The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has come to an end in the most action packed episode of the series, and did a good (if slightly rushed) job of tying up the many loose ends that have been building up throughout the season.
For many weeks we have speculated who the villain ‘The Power Broker’ was and in this episode we learned that it is in fact Sharon Carter. This was something of a surprise, although by the time it happened with the stand off between Sharon and Karli it did seem obvious that she was bad. The way Sharon melted one of the Flag Smashers earlier in the episode was a big sign that she wasn’t all cookies and cream.
The great thing about Sharon becoming a villain like this, is that I think this is the first time a character has become a bad guy like this in the whole of the MCU. Sure John Walker was a Captain America who leant to the dark side (more on him soon) but his only purpose was to become a bad Cap. And then of course Loki has flipped back and forth from being good or bad, but again he was always designed as the bad guy. This is the first time that I can remember that an established character has turned heel on the good guys in this way after being an established goodie across several films.
John Walker has perhaps been the most interesting character in the series, especially as he is a character who was only introduced in this show and we’ve seen his entire arc develop and play out in the show. For those who know the comic, Walker was always destined to become a bad Cap, but with the tease of him making a new shield in the mid credits scene last week it seemed as if he would fight Sam and Bucky in the finale just as he had fought and tried to kill them last week. In this sense I half wondered if he would fight them and get killed in the finale.
Walker survived and like the aforementioned Loki actually looked destined to be a continuing character who may flip back and forth to be a hero or villain. From his arrival in this episode, his plan was clear. He wanted to kill Karli and Avenge hid friend Lemar whom she had accidentally killed two episodes ago. We got a good exchange between the two when she expressed that whilst killing Lemar was an accident she was only interested in her cause and this only enraged Walker more.
Building up how desperate Walker was for vengeance was the real set up for his cross roads so that he could choose to be Captain America again and save hostages who were about to fall from a great height in a van. His attempt to save them was interrupted, although luckily Sam was there to save the day (more on Sam shortly).
From this point on Walker was too much of a good guy and ally of Sam and Bucky for what quite felt like it made sense or had been earned. Yes Walker had only fought Sam and Bucky in the immediate aftermath of Lemar’s death and his revenge killing of Nico, but let’s not forget that he was literally a moment away from killing Sam the same way he had used the shield to kill Nico. It was then weird to see him and Bucky joking about Walker quoting Lincoln and giving joking pats on the back.
Of course the end of the line for Walker showed that whilst he will not continue on as Captain America, he is now known as US Agent and is a likely to end up as part of the Dark Avengers for when they emerge later down the line in the MCU. It’s hard to judge if this will be in a movie, or if Walker may return for a sequel series to the Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
In another sign of how things were slightly rushed Karli’s story came to an end with Sharon Carter shooting her, and the other super soldiers being blown up in a police van by an old man who I don’t think we have seen before. This felt a rushed end to the Flag Smashers and although they teased that one was still out there it did feel as though the many threads that needed tying up in the show left this one quickly tied up. Especially as we didn’t even see a reaction by John Walker that Karli was dead or revisit Lemar’s family now that his true killer was dead.
But now of course we should probably mention the leads of the show Sam and Bucky. Bucky’s storyline throughout the series has been about his quest to find peace and redemption to whatever degree is possible for him after all of the crimes he committed as the brain washed Winter Soldier. Bucky got a significant moment where he had to use his robotic arm to break a lock on another armoured car and save everyone inside. This is in contrast to something like when as the Winter Soldier he obviously killed Tony Stark’s parents in a similarly crashed vehicle.
The story for Bucky continued to show his redemption and finding of peace as he contacted the families of the people whom he had killed and told them of what he had done whilst brain washed. I’ll be honest, the way Bucky explained to the old man that his son had been murdered and that he had done it because he didn’t have a choice didn’t quite do it for me. If I were the old man I would have assumed that this meant that someone blackmailed him to do it rather than that he had literally been brain washed and had no say in the matter.
A stronger friendship with Sam to replace what he lost with Steve Rogers will keep Bucky form feeling alone, and they gave a very quick reference to the opening episode that Bucky may try dating with greater success off screen.
For Sam who I have saved until last, he had the most significant development throughout the whole series and this will have the biggest impact on the future of the MCU. After the tease last week that Sam was getting a new set of wings, he showed up to help save the day flying through the air as he did as The Falcon, but with a throw of the shield and a grand entrance we got the first look at his new suit and identity as the new new Captain America. I felt the shoulder pads were angled slightly strangely but otherwise this was a fantastic new look for Sam and where as Walker’s Captain America suit felt like Steve Rogers cosplay this definitely had it’s own identity.
The interesting thing about Sam as Captain America is that he hasn’t used super soldier serum like Steve Rogers (and Walker eventually did) and it doesn’t look like he is going to. From the introduction of Isaiah Bradley in the early episodes where they made it clear that in the past he was treated badly by the United States government and didn’t feel there could ever be a black Captain America…or at least not one that would be accepted, the story of Sam in the series has explored the issues of race and the treatment of black people in the United States.
I said in earlier episodes that the end of the Avengers End Game indicated that Sam would be the next Captain America, and that this series felt like it was just delaying giving him the title to have a storyline for the TV show that wouldn’t affect people who only watched the movies. There is still an element of that here, but as the episodes have unfolded this storyline has shown how much weight the mantel of Captain America carries and what it would mean for Sam to take it. The speech he gave at the end to the politicians was perhaps the best Anthony Mackie has given in the MCU and was the perfect way to show that he is Captain America.
The show did a good job of tying Isiah’s story up as Sam showed him that he was being recognised in the same museum with a bronze statue that Steve Rogers was remembered in. This of course doesn’t explore how else he is being communicated with or how the government is repairing the relationship in other ways than a statue, but the message of the show was clear. Sam has taken steps to see that Isiah is recognised as a hero.
Sam has always been the perfect balance between subtle and intelligent character along with the action and comic ability, and this combination makes him the perfect Captain America. Where as Walker was instantly unsure of himself and defensive, Sam is humble and strong. It’s been announced this week that the Sam team that made this show will develop Captain America 4 as a movie, and it can be expected that Sam Wilson will be the lead of that film. Whether the rumoured return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers or Wyatt Russell will be back as his Cap/US Agent is currently unknown.
The series ended with the credits rolling and instead of ending with the title of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier the words appeared as Captain America and the Winter Soldier. This is obviously to reflect Sam is now Cap, but it’s interesting as obviously Bucky has been trying to not be the Winter Soldier, but is still left with this title on the credits.
Conclusion
This was a great finale to the show, and whilst the show overall perhaps wasn’t the most must see entry in the MCU franchise, it was consistently a good show. If anything I would have just liked it to have been a couple of episodes longer. The reveal of the Power Broker so late in the story was rushed and could have been explored more, and a bit more time to see some of the plots wrap up at the end would have been good too. Still if this Disney Plus series was designed to tide us over until the next MCU movie and lay the table for the events to come this definitely did that.
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