“Valediction” is episode eight of season one of Marvel’s Agent Carter and the season finale.
In the previous episode, “SNAFU”, Peggy, with Jarvis, had finally managed to convince the SSR that she wasn’t a traitor. However, this was done too late. Dr. Ivchenko managed to hypnotise Chief Dooley into getting him into the room where Stark’s inventions were being stored. Ivchenko stole one invention and had Dooley put on another. The latter was a heated battle armour vest with some rather serious flaws. It couldn’t be removed and, once it started heating up, it continued to do so until it exploded. So Dooley threw himself out of the window and exploded.
Thompson, Sousa and other agents were searching the building opposite where Underwood was working from, but she got away and met up with Ivchenko. Underwood went into a movie theatre and released some gas, presumably the invention that Ivchenko stole, to test it, then fastened the doors closed. Everyone inside the theatre went completely homicidal; when the doors were opened, they all appeared to be dead. At the Battle of Finow, a regiment of Russian soldiers had been wiped out, but no other forces were there. Stark refused to deal with the U.S. military after he inspected the field; it looks probable that the Russians were wiped out by the same gas, and that Stark invented it.
The episode opens with another clip from the Captain America radio show. By the sounds of it, it’s probably the last episode, as Cap’s plane is going down.
Thompson, Sousa and Peggy arrive at the movie theatre where the gas was released. Prendergast, the detective in charge, tells them that there are 47 dead inside, with their heads bashed in and their eyes gouged out. There were no survivors. Prendergast says that it’s as if a monster got in. Peggy, after they look at the bodies of the victims, say that no monster got in – they killed each other. The three investigate the theatre and Sousa finds the pram that the canister was in, but it has fallen over. Sousa finds the cylinder and gets a blast of gas from it, and he inhales some of it. When Thompson comes over, Sousa attacks him, and strikes Peggy, before he is knocked out.
Ivchenko is being driven through the city by Underwood, admiring it. He says that New York is a testimony to American strength and ingenuity, a beacon for the world to envy. Underwood replies that they are going to tear it all down. Then a police car pulls them over. Underwood pulls out a gun, but Ivchenko restrains her. The police officer tells her that she ran a traffic light, but Dottie manages to talk her way out of it. However, as the officer is heading back to his car, a message comes over the radio identifying her. When he turns around, Underwood is pointing a gun in his face.
Sousa comes around handcuffed to a bed, but with no other ill effects. He also remembers what happened. The gas he was exposed to is a chemical that induces psychosis on exposure, and by the sounds of it Ivchenko – whose real name is Johann Fennhoff – has nine canisters left. Peggy says that Fennhoff must have a plan. He tricked the SSR into going to Russia in “The Iron Ceiling”, so he clearly has something in mind. Then Howard Stark arrives in the room, accompanied by Jarvis. He doesn’t receive a great welcome.
Stark tells Thompson that the SSR’s security is not great – they should have come to him. He returned because he heard about the gas attack, and has brought all the details on it; it’s called Midnight Oil. Peggy asks Stark why he created a poison gas and he tells her he didn’t – intentionally. The gas was intended to keep soldiers awake for days, but unfortunately instead induced the effects of sleep deprivation. Including psychosis. The U.S. military stole it and used it at Finow.
Howard plans to act as bait to lure Fennhoff out, with a public press conference. He is not happy how the SSR has been keeping his inventions – because they are dangerous and have been improperly stored. Stark also feels guilty about how the gas he invented has been used. Fennhoff hears about the press conference as he and Underwood are acquiring an aeroplane, so decides to return to the city.
The press conference goes ahead as planned, and as planned lures Fennhoff and Underwood out. Then it goes drastically wrong. Fennhoff has a lot of gas and he means to use it. He also has a personal grudge against Howard Stark. Stark himself will end up a victim if Fennhoff isn’t stopped.
For once, there is a post-logo scene.