The penultimate episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier picks up moments after the dire ending of the previous episode - with John Walker running away from his actions with fresh blood dripping off the Captain America shield. However, the episode does not continue in an eventful or action-filled way. Where the previous episodes have followed Sam and Bucky's investigation and then developed the more emotional sides of John Walker and Karli Morgenthau, this time it was the opposite way round - Sam and Bucky had a quiet episode of reflection and calm while John and Karli dealt with the consequences of the previous episode.
The opening scene had Sam and Bucky follow John straight after knowing that they needed to take the shield off him. This series has so far masterfully mirrored a lot from the Captain America films and this scene felt like one of those - the fight that ensues with a hostile Captain America vs the Falcon and Winter Soldier has a similar tone to it as the one between Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes at the end of Captain America: Civil War. The sequence of the fight, the character techniques, even John tearing off one of Sam's wings reminded me a lot of Bucky tearing out Tony's arc reactor and losing his metal arm in the process. The emotional weight of the scene just gets heavier when Bucky picks up the shield and drops it next to Sam with a look that seems to be filled with a mixture of resentment and uncertain regret as if it's not just Sam he's upset with.
When Bucky tracks down Baron Zemo, it seems that he is ready to get rid of him once and for all, having a gun ready in his hand which the latter does not resist. It is reminiscent of the end of Civil War, showing that Zemo will continue his mission with the utmost dedication to it but does not fear his death, he welcomes it. He would rather die but, like Black Panther before him, Bucky doesn't let Zemo have the easy way out, and instead hands him over to the Dora Milaje.
Sam's visit to Isaiah is disheartening for Falcon's future with the shield. He finally tells his story about how he came to be given the Super Soldier serum without his knowledge of what was going into his system. The scene he describes of how he went to save his brothers in arms from a POW camp, it sounds a lot like what Steve did to save the 107th Infantry Regiment in World War II, which included Bucky. But he did not get the same glorification, he was locked up and experimented on. His words almost convince you that maybe it isn't a good idea for Sam to take on the mantle of Captain America, in some ways, it seems to confirm the doubts he had at the beginning of the series.
After this, you get something on a more personal level that you don't get in films, things that you get fleshed out with characters in a TV series. Things that a large portion of the audience talk about wanting to see (I'm talking the most random posts I've seen gain traction on Tumblr) are the heroes quieter moments, parts of their lives that resemble some form of normalcy. Sam calls in old favours from people in his family's community for help to fix their boat and Bucky surprisingly stays a couple of days to help out, along with a high tech case to deliver. After the events of the last four episodes, these scenes show that the tension between the two titular characters has eased substantially and that they aren't in conflict with one another as much as before. They started working well together in a fight and now in a more simple setting.
The conversation they have while swinging the shield around for Sam to practice with it was an important one that was due since their conversation with Bucky's therapist. This was a genuine conversation about what they each chose to do with the shield, without the freshly caused upset at it being given up. You get confirmation from Bucky that he knew what Steve was planning to do when he went back in time to return all the infinity stones to their place, that he and Steve had actually talked about it. It was a long-running theory at the end of Endgame which has only just been confirmed on-screen. You see how far they've come with Bucky admitting that he and Steve did not realise or understand how Sam would feel as a black man being handed the shield. Again, the race issue does not feel forced, it's genuine and it's natural. And having Bucky admit he did not understand how it could affect Sam was a positive step forward. Sam is still the trauma counsellor, it's something that is woven into his character so intricately that it feels like it is always considered in every line that is written for the character. And you get that when he talks to Bucky in this scene about his attempts at making amends for what he did as the Winter Soldier, that just fixing things to bring himself closure isn't enough, helping others with their closure and being of service to them is important too.
By the end of this episode, a lot of their past dislike and uncertainty of one another has more or less dissipated, they are allies and no longer begrudgingly. Though they still won't call each other a friend, there seems to be a lot more loyalty there and not just because they had a mutual friend in Steve Rogers. They have moved past that connection and their bond is their own. And there were times where it felt like Bucky was there to take care of Sam and have his back, keep an eye on him in the way a mentor might, whether it was their work on the boat or practising with the shield. This episode is quite quiet for them, it gave them time to actually think about their next moves properly and it felt right to see Sam training so hard to sharpen up his skills with the Captain America shield.
John Walker's story seems to now be following his fall from grace, losing everything that meant something to him. You can see that the bitterness and inferiority complex has grown even more with the Super Soldier serum in him. Even his visit to Lemar's family to talk to them about his death felt so tainted because of what we know he is thinking and feeling, because of how he has acted. There were many times I worried something would happen to them at some point. Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is a sinister figure that appears from nowhere offering her aid to him. What form that comes in is anybody's guess. She is definitely a contender for the mystery of who the Power Broker is, alongside Sharon Carter after her conversation with Batroc and potentially Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk.
Karli Morgenthau and her fellow Flag Smashers are decidedly absent from the episode. They find that their allies in a refugee centre have been cleared out due to association with them and we see them put more of their plan into action. Like I said, it's been a quiet episode so even they don't do anything significant until right at the end of the episode. Everything seems to have culminated at last to be wrapped up in the final episode, especially with the return of another cinematic opponent - the French mercenary, Georges Batroc. And as they put their plan into action, we get a teaser that Sam has a new suit to put on, specially made by the Wakandans, which I suspect will be more suited to the shield. The real shield, not the makeshift one that John Walker begins building in the mid-credits scene.
Reasons to Recommend:
- The emotional weight of the episode
- Quieter scenes of normalcy for characters who are always thrown into the deep end of action
- More elements that mirror that Captain America franchise that stands apart from it
- Sam and Bucky's working relationship becoming more united and less hostile
- Everything tying together to prepare for the finale
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