The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Episode 6: "One World, One People" Recap and Review
The new Captain America spreads his wings in an exciting conclusion to the series.
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
Every hero has that defining moment, where they cross the threshold from being a bystander, to joining the fight. For most, that moment is defined with action: Steve Rogers defied orders and rescued 163 soldiers from behind enemy lines, and Tony Stark flew to a small village in the Middle East, saving it from a terrorist cell using his weapons. For Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), his moment is not defined by action, but by words. After all the dust had settled at the end of “One World, One People”, Sam, with the world watching, reiterated what it means to be Captain America. It’s not about the strength, or about being the perfect soldier. It is, and always has been, about being a good person, and doing what is right for all people. From the get go, it was obvious that the purpose of this series was to facilitate Sam’s transition from Falcon to Captain America. And while putting that large of a focus on Sam may have hindered the development of some of the other characters, Sam’s own journey was well constructed, and in the end felt satisfying.
Picking up where “Truth” ended, the Flag Smashers begin their assault on the G.R.C. vote. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is on the scene, calling Sam who is flying in. Bucky is joined by Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) who shows up to help. Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) sees Sam flying in, and calls for the Flag Smashers to gather the G.R.C.’s key voters. Just then, Sam flies in, wearing the stars and stripes in his new suit gifted to him by the Wakandans. He gives the G.R.C. counsel a chance to escape, and one stops to ask Sam who he is. Sam replies “I’m Captain America.” Sam begins directing people to escape when Batroc (Georges St-Pierre) flies in with a kick, and they have the re-match that the latter wanted. Bucky and Sharon split up to follow suspected Flag Smashers. Karli uses a drop phone to call Bucky directly, and tries to convince him to join her while he tries to convince her to stop, but neither are successful. Sharon follows a Flag Smasher into the parking garage, where he locks the G.R.C. counsel in two armored police vehicles. Bucky grabs a motorcycle and follows the police vehicles, while Sharon takes care of the one Flag Smasher with a poisonous mercury vapor grenade.
The Flag Smashers use a helicopter to take a few hostages. Knowing that he is the only one who can follow the helicopter, Sam cuts his fight with Batroc short, and escapes out the window. Sam chases the helicopter over the river, but taking it proves to be more difficult than he anticipated. Preparing for the end, Karli and the rest of the inner circle of Flag Smashers define their plan to use the hostages to stop the vote, or die trying. The helicopter, meanwhile, flies dangerously over the Hudson River, with Sam following close behind. It almost hits a police helicopter, sending it into a tailspin. Sam breaks off and saves the pilots of the police helicopter, landing safely on a bridge to the applause of nearby drivers. Karli and the Flag Smashers set up a roadblock to take control of the vehicles containing the G.R.C. council, but Bucky shows up and slows them down. To get away, Karli orders the burning of one of the vehicles. Bucky stops fighting to rescue those inside. Karli is about to escape when John Walker (Wyatt Russell) arrives on the scene with his own homemade shield. Walker attacks Karli, determined to get revenge for the death of Hoskins. As Bucky frees the hostages, Walker fights off the Flag Smashers. Just as they get the upper hand on Walker, Bucky steps in to help, but gets knocked into a construction site with one of the Flag Smashers. Sam finds out that one of the hostages in the helicopter has flight experience, and enlists her to help him take over the helicopter. In a daring move, Sam dives into the helicopter and knocks the Flag Smasher pilot into the Hudson, allowing the hostage to take over and save the others.
Without help, John Walker fights off the Flag Smashers and incapacitates most of them. Karli sees this, and decides to take the vehicle with the remaining hostages. She drives it into the pit where Bucky is, leaving it teetering over the edge. John Walker sees this, at the same time that he sees Karli attempting to escape, and makes a choice to save the people and let Karli go. He tries to pull the vehicle back to safety, but the Flag Smashers attack him and they all fall into the pit. The hostages begin to fall with them, but Sam arrives just in time use the rockets in his suit to save the vehicle as everyone watches. Karli tries to start the fight back up, but Sam stops her and tries to talk Karli down one last time. Batroc shows up with a few smoke grenades, and in the distraction, the Flag Smashers try to escape. Both Sharon and Batroc follow Karli and Sam, while Bucky and John follow behind them. Bucky and John break off to follow one trail, and Sam continues on another. Karli searches the tunnels for her friends, but finds Sharon instead. They have a very revealing conversation, and it is revealed that Sharon is in fact the Power Broker. Sharon tries to talk Karli into joining her again, but they are interrupted by Batroc who demands more money after learning Sharon’s identity. Sharon guns Batroc down and Karli puts a bullet into Sharon’s hip.
Sam runs in and finds Karli pointing a gun at Sharon. He once again tries to talk to her, but she attacks anyway. Sam refuses to fight back as Karli swings wildly. The other Flag Smashers follow the Flag Smasher app to what they believe are allies, but turns out to be a trap set by Bucky and John, which allows them to be taken into custody. Karli manages to get Sam at gunpoint. Just before she can fire, Sharon shoots Karli and kills her. Sam carries Karli’s body out of the pit, landing with her in his arms in front of the G.R.C. members and dozens of witnesses. The G.R.C. counsel thank Sam for saving them, but Sam has other ideas. Sam confronts them over their policies, and echoes the concern of Karli and the Flag Smashers. He explains that no matter what the challenges, it is their duty to keep working until they do what is best for everyone. Sam reunites with Bucky and they say goodbye to Sharon, unaware of her alter ego. The surviving Flag Smashers get taken away in another vehicle, with one of the guards escorting them revealing himself to be on their side by echoing their motto: “one world, one people.” However, the show immediately undercuts the breakout sequence that could’ve happened when the vehicle suddenly explodes, killing all of them. The explosion was triggered by Zemo’s butler, and Zemo (Daniel Brühl) leans back in his jail cell with satisfaction when he learns of their demise.
Days or weeks later, in an undisclosed government location, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) waits impatiently with John’s wife Olivia Walker (Gabrielle Byndloss). John finally emerges from the other room dressed in his new uniform: a slightly different, black version of his previous Captain America suit. Valentina looks over her newest subordinate, and dubs him US Agent: John Walker is back to serving his country. In New York, Bucky finally reveals to Yori (Ken Takemoto) that he was the cause of Yori’s son’s death, giving them both closure. Sam pays one last visit to Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), who finally warms up to him. Sam offers to take Isaiah and his grandson Eli (Elijah Richardson) to show them something. He takes them to the Smithsonian, and showing them a new statue and exhibit that honors Isaiah’s own history as a Super Soldier. Isaiah shakes Sam’s hand, and pulls him in for a well deserved hug. With the situation over, and a long road of work ahead, Sam takes the time to enjoy the moment and spend time with his family and Bucky in Louisiana. Sam and Bucky watch the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico together, as the sun also sets on “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”. In a mid-credits scene, Sharon Carter receives a full pardon for her past actions and is offered her previous job as an agent of the CIA, but all is not as it seems. Sharon accepts, leaves, then immediately reprises her position as the Power Broker by offering her new resources to the highest bidder.
The new, true Captain America has arrived, and he is glorious. The suit seems to have been ripped directly from Nick Spencer’s run in the comics. Having Sam decide to take up the mantle of Captain America in the previous episode provided the opportunity for Anthony Mackie to showcase exactly who his Captain America is for the duration of this episode. In terms of physicality, Sam is no Steve Rogers, but that doesn’t exactly mean Sam’s a pushover. That being said, he did have a stalemate with Batroc, and would have been killed by Karli. What unifies the two Captain Americas is their heart. The reason Sam and Steve got along so well, was that they shared the same morals and principles that made them good people. Sam may have lacked Steve’s combat skills, but made up for it with daring rescues, using his ability to fly to his full advantage. It wasn’t explicitly said, but I do believe he got a vibranium upgrade to his wings, and maybe vibranium weave in his suit. At one point, he curled up behind his wings and the shield, and a helicopter’s main rotor bounced right off of it without leaving so much as a scratch. Sam’s first speech as Captain America to the G.R.C. council defines him as a person. He knows both sides of how people feel when they see him as Captain America, but does it anyway because “what is the point of all the pain and suffering if he doesn’t get back up and keep fighting?” This new Captain America is well deserving of the mantle, and will be a great centerpiece for the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward.
Bucky took a back seat this episode, but in the end he finally gained closure by providing it to Yuri. The last few episodes gave Sebastian Stan a bit more to work with in terms of range. Early on in the season, he carried himself with a dark but level intensity, but his interactions with Ayo (Florence Kasumba), Sam’s family, and Yuri, gave Bucky more emotion than has really been seen from him before, and is something to expand upon in the future. He even showed a little banter with John Walker, who felt a little off from his previous characterization. Last episode, Walker became unhinged and deranged, but he makes one decision to save a vehicle full of people rather than attack Karli, and suddenly he’s stable again? His actions on paper seem to only be unstable in the heat of the moment while grief stricken, but as Bucky and Sam have both seen, he can still be short tempered, volatile and unstable under normal circumstances. We’ll see how much of that follows him into his new role as US Agent. Walker also received a new suit that Marvel, again, absolutely nailed. Its dark color hints at stealth missions, which seem to be exactly what Valentina Allegra de Fontaine was going for. Having Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the MCU will no doubt be great: her take on Valentina is a sarcastic delight that has massive sinister undertones. What could be on the horizon for Walker and Valentina is a run at the Dark Avengers, a group of anti-heroes that fill in for the Avengers, not to be confused with the Thunderbolts, a group of outright villains who do the exact same thing. The Thunderbolts however are led by Thunderbolt Ross who is currently Secretary of State, in control of the Raft, and is played by William Hurt. The Raft is of course also the new residence of Baron Helmut Zemo, who is often the leader of the Thunderbolts. Daniel Brühl’s character is loved by fans and has become a very popular meme. Whether it be the Dark Avengers or Thunderbolts, Marvel has an Avengers-shaped hole to fill. Then there is Sharon Carter. Sharon’s presence in the MCU will be drastically different following the reveal that she is in fact the Power Broker. This was speculated early on, but I wasn’t totally convinced, and even her motives at the end were a tad convoluted, but that does not necessarily matter. The full heel-turn for the character makes the character infinitely more interesting than her past appearances, which have been criticized for being flat and nothing more than just a minor love interest for Steve. Even if she turns out to be a villain similar to Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) or Sonny Birch (Walton Goggins), her history with the MCU will give her a better villainous dynamic with the heroes of the MCU.
As a whole, the series has had its hits and misses. The tone swings wildly back and forth, and the pacing becomes an issue in some spots, but taken as a six-part action movie it was overall entertaining. Its third act was particularly great. The action was superb, with great performances from Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, and the arguable MVP of the series, Wyatt Russell. Everyone gets their payoff in the end, including Zemo, who was locked up in the Raft at the time. There was a stumble or two, one in particular being John Walker’s quick turn from deranged to stable, but great action set pieces and emotional payoffs like that of Isaiah Bradley lift this episode up as a whole. This series needs a season two. “WandaVision” felt complete in the end, and its conclusion meant that there was no way to return to the Hex, but “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” has many different avenues it could head down. A team like the Thunderbolts, Dark Avengers or even the Young Avengers could be introduced via this series, and a villain like Sharon Carter could provide major problems for the heroes. Ultimately, this felt like a first season more than a miniseries: a start to something bigger, so in the grand scheme of things, the series has succeeded in making me excited for the future of Captain America and the Winter Soldier.