The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Episode 4 - Review

Having crossed the halfway point of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, I was hoping that things would finally start moving forward and they did. Karli is given more room to be shades of grey and New Cap, John Walker finally gets the break he deserves, but the pacing still felt a little off for me.

*Spoilers Ahead*

The show picks up with a flashback, which was a little weird, but still welcome; within it we get to see the last moments of Bucky getting his ‘programming’ removed. This is good for two reasons, one it shows the fear and joy he went through, during what was most assuredly a long and torturous process, but it also highlights just how much work the find folks in Wakanda went through. Because once the flashback is done and we are back in the modern day, complete with Bucky talking to a member of the Dora Milaje, that we saw in the flashback. Seeing the pair come to a time-based agreement, it put a bit of a rush on Bucky, Sam and Zemo getting the job finished and for the most part, they were able to do it, but only they were intercepted.

John Walker, having sat out most of the last episode, stormed back in to this one, focused on achieving his objective, taking down Karli, notice I said taking down, not in. He clearly has decided she has no right to come quietly and will do what he needs to in order to complete his mission, the problem is that each time we have seen him, they have not been subtle about just how far off the reservation he is. Each time he has been on camera, except for that brief moment at the end of the first episode, he has been showing that the pressure is getting to him, that the expectations of the country and not something he can handle all that well, even the shot of him waiting with Bucky, Zemo and Battlestar, prove that. So the big twist that he takes the serum, upon finding it on the ground, isn’t a shock at all, the man was clearly going to snap, having powers doesn’t change that and while his final breaking point was tragic, it was foretold many episodes earlier. That also ties into the fact that serum is gone, at least unless the show needs a vial to survive for later, it is going to be less about recovering the super soldier potion and now, dealing with the fallout of that ending.

Strangely, Sam was the one who had the most growth this episode, reaching back to when we first met him and his ideals of trying to help those soldiers who have lost people. Deciding that talking should be the first option, more so after hearing Zemo decry Karli as a supremist, was not something I was expecting to have happen, but given that the show has done a lot to ensure the characters feel like actual people, is a welcome surprise to be sure. The problem is that no-one else seemed to want to give him the chance and it was only after a tense moment, and the timely words of Battlestar, where they agreed to let him try, but that ties back into New Cap not wanting to wait.

The episode didn’t feature a lot of action, letting the cast grow more, from Bucky’s revelation to Sam’s desire to do more than just punch someone and even Zemo proving that no-one should really trust him. While I still say they took to long to get into the meat of things, using three episodes for setup, things are not moving along at a solid pace, there are moments for exposition, which given the sheer number of characters to deal with is good, but at the same time, there are moments when the talking needs to be put aside and folks need to do other things.

The action scenes that were there, were more akin to the fights from Captain America Civil War, with Steve and Bucky fighting the German Police in the building, but with more knives. A lot of the fighting was grounded as well, which I appreciated, even with Sam flying away, there was very little in the way of effect shots, at least bloated CGI ones. That being said, there was two shots, right after each other that seemed weird, the first being Bucky landing on the ground and running off to go save New Cap. The shot was of a CGI Bucky and he seemed lethargic in his run, while at the same time, not being connected to the ground, it took me out of the moment, due to how jarring it was. The other shot, which happened right after, was of Karli running down the street, because we never saw below her waist, it gave the illusion of her being on a treadmill and again pulled me from the show.

Clearly that ending is going to change the show in major ways, plus Zemo pulling a Houdini in the bathroom, the Power Broker no longer willing to wait and the main characters still chasing leads, these last two episodes are going to be busy. Even with folks willing to get their punch on, I appreciate Sam being willing to step up and say, hang on lets talk, even if the outcome is not what he may have wanted. Getting some closure for how Bucky got through his conditioning was nice and threads coming together, to start point towards and end point, was welcome, I just hope they can build upon the momentum in the final episodes.

The Score

8.5

The Pros

+Bucky and Sam both got moments to show why their characters are more than just punching

+Karli went from being weird and yoyoing last week, to showing backbone and a reason to care about this time

The Cons

-The build up to New Cap’s break was not-so-subtly indicated over the weeks, even if the final moment was shocking

-Some wonky shots pulled me from the immersion of the episode