This review contains spoilers for episode 4 ofThe Falcon And The Winter Soldier.
After Sam and Bucky’s initial team-up inThe Falcon and the Winter Soldiersuffered froma lack of conflict between the characters, last week’s “Power Broker” added some conflict into the dynamic by forcing them to work with Baron Zemo, their old nemesis. This week’s episode, “The Whole World is Watching,” continued to develop the Sam/Bucky/Zemo dynamic as it plodded through a pretty run-of-the-mill plot – and then the closing scene redeemed it with possibly the darkest moment in the entire MCU.
Having been written by Derek Kolstad, the last two episodes haven’t had as much visceral action as one would expect from the creator ofJohn Wick. The second episode’s truck chase is still the show’s best action set piece. In “The Whole World is Watching,” the action scenes are mostly standard hand-to-hand combat with frenzied cutting around stunt doubles. Still, the Dora Milaje fight scene was pretty spectacular.
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While the episode’s action was nothing special (at least until the final scene), Kolstad brought plenty of theJohn Wickfranchise’s signature dark humor to the table. After giving the world the gift of dancing Zemo last week, Kolstad continued to flesh out theCivil Warbaddie witha surprising, but welcome dose of zaninessin this week’s installment.
From the offset, “The Whole World is Watching”reintroduces Ayo, played by Florence Kasumba, who Bucky caught following them at the end of last week’s episode. Ayo is the Dora Milaje guard who watched over Bucky while he was trying to eradicate his brainwashing in Wakanda. Not only was it fun to see Wakanda’s elite all-female army back in action; Ayo’s role will seemingly explore exactly how Bucky managed to get rid of his brainwashing and how permanent it’ll be. So far,The Falcon and the Winter Soldierhas been hitting a lot of familiar beats in exploring Bucky’s trauma and his futile attempts to outrun his past. Ayo’s role in the show can explore the uncharted territories in Bucky’s murky backstory.
Erin Kellymancontinues to bring plenty of pathosto the villainous role of Karli Morgenthau. Sam believes Karli is a good person at heart who can be reasoned out of her extremism. “The Whole World is Watching” seems to suggest he’s wrong, but regardless of whether she’s actually right, she’s undoubtedly much more morally complex than the average one-note MCU villain. She believes that her acts of terrorism are a necessary means to an end to make the world a better place.
Most MCU stories touch on larger thought-provoking themes, like theCaptain Americafilms’ study of jingoism, but they don’t really dig into them.The Falcon and the Winter Soldierhas put its themes at the forefront and executed them brilliantly. The series posits that the days of good vanquishing evil are over and that the world has become far too messy and complicated for clear-cut heroes like Steve Rogers to swoop in and save the day. One of Karli’s superpowered associates tells her, “Today’s heroes don’t have the luxury of keeping their hands clean.”
“Power Broker” gave Sharon Carter a deeper and more morally complex personality than ever before. She’s not just a strait-laced do-gooder; she’s a grizzled law-enforcer who has to live off the grid to get the job done. Unfortunately, afterher promising return last week, Sharon was relegated to a pretty perfunctory role here – she literally phoned it in. Hopefully, she’s being primed for a larger role in the final episodes.
While the Super Soldier Serum doses were previously just unseen MacGuffins, they’re a lot more exciting now that the actual vials are in play – it’s even been hinted that Walker gave one to himself. It’s a shame that nothing has come of theTruth: Red, White & Blackadaptationset up by the introduction of Isaiah Bradleyin “The Star-Spangled Man.” With any luck, the show will actually do something with this plot point before the finale and it won’t just be an unresolved teaser.
This episode’s M.V.P. is its final scene, which sees Walker, enraged by Hoskins’ death, chasing down a Flag Smasher and beating him to death with the shield in front of a crowd of camera-wielding civilians. This brutal beatdown is the show’s first truly jaw-dropping moment, and maybe even the darkest, most violent incident in the history of the MCU. When Walker finally stops and looks around at the crowd, the shield is coated in blood – it’s a pretty unnerving image, especially in a show that’s supposed to be enjoyed by kids.
This scene perfectly demonstrates what made Steve Rogers the ultimate, irreplaceable Captain America. Steve would never do something so ruthless or impulsive. The specifics of Walker’s attack are seemingly a callback to Steve’s climactic fight with Tony Stark inCivil War. Steve was about to slam his shield into Tony’s head, but used it to smash the Arc Reactor instead. InThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when Walker had a Flag Smasher pinned to the ground, he didn’t have the same reservation – he went for the head. AfterWyatt Russell’s masterful performancein the first few episodes made Walker a three-dimensional character with relatable insecurities who just might make an okay Cap after all, this shocking moment suggests the beginning of his comics-accurate transition into a full-blown villain.
Like the other episodes ofThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier, “The Whole World is Watching” feels more like a chunk of a big movie than a standalone piece, which makes Disney Plus’ weekly release schedule particularly frustrating. WhereasWandaVision’s decidedly episodic formatoffered viewers a new story each week,The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s serialization is moving pretty slowly. Marvel might’ve benefitted from releasing this series all in one go.
Marvel usually has a satisfying game plan to stick the landing with its stories, but it seems likeThe Falcon and the Winter Soldiermight’ve bitten off more than it can chewwith just two episodes left. With the Flag Smashers and Sam’s family drama and Walker’s dark turn and the arrival of the Dora Milaje and the Power Broker and Sharon Carter, the show might be juggling too many character arcs and story threads to pay them all off in a satisfactory way.
Still, after 13 years, the MCU has become pretty trustworthy, and after the shocking final scene of “The Whole World is Watching” significantly escalated the show’s conflicts, it’s a safe bet that plenty of explosive payoffs are on the way.
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