“The Edge of Mystery” is episode eight of season two of Marvel’s Agent Carter.
In the previous episode, “Monsters”, things did not go so well. When Peggy and Jarvis finally rescued Dottie, she told them that yes, it was a trap – but not for them. Whitney and Manfredi had headed for Stark’s place, and were kidnapping Dr Wilkes. Peggy and Jarvis were arriving at this point and so Whitney shot Ana to distract them. When they arrived at the hospital, Peggy told a police officer not to open the boot of her car. Which had Dottie inside. Given that Dottie ended up missing and the officer dead, it looks like he failed to follow this simple instruction. Sousa had failed to react as self-interested as Thompson had when Masters sounded him out – and why the heck would you want people on your side who would sell their friends and associates out for their own self interest? Might as well have a sign on them saying ‘Untrustworthy backstabber’ – two masked men had beaten him up. Probably not a coincidence. Masters told Sousa that he was taking over the LA branch of the SSR whilst Sousa recuperated. So, things did not go well.
This episode opens in New York, 1946, one year ago. It’s the events of “Now is Not the End” and Peggy is on the phone with Jarvis who is telling her how to disarm the nitramene she found in a safe. Ana comes in as Jarvis is on the phone and afterwards she asks who it was. Jarvis tells her it’s Stark’s newest associate, who is going to help clear Howard’s name, and corrects Ana, saying that the associate is a woman, Peggy Carter. Ana has met some of Howard’s previous women, but Jarvis tells her he doesn’t think Peggy is like the others. That Mr Stark actually seems to respect her. Jarvis promises that Miss Carter will not interfere in their lives in the slightest. In the present, Jarvis is in the hospital by Ana’s bed trying to get the radio to work when Peggy comes in. Peggy tells Jarvis she will go home and get Jarvis some clothes and a razor, so that when Ana awakes he looks like himself.
Wilkes wakes up to find himself handcuffed. Whitney tells him she thinks he will lose mass in 2 minutes. She also wants to know what happens when he vanishes. Wilkes asks if she really expects to compare notes, when he is handcuffed. The answer is yes. Whitney says she will let him go afterwards. When Wilkes asks for pen and paper to write down some formulae, Whitney asks if he expects to slip the handcuffs and escape in a minute. Or for Peggy to rescue him. Wilkes says he hopes he disappears and doesn’t come back. Whitney doesn’t believe him. She wants them to examine each other and work together. But first wants to know something – does Wilkes hear the voice too? The answer is yes.
Peggy arrives at Stark’s to find a battered Sousa outside. She explains Ana’s condition – sounding less confident than she did to Jarvis – and he explains that Masters ordered a beat down. He is after the uranium rods for Whitney. Peggy replies that if Whitney wants the rods so bad, they will give them to her in exchange for Wilkes. Or at least for Whitney to think she is willing to do so. Sousa also explains the previous relationship that Manfredi had with Whitney, before she dumped him for Chadwick.
So they pay a visit to Manfredi’s restaurant. His goons try to stop them. Manfredi is in the kitchen with opera on cooking for his mother. They don’t hear anything, but through the glass door into the restaurant Sousa and Peggy can be seen taking down his thugs. When the final one thuds against the glass, Manfredi comments that it looks like there are two more for lunch.
In London, there are two drunk men in the street, singing. One is Jack Thompson. the other is with British intelligence. He has a file on Peggy Carter, which has been heavily redacted. In “Life of the Party”, Masters told Thompson to find something on Peggy. Thompson is able to read through the redactions and some of the text mentions that no civilians were spared from the massacre, and mentions Peggy.
Manfredi is having a fairly pleasant sit down with Peggy and Sousa. His mother gives Sousa a plate of spaghetti. Manfredi says she likes him. Peggy gets none. Manfredi’s mother thinks she’s the devil. Sousa wants Manfredi to simply get word to Whitney, but he isn’t willing to start with. When Sousa tries a threat, Manfredi’s mother grabs a knife. Manfredi disarms his mother and ushers her from the kitchen.
Wilkes is reading Whitney’s research and has come to the conclusion that she is a mass murderer of rats. She says she has results – she can control the zero matter. And she thinks Wilkes will be able to as well. Because it isn’t a curse, as he thinks, but a gift. If Wilkes accepts it , he will be able to control it, if he listens, it will guide him. Manfredi arrives during this and explains to Whitney that Peggy wants to exchange the uranium rods for Wilkes. Whitney says she has a deal.
Jarvis is talking to Ana, promising a lot of things when she finally tells him not to make promises he can’t keep. She actually woke up at Burmese mountain dog but wanted to see what else she could get. As the doctor and a nurse examine Ana, Jarvis phones Peggy and tells her that Ana is alright. However, afterwards the doctor tells Jarvis that they weren’t able to repair all of the damage done by the bullet. If they had planned to have kids, that now won’t happen.
Jarvis doesn’t tell anyone else about Ana’s injury, but it means he is not in the best frame of mind for things. Both Whitney and Peggy are not exactly planning on keeping to the strictest terms of the agreement. Howard sends through plans for a device he think will help. And Thompson is going to have to decide just what he is, and isn’t, willing to do.