I do give them credit for some clever titles on Agent Carter.  “The Iron Ceiling” as an episode manages to both give a fair amount of background on Dottie, Carter’s new neighbor, and tie in to Black Widow’s past.  The title itself is a play on the infamous Iron Curtain, as well as the glass ceiling that, to this day, plagues so many women.  There are a lot of interesting surprises here, and they finally let Peggy get some credit at the SSR, which is a nice change. 

I almost feel bad for Jarvis in this episode.  He makes an attempt to apologize to Peggy, who is very understandably pissed off at both him and Howard Stark.  You can imagine how well it goes.  Personally, I don’t envy anyone caught between the machinations of Howard Stark and the righteous fury of Peggy Carter.  Granted, Jarvis made his own choices, but still.

As Dottie lurks around in the background, skulking and up to no good, the SSR starts working on their surprise from last episode, when the Leviathan typewriter started receiving a message.  In a somewhat predictable scene, no one, including the special code-breaker from Washington, DC, can figure out the message… until Peggy looks at it for a few moments and breaks it.

Carter deduces that the message contains map coordinates, which sets off a huge debate about who will be going on the mission to check them out.  Carter wants to go, and is, of course, told she can’t.  But Peggy is resourceful, and better connected than most of her co-workers, so she can play her trump card: she knows the Howling Commandos, and they’ll come work with the SSR team.  This both gets Carter in the field and is a tie-in to Captain America: The First Avenger.

Even getting ready to go has some more of the male agents acting incredibly juvenile.  There is no female changing room, so Peggy needs to use one section of the mens’ locker room.  Thompson the jock/jerk tricks Sousa in to walking over there.  But, in addition to the embarrassing scene, he sees something that’s going to make things a lot harder on Peggy later.

The Commandos meet up with the SSR, and there’s a lot of action, surprises, and sharing war stories.  When the Commandos harass Thompson a bit, Peggy shows she’s a MUCH better person than he is by standing up for him.  The creepy place they find is apparently a portion of the program that, years later, helps create Black Widow, so they also tie the episode to Avengers and Iron Man.

Back on the homefront, they make a change I was very glad to see.  Chief Dooley has been doing some of his own investigation, and is beginning to realize there’s more going on than was immediately apparent.  He actually goes back to Jarvis for a conversation, not an interrogation, and says he’d like the truth about what’s going on with Stark.  I’m hoping this is a sign Dooley is getting a more open mind, and not a trap.

Thompson and Carter end up with a bit more respect for each other by the time they are done with the mission.  Thompson actually makes a very surprising confession to her.  The Commandos invite her to stay out with them, but she opts to go back to New York.  From the previews of next episode, she may regret that.

The episode ends with a few surprises.  Carter gets a small but welcome bit of praise from Dooley.  Sousa makes a disturbing discovery.  Thompson (no surprise) is still convinced everything is a plot by Stark.  And we see some of the long-term and really chilling effects of the program she was in on Dottie.

What I liked: Seeing the Commandos again was fun, as was Carter getting some credit finally.  Thompson is still a jerk, but he’s a bit more understandable now.  Dooley’s change in attitude is welcome.  Sousa is good at his job, even if that leads to things that look bad.

What I didn’t: Thompson’s obsession with Stark is assuming mental illness proportions.  Sousa’s find was well-spotted but careless on Carter’s part.

I’ll give this a 4 out of 5.  Next week looks like things are getting bad as we near the end of the miniseries.