My previous reviews of Agent Carter have praised Hayley Atwell’s performance as Carter and she deserves it, but so too do her fellow thespians. I’ll get to Dominic Cooper and James D’Arcy in future critiques. Up first though is Peggy’s quartet of male co-workers at the Strategic Scientific Reserve. (S.S.R.)

The showrunners, in particular the casting director, have done an excellent job of surrounding Atwell with strong supporting players, all of whom can hold their own. Each one is distinct from the others, both in looks and manner, and all seem to have sauntered straight out of a 1940s film noir.

Agent Carter and company

Kyle Bornheimer plays Ray, the chauvinistic comic relief who defuses tense situations with a punchline more innocent than his fellow agents’ wisecracks. Shea Whigham is great as unflappable, sexist Chief Dooley who is by far the calmest of the bunch. Whigham’s underplay is so effective that he merely has to give someone a glance or lower the brim of his ever-present fedora for us to know exactly what’s on his mind. Chad Michael Murray, of One Tree Hill fame, plays Thompson, who is chauvinistic and sexist. He’s a ticking bomb who could go off any minute if provoked. He’s good at his job, as they all are, but, unlike the others — he’ll gladly bend the law in the name of justice if need be.

One of these agents is murdered in Time and Tide. I won’t say which one so as not to spoil the surprise, but it comes as a shock given how early we are in the mini-series. This shock drives home just how serious the stakes are for Carter and company. Two grieving co-workers of the deceased — a known womanizer — take it upon themselves to notify his loved ones:

Enver Gjokaj

AGENT #1: “I’ll notify his wife.”

AGENT #2: “I’ll notify his girlfriend.”

It’s at once touching, funny, annnnnnnnd repulsive.

Rounding out the foursome is Daniel Sousa, played by Whedon alum Enver Gjokaj. In Joss Whedon’s short-lived Dollhouse, Enver was perfectly cast as a “doll” who adopted completely different personas from episode to episode. He could embody a Russian mobster or a no-nonsense Secret Service agent with the same high degree of chameleon-like skill. He once even assumed the identity of fellow cast member Fran Kranz’s character, flawlessly mimicking Kranz’s distinct cadence and body language.

I always wished Enver got more high-profile roles, but, aside from a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo (and deleted scenes) in The Avengers, he hasn’t. Until now.

On Agent Carter, Enver plays the only non-sexist S.S.R. agent, a wounded war vet who returns to the States with a bum leg. As such, he is a frequent target of the other agents’ macho mentality regarding a belief that injured agents belong behind a desk, not in the field.

They look down at him as a “cripple” as much as they do Peggy as a woman. This mutual disrespect gives Peggy and Daniel something in common, which draws them closer.

Chad Michael Murray

At the moment he is more attracted to her than vice versa. This has as much to do with Peggy being afraid to let anyone in after the assumed death of boyfriend Steve Rogers, as it does with Daniel doggedly investigating the mystery woman secretly working for fugitive Howard Stark. Daniel hasn’t figured out yet that Peggy is that woman, but he’s getting closer every episode.

Could Daniel eventually become the husband that elderly Peggy reminisces about in Captain America: The Winter Soldier?

Hopefully not, because that would mean she married her rebound boyfriend after Cap, and how the hell does anyone follow in the footsteps of Captain @#$%ing America?!

NEXT MISSION: Episode #4 also known as The Blitzkrieg Button.