We meet a new Cap, and an old one nobody talks about.
Last time on The Falcon and the
Winter Soldier, we’re shown how Sam and
Bucky have been doing post Blip. Sam is working with the US government, and
giving up the Shield to be put into storage. Bucky meanwhile is dealing with
his PTSD by seeing HYDRA goons arrested and being friends with the father of one
of his victims. A group called the Flag Smashers stole large sums of money
while showing off clear superhuman strength and agility. Amidst this turmoil,
the US government unveiled their NEW Captain America, John Walker. Bastards. Enough
recap, let’s get to it.
Opens with the “new” Captain America,
John Walker, walking through his high school locker room. His wife, Olivia,
comes in to give him a pep talk. Surprisingly, John seems to have a real reverence
for the title he’s been given and is worried that he won’t be the Captain
America the world needs. Olivia advises him just to be himself. She leaves and
tags in his friend Lemar Hoskins. Hoskins also tries to psych up Walker. Walker
expresses a desire to just do the job of fighting, but Hoskins reminds him that
the handshaking, meetings and politicking is part of being Captain America.
Time to get to work.
Look at him standing there with his evil, stupid
legs.
Walker walks onto the field to a funky
remix of “A Star-Spangled Man with a Plan,” he shakes hands, poses for photos
and signs toys. … This MOFO has toys already? What the hell. He makes it to the
stage and starts his Good Morning America interview. The interview is clearly a
puff piece to show off this new guy in the red, white and blue suit. We’re
given a brief background on Captain John Walker, he was the first person to receive
three medals of honor, specialized in counter-terrorism missions, and tested
off the charts in all categories of strength, speed, and so on. He claims that
he has guts, which is the most important aspect of Captain America. Bucky is
watching the video and is clearly upset. Walker goes on to say that he never
met Captain Rogers, but followed his career since his return and claims to have
modeled himself off Cap. He didn’t know him but believed him to be a brother.
…
I’m picturing that scene in Harry
Potter 8 where Harry yells “How DARE you stand where he stood,” at Snape.
Seriously.
Later, Sam is looking at a picture
of John Walker, captioned Cap is Back, before his next mission. He meets with Torres
who makes sure he’s prepped. As he walks to the plane, Bucky comes out and
yells that he “shouldn’t have given up the Shield.” Sam is clearly upset about
the Walker thing as Bucky but he has work to do so he can’t stick around and be
angry. Bucky is also clearly pissed that Sam gave up their best friend’s
legacy. To try to extricate himself from the situation, he tells Bucky he’s on
the way to Munich to investigate and possibly take care of the Flag Smashers. He
thinks that they might be part of the big 3, Androids, Aliens or Wizards. It’s
the scene from all the trailers, where Bucky reveals he knows who Gandalf is
because he read the Hobbit back in the 30s, and Sam explaining that a Sorcerer
is just Wizard without a hat. It’s a fun
scene in context as well as out. Despite Sam’s objections, Bucky comes along.
I think Bucky is wishing his codename was
the Winter Paratrooper.
There’s an awkward scene of the two
of them fly into Munich airspace. Sam seems to be refusing to speak to Bucky as
they fly in. Bucky asks if there’s a plan, and Sam does say he has one but not
feeling like sharing. Sam leaps from the plane and flies away. Bucky asks for a
chute, but Torres tells him that they’re flying to low for one, so Bucky just
says screw it and leaps from the plane planning to use his arm to protect him. It
goes… badly. He smacks a few trees on the way down and ends up on his back.
Redwing flies in and Sam via his radio mention that he recorded the whole
thing. Bucky tells him to get that thing out of his face.
Bucky catches up with Sam in what
looks like an abandoned factory. The Flag Smashers are nearby, Sam wants to do
recon, but Bucky is still a fan of the direct approach. He runs in while
Redwing follows. Sam comments that a few months in Wakanda turned Bucky into a
White Panther, and Bucky corrects him that it’s White Wolf. Bucky finds the Flag
Smashers loading up a pair of trucks. They’re lifting a LOT of heavy equipment effortlessly,
revealing that they’re all superstrong. Sam joins him a moment later. Bucky
wants to go right in, as he just sees two guys, but with his Redwing scanner,
Sam confirms seven total goons. They hold back, are almost noticed but get off.
As the trucks pull out, Redwing detects an 8th person in the back of
the truck, and assumes that that might be a hostage.
They chase after the trucks, with Winter
Soldier climbing into the back while Falcon flies behind. Winter Soldier notes
that they’re transporting medicine and vaccines. A young red headed woman is in
the back, he tries to talk to her, but she punches him out the back of the
truck and into the one behind. Yeah, she’s a Flag Smasher. Three more Flag Smashers
pull him onto the top of the truck and prepare to beat the crap out of Winter
Soldier. Redwing flies in and starts shooting, but the drone gets smashed by
Red. Falcon flies in and the two heroes start battling the Flag Smashers.
I think Bucky is adding a vibranium gauntlet
to his Christmas gift list from Wakanda.
The group of super soldiers actually
hold their own against the veteran heroes, Falcon almost gets curb stomped by
Red, but she gets hit back by the Shield. John Walker and his buddy Hoskins arrive
in a helicopter. Four on six is much better odds. Winter Soldier ends up nearly
under the truck, but holds on with his robot arm. Falcon ends up swooping in,
pulling him out and the two end up summersaulting in a field. As they get up
and dust themselves off, Bucky points out that they’re all Super Soldiers. Back
at the truck, Hoskins gets tossed from the back and is almost gets roadrash,
but Walker saves him with the Shield. He tries to hold on but is booted into a
car.
Sometime later, we see Sam and
Bucky walking back to the airport that their plane landed at. They agree that
need to figure out where the Flag Smashers got Super Soldier Serum, since it
seems really weird that there are now 8 Super Soldiers running around after 80
years. Walker and Hoskins pull up in a Jeep, they want to exchange information,
but Bucky is 100% not interested. Walker offers them a ride, which they end up
taking because they’re 20 miles from the airport. Sam asks how they tracked the
Flag Smashers, and they admit they didn’t, they tracked Redwing, much to Sam’s
disgust. So, hearing that they actually don’t have no new info, and hearing Hoskins’
codename of Battlestar, Bucky says screw this and gets out. Walker tries to
appeal to Sam, saying he’s not trying to replace Steve, he’s just trying to be
the best Cap he can be. He thinks the job will be easier with Cap’s wingmen
beside him. That last comment makes Sam also say screw this and get out.
Meanwhile, the Flag Smashers make
it to their drop off point. A gushing fan led them to a backroom that he and
his wife set up for them. As her team gets set up, Red get’s a text from
someone accusing her of stealing from them and that they’re going to kill her.
Her computer guy checks files and sees that they’re already on most wanted
lists, he goes to start trying to cover their internet tracks. We’re shown her
mug shot and it’s revealed that Red’s name is Karli Morgenthau. Karli claims
that the Global Reparations Council, an international group designed to help
people post-blip, cares more about the people who came back than those who
never left, and they’re going to fix it. Their chant is “One World, One People.”
On the flight back state-side, Sam
is annoyed that they did all that and have nothing to show for it. Bucky,
clearly uncomfortable the whole time, mentions that there is someone that Sam should
meet. They flyout to Baltimore. As they walk to their destination, they walk past
some kids that call Sam Black Falcon, and Sam asks that if he’s Black Falcon
because he’s Black, does that make the kid Black kid? It was just a funny
interaction. They reach a house, and Bucky knocks. A young man answers the
door, and tells them to beat it when Bucky asks to speak to Isiah. Bucky stops Eli
and tells him to tell Isaiah that the guy from the bar in Goyang is here to see
him. Eli goes to talk to him. While alone, Bucky mentions he faced off against
this guy during the Korean War.
Salute Captain Bradley, you uncultured swine!
Eli lets them in. They walk in and
meet Isaiah Bradley. Bucky mentions that they met in 51, but Isaiah corrects
him by saying he whipped his ass in 51. The only reason he let Bucky in was to
see if he got a replacement for that metal arm he ripped off. Bucky says he’s
not a killer anymore, but Isaiah doesn’t think it’s that easy to change his
stripes. Bucky explains that they’re there because there are more of them
running around, and that makes Isaiah get pissed. He tosses a metal case and embeds
in the wall at the mere mention of it. He tells them that, after getting the
injections and serving his country, he was arrested and held for 30 years as
the US government and HYDRA experimented on him. He kicks them out.
Outside, Sam is clearly pissed he
didn’t know about this Black Super Soldier. Bucky explains that he never told
him or Steve about Isaiah, believing the old soldier had enough to deal with.
They start arguing, and cops pull up. Oh… this is not going to go well… the
cops clearly have their backs up about Sam until they realize he’s the Falcon.
They go to their radio to call off more patrol cars, but then come back and
inform them that Bucky is under arrest. Turns out, he missed his therapy
appointment, so his parole was revoked. Yikes.
Sam makes it to the lockup, and
meets up with Bucky’s Therapist, introduced to us as Christina Raynor. Sam
thanks her for bailing Bucky out, but she admits he just came because she was
called. No, turns out the bail was posted by John Walker. He tells her to sign
whatever she has to, to get Bucky cleared, as he won’t exactly be having a
regular schedule from now on. Raynor tells both the released Bucky and Sam to
come with her for an emergency session.
More chemistry here than between the two cops
in 12 episodes of that old USA show Common Law
She’s going to treat this as a
couple’s therapy session. She tries to ask them what is one thing they’d want
to change about their partner, but neither gives a real answer. She has them
face each other and do a soul gazing exercise. They have to face each other and
get in real close, legs interlocked together. They stare at each other, Raynor
realizes they’ve turned this into a staring contest and makes them blink. She asks
Bucky why Sam aggravates him so much. Bucky asks why he gave up the Shield. Sam
acts like he’s being a dick again, but then Buck digs in deep and lets
everything out. Basically, he knows Steve trusted Sam and knew he’d be a good
fit for Captain America. But Sam doesn’t want to be him. So that means that
Steve was wrong about Sam. And if Steve was wrong about Sam, what if he was
wrong about Bucky? Okay, yeah, I can see why he’d be upset if that was running
through his mind. Sam says that he thinks he did the right thing. They agree to
work together this one last time, and then take a long, separate break from
each other for a while. Sam walks out. Bucky gets up to follow, asking what
rule 2 was again before departing.
Outside, Sam and Bucky run into Walker
and Hoskins. They found Karli’s name and think she’s taking the meds to a
refugee camp in central Europe. Walker wants to work with them, but Sam thinks that
the public eye and regulations that go with being “Captain America” means that
he wouldn’t be a good fit for free agents like Bucky and him. When he brushes
them off again, Walker warns them that they need to stay out of his way. Super.
The Flag Smashers are loading up a
plane in Bartislava, Sakovia. They get a text telling them that the Power
Broker’s men are after them. One of the Flag Smashers volunteers to stay behind
and hold them off. Karli and her crew load up the last of their supplies as he
drops a powerline to delay them. He gets gunned down while the plane takes off.
Back state side, Bucky has an idea
of who they could contact to get info on the Super Soldier Serum. Someone who
knew quite a bit about HYDRA’s projects. Sam is vehemently against contacting
him, but they have no other leads. So, they’re off to Munich to have a chat
with the single greatest terrestrial villain the Avengers ever up against,
Baron Helmut Zemo.
I liked how this episode characterized
John Walker in the first few minutes. He’s a confident man, but a tad arrogant.
He believes in the importance of Captain America, but doesn’t seem to get that
one can’t be NAMED the Captain, Captain America is made not chosen. I don’t
think he’s a bad man in this episode, just not the right man for the Shield. But
we’ll go into more detail about him as we go. The Flag Smashers are an interesting
crew. I like how they’re in principle a group that believes they’re bringing
about a better world, even if their methods are far too extreme. Fun fact, Karli
Morgenthau is a gender swapped character of Karl Morgenthau. In the comics he’s
part of an international terrorist group called ULTIMATUM and goes by the alias
Flag Smasher. He’s an anti-Captain America of sorts, being against nationalism
and government in general. The depiction of the character as a teenager seeking
to break up nations again is a nice spin on the character, I think. We’ll see
more of Karli in the episodes to come. Oh, and I loved seeing Isaiah Bradley.
For those who don’t recognize the name, he starred in a miniseries called Truth:
Red, White, and Black. The story is of a group of Black soldiers that were
given a copy of the Super Soldier Serum and sent on suicide missions for the
government. There were some 300 men in his original unit, 150 that made it
through the procedure, and eventually it was whittled down to Bradley. He
raided a concentration camp, but was arrested for stealing a Captain America
Uniform. That version of Bradley only spent 15 years in prison, but he was in
solitary for the majority of that time (that is soooo screwed up) and that
coupled with side effects of his imperfect serum left him mentally diminished. Like,
not braindead, but it’s implied his family has to help him with just about
everything and he’s pretty much incapable of speech. They updated his background,
obviously, so he didn’t work concurrently with Steve Rogers, but otherwise it
sounds like it’s very similar to his comic book origin. His Grandson, Eli, end
up carrying on the legacy of patriotic heroism as the Young Avenger, Patriot. I’m
hoping we’ll see some of that down the line. The legacy of Captain America and
Super Soldiers is going to be explored in this series, so I hope you’re ready
for that. Oh, and Zemo is coming back. How fun. Have a good night, everybody.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50444854
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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