Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has gotten a little complex lately. We already had multiple sides to this conflict with Buck and Sam, John Walker and the Flag Smashers. Now, we know the Power Broker, Zemo and even Wakanda are in the mix as well. With all of those powers in play, it makes sense that the title of this week’s episode would be “The Whole World Is Watching.”
Spoilers ahead!
Coming off of last week’s surprise ending, this week’s episode kicks off with a flashback to six years ago, before the events of Avengers: Infinity War, in Wakanda. We see Ayo, the Dora Milaje guard we saw last week, testing Bucky by reciting the code to awaken the Winter Soldier. Bucky sees flashbacks of all the terrible things he’s done and is brought to tears but he does not become the Winter Soldier. It appears we are seeing the actual moment in which he finally broke Hydra’s programming. Ayo tells him he is free as he breaks down.
Flash forward to present day, Ayo asks Bucky how he could free Zemo and reminds him of all the terrible things he has done, including the murder of King T’Chaka. She tells him he has eight hours before the Dora come for Zemo and he returns the Kimoyo beads to her before she leaves.
Bucky rejoins Sam and Zemo and lets them know the Dora are coming before reading on his phone about Karli’s raid and bombing of the GRC supply depot. Zemo explains that he has the will to finish this job, meaning he wants to kill Karli. Sam tells him she’s just a kid, meaning he wants to talk her down. When Zemo explains that the serum corrupts everyone who takes it, Bucky argues that it never corrupted Steve Rogers. Zemo accepts this but also says there has never been another Steve Rogers. Before we leave them, Zemo finds some Turkish Delights and calls them “irresistible.”
Next, we join Karli and the Flag Smashers as they watch a news report on their recent attack. It’s clear that the group is troubled by what they’ve done. The news explains that the GRC has drafted the Patch Act which will “fast track the return to normalcy,” which of course does not make Karli happy.
Bucky and Sam try to question people around the GRC housing where the Flag Smashers were formerly living, but everyone does their best to avoid them. Zemo, on the other hand, bribes some children with the candy he found a couple of scenes ago and gets information regarding Donya Madani’s funeral. He quietly tells the children that Sam and Bucky are not to be trusted and that Donya is their little secret.
Sam and Bucky discuss Karli’s motivations we see that Sam is coming around on their fight, even if he doesn’t agree with how she’s fighting it. Zemo tells them he knows when and where the funeral is but won’t give them the information because he wants to keep his leverage. Bucky gets angry and starts to go after Zemo before Sam stops him and tells him Zemo is just looking to extort him and “do that stupid head tilt thing.” Zemo straightens his head and offers Bucky some tea.
Sam calls Sharon again to ask for another favor. He tells her they need a trustworthy set of eyes on the Flag Smasher camp so they’re not going in blind. She tells him she “may or may not have access to a satellite or two.” It was clear after last week that Sharon is still connected to some sort of bigger power in some way. Is she the Power Broker? Is she working with Nick Fury?
Karli and another Flag Smasher open up a hidden compartment in a graveyard and recover the rest of the serum. Karli asks if they’re making a mistake by making more of them. They are planning to use the serum to create more super soldiers, which is exactly what Sam and Bucky don’t want them to do.
John Walker and Lemar Hoskins catch up with Sam, Bucky and Zemo and Walker comes in hot, demanding an explanation for them breaking Zemo out. Sam calms him down long enough for them to explain that they’re heading to Madani’s funeral. Sam tells him this is their chance to reason with Karli but Walker argues that they’re way past that point. Hoskins steps in and convinces Walker that it might be worth a shot. He tells Zemo they’ll deal with him later and the villain points out his associate – the little girl he spoke to earlier.
The girl leads them all to the site of the funeral. Sam starts to head in before Walker handcuffs Zemo and tells Sam he has 10 minutes before they do thing his way. Karli speaks at the funeral before noticing Sam. She shows a bit of fear before continuing her speech, even eventually staring right at Sam as she delivers it.
After the funeral, Sam approaches Karli alone and in a peaceful fashion. He tries to talk her out of this war, which she explains was started when she and millions of other people were kicked out of their new homes and onto the streets. Outside, Walker grows impatient and tries to head in before Bucky stops him.
Sam starts to get through to Karli, pointing out that she’s killing innocent people. He explains that he agrees with her fight but not the way she’s fighting it. Before Karli can come around, Walker comes in and attempts to arrest her, which understandably sets her off and makes her run.
Karli escapes to another room before she is tracked down by Zemo, who has escaped form his cuffs and found a gun. He shoots Karli in the stomach, causing her to take cover behind a table. In doing so, she knocks over the other vials of the serum. Zemo sees them and smashes them while Karli makes a run for it. Walker takes out Zemo with his shield and notices one last vial on the ground. As he looks at it, he tilts his head, calling back to Sam’s comment about Zemo’s “head tilt thing.” Maybe Walker has more in common with the villain than he’s willing to admit. He picks up the vial and puts it in his pocket just before the others find their way to the room. It’s also worth noting here that the music that plays in this scene (and a few scenes earlier) is reminiscent of that of Captain America: Civil War, signifying an upcoming fight between “heroes.”
Karli tends to her wound as another Smasher informs her that the other vials of the serum have been destroyed. The Smashers discuss their upcoming fight with Sam and the others before Karli gets another threatening message from the Power Broker. A Smasher points out that they can’t fight two wars at the same time. Karli says she’ll deal with the Power Broker later and she has a way to deal with Sam and the others without a fight, by separating them and killing Captain America.
Recovering from his shield bashing, Zemo lies on a couch while trying to convince Sam that “super soldiers cannot be allowed to exist.” Sam retorts by accusing him of speaking like a “god” and asking what that means for Bucky. Right on queue, Bucky enters and points out that something is off about Walker. The new Cap then bursts in and orders Sam and Bucky to turn Zemo over. Things start to get heated and Walker is about to engage Sam when a Dora spear flies just past him.
Ayo and two other Dora enter and tell Bucky their time is up. Walker tries to introduce himself, but Ayo is unimpressed. Walker places a hand on her shoulder and she immediately attacks, easily getting the better of the new Cap. The other Dora engage Hoskins and a fight breaks out while Zemo sips his drink. Sam tells Bucky they should help and Bucky instead mocks Walker.
Just before Ayo goes in for the kill strike on Walker though, Bucky stops her and tries to talk things out. Sam saves Hoskins and Zemo slips away during the madness. A Dora spear pins Walker’s shield to a table and Ayo does something to easily detach Bucky’s arm, taking him out of the fight. Ayo sees that Zemo is gone and the Dora leave. Interestingly, a Dora had picked up Cap’s shield (in very Captain America-like fashion) and Ayo orders her to leave it. Were the Dora Milaje considering taking the shield from Walker?
After the fight, Sam asks Bucky if he knew they could do that to his arm, to which Bucky simply replies “no.” Hoskins checks on a dejected Walker who says “they weren’t even super soldiers.” He is clearly devastated by suffering another loss. Sam and Bucky see that Zemo escaped and go to work on finding him.
Walker and Hoskins regroup and discuss the hypothetical of taking the serum. They also talk about the things they did that earned Walker his medals of honor and how they “felt a long way from being right.” Hoskins points out how many lives they could have saved that day if they had that serum and Walker says “I know” as he clearly contemplates taking that vial he pocketed earlier.
Sarah receives a call from Karli Morgenthau, who she knows from the news. Karli tells Sarah she is deciding if she should kill Sam and Sarah tells him he is not working for Walker. Karli gives Sarah coordinates for Sam to meet her alone and threatens Sarah and her children. After she hangs up, it’s clear that Karli is bothered by what she’s just done.
Sarah relays the message to Sam, who is obviously not happy about Karli calling her sister. Sam receives a message with a meeting place and Bucky says he’s coming with him. The two arrive at the location and Sam comes in much hotter than last time, angered by the fact that Karli used his family, but Karli calms him a bit by telling him she would never hurt them.
She explains that killing Sam would be meaningless because he doesn’t hide behind a shield and he’s not a symbol, tipping Sam and Bucky off to the fact that Walker is her next target. Sharon sees that Walker is approaching the Smasher’s camp and relays the information to Sam, who realizes they’ve fallen into a trap, which starts another fight.
Walker bursts into the camp with Hoskins behind him and they search for the Smashers. Hoskins goes on ahead and gets himself captured, leaving Walker to take on one of the Smashers alone. Meanwhile, Bucky and Same make their way to the camp, with Karli chasing them. Sam arrives just in time to see Walker handling a Smasher. He sees that Walker easily bends a thick medal pipe, showing us that he has taken the super soldier serum.
The fight continues in multiple locations with Bucky taking on a Smasher himself, and Sam and Walker taking on two more while Hoskins manages to free himself. A Smasher grabs Walker from behind and Karli comes in for the kill before Hoskins rushes in and stops her. Karli turns her attention to the sidekick and delivers a punch that sends him flying into a pillar with a serious impact that gets everyone’s attention.
Walker breaks free and rushes to Hoskins’ aid, but he is unresponsive. While Walker is distracted, the Smashers make a run for it. Sam and Bucky pursue and Walker rushed after one of them as well. He catches the Smasher, who earlier explained that he was a fan of Captain America as a child, and pins him to the ground. With the whole world watching via civilians on their phones, Walker bashes the man to death with the shield. Bucky and Sam arrive just in time to see what had happened and the episode comes to a close with a shot of Walker holding the bloodied shield.
This episode may not have had as many Marvel Comics connections as previous ones, but it was huge in terms of the progression of the story and these characters. Walker has reached a point of no return now that the public has seen him for what he truly is, Zemo has escaped and the Dora Milaje is in pursuit and Sam and Bucky are suddenly without any leads or leverage. With only two episodes left, things have reached a boiling point here. It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how all of these characters handle what they’ve just witnessed.
You can watch The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+ now.