The official Laconic of the trope is 'A retcon or plot intended to appease wary or angry fans.' I would say that having the HYDRA cult as the Big Bad, and thus tying Agents of SHIELD's Myth Arc into another MCU property, would be a plot that helps appease angry AOS fans bugged at how Agent Carter appears to be more embraced by the films than AOS is. It could be placed into the larger MCU YMMV section, but I think we'd need other things, particularly the films, to acknowledge Team Coulson's activities/existence to really 'count' enough to be listed there.
I contest that the entry Black Hole Sue should be on this page for the following reasons:
1. Peggy being a One-Woman Army is nothing new. In the Agent Carter short she took out 7 guys all by herself, in a mission explicitly stated to require 3-5 agents. In The First Avenger, she takes down a HYDRA Giant Mook, who Captain America himself had trouble fighting the four times he encountered them. It's also worth pointing out that in the automat fight she fought only 3 agents one by one, and explicitly needed Jarvis's help to block the door so more couldn't storm in. Not to mention the pistol snipe example. If you have to contest it by pointing out she missed several other shots, then you have to take into account the other fights' details like Jarvis helping her or Dugan having to save her in Ep 5.
2. Peggy's teammates are not as grossly incompetent as claimed. While Thompson froze up during the firefight, Agents Li and Ramirez kept fighting. The Howling Commandos were also depicted as competent; Dugan himself was a One Man Cavalry. Even Sousa got a moment of badassery in the previous episode. An important point made throughout the series is that despite their misogyny Peggy's coworkers are still competent agents, or else they wouldn't be this close to catching her each time.
3. Peggy has needed help during fights, not doing everything herself. She needed Jarvis's help during the automat fight, and during the fight against one guy in the third episode. The third episode thug needed a Stark device to be taken down, not merely her fists. Heck, Jarvis took out one of the agents with a lunch tray, and he's depicted as a Non-Action Guy. Dugan's case was already mentioned above.
4. Peggy's code breaking is comparable to Steve scanning the HYDRA map. While the super-fast code breaking was indeed kinda implausible and uses "one time pad" and "Russian cipher" as technobabble, she points out she's done codebreaking during the war and is experienced in such matters. Steve does a similar matter-of-seconds feat, and with no explicit explanation. It's not as simple as just "having a decent memory". Off the top of your head, try to remember where the HYDRA bases on the map were. You probably can't. Heck, I just watched The First Avenger yesterday and even I can't.
5. Peggy does have flaws. She doesn't return kindness from men like Sousa, only viewing him with slightly less scorn than her other coworkers. She tries to micromanage a lot, leading Jarvis to ask why she's so insistent on him not helping her. She fears getting too close to friends, alienating Angie when she tries to be friendly to her. And she does want praise for her victories, hence why Jarvis has to talk her out of telling the SSR herself that she's found all of Stark's weapons. Her actress Atwell and the show's writers have been very insistent on giving her flaws that affect the storyline.
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Just to add to Peggy's list of flaws, she also tends to be kind of overconfident. Her overconfidence is what leads her to underestimate Dottie. Dottie uses the same tricks that Peggy pulls on the SSR agents, Obfuscating Stupidity and all that, and it works just as well on her. (This could also be the result of internalized misogyny.) She's also overconfident to the point that in the beginning of the series, especially, she's very insistent on doing everything herself.
Trust you? The only person I can trust is myself.
Not that I really need to rebut the accusation, but I think Peggy's big flaw (wich is what gets her in trouble) is how basically she treats her co-workers as enemies, as a result of their sexism, and conversely, she extends a lot of trust to Jarvis and Stark based in large part on the fact that they treat her with respect.
I mean the audience knows that Howard is a good guy (because we've watched the MCU films) but she really is way too trusting of him. And conversely, while it was a cool scene, the fact that she so readily beats up fellow agents in the diner certainly doesn't help her case of being loyal to the SSR.
Also, there's the huge irony of how Peggy takes issue with people underestimating women and uses that to her advantage, but is completely oblivious to Dottie- In particular, Dottie being able to steal her room key was a pretty big oversight
I think the fact that she is more competent than the other characters is kind of a standard thing for The Hero and something no one would take issue with if Peggy was male (but yeah, her co workers are far from incompetent).
Was thinking about this example and thought I'd move to Discussion:
I think it's interesting that the show did adopt this aspect and I like that Myth Arc, particularly because it strikes me as a good way of framing/introducing The Pride to the MCU.
However, I don't see how it is an Author's Saving Throw, which is about retconning an element that is ill received.
Because it sounds like the element the example identifies as the problem is the presence of Peggy Carter- which is going to be a "problem" if you are watching a show called Agent Carter.
I mean I kind of get and agree with the idea that it's nice that something on Agents Of Shield affected/was adopted into the broader MCU, given that the show is usually ignored by other works, but that's an MCU issue, not an Agent Carter issue.
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