Agent Carter Season 2 Premiere Recap With Spoilers

01/19/2016 11:00 pm EST

"The Lady in the Lake"

Dottie, dressed in Agent Carter's signature blue and red outfit, leads a bank robbery. She and one of her henchmen bring the bank manager to unlock the vault. She says she'll need the key to box 143. When they open the vault, Peggy is waiting inside. She knocks out one robber, and places Dottie under arrest. The other patrons and the manager reveal themselves to be Thompson and other SSR agents, and hold the remaining robbers at gunpoint. Dottie fights with Peggy in the vault. Peggy knocks Dottie out with a bag of coins and cuffs her.

Agent Souza is in Los Angeles. The year is 1947. He meets with a Detective Andrew Henry, who tells Souza about a serial killer who had disappeared, until they found a new body today in the same lake the killer dumped his previous bodies. He notes that it's the hottest day of the year, then shows Souza the lake, which is largely frozen over. He then shows Souza the woman, who is frozen in a block of ice.

Peggy interrogates Dottie, demanding to know about her Russian handlers. Thompson and two more SRR agents watch from behind the mirror. Peggy shows Dottie a lapel pin that was found in box 143. Dottie refuses to reveal why she wanted the pin. Thompson takes a call from Souza. Souza is now the Chief of the SSR's west coast bureau. Souza tells Thompson about the ice case, and asks for an agent to help him out with the case. Thompson agrees. He hangs up and calls out Peggy from the interrogation room. Thompson tells her that she's on her way to Los Angeles, and that Souza asked for her and no one else. Peggy suspects Thompsons is sending her away because he's insecure, but Thompson remains firm.

Peggy arrives in Los Angeles, where Jarvis is waiting for her. Howard Stark moved out west for a defense contract. Peggy is puzzled by the presence of a flamingo named Bernard in their car.

As they drive, Jarvis explains that Stark is being kept busy with opening a movie studio. Jarvis expresses how foreign the West Coast is to him, and how bored he's been since his last adventure with Peggy. He begs Peggy to let be her driver.

Peggy visits the Auerbach Theatrical Agency (Whitney Frost's name is on the marquee of the theater down the block). Inside, two tap dancers are trying to impress Rose, with no success. Rose sends them away, and vents about how the SSR goes out of its way to stay hidden, but somehow they still find them. She shows Peggy to the hidden SSR office.

Peggy finds Souza, who is surprised to see her, but tries to hide it. Peggy asks why Souza never returned her calls. Detective Henry joins them, with a box of files. Peggy wonders if this is the same killer that disappeared before, or if the frozen lake and the dead body are perhaps two separate crimes.

They visit the medical examiner, who tells them the body is frozen through, making it impossible to perform an autopsy. The body has wounds consistent with the Lady of the Lake killer's previous victims, as well as his signature of having her shoes on the wrong feet. He tells Peggy they don't know if the body froze the lake, or if the lake froze the body. The examiner turns out the lights and show them the corpse's glowing veins.

An SSR lab agent, Samberly, says it's not ice in the body. After complaining about how underappreciated the lab techs are, he explains that the body must have been near a particle accelerator. Samberly says there's one in Pasadena, at Isodyne Energy.

The team visits Isodyne Energy, a development laboratory that works on developing new fuel initiatives. The receptionist blocks their probes, so Peggy feigns needing to use the restroom to get behind the desk. Souza distracts the receptionist while Peggy picks a scientists pocket for an access card and sneaks into the offices.

Peggy runs into a scientist, who asks if she wants to be "thunderstruck." He brings her in a lab, and shows her the ethanol wine he's working on. She seems impressed, and introduces herself and shows him a picture of the body from the lake. He tells her the woman is Jane Scott, a particle physicist. He says there were some rumors that she had a very close relationship with Calvin Chadwick, Isodyne's owner. The receptionist finds them and kicks them out.

Outside, the scientist introduces himself as Dr. Jason Wilkes and gives Peggy his numbers.

Henry is reluctant to go after Chadwick, since he's powerful and running for Senate. He want to go through the press, and so Souza sends him off to do that. Meanwhile, he has Peggy pursue Chadwick at the track.

Jarvis drives Peggy back to the Stark estate, where Bernard is still walking free. He introduces Peggy to his wife, Ana. She hugs Peggy, and then kisses Edwin rather passionately, embarrassing him. Ana has chosen outfits for Peggy's trip to the track, and sewn her a garter that is also a holster.

Peggy and Jarvis arrive at the track and spot Chadwick with his wife, the actress Whitney Frost. Jarvis distracts Frost by introducing himself as the head of production at Stark Pictures. Peggy introduces herself to Chadwick as the biggest supporter of Chadwick's bid for senate. She mentions Jane Scott as a friend, then drops the act and asks if Chadwick is aware that Jane is dead. Chadwick tells Carter that he'll give Carter all the information she wants if she gains the proper clearance.

Carter reports back that Chadwick was nervous, suggesting he has something more than an affair to hide. Carter and Souza are joined by Henry at the M.E.'s office, where the autopsy is supposed to be complete. Instead, they find Dr. Meltzer frozen in place. He shatters when they touch him.

Thompson prepares to interrogate Dottie, carrying a carrot and a stick into the interrogation room and rolling up his sleeves. He tells Dottie that Peggy is gone. He tells her that Dooley was the carrot, but that Dottie and her friends killed the carrot. Now there's only him, the stick. He un-cuffs her and says he's not afraid of her. She flips the table on him, and SSR agents bust in to restrain her.

Jarvis brings Wilkes to see what happened to Meltzer. He says he can run tests if they save samples. Henry tries to drink water from a fountain, but it turns to ice and freezes the fountain.

The autopsy says the body died of radiation poisoning, and that the body was made to look like it was done by the Lady of the Lake killer. Souza and Carter realize that it must have been Detective Henry.

Henry takes Wilkes hostage, knocks out Jarvis, and drives off, saying Wilkes is going to fix him.

Thompson asks about the pin. Dottie says she'll tell him everything if she gets a prison deal. Just then, the FBI, led by Vernon Masters, barges in and takes Dottie into their custody, along with the pin.

Souza, Carter, and Jarvis find Henry's car. It's frosted over. Peggy leaves Jarvis to watch the car and instructs the police to follow them. They leave Jarvis a gun and a flashlight.

Henry says he didn't kill Jane, but he was paid to clean up the mess. He made it look like the Lady of the Lake killer because his lieutenant pulled all his resources and he wanted the case reopened. Gunshots fire and Wilkes runs. He runs right into Peggy, who asks about Henry and tells Wilkes to stay hidden.

Henry gets the jump on Souza, but his gun is frozen. Peggy tells him they can help. Henry says they're not going to let them. An officer shoots Henry, and he shatters.

Masters and Thompson share a drink. Masters is a friend of Thompson's father who helped Thompson get started. He warns Thompson that the SSR is a wartime agency, and that the War Department is being restructured. The SSR will soon become irrelevant. Masters is offering Thompson something else.

Peggy apologizes for putting Wilkes in danger. She wonders if what Henry had was contagious. Wilkes doesn't seem to think so, and says that it would take exposure to contaminated blood to transfer. Wilkes asks Carter on a date, but she turns him down, saying she doesn't socialize with persons of interest.

The officer who shot Henry meets with Chadwick and tells him that the job is done. Chadwick passes him some cash. Frost is there and says this should be the last time they have to clean up for Chadwick.

Souza and Carter return to the office. With the case still open, she'll be sticking around for a while. She asks if he'd like to grab a drink, but Souza declines. Carter stays in the office and watches Souza leave. He walks out and meets a woman, and they kiss. Jarvis waits for Carter downstairs.

Wilkes watches a shapeshifting mass in a glass containment unit.

"A View in the Dark"

Peggy walks into the courtyard, where Jarvis is lifting weights in an onesie. He tells her he began training after their last adventure, including training in boxing and judo. He tells Peggy to try to take him down. She's resistant to the idea, but he eggs her on until she does. Jarvis surprises her by flipping her and pinning her down, just as Ana finds them.

On the way to the office, Rose bugs Souza about telling Peggy about his girlfriend. They get to the office and find Peggy and Violet already chatting there. Violet invites Peggy to join them for dinner by the beach later, and then takes her leave. Peggy tells Souza they're waiting for their men to bring them the body of Jane Scott from the morgue for their scientists to examine.

The SSR men are readying the body for transport when they're shot by another man, who hijacks their truck and the body.

Chadwick arrives at a nice establishment. He's told that the gentlemen are in the meeting room. He goes a bit pale. Going into the back, he hits a switch hidden in a suit of armor. It opens a doorway to a room hidden behind a bookshelf. Inside, men are seated around a table. They're all wearing lapel pins like the one Dottie was trying to steal form the bank. He's told that the council has decided to shut down Isodyne. Chadwick argues, saying the substance they have at Isodyne could be the greatest discovery in history. He's told that the decision has been made, and the men are in place to eliminate all connections. The men put out the candles in front of them, and Chadwick follows suit.

Souza and Carter find the bodies and the truck in the water. Just then they receive a search warrant for Isodyne. They arrive at the lab, but are told it's under isolation for a containment leak. Wilkes arrives, but isn't much help, at least not verbally. He does pass Peggy a note with a date and time.

Wilkes watches as a scientist goes in and out of an "Authorized Personnel Only" locked room. Wilkes sneaks inside, and picks the lock on a file cabinet. He finds a reel on the Isodyne Atomic Program and takes it, but someone notices him as he leaves.

Wilkes told Carter to meet him at the Dunbar hotel. Souza insists on going with her. He tosses his jacket on a chair, and an engagement ring falls out. Carter says she's happy for him.

Ana finds Carter trying to pick out an outfit. When Carter says she's going to the Dunbar, Ana insists she wear something fit for dancing, and picks something out for her.

Jarvis shows Peggy some of the hidden capabilities of Howard Stark's leisure car, including a tracking device.

Carter finds Wilkes at the Dunbar. Wilkes tries to make small talk, but Carter is all business. He tells her that he was brought to a conference room that morning where lawyers reminded him about the classified nature of Isodyne's work, and how he could be charged with treason. Therefore, he wants to know more about the woman he's trusting. Carter obliges, but asks for a whisky.

Whitney Frost performs a scene for her latest movie, a tearful moment in the rain with her soldier lover. The director calls cut, and calls for lights and makeup to make her look younger and thinner.

Carter continues to tell Wilkes stories from her youth. Wilkes says she may be trustworthy after all, then asks her to dance when "his song" starts to play. As they dance, Carter says she suspects Wilkes knows more than he's saying. Wilkes says Calvin Chadwick didn't kill Scott deliberately, but he would kill to cover up the work they're doing. He says it's bigger than Peggy or Chadwick know. He says it's easiest to show her. They leave the Dunbar, but the man who killed the SSR agents secretly follows.

Frost returns home and touches up her makeup. Chadwick tells her that they're scrapping Zero Matter, the experiments, and everything. Frost is angry that Chadwick allowed the council to walk all over him. He says the council is scrubbing the lab tonight, and that they want to focus on his senate campaign. Frost encourages him, but still seems upset.

Wilkes takes Peggy to an observatory. He shows her the view of the city, and tells her how he got his start in science there, but that – after the war – Isodyne was the only company willing to hire a black man.

He takes her inside and shows her the reel he took. Isodyne, along with everyone else in the field, had been looking into atomic testing during the war. The reel shows an atomic test that goes differently than they would expect. There's an explosion, and then what looks like a crack forms in the sky, Trucks approach it, but everything around are sucked into it like a black hole. The only thing left behind was the "Zero Matter," unlike anything they've ever seen.

Outside, men pop the tires of Peggy's car.

Wilkes hypothesizes that zero matter is a perfect fluid that observes all energy around it, making it always the coldest substance in the room. He thinks it may not be of this Earth. Peggy says they're going to Isodyne tonight to steal it. The men make their way into the observatory, and Wilkes and Peggy try to make their escape. They find the flat tires outside, and Peggy flips the switch on the tracker.

Ana watches Jarvis struggle with Bernard. When the tracker begins buzzing, Ana tells Jarvis there is a sock on the doorknob.

Carter tosses Wilkes a gun and has him keep the men busy while she hotwires one of their cars. She gets it started, and they drive off. The men follow in their second car.

The car Peggy took begins to overheat. Wilkes shows her an alley where they can hide. The other car passes them. Peggy finds a lapel pin in the car, the same as the one the council had.

Souza finds Violet in the Auerbach waiting room. As they go to leave, Jarvis calls to inform him that Carter is in trouble.

Wilkes and Carter enter an all-night doughnut shop to ask for change to use the phone. The baker is suspicious of a white woman with a black man. He insists they buy something, and Peggy loses her temper. Wilkes keeps his cool, buys something, and gets their change. They try the phone, to no avail. A car drives up, and Peggy pulls Wilkes into the phone booth. The car is innocent enough. Wilkes and Peggy kiss in the booth. Peggy decides to steal the car.

Souza returns to the SSR office. He shuts himself in his office and throws a small fit, then sends everyone out to search for Carter and Wilkes. Souza takes Jarvis to Isodyne.

Wilkes and Carter arrive at Isoydyne. Peggy grabs a tire iron before they go inside. Inside, they hear someone else in the building. They split up. Wilkes goes to collect the zero matter. He gets it into a container for travel, just as Whitney Forst arrives.

Peggy finds some men in the building, and they begin to fight.

Frost says she's surprised to see Wilkes alive. She tells him to give her the zero matter. She says she's the only person who knows what it's capable of, and pulls a gun. Wilkes and Frost struggle over the container. It falls, and shatters, letting the zero matter lose. There's what sounds like an explosion. Peggy, having finished off the thugs, runs towards the lab.

Souza and Jarvis arrive. Peggy walks out, nearly in tears. She says Wilkes didn't make it. Souza tells her to go home. She asks Jarvis for a ride.

Souza drives home, and finds Violet waiting in front of his house. They make plans to go out that night and make up for lost time. She kisses him and tells her she loves him. He tells her he loves her too. She leaves, and he heads inside.

Ana brings Peggy some whisky. Peggy says it's odd that she should feel this way over just a few days, but Ana says it only took a few days for Edwin to rescue her from the Third Reich.

Chadwick knocks on Whitney's door, saying there was an accident at the lab. Whitney sits, crying behind a mirror. She lifts up her hair to reveal a bit of zero matter on her face.

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