Today saw the first airing of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Episode 5: Truth. This episode was the longest yet and if you want to know what I thought of it SPOILER FREE Check out my thoughts below. Stick around after the image for a full SPOILERS discussion.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Episode 5: Truth is actually quite a slow going episode after last week. Though things pick up right where we left off, and do get kinda resolved, Truth is about the characters. Thankfully, after last week the least represented characters are the Flag Smashers. When they do appear they continue to lack any agency, but their parts are minimal. This Episode instead focusses on John Walker and Sam, and for that alone I enjoyed it greatly.
**Warning, SPOILERS for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Episode 5: Truth lie below this image.**
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Episode 5: Truth begins directly after Episode 4. That means Walker has just killed that Flag Smasher and Sam and Bucky have followed him to an abandoned warehouse. That can mean only one thing, fight! Walker won’t give up the shield and holds his own against Sam and Bucky. However, in the end, both manage to take down Walker and injure his arm ripping the shield from his grasp. Bucky goes after Zemo, and Sam, goes home.
From this point on everything settles down, and we get almost no action for the rest of the episode. Don’t think that makes Episode 5 boring though because it’s not. Sam heads back to America and seeks out Isiah Bradley once more, for a lengthier and less volatile chat. Isiah puts it into Sam’s head that he made the right call not accepting the shield because no black man would. However Sam you can tell is less sure of that.
Through some time with his family and some words of wisdom from Bucky Sam begins to have a change of heart. The decision has made when we go into full Rocky training montage mode. In fact, if you play the scene with the Rocky IV training montage music it would fit perfectly. We end Sam’s story with him opening a case Bucky has delivered to him from Wakanda. It’s his new Cap suit folks, obviously. You can find a good look at that new suit elsewhere on this site, I’ll link you Here.
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As for Bucky, he tracks down Zemo, who basically just gives up and the Wakandan heavies come in to take the Baron to his new home on The Raft. If you remember from Civil War, this is a prison for those with super abilities, so Zemo has gone up in the rankings. To be honest this was a I think my only main gripe so far with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. For me Zemo was almost the best thing in this series, and to have him not involved till the finale is disappointing.
Bucky is told to say away from Wakanda till things settle down, why, I’m not 100% sure. He used Zemo and delivered him back as promised? Before the Dora get on theor explorer Bucky asks them for one last favor. Clearly this favor was, ‘can you make Sam a kick ass Captain America suit made out of Vibranium and shit, and give it wings cause he likes that? Oh. and can I get it in a couple of days, because I need to hand it to Sam in literally the next few scenes? Thanks.’
Ok, we don’t know how long Sam has been back by the time Bucky appears with the shield. After all, Bucky has been to Sokovia, then made it back to America. Walker has gone through a military hearing where he was discharged and had the mantle of Captain America stripped from him. Oh, and the Flag Smashers, remember those guys?
Lost The Plot
Yeah fun times we’ve had with that crazy group. Well, the Flag Smashers have somehow made it to New York City without anybody spotting them and still no sign of any ability these Flag Smashers have to do anything but mope around in empty buildings talking about a revolution that makes no sense. For once the Flag Smashers have decided to do something, they are going to stop the GRC, (or is it GPR, who cares?) from taking a vote. That’s gonna show those pesky capitalist pigs how their decadent ways will be destroyed. I kid, but honestly the actual overall plot that is supposed to glue this show together is the kind of glue you were allowed to use at elementary school.
It’s ropey as hell. The Flag Smashers are non threatening, uninteresting, and impotent. The quickest way to win this conflict would have been for everyone to stay at home and drink Margaritas because Karli Morgenthau has no idea what she is up to. We are supposed to start caring about these refugees. and their plight. However, like I said last week, the writers have not given us enough of their backstory to make us empathetic. I’m honestly starting to think that a show where John Walker executes them all one by one might be more entertaining in a macabre way.
If there really was a rumored pandemic plot that was cut, then the writers were not given enough time to change it up. Next week, their assault on a building in New York will literally be the first time they’ve done anything meaningful in the show. Erin Kellyman is a decent actress from what I’ve seen, but what she has been give to do first in Star Wars and now the MCU is horrible.
The Final Word
I get that the writers needed to find something that would push Sam and John Walker together and apart. That conflict and the mantle of Captain America, that’s the real story here. The writing team just didn’t do enough with the antagonists to make it all fit together perfectly. As such, I find myself enjoying The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, but I’m not excited to see it’s conclusion. It’s all too predictable for me. I am enjoying the character moments, Sam, Bucky, Zemo, Walker, have all been great. However the dressing behind them feels opaque rather than detailed.
As such, no matter how good the finale next week is, I can’t see me rating The Falcon and The Winter Soldier very highly on my MCU scale. It’s good, it’s enjoyable, but it’s no classic. The shame is, with what the main cast are delivering, and what parts the writing team got right, it could have been.
Oh, and I can’t not talk about Sharon Carter. Once again we have more clues that she is either the Power Broker or working for them. If it happens, just remember I predicted this from Episode 3. However, I do wonder whether there is a twist in that tail. It’s now starting to look too obvious to me, and I’m not sure what her reveal as the Power Broker would do for the finale? We also had our mystery character revealed as a certain Madame Hydra, less well known as’ Val’. In the second related section below you can find a story all about where else Val is going to show up in the MCU.
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It seems as though Marvel is building towards a Thunderbolts team, and I’m guessing John Walker is in. However, in the meantime we have Walker hell bent on killing Karli Morgenthau with his home made Cap shield that will be as effective as a garbage lid. I guess it will up to the new Captain America to save the day in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier finale.
What did you think of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Episode 5: Truth? Let us know in the usual place below. And for a probably less cynical take, feel free to check out our dedicated Marvel podcast. Marvel Multiverse Mondays will be up on, well, Monday. Kyle, Nick and guests have been big fans so far. Maybe I’ll jump on this week and offer a different perspective?
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