The third episode of 6 in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier delves into investigative mode as it focuses on Bucky and Sam search for answers to the developments of the Super Soldier serum beyond the wartime American Super Soldiers and Winter Soldier programme. Aid comes in the form of familiar faces from the titular characters' cinematic history without forgetting the occasional look at how the new "Captain America" and the Flag Smashers are faring.
The previous episode ended with Bucky wanting to talk to Zemo and this episode dives straight into that in one of the most amusing ways. It's a scenario I see come up in writers' prompts and suggestions quite often, one I don't think I'll ever get sick of. Person A suggests doing a thing that Person B says is reckless and stupid then seconds later, Person A admits they already did the thing. In this case, Person A is Bucky, Person B is Sam and the stupid thing is breaking Zemo out of prison. And they nailed this! But prior to that was an interesting reversal of Bucky and Zemo's first meeting. Zemo is powerless now with Bucky's Hydra brainwashing gone, the old stream of words no longer working to make the Winter Soldier "ready to comply". Zemo's return to the MCU also shows that a villain's story doesn't end when they are "defeated", especially if it ends in them just being locked up. Zemo still believes his work to be unfinished no matter how long he's locked up as there are still new Super Soldiers being made which he believes should not exist.
There are continued callbacks to the events of all three Captain America films and some parts of the Avengers films but the writers of the series have made them fit in so naturally that it doesn't feel like a forced reminder of what has come before. Simple references to cinematic events or side jokes to whatever they are currently engaged in, they always feel like they are meant to be there. One callback I personally really enjoyed was the Winter Soldier theme being used while Bucky was pretending to be his former brainwashed self in Mandripoor - it was something I'd been hoping to hear again since the first episode. He falls back into it very easily and at the very least, Sam is the kind of character to make sure it isn't messing with Bucky's head, no matter their relationship to one another.
When it was announced that Emily VanCamp would be returning as Sharon Carter, I was unsure of it at first. But in the time she was reintroduced and left the heroes behind again, it completely changed my mind and it was great that they had her return. This episode does work to redeem how the movies failed her character in making her a romantic sub-plot for Steve and almost nothing else. Take her out of the films and not a lot changes, someone else could easily have done the useful things she did do. Here, she is disgraced and still on the run years after the events of Captain America: Civil War but without her, Sam and Bucky may not have succeeded as well as they did in Mandripoor. She had the leads and the connections they needed because she had been there so long and would not be leaving as there was still a warrant out for her arrest and Mandripoor was the only place left she could escape that. It's interesting to note at this point that you get no indication throughout the episode whether or not Sharon or Zemo had stayed or turned to dust after the Snap. Most of WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier so far has made it seem like an identifying factor in everyone's lives, something that would be addressed no matter what but not with these two.
Some answers are gleaned from the discovery of Dr Nagal about the Super Soldier serum. It's suggested that the experimentation Isaiah underwent may have continued into quite recent years pre-Snap as Dr Nagal mentioned experimenting on and using the blood of an American Super Soldier to recreate and perfect the serum. Something he was close to achieving success on before disappearing in the Snap.
Karli, the leader of the Flag Smashers, seems like an opponent we are meant to empathise with at times, this time showing her with a loved one on their deathbed and mourning them. But that empathy doesn't last long when we see her also starting to cross lines to reach her goal, killing innocent people in a building with those she believes to be in the wrong. Collateral damage one of her allies seems to have been shocked at the loss of. But it isn't just in her we see this willingness to cross lines of morality - John Walker intends on doing the same. The position of Captain America and wielding the shield seems to be giving John Walker a misguided sense of prerogative to abuse his power. He seems bitter about Sam and Bucky's lack of cooperation as well as them being ahead of him on Zemo being a potential lead into the Super Soldier serum's development. He seems to not care about how things get done, a "the ends justify the means" mindset about him as long as he gets his thanks and glory. I wonder if Lemar will stick around to see things get ugly. More and more, I want to see Bucky steal the shield from Walker.
At the very end, we have a surprise Wakandan guest, there to take Baron Zemo. I think this will lead to something showing the importance of Bucky's time in Wakanda, something we know little about. I think that by the time the Battle of Wakanda came around, his time there was no longer about recovering his mind. I think there is a reason he earned the name White Wolf and that we may find out a little bit about that.
Reasons to Recommend:
- Redemption of Sharon Carter's character
- The lines between hero and villain becoming more blurred and grey (my favourite type of dynamic)
- Sam and Bucky beginning to gain some semblance of being a team but still not being quite there yet in cohesion with one another
- Multiple returns of characters in MCU cinematic history
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