The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Episode 3 - Review

After the second episode, I was hoping that this one would be the episode to finally kick things into gear and it wasn’t, but unlike last week, which was more setup, this started to laydown some breadcrumbs of how things are going to go, if the characters can finally start moving in the right direction.

When Zemo was teased at the end of episode 2, there was no way that it was going to just be a prison conversation, so while his escape was predictable, it did add a nice bit of variety into the mix. Sam and Bucky have fallen into their roles pretty easily, Bucky doesn’t want to be the Winter Soldier and he is trying not to be, but he falls into it with little resistance. Sam on the other hand, doesn’t want the responsibility of being Captain America, but doesn’t believe anyone else should be either, so he is not on board with the new Cap. Zemo could have easily been included as a foil to both, but instead he plays off both and it suits his attitude, he is not a man who cares for much, but for the causes he does believe in, he will stop at nothing to see things through.

The fun part is seeing the three of them attempt to blend in, to a seedy part of a former pirate haven, with varying results. Bucky just being Winter Solider makes sense, he just doesn’t have to speak and then hit people when required, Sam on the other hand was dressed as a modern-day pimp and looked as uncomfortable as anyone who meets one, would be. Not only is he meant to be the Smiling Tiger, but he is also meant to talk the talk, as it were and everyone who sees him, knows something is off. The problem with these moments is that they are never investigated, even by the bartender who apparently knows the originals regular drink order, is not worried that the man he is making it for, is behaving scared of it.

The issue with the trip to the underworld is that Zemo, or as we get to know him as Baron Zemo, is meant to have a history there, people know him and either like him, or don’t. My issue with this is that the events of Age of Ultron and then Civil War are only about 1 year apart, meaning within the 12 months between the events, he managed to build up this reputation. The downside to it of course, is that if you choose to believe he was capable of doing that, due to money or whatever, then the impact of a man doing anything he could, in order to avenge his loved ones, feels cheaper, if he just spent time visiting seedy dive bars in lawless towns. Having Zemo grow as a character and not be a one note antagonist, which is something the Marvel Cinematic Universe has struggled with, is great, but obtaining that growth at the expense of the history is not great.

An addition that I liked but was a little confused on was Sharon Carter’s appearance and while I generally liked the character in the Captain America movies, there was a naivety to her, that made it a little more challenging to like her. Here though, she has spent years on the run, as it were and has now crafted a life in Mandrapoor, collecting and selling high end art pieces and while no longer active as a spy, she appears to have stepped up her skills in the game. Her showing up, helps to push the story forward, but at the same time, raises many more questions than I think was needed, not because I dislike the character, I don’t, but the show already has so many questions around, adding more into the mix, just feels like it is overstuffing the plot.

This is made even more obvious when we get a few moments with Karli and her merry band of muscle men, there is a nice touching moment about her saying goodbye to someone she loves, but later on, she is happily killing people. I said last week that the group was clearly being setup as a Robin Hood style of organisation and that something would happen to remove their nice guy image, but I didn’t expect it to happen this episode and not by her blowing up a dozen or so guards of a food storage location. I never clicked with her character and I like her even less now, them attempting to shoehorn in some backstory, so we might connect with them is nice and all, but at the same time, was not needed, it serves little purpose if only moments later, all that becomes irrelevant.

We are now halfway into the series and there needs to be traction on closing out some of the many mysteries that the show is teasing us with. Right now there are about 10 stories being interwoven with each other, I mean I didn’t even talk about new Cap in this episode, who is quickly turning into a giant dick. The show needs to clear some of them off its plate, because right now it is so full, it is hard to keep track of what is going, who is essential and more importantly, what the main goal of the show is mean to be about. Marvel have said that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, would let them tell a cinematic story, just in bite sized moments and right now, it feels like they are biting off more than they can chew.

The Score

7.5

The Pros

+Zemo adds a nice blend of chaos into the dynamic

+Sharon showing up is nice and seeing her actually do something, is even better

The Cons

-The show still feels like it is setting things up

-Pivoting Karli and her thugs from Robin Hood to robbers was always going to happen, the mass murder was not required