Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode Three Review

Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode three has come and gone and was another successful outing for the show, albeit had issues. Written by John Wick scribe Derek Kolstad, much like the Michael Kastelein episode that preceded it, there was a lot of plot to grind through. True to his roots, Kolstad packed a ton of action into the episode, but this was at the expense of proper pacing for character/plot moments (none of which get time to breath). Daniel Bruhl finally appears as Zemo and was fantastic, raising the level of the scenes he's in. With my broad comments/impressions out of the way, let's dig into episode (times are approximate):

• 1min Commercial for the Global Repatriation Council (the GRC; while this seems superfluous and redundant, it's a way to remind casual viewers of context)
• 2min Walker/Hoskins looking for the Flag-smashers (illustrating Walker's temper that was teased in the pervious episode, although he continues to make correct inferences about what's happening)
• 10min Bucky meets Zemo who is sympathetic, telling Bucky that he was a means to an end and that using him in Civil War was nothing personal; Zemo's escape is handled well (I liked having the conversation between Bucky and Falcon played over his exit) and we get a King T'Chaka name drop to tease Ayo's appearance later; the show quickly goes over Zemo's royal past (I'm not sure how well it meshes with his membership in a death squad in Civil War, although it doesn't directly contradict it); we also get a Red Skull name drop (is it a pointless easter egg like the Grim Reaper in WandaVision? Probably)
• 1min A brief scene where Kellyman's friend dies--it's too perfunctory to be emotional and the Flag-smashers' remain anemic antagonists (the show's intent is obvious: emotional fuel for her to turn to killing later in the episode, but she's such a Tyler Hayward-esque shell of a character that there's no fuel in the tank to care--that said, it's still more emotional than Monica Rambeau's reaction to finding out her mother died in WandaVision)
• 24min Madripoor (in 'disguise' for a time); Falcon does awkward well in his role as "Smiling Tiger" (I enjoyed Zemo's line in response to his reaction to his outfit); the slow motion walking scene is weird; the British lady [Selby] is bland and not at all like her comic inspiration; the Sarah phone call during the talk is pretty funny and a nice callback to the plot thread from episode one (letting us know the writers didn't include it or Sarah as a one-off); Sharon Carter's arrival is dramatic and the storyline for her is good, although on an acting level her initial dialogue scene is poor (the acting)--her action scenes feel a lot like Black Widow, which matches how she was portrayed in Civil War, but Marvel does needs to vary up their approach; the group immediately finds Nagle (teased since The Incredible Hulk, although he's not linked to that as expected); we get a long set of action scenes, initially just with Sharon while the trio talk to Nagle before Zemo kills him (there's been no serious reaction to that act yet); Zemo saves them from the chaos outside
• 2min Flag-smasher scene which drags because not enough has been done to make us care about the characters or what they are doing (it's meant to be character building, but the entire group is so bland it feels like a waste of time)
• 1min Walker/Hoskins are at the prison where Zemo escaped and Walker correctly realizes who broke him out, deciding they need to do some things 'off the books', saying as long as they succeed no one is going to care (this is a classic trope for heroes and it's funny seeing an anti-hero using the same logic)
• 2min Plane scene: we get a callback to Isaiah Bradley and now Falcon expresses issues with the shield unrelated to why he gave it up in episode one (even though all the shield represents is American imperialism, which is as much about the uniform as the object, and something Falcon eagerly participated in as a soldier); we also get continued hate for Walker, but the show still hasn't given the lead characters a good reason for that feeling (other than he's not Steve's choice--see below)
• 2min Flag-smashers' again--this time Kellyman kills a bunch of people, believing violence is the only way to make her point which horrifies her companion--this is our first bit of actual development for her and seems to turn the corner into her being a bonafide villain
• 2min Zemo justifiably criticizes the duo for not visiting the Sovokian memorial or being interested in the aftermath (he also conveniently erases the country from the map so that Marvel doesn't have to worry about it geographically); Bucky finds a Wakandan agent (Ayo) who is pursuing Zemo; this was intended to be a surprise, but we've known since May that this was coming

Sharon Carter's introduction occurs in the episode's mid-section and lasts roughly 14 minutes (although her actual character summary is just 2 minutes and she's off-screen for the Nagle discovery and interrogation, so the basic framework fits what Spellman has done for Falcon, Bucky, and Walker). I read somewhere, prior to the show's release, that Sharon's role had to be limited because of Emily VanCamp's availability, but I apparently never included that tidbit here so we're relying on my memory for that rumour (time will tell). I suspect that we'll have some sort of wrap-up of her mini-arc before the show is done.

The Madripoor story feels rushed--it's an amazing place and we're teased navigating it will be a struggle, but instead it's barely an inconvenience. The trio meet literally one person, get saved by Sharon who then hands them Nagle and they leave. It's perfunctory, undercuts Zemo's claim that it would be challenging, and would have been better served with its own episode (where we could see Sharon and our heroes use their brains rather than just shooting through problems). Madripoor is supposed to be dangerous, but ultimately (despite some action scenes) our heroes never seem threatened.

We get the definitive Nagle story: he worked for Hydra (dissolution as of Winter Soldier), was brought in by the CIA to use Bradley's blood samples for serum (these were teased last episode), but was Snapped before he could complete the work. Upon his return the Power Broker funds him and he's able to make 20 batches before the Flag-smashers' steal them. While his basic function was teased by The Incredible Hulk, it's not at all the same as the Incredible Hulk scene that had General Ross part of the process long before Hydra's dissolution. I have a feeling the change is to keep the MCU as far removed from the Universal film as possible. More generally, they've separated Steve's serum from what others are receiving, perhaps to be merciful to the actors so they don't have to mimic Chris Evans' physique (functionally it's not clear how similar they are meant to be and Marvel might want to leave it vague).

Why don't the Flag-smashers' work? Because the show can't afford to make them truly sympathetic--if they are truly saving refugees, what the hell are Falcon and Bucky doing hunting them down? Until Kellyman killed people I thought we might get that transition, but it seems like the show is aiming down the barrel of true villains (which is why we aren't getting the requisite scenes to make them sympathetic--you wouldn't just show them bringing supplies to help people, you'd show actively saving people). We've also spent no time explaining why the GRC is functioning in this way--there's simply not enough focus on them or the situation to make it work--the show's true concern is: Falcon becomes Captain America (just like Wanda becomes the Scarlet Witch), & this hurts secondary material. Let me emphasize that on paper this storyline could be excellent, but the show hasn't put the work in to make it work.

There's a real opportunity being missed to compare/contrast Falcon/Bucky with Walker/Hoskins, but the latter duo simply isn't given enough time or depth (Hoskins in particular has no character at all). Whether this ever occurred to Spellman I don't know, but even if he wanted to do it, the show has far too many characters to actually go there--I would have loved to see it, however.

One thing that's not clear yet is if Falcon will get the serum. There are possibly 12-unused versions of it available and I think the broad assumption is that for Falcon to become Captain America he needs to complete that journey by taking the serum. I think it's far more interesting is he doesn't, but the show seems to be pushing a by-the-numbers approach so I think that's unlikely. The question is whether he takes it willingly or if its forced upon him (by the dictates of the story he'd make the choice himself, but one never knows). The other thing that remains unclear is how Falcon earns the shield in the show--is it by showing mercy to Walker? Kellyman? Or is it by solving the GRC issues? It's not at all clear, since (thus far) his dueling motivations are to stop the spread of the serum and not wanting Walker to be Cap (because reasons--see below).

Speaking of Walker, we remain confronted with the lingering issue from episode two of why we're not supposed to want him as Captain America. On a meta level we know why, but the show has failed to make the case. What disqualifies Walker? The show has said only two things:

1) He wasn't Steve's choice in Endgame

2) Falcon didn't think the shield would go to anyone else when he surrendered/retired it (believing, from his speech in episode one, that no one else was worthy because Steve shaped the identity of the person who used it)

Otherwise, Walker (from what we're told in episode two) is an excellent candidate for the role. While we've seen hints of his temper, our characters have only seen it once and that was in response to them rejecting his request for help. Isaiah Bradley's story is supposed to play into this, but Walker isn't responsible for government/military activities in the 1950s anymore than Steve Rogers is responsible for the military trying to make copies of him after he went into the ice (Bradley's story also doesn't make much sense given that the military was more than happy to experiment on Steve Rogers in WW2, but we can blame that logic problem on Robert Morales' Truth: Red, White, & Black rather than Spellman). What the show has decided to do is lean into the meta context of fans wanting the established hero to have the role (thus the death threats sent to Wyatt Russell--welcome to fandom Wyatt!), rather than someone newly introduced who isn't permitted to succeed and is set-up for failure.  It's a weak choice and while I don't think it will bother casuals, it ultimately lowers the artistic heights the show can achieve (we saw this kind of issue in WandaVision, albeit Spellman understands the medium better than Schaeffer).

A side note about Walker: my initial guess, and still my theory, is that he's getting a lot of screen time and a sympathetic backstory to set-up a future as U. S. Agent. It has occurred to me that there's another alternative: he's being set-up to die. I think that's unlikely--that we'll get the comic-based unhinged Walker who either surrenders the shield or is forced to do so--but the death option remains an option (we might also see him be responsible for Hoskins' death, given how old Cle Bennett is). When you think about the mechanics of how Falcon gets the shield, the structure of the story implies the military/government can't be responsible, so he has to decide.

There's a lot of criticism in my review, but as I've said in the past, criticism is always easier than praise. The banter in the show continues to be excellent, the comedic beats are strong, and in general this is a success (I really love Bruhl--a kind of understated Loki--and hope he continues to appear in the MCU). With that said, the story feels compressed (in this and the previous episode), with rapid-fire jumps through character and story events, along with our first moments of middling acting. I think the show can shake all of this off and finish strong (as we've seen from WandaVision, how you finish matters a great deal). As for the public's response, via Google Trends this episode did a little better than the second (as one would expect both with Zemo and Sharon Carter appearing), but is nowhere near the first episode (a trend less evident on YT because this episode offered a lot more room to theorize). So, a thumbs-up all-in-all, but I want it to be better and we still haven't seen Disney+ reach the heights of the best Marvel Netflix shows.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)