Marvel’s Agent Carter begins with Captain America (Chris Evans) saying goodbye to Peggy (Hayley Atwell). It’s a flashback.  There’s a montage of Peggy, Captain America and Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) working together during the war. Cars are exploding, gunshots are fired. Acting like a more average woman in the relative future, Peggy chats with her nurse friend and roommate Colleen. Her cover these days is working at a phone company.

Marvel’s Agent Carter Recap

Peggy Carter saunters into the phone company in a blue power suit and red hat and heads to the Strategic Scientific Reserve. In a meeting, the agents are trying to track down all the places where Stark’s technology is ending up. He’s apparently in contempt of Congress, not helping them with the investigation into how his weapons are ending up in the hands of U.S. enemies. The Strategic Scientific Reserve investigation into the matter will be led by Jack Thompson (Chad Michael Murray). Peggy says she was close with Stark during the war and could be of more help, but she’s summarily dismissed.

At an automat, a waitress tries to chat Peggy up about Captain America. She confesses to the waitress that since the war, she hasn’t been able to feel the sense of purpose or responsibility that she felt then and is struggling to find her footing. After picking up a fresh slice of pie, Peggy returns to her table to find a note asking her to meet in the alley. There, she meets Howard Stark. She tells him he’s being called a traitor; he says he’s being setup.

Howard tells her that a hole was dug into his vault. Whoever did it stole his “bad babies” and started selling them to enemies. He tells her he knows that they’re not using her talents at Strategic Scientific Reserve, but that he’s more than willing to hire her on to help him clear his name. He’s fearful that a formula that’s been stolen could be followed to create a chemical that could level city blocks.

The following day, Peggy shows back up to work at the faux bell company. She eyes up Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) as her potential partner then dips into a meeting with the big boys for some eavesdropping. She asks to take the day off for “ladies things” so she can beat them on their own mission to find the guy selling Stark’s weaponry – whom she realizes is going to be at the Martinique. Transformed with a blond wig and gold dress, Peggy works the room, quickly spotting the man – Spider Raymond (Andre Royo) – who was looking to buy from Leet Brannis (James Frain). During the conversation about the formula, Raymond pulls her in for a kiss and quickly gets knocked out. Once Peggy opens the safe, she finds a conspicuously glowing grenade.

Peggy picks up the phone and calls Jarvis (James D’Arcy) and tells him that the formula has already been weaponized. Going off a checklist, Jarvis confirms that the compound has reached maximum volatility. While she’s making an exit, another prospective buyer goes into Raymond’s office to find the weapon missing and shoots him in the head. As for Thomas and company, they arrive at the office too late to do anything but seal the exits.

Back at her apartment, Peggy uses household items to create an antidote to the bomb, just barely pulling it off. She hears a clattering and emerges from the bathroom to find her roommate shot through the head and the prospective buyer armed and ready to take her out as well. She ably manages to take him out before he can kill her. Peggy’s guilt at Colleen’s death overwhelms her as she tells Jarvis there’s no way anything that went down in the apartment will be traced back to her.

At Stark industries, Dr. Vanko (Costa Ronin) helps Peggy determine that the weapon contains Vita-Rays. Returning to SSR offices, Peggy opens up Captain America’s file. Daniel finds her in there as she tries to find a Vita-Ray detector Steven had in his possession. Meanwhile, in a dark room, an operative writes a letter seeking permission to terminate Agent Carter.

Carter has Jarvis drive her to the Red Hook Refinery to find out who’s putting the formula to use. As he calls to warn her about assassins, Leet Brannis and another man who are doing the chemistry hear the radio call. Carter uses a flashy weapon to neutralize one and shoots at the other, who leads her to a milk truck filled with the glowing grenades. “Leviathan is coming,” Leet warns before unleashing one of the grenades. Peggy urges Jarvis to pick her up as gunfire erupts from the assassins. Just barely, the unlikely partners manage to escape the blast that completely levels Red Hook Refinery.

“Miss Carter is an excellent choice. I don’t think she any suspicions at all,” Jarvis says into the phone to Stark the following day as the episode ends.