‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Recap: ‘One World, One People’

Written by Shae Rufe

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the finale of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’.
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It’s with a very heavy heart that I am writing this review. I genuinely am sad that this show is over, and while I know there will be future projects to look forward to, I’m still bummed this has come to an end. But the show must go on and so must this final review.

Spoilers!

Okay, but really, I need someone to talk to me about Sam’s new Captain America uniform! I am full on geeking out about this. It’s so comic accurate and somehow real world and the costume design department did a wonderful job. Genuinely, they always seem to go above and beyond in their detail. Right! Moving on. The fight scenes in this show are really well done and I honestly love the transformation from Sam’s Falcon style of fighting, to his new Cap style of fighting. Seeing Sam throw the shield and have the new wings? It’s a really great combo. Anyway, this story starts off with Sam fighting baddies while Bucky gets distracted on a phone call with Karli, and Sharon just murders someone by melting their face off. It’s not the normal start to things, but you know what, it works? This finale jumps right into where it ended last episode and doesn’t hold back. Karli’s plan to kidnap the two-truck full of CRG council members and a helicopter of government officials is commendable.

There’s a lot going on all at once and it ties together nicely. Sam takes on the Helicopter of hostages, leaving Bucky to handle the armored cars, and I mean Sharon is... doing Sharon things. We really don’t get to see a lot of Sharon beyond the handful of scenes with her. She shows up as help and then kind of just... shows back up at some point. Walker even shows up to fight Karli while Bucky is fighting Karli. The fact that Karli would willingly kill these people to make her point does speak to Zemo’s point. She’s too far gone. She actually has one of her mates’ light one of the cars on fire... with everyone still inside, just to get Bucky distracted. Of course, he saves everyone, and Walker comes along for his final showdown with her, which Bucky then has to get involved in.
 
Walker’s new shield doesn’t stand a chance against Super Soldiers, but he does. Karli gets away with Walker in hot pursuit, and she knocks him out. Flat out gets him down long enough to get back to the second car, still full of people, to push Bucky over the edge of a construction zone, down just a few stories. And then she drives the other car towards the same edge. It actually almost went over, and yes, I knew it probably wouldn’t, but also, I don’t trust Marvel to pull their punches. Walker shows up and well, shows up. He makes the choice to save the armored car full of people and not go after Karli.

See? Growth! Probably not though. In the end he gets shoved over the edge with Karli and the car almost falls over. Oh, but Sam is here to save the day. Sam literally saved the Helicopter from its hijacker and came straight away to save even more people. Good news, Redwing is back! And Sam? Sam is Captain America, in all his glory. The fight still isn’t over, however. As the five remaining Flag Smashers run off. Bucky lures four of them out with their own app. I guess Walker kind of helped... I mean, he was there.

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Also, big brag moment. This is the second time I have called something right in a Marvel Show. In WandaVision, early on, I called Agnes being Agatha, which I was completely right about. Since Episode 3 of this show, I have been saying that Sharon Carter is the Power Broker. I was right. Again. I can’t be stopped! I did see it coming, but I hadn’t seen Karli and the Flag Smashers having worked for her previously. I also didn’t see Karli shooting her and then minutes later Sharon returning the favor and killing Karli. The fight between Karli and Sam was great in a lot of ways. Sam isn’t a Super Soldier, and Karli is, and he holds his own. He also flat out refuses to fight her. In case we forgot, Karli is a teenager. I don’t believe her age is ever fully disclosed in the show, but that’s not the point. Sam’s fight with her is him purely on the defensive, and Karli is all too happy and desperate to almost kill Sam by the end of it. Sharon killing Karli is... disheartening.

Karli didn’t have to die, in all honesty. Sam and Bucky both tried reasoning with her as a way to get her to stop what she was doing. Sadly, neither were able to get through to her, not quite like Sam had a few episodes earlier, but Walker royally screwed that up. The show wraps together nicely after that. Sam gives a real-world speech to the Senators and Delegates about what they’re about to vote on and then we get a happy celebration back in Sam’s home town and Bucky brings cake. Walker is officially U.S. Agent, and Sharon is pardoned and also still totally a secret underground international mob boss.

So, let's really address a few things that really stood out to me in this last episode. I really liked it, I thought it was a good conclusion and I’m curious to hear more about the recently announced 4th Captain America movie. But let’s be honest, I want another season of this. Because Sam and Bucky are my babies. Back to this episode, though, this was lighter on its racial inequality themes than its previous episodes. However, it had some extremely strong moments. The first, in my opinion, is when Walter confronts Karli and she says she hadn’t meant to kill his friend, because she didn’t kill people who didn’t matter. This line stuck out and genuinely still bothers me for a lot of reasons. 1. It’s indicative of how many Black American deaths are seen. 2. Lemar’s death was not pointless, it did matter. Death matters. Lemar’s death served as the catalyst for Walker’s character arc going from “wow this guy is annoying” to, “and now he’s bad”. Lemar was objectively a good character who also just served to Walker's continuous benefit and privilege. But he furthered the story along by building Walker up and also unknowingly pushing him to take the Serum.

Next we have Sam’s speech. Sam had a lot of points, and no, nothing is easy, especially with what the GRC was trying to do. Let’s not forget, Sam is a Black man living in America. Beyond that he’s the first Black Captain America that the public is privy to. Sam understands the frustrations of the Flag Smashers and displaced people more than anyone is ever going to give him credit for. Sam actively agreed with Karli and her mission, just not her methods. Taking up the mantle of Captain America even makes him more of a target for a lot of hate by people, and yet he still does it. The fact that he compared the GRC to Thanos was a great way to bring the point home. He’s not wrong, either. Sam does not waste time mincing words, and he does not take his new role lightly.

Lastly, Sam takes Isaiah and Eli to the Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian where he shows them the newest exhibit. Isaiah is no longer in the dark, not forgotten, not swept away like a filthy secret. Everyone now knows about the First Black Captain America. His service, sacrifice, and subsequent mistreatment, and blatant torture, are not going to just be left locked away. It’s a powerful scene because a lot of Black history, American history, is often ignored and omitted, in favor of not making people uncomfortable. There has been a tendency to purposefully not speak, teach or share a lot of Black American history because it does not suit the narrative being spun. The systemic racism that is still going on to this day runs so deep that when confronted with evidence, many turn a blind eye still.

Throughout the show, Sam struggled with taking the mantle of Captain America, because he didn’t feel worthy, because he was a Black man in America. Isaiah actually did the same exact thing Steve did, snuck across enemy lines and saved his troops, and he was imprisoned and experimented on. The parallels and injustices run deep. The only difference these men had to Steve, is literally just the color of their skin. Sam was always worthy of the shield, of the title, of the legacy. Will America accept a Black man as Captain America? It better. This show did a great job in addressing racism, but it leaves the ever-present question: What does it mean to be Black in America?

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