'Agent Carter' Sneak Peek: Jarvis Goes Undercover

Agent Carter digs deeper into the mystery surrounding Whitney Frost, and Jarvis gathers intel for Peggy in this exclusive sneak peek of episode 4. They identify the mystery assailant from last week which leads to Jarvis finding himself on the business end of some horse tranquilizers.

James D'Arcy manages to simultaneously give both gravitas and comic relief to every scene that he’s in, which is a key component to the show’s unique tone. We spoke to D'Arcy about his changing role on the show, his character’s view of the women around him, and what he thinks Jarvis would be doing today.

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D'Arcy is excited because there are a lot of puzzle pieces to this season — Chadwick and Frost, the Arena Club, zero matter — but now that the exposition has been laid out, “We can get to the action and to the comedy and to the pathos and that, I think, is what the show is.” The show’s 10-episode length is perfect for telling a single story without having to resort to the “episode of the week” format which, “To me, as an audience member, I much prefer that; it’s very satisfying.”

Jarvis continues to play a vital role in Peggy’s undercover work, so much so that last week Howard Stark worried that Jarvis might want to give up the butler life for spy work. Will that day ever come? “Who knows? I mean, never say never, right?” Jarvis definitively tells Stark that he’s staying, “But he’s also very attracted to Peggy’s life.” D'Arcy actually makes sense of the two impulses by saying, “I think he wants to be of service.”

Later in this week’s episode, we get to see Jarvis pumped with enough drugs “to take down a rhinoceros!” in Peggy’s words, which is great for D'Arcy. “One of things that I really love about Season 2 is that they’ve given me quite a lot more physical comedy, which is really fun to do.” The move to L.A. has allowed the show to become “more playful” and D’Arcy enjoys the lighter tone.

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Although the clip suggests Jarvis has a bit of a celebrity crush on Heddy Lamarr (the actress and scientist who is the real-life inspiration for the character of Whitney Frost), D'Arcy says all that proves is that Jarvis likes “very, very smart women.” It doesn’t matter though because Jarvis has already “met his soulmate.” By introducing Lotte Verbeek’s Ana as his wife — one who is clearly as devoted to him as he to her — Agent Carter buries the trope that he and Peggy need a will they/won’t they tension to be interesting. “Our show disagrees with that sentiment and then proves it,” D’Arcy says. “It’s fantastic. I love that we did that.”

And for those of us who already miss his better half, D'Arcy assures, “Ana has a very important role to play in Season 2. I can’t, obviously, say what it is, but she’s a crucial part of how the story unfolds and I think it’s going to be extremely satisfying from an audience perspective.”

This week, we get some insight into the lives of both Peggy Carter and Whitney Frost — seeing them as children and through some of their formative experiences. Will we ever get to see Jarvis as a child? “I don’t know that I’m allowed to tell you,” says D'Arcy cryptically. “We do know a little bit, from Season 1 about what Jarvis’s life looked like before he met Howard and how he met Ana,” but he refuses to give any hints as to “whether we do or don’t get into Jarvis’s childhood.” Yet.

Hayley Atwell says that she’d like to see a story with Peggy set during the Civil Rights movement. Where would D'Arcy like to see Jarvis? “I would like to see how Jarvis handles living in Japan now. I would like to see Jarvis plus digital,” says D'Arcy thoughtfully. “I would like to see Jarvis on social media. That would be perfect!” Sadly, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Edwin Jarvis has already passed by the time social networks arrive, but it sounds like a fake Twitter account waiting to happen.

Agent Carter airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.