter goes undercover in the episode, she wears a dress inspired by the evening dresses of the 1930s and 40s, which the script described as a "Veronica Lake look". Ottobre-Melton noted that "We got to make Peggy into the classic femme fatale".[11] For the character of Colleen O'Brien, series costume designer Giovanna Ottobre-Melton saw her as "a hard working girl making just enough to get by. The war term 'Mend and Make Do' really applies to her. She has a few nice pieces in her closet that she scrimped and saved to buy. My guess is she knows how to unravel an old tired sweater to knit herself a new one."[12] The man in the green suit "wore a suit that was a tricky balance," explained Ottobre-Melton. "The goal was to find a green that wasn't over the top, but still made a powerful statement. The suit I designed was inspired by a 1940s green double breasted suit I had located."[11]

Visual effects

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Base FX created the visual effects for the episode,[13] with work by ILM including the creation of backdrops for the series, with matte paintings used, depicting 1940s New York.[14][15]

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins

Archive footage from Captain America: The First Avenger, including the apparent death of Captain America from the end of that film, is used throughout the episode, and the macguffin of the episode, molecular nitramene, is based on Vita-Rays, which were used to transform Steve Rogers into Captain America in the film.[16] The Vita-Ray detector that Carter uses in the episode belonged to Dr. Abraham Erskine, who was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in The First Avenger.[16][17] The Oil Refinery featured at the climax of the episode belongs to Roxxon Oil,[16] a company that has appeared throughout the MCU.[18][19]

Release

"Now is Not the End" was first aired in the United States as part of the two-hour series premiere on ABC on January 6, 2015.[4] It was aired alongside the US broadcast in Canada on CTV.[20] In New Zealand, it aired on TV2 on February 11, 2015.[21] The episode was released on Blu-ray and DVD along with the rest of the first season on September 18, 2015, as an Amazon.com exclusive.[22]

Reception

Ratings

In the United States the episode received a 1.9/6 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.9 percent of all households, and 6 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 6.91 million viewers.[23] The Canadian broadcast gained 2.35 million viewers, the third highest for that day and the seventh highest for the week.[20] Within seven days the episode had been watched by a total of 10.16 million U.S. viewers,[24] higher than the season average of 7.61 million.[25]

Critical response

Hayley Atwell, reprising her titular film role, received praise for her performance.

Eric Goldman of IGN gave "Now is Not the End" a score of 8 out of 10, indicating a "Great" episode, and praised the titular character, who he thought was "expertly played" by Atwell, as well as her dynamic with D'Arcy's Jarvis. Goldman felt that the period setting was used well, despite the episode feeling "like a TV show compared to the Marvel movies (being a TV show and all)", and was happy that series was attempting to "entertain on its own merits", rather than try "to add some huge important element to [the MCU's] giant overarching storyline". Goldman did feel that Carter needed a more specific villain to fight, but stated that "With only eight episodes, that hopefully will change quickly".[10] Alan Sepinwall at HitFix found that the series had learned from the mistakes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and stood as its own entity. He praised Atwell's performance, the visual/period style, and D'Arcy as Jarvis, but he felt that Carter's sexist colleagues were cartoonish, saying "not that sexism didn't exist in the era, but that it's a tough thing to dramatize from a modern perspective without feeling winky and smug. It's a dance many period dramas have to do, not always successfully, and while it would be foolish to pretend a woman like Peggy wouldn't have had to deal with these kinds of idiots all the time, Agent Carter is at its liveliest when the three stooges are nowhere to be seen".[26]

James Hunt with Den of Geek stated that "[Agent Carter] is, quite genuinely, brilliant. Everything that went wrong with Agents Of SHIELD goes right in Agent Carter. It looks fantastic, doing its level best to recreate 1940s New York on what is probably quite a low budget, and succeeding. It ties into the MCU in ways that feel natural[,] ...There isn't a weak performance in the cast, and even the writing is strong, with compelling plots giving space to subplots which chug along at a nice pace. And the most surprising part? It's actually funny." He was positive about Atwell's performance, but praised D'Arcy as "the breakout star of the cast".[27] Amy Ratcliffe of Nerdist concluded her review of the episode saying "Overall, Agent Carter didn’t open the door and tiptoe in; it busted through and took charge. Atwell is a magnetic force of nature and seems completely at home in the role, and she’s complemented by D’Arcy and Gjokaj." She also felt that lessons had been learned from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and thought that all the work put into creating the period setting had paid off.[28] Britt Hayes, reviewing for Screen Crush, felt that the episode "fumbles a little, as most series do when they’re introducing us to a new world", but was positive of Atwell, D'Arcy, and the cinematography. Hayes' major issue was the score, which she explained "often lingers a little too long and feels slightly tone deaf—it definitely cheapens the proceedings, and reminds us that this is television, not film."[29]

Noel Murray, writing for The A.V. Club, graded the two-part premiere an 'A-', praising it as "retro-cool pulp thrills in fabulous outfits. Think The Rocketeer or Raiders of the Lost Ark, but with a dame instead of a dude." In his conclusion, Murray stated that "[Agent Carter]'s greatest asset is Atwell, who takes a character that Marvel Comics has never really done much with before and makes it her own."[30] Oliver Sava, also from The A.V. Club, graded "Now is Not the End" an 'A-' as well, calling the series a gamble, but deciding that the first episode "surpasses expectations with its dynamic direction and fight choreography, clever writing, and hugely charismatic lead." Apart from Atwell's performance, which he called "confident, strong, and sassy", Sava was also positive about the involvements of D'Esposito, Markus, and McFeely, and overall he found the episode, along with the next one, to be superior to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.[31]

Accolades

"Now is Not the End" was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode at the 13th Visual Effects Society Awards.[32]

References

  1. ↑ Hibberd, James (May 8, 2014). "ABC renews 'SHIELD' plus orders 'Captain America' spin-off". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 9, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  2. ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (January 17, 2014). "Marvel's 'Agent Carter': Hayley Atwell, Writers, Showrunners Confirmed for ABC Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 10, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  3. ↑ Arrant, Chris (July 25, 2014). "Major S.H.I.E.L.D. Casting Additions ... Plus a Surprise Avenger?". Newsarama. Archived from the original on July 25, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Strom, Marc (December 11, 2014). "Marvel's Agent Carter Debriefs Her First 2 Missions". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  5. ↑ Fletcher, Rosie (July 19, 2013). "Marvel's Agent Carter reaction: Comic-Con 2013". Total Film. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  6. ↑ Philbrick, Jami (June 21, 2011). "Dominic Cooper talks 'Captain America: The First Avenger'". IAmRogue.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  7. ↑ "'Agent Carter' Premiere Date Announced; Whiplash's Dad Cast". TVWeb. November 5, 2014. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  8. ↑ Steinbeiser, Andrew (November 5, 2014). "Exclusive: Costa Ronin Cast as Anton Vanko in Marvel's Agent Carter". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  9. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (August 29, 2014). "Enver Gjokaj Cast In ABC Series ‘Marvel’s Agent Carter’". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on August 29, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  10. 1 2 Goldman, Eric (January 3, 2015). "Marvel's Agent Carter: "Now is Not the End" Review". IGN. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Weseman, Lisa (January 7, 2015). "Agent Carter Fashion: Inside the Premiere". ABC.com. Archived from the original on January 11, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  12. ↑ Kucharski, Joe (January 5, 2015). "Sneak Peek at The Costumes of Marvel's Agent Carter!". Tyranny of Style. Archived from the original on January 11, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  13. ↑ Frei, Vincent (January 6, 2015). "Agent Carter". Art of VFX. Archived from the original on January 11, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ Butters, Tara [@@breadandbutters] (January 7, 2015). "Take notice of the amazing exterior shots- we owe 1940s New York to the amazing artists at ILM. #AgentCarter" (Tweet). Archived from the original on January 11, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015 – via Twitter.
  15. ↑ "Agent Carter's Showrunner Spills What's Next For Our New Favorite Spy". io9. January 12, 2015. Archived from the original on January 17, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 KevinGarcia.com (January 7, 2015). "Crikey O'Reilly: Secrets of Agent Carter's Premiere Episode(s)". io9. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  17. ↑ McNary, Dave (June 7, 2010). "Stanley Tucci joins Captain America". Variety. Archived from the original on July 5, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  18. ↑ Bowman, R.J. (May 16, 2013). "Deathlok in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? – An Exploration". WonderWorldComics. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  19. ↑ ThanosCopter (February 5, 2014). "S.H.I.E.L.D. DOSSIERS - S01E13: T.R.A.C.K.S.". The Outhousers. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  20. 1 2 "Top 30 Programs (January 5-11, 2015)" (PDF). Numeris. January 21, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  21. ↑ Walker, David (February 3, 2015). "Hayley Atwell dishes on new series Agent Carter". Stuff. Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  22. ↑ Lambert, David (September 16, 2015). "Agent Carter - 'The Complete 1st Season' Bonus Material is Uncovered". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  23. ↑ Bibel, Sara (January 8, 2015). "Tuesday Final Ratings: No Adjustments to 'Agent Carter', 'Person of Interest' or 'Forever'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  24. ↑ Bibel, Sara (January 25, 2015). "'The Big Bang Theory' & 'Modern Family' Have Biggest Adults 18-49 Increase, 'Revenge' Tops Percentage Gains & 'The Big Bang Theory' Grows Most in Viewership in Live +7 Ratings for Week 16 Ending January 11". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on January 25, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  25. ↑ Bibel, Sara (June 8, 2015). "Live+7 Ratings: Complete 2014–15 Season 'The Big Bang Theory' Leads Adults 18-49 Ratings Increase; 'The Messengers' Earns Biggest Percentage Increase, 'The Blacklist' Tops Viewership Gains". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  26. ↑ Sepinwall, Allan (January 5, 2015). "Review: 'Marvel's Agent Carter' swings into the big band era". HitFix. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  27. ↑ Hunt, James (January 8, 2015). "Agent Carter episodes 1 & 2 review: Now Is Not The End & Bridge And Tunnel". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  28. ↑ Ratcliffe, Amy (January 6, 2015). "Review: Marvel's Agent Carter Premiere". Nerdist. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  29. ↑ Hayes, Britt (January 6, 2015). "‘Agent Carter’ Premiere Review: "Pilot; Bridge and Tunnel"". Screen Crush. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  30. ↑ Murray, Noel (January 6, 2015). "Marvel’s Agent Carter is snazzy, retro, and super-cool". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  31. ↑ Sava, Oliver (January 7, 2015). "Marvel’s Agent Carter: "Now Is Not The End"/"Tunnel And Bridge"". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  32. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (January 12, 2016). "VES Awards: 'Star Wars', 'The Martian' & 'The Walk' Among Nominees". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
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