History Recap / AgentCarterS2E4SmokeAndMirrors

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Masters tells Peggy and the audience that even if she and her career survive taking on the Council of Nine, as we know from her appearances in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier Winter Soldier]]'' and ''Film/AntMan1'', her allies' fates are still up in the air.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Michael was the only one who really supported Peggy and her dreams of adventure, even when Peggy herself had given up on them.
* ContinuityNod: One of the flashback shows Peggy learning the skills as a code breaker that would serve her during her career.
* DisposableFiance: The flashback to Peggy's past reveals she was engaged in 1940, and nearly turned down the offer to join the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive SOE]] so she could marry him. After her brother's death, she became re-motivated to follow his advice, but her fiancé was a coward who wouldn't join her in the war, so she broke off their engagement and the rest is history.

* {{Flashback}}: We see glimpses of Whitney's and Peggy's past. Turns out Peggy went from a Bletchley Park codebreaker to a military badass because her brother Michael recommended her for an espionage program, knowing she craved a life of adventure. In contrast, Whitney grew up in poverty on the plains with an emotionally abusive mother who cared little for her science genius, telling her that for a woman, looks are the only thing anybody would care about.

* HeroicRROD: Wilkes is fighting to stay in this world, and he mentions how easy it would be to stop, like being so tired the minute you lay down you would fall asleep.

* PartingWordsRegret: Possibly between Peggy and Michael. Considering she kept proceeding with her wedding plan until she learned the news about his death, it can be assumed that Peggy never talked with her brother anymore after their argument in her engagement party.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Whitney Frost. She grew up in poverty on the plains with an emotionally abusive mother who cared little for her science genius, telling her that looks are what anybody would care about, and who blamed her for her lover leaving her.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Masters tells Peggy and the audience that even if she and her career survive taking on the Council of Nine, as we know from her appearances in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier Winter Soldier]]'' and ''Film/AntMan'', her allies' fates are still up in the air.

!!Tropes in this episode:

* OutOfFocus: Dr. Wilkes has noticeably less screen time in this episode, although we are given a big reveal about him--he now has a unique connection to the Zero Matter that others cannot see, possibly implied to be transdimensional travel.

* JabbaTableManners: Peggy, while eating sandwich at the beginning. [[GilliganCut This happened right after the flashback where her mother told to start learning to act like a lady]].

* GilliganCut: In a flashback, Peggy's mother tells her she will have to start behaving like a lady, eventually. Cue present-day Peggy, showing her behavior hasn't improved.

* ContinuityNod: One of the flashback shows Peggy learned the skills as a code breaker that would serve her during her career.

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Mr. Hunt is shot with enough tranquilizer to bring down a rhinoceres, and yet somehow shrugs it off. Sedatives used for large ungulates are fatal to humans, and there's no way to build immunity. Then again, Jarvis uses the gun for koalas, so Peggy was probably exaggerating.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: According to Hunt, the Council of Nine is responsible for things like the assassination of UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley and causing TheGreatDepression.

* GilliganCut: In a flashback, Peggy's mother tells her she will have to start behaving like a lady, eventually. Cue present-days' Peggy, showing her behavior didn't improve.

* OriginsEpisode: This episode serves as one for both Peggy and Whitney.

* WhatTheHellHero: Sousa chews out Peggy for abducting Mr Hunt, though it ultimately turns out that the main reason he's upset was because he wasn't kept in the loop about her plans, as he immediately volunteers to help with the interrogation.

* WhatTheHellHero: Sousa chews out Peggy for abducting Mr Hunt, though it ultimate turns out that the main reason he's upset was because he wasn't kept in the loop about her plans, as he immediately volunteers to help with the interrogation.

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Mr. Hunt is shot with enough tranquilizer to bring down a rhinoceres, and yet somehow shrugs it off. Sedatives used for large ungulates are fatal to humans, and there's no way to build immunity.