I just watched the Marvel’s Agent Carter episode “Smoke & Mirrors” (Season 2, Episode 4) and it struck me that perhaps the writers are trying to say something about asking women to smile.

First of all, I think it is absolutely fabulous that these first two seasons of Agent Carter have pitted Peggy against strong, intelligent, and kick-ass women. These women, just like Peggy, have been overlooked because they are women so they have been able to get away with more, but, again like Peggy, they have also just been really good at what they do. The current baddie Whitney/Agnes is extremely intelligent and knows exactly how to work the system to get what she wants. In this episode we get some back story for both Peggy and Whitney and we begin to see how their lives have shaped who they have become. Interestingly, Peggy was not always on a straight path to fabulous spy. Who would have thought that she had chosen marriage and a form of subservience even when offered the chance to become a spy? Whitney, on the other hand, is a well-known actor and the wife of (potentially) the future president of the United States, but she was the one who wanted to buck the system and become a scientist. This back story comparison alone gives the episode a certain re-watchability just to suss out the contradictions.

Whitney’s story, in particular is interesting because, while Peggy was encouraged by her brother to follow her path, Whitney fought to be herself every step of the way. This definitely speaks to an element of privilege on the part of Peggy that hasn’t really been too obvious in previous episodes or the Captain America films because we only ever see her fighting against the expectations of her gender. I now realize that this privilege should have been obvious last season when pitted against Angie and her story of captivity and forced training as an agent, but I think Angie’s role was used differently in the storyline. The direct comparison of the two characters in this recent episode does, of course, highlight Peggy’s privilege as well.

During Whitney’s backstory we see that her mother was, essentially, a “kept” woman and there is an implication that the man involved would have moved on to Whitney/Agnes as well if she had only been “nice” to him. The young girl is asked to smile for him and be nice so that he will like her and then, when she is a teenager and her mother is rejected by this man, we learn that it was a girl only slightly older than Whitney/Agnes who enticed him. Her mother blames Whitney/Agnes and tells her that no one cares about her brains. The only thing people will ever be interested in is her face and her looks. At this point Whitney/Agnes has refused to smile at a man she does not like and has continued to pursue her dreams of one day being a scientist. She has furthered her education on her own and spent time tinkering with objects like a radio. Once she receives a rejection leader for formal education and her mother is kicked out of the house they’ve been living in, Whitney/Agness becomes more desperate. The next time we see her, she is too broke to buy herself a ticket to see a movie — something she enjoys doing to escape from life. Here yet another man asks her to smile, but this time she does it. Perhaps she has learned the harsh lesson her mother wanted to teach her or maybe she felt it was safer to humour the creepy man who approached her. Of course, it turns out he is an agent and suggests she could model or be in movies and we can then see how she ends up as a famous actor.

Essentially, the episode shows us just how creepy and/or condescending many unsolicited requests for women to smile actually are. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen this portrayal done in this particular way in another show. We see creepy murderers make similar requests of women on  crime dramas all the time, but it doesn’t have the same effect, I think, as this depiction of the reality of the situation. Obviously, the men in this episode of Agent Carter are not representative of all men who request that women smile, but the implication that they smile for his pleasure is almost always present. And Whitney/Agnes, like most women, never escapes it. She marries a man who is focused on how his wife’s beauty can advance his political career. Her mother’s beauty paid the bills, and now her beauty does the same. All she has to do is smile on command … and forget her silly little desires to challenge herself intellectually.

I guess what is really interesting for me with this episode is the comparison of Peggy and Whitney/Agnes. While their lives were quite different, they have essentially come to the same place — both are working in a world designed for men. Peggy can be open about her career and abilities, but only among the people with whom she works (and sometimes she’s still better off pretending to be more delicate as we saw in the first season). Whitney, on the other hand, must hide her role in her husband’s business. Both women, however, have perfected themask they share with the regular world. Both women are, in fact, perfect spies simply in their ability to hide in plain sight. In fact, Angie (the previous baddie) also shares this ability. So perhaps the writers are reminding us that women have always had to hide themselves due to and through the application of societal norms and expectations. Now Whitney is ready to tear down those expectations and Peggy is pushing back harder than ever at the norms that constrain her. Both women have given up smiling on command and embraced their true natures. Unfortunately, Whitney’s nature seems to have gone a bit dark.