![]() ![]() Yes, there’s likely two or three too many B-roll shots of boats on the water, and one too many needle drops, but once again, the sequence showcases that “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” is strongest when it allows its titular leads to play off one another. Now that’s obviously hyperbole, but it’s almost impossible not to notice the uptick in fun the minute Bucky shows up in Louisiana and introduces himself to Sarah (Adepero Oduye), much to Sam’s chagrin. Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, and Adepero Oduye in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” Then the episode shifts and becomes the show most fans of Sam and Bucky have been waiting for: Two Guys, A Boat, and Bouncy Disc. While beautifully acted by Lumbly, one can’t help but wish to have seen some of this in flashback, potentially as a stand-alone episode akin to “This Extraordinary Being,” the outstanding black-and-white entry in “Watchmen.” His following monologue reveals the entirety of Isaiah’s story, from being infected with the Super Soldier Serum in a manner echoing the Tuskegee Experiment, to fighting against the will of his captors to save his fellow soldiers, to being separated from his love and finally earning his freedom, only when a kind nurse forged a form listing him deceased. Them stars and stripes don’t mean nothin’ good to me”). Meanwhile, in a busy first half of the episode, Sam leaves behind his broken wings for Joaquin Torres to repair (and potentially sport), Bucky finds Zemo in Sokivia (and makes amends), the Flag Smashers realize that their actions have led to their closest allies being deported, and finally, Sam brings Cap’s shield to Isaiah Bradley’s doorstep. A character sometimes known as Madame Hydra in the comics, Val offers Walker a literal (in the parlance of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”) lifeline, stating that the best decision he ever made in his life is picking up the phone when she eventually calls him. Things couldn’t be looking worse for The Villain Formerly Known as New Cap, when a surprising face in a somewhat familiar place arrives in the form of Selina Meyer, er, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine ( Julia Louis-Dreyfus), or Val for short. Walker is promptly given a less-than-honorable discharge by the government, stripped of his rank, and set to receive no benefits in retirement. It takes all they can muster, but Sam and Bucky eventually defeat Walker, with a grimacing Bucky dropping the blood-soaked shield as if to say, “If you had just accepted it, none of this would have happened.” ![]() Wyatt Russell again busts out a Christian Bale-esque “I AM CAPTAIN AMERICA” before ripping the wings off Sam’s Falcon uniform (again, a likely nod to Bucky doing the same in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”). Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, and Wyatt Russell in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”Īs mentioned, “Truth’s” cold open kicked off with a three-way fight echoing the climactic sequence at the end of “Captain America: Civil War,” and while it’s arguable that everyone in that conflict had their own rational reasons for violence, this fight only cements how far John Walker has fallen since assuming the mantle of Captain America. With all due respect to The Flag Smashers, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and even scene stealer Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl), would this season not have been made inexorably better by condensing the events of the first four episodes into two, allowing for Sam and Bucky to form the partnership they do in this episode earlier, and then, you know, find and fight the big bad side-by-side? Much has been made about how knowing its best entry point can be critical to a show’s success, and while “Truth” didn’t feel like a pilot, it definitely felt like an early episode setting the table for an entire season to follow (give or take our titular heroes splitting up yet again at the end of the episode). ![]() ![]() That it took this long to get to this point might be the single greatest factor holding “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” back from being a really great limited series. These words, spoken by Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) halfway through “Truth,” the fifth episode of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” rather explicitly state the central point of conflict thus far in the series: Sam’s ongoing struggle with accepting the mantle Steve Rogers passed down to him. And even if they did, no self-respecting Black man would ever wanna be.” “They will never let a Black man be Captain America. ![]()
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