I love an arc, but now that I see the lack of it, I have not really enjoyed The Big Bad of a show's season, at least when it's laid in as such.

I was thinking that very thing about The Librarians. I liked the whole season, the only thing that didn't work for me was the moustache-twirling Baddie in the background. I prefer the arc of the story to be about the main characters and how they develop, not How Do We Get Rid of Spike? One-off Monster-of-the-Week shows are fine with me. The Big Bad arc falls flat for me because, hell, it's a television show - I know from the start that the Big Bad won't win and the main characters are not going to die (unless it's Joss or Tim, and even then, only the secondary characters will die and not come back somehow, and the death is what matters, not the Baddie who killed them. They could die just as randomly from a Baddie-of-the-Week, or a disease. One of the most powerful episodes of Buffy, with the widest effect on the characters, involved a secondary character dying of natural causes, no Baddie needed). The Big Bad is just a plot device, and I can't get emotionally invested in a plot device.

That's actually one of the things I don't like about the show. It's clear there's some sort of Big Bad or villain or something out there (where did those mute guys come from, who's giving typewriter orders), but it's all so nebulous I can't get a handle on it. I'm much more invested in Peggy's efforts to keep one step ahead of her co-workers' investigation into Stark (and also now the idea that Stark may have his own agenda) than whoever or whatever the villain plot is. Also how does Dottie fit into this? And will Angie ever do anything?

It's not a very cohesive show, is what I'm saying.

This was why Justified season 1 was my favorite.

I don't think that Dottie is Widow. Dottie seems a little crazy to me.

Maybe she's a Red Room Rogue.

Isn't there some comics canon implying that Black Widow gets treated with something derived from Steve's blood -- or at least an attempt at the Serum? Thus explaining her long life?

But I guess that doesn't mean that all the Red Room girls would have been so treated--it's not necessary.

Anyway, my thought is not Natasha, but definitely Red Room.

I also liked Peggy really laying into Howard. He may not be a traitor, but he's got her risking her career for what is, in the end, his personal benefit. And his shenanigans with the other women in the Griffith were... well, okay, they were consensual, but it was still kind of skeevy.

Is Dottie the one that had a sweater with a pocket for chickens?

I really wish that there was still a connection between Black Widow and Winter Soldier Maybe not the venue for that comment, but this ep has me thinking of both.

And, speaking of big bads and the dudes that keep dying every week, I had a thought that, as it's Agent Peggy Carter's show, maybe I shouldn't be worrying about the villainous dudes recurring, but the dames. (I originally typed EVIL, but that is an erroneous word).

It's not a very cohesive show, is what I'm saying.

I suspect the nebulous stuff is seed planting and that we just don't see how it fits together yet. I kinda dig that approach.

I also liked that Stan wasn't a creepy playboy for this cameo like the last one I saw.

I think Dottie had a bit of a Parker from Leverage vibe going there.