It's a Captain America: Civil War reunion y'all. With a cameo that NOBODY saw coming. And by nobody, I mean just me. Because OF COURSE [REDACTED] was gon' turn up.
Episode 3 titled Power Broker opens with a commercial, which threw me back to WandaVision and also Ichiban Holdings (shout-outs to my Yakuza: Like a Dragon players). In case anybody missed it in episode 2, the commercial explicitly clarifies what the Global Repatriations Council is, and that its purpose is to provide relief for the blip-backers; because after 5 years of being gone, of course they may not have homes, jobs or even countries to return to.But the purpose of this commercial isn’t just to tell us who the GRC are, but to contrast with the following scene of GRC Raid Police vans pulling up. So it would seem that the GRC aren’t all that they say they are. Karli already said that they’re more focused on the blip-backers than the un-blipped. And in this episode they seem more concerned with policing and rationing than actually supporting those that need it.
So we go right from a cute lil’ GRC "We Are the World" commercial to a GRC Police van pulling up, with Dollar Tree Cap raiding the Internet café that Karli ‘n’ dem were at, and of course they’re no longer there. We already see that Dollar Tree Cap isn’t wonderfully equipped for the job when he isn’t even able to engage the Internet café owner in German and has to have Battlestar step in to do it. But then John starts throwing his weight around, which leads to him getting spat in the face and then screaming ‘dO yOu KnOw WhO i Am!?’, to which Internet café man says ‘Yes bitch, and I don’t care’. It’s clear that John Walker has anger management issues and that he is under immense pressure to get some form of result to prove his worth to more than just the public. It’s the moment we all knew was coming, but I think flipping John Walker into complete arsehole mode came too soon. Especially after an episode which went to lengths to try and paint him as a good guy, who may be a bit of an arse. We could have done without this entire scene altogether. John makes an appearance at the end of the episode and says some shady shit, which I actually think worked better for the character, because it was more snide and subtle.
Episode 2 ended with Sam and Bucky saying that they had to go so Zemo. So, see Zemo they do. Bucky says it’s best if he goes and speaks to Zemo alone, and Sam is naturally like ‘Bitch, what!?’. Because he, like us, remembers that Zemo was the one who turned him full Winter Soldier the last time, which led to Bucky knocking Sam clean out, beating up ALL of the Avengers, and then dragging Steve Rogers down into a lake from a helicopter. But Bucky reminds Sam that Zemo hates Avengers, which he does. So Sam complies. But we discover the real reason was for Bucky to help Zemo escape.Chile, Sam can't trust nobody.
Zemo is a piece of shit, so of course the first things he says are the Russian trigger words for The Winter Soldier that turned Bucky into a killing machine in Captain America: Civil War, but we actually see that Shuri’s work and Bucky’s time in Wakandan Rehab actually worked. Zemo seems both disappointed, but also impressed. Bucky gets right to it and tells Zemo that he needs his help. But as all villains do when they’re visited by a hero, Zemo gets in a quip of how desperate Bucky must be to be asking for his help. And if he could, Bucky woulda looked right into the camera.
Sam and Bucky have been thrown into this adventure by circumstance, their shared appreciation of Steve, and that damn shield. But there’s been no moment of them actually committing to one another as a form of duo. Sam and Bucky are both aligned on the fact that the super soldier serum is a problem, but do not agree on a lot of things in regards to how to get answers. Bucky wants to break Zemo out of prison, Sam is against it. Sam doesn’t just highlight the illegality of busting somebody out of prison, but the immorality of it and how Wakanda will be PISSED when they find out that Bucky broke out the killer of their former king. A foreshadowing of who turns up at the end of the episode.The banter between Sam and Bucky is always gold, but it also does a great job of highlighting why Sam would make a better Captain America over Bucky; which is oft a discussion which crops up in the fandom - especially due to Bucky doing a stint as Cap in the comics. But what this show keeps highlighting is how despite Bucky being one of the good guys, he still operates in the grey zone and is far more comfortable doing so than Sam. But also, I don’t think Bucky actually wants to be Captain America, because be knows as well as we all do, that he never will be. Not with all that red in his ledger. Also, he has issues with bureaucracy and would of course be distrustful of being the tool of anybody, especially after living most of his life as one. But at the same time Bucky represents a part of Steve, as well as his blind spot. Steve for the most part did the right thing, except when it came to Bucky. He acted as a friend, but not as Captain America should have. Sam doesn’t have that same connection to anybody that would cause him to act as Steve did, but maybe Bucky could become that person.
There’s a lot more to Sam and Bucky's dynamic than I thought there would be, and it’s actually more interesting than just ‘They both knew Steve and they both fought alongside Captain America’. It's great to see the show explore them separate from the legacy of Steve Rogers, and that they both each have a lot of work to do on themselves.
I also have to note that Zemo’s prison break is one of the easiest prison breaks I think I’ve ever witnessed in any TV show or film in my fucking life. I’ve had a harder time leaving the office building at work. But, whatever. It’s a super hero trope that villains never stay in prison anyway, so why waste any more time than necessary making that shit super elaborate.
One thing that Marvel have shown they’re great at with these shows thus far, is taking an event or a character and adding this whole other dimension that we never knew of prior. With Wanda, it was ‘SHE WAS A WITCH AND HAD POWERS THE WHOLE DAMN TIME’. With Zemo, it’s that ‘Oh, he rich’. Zemo is a Baron and was born into Sokovian aristocracy. Sokovia no longer exists, because...well. The Avengers blew it out of the sky in Avengers: Age of Ultron. But he still got money tho. Zemo being rich is something that many people online seem to find really strange for some reason. It makes complete sense as to how he was able to fund resources and travel all around the world in Captain America: Civil War to do what he did. It’s crazy that the ONE thing in this entire episode, or show to date, that people have a hard time believing is that Zemo, a villain, has hella money!? Y’all got me confused.
Zemo seems very cooperative throughout this episode. He of course is going to double-cross and pull some foolishness at some point in this series. But Zemo never hides who he is or makes himself to be something that he’s not. In fact, he is more forthcoming about his sense of self than either Sam or Bucky, and actually gives them more of himself than they’ve given to one another. Sam still isn’t open with Bucky about why he really gave up the shield, and Bucky is just a closed book generally. It’s what makes the dynamic of Zemo, Sam and Bucky so interesting. Especially as Zemo knows all about Bucky and Steve, but doesn't really know much about Sam.But the great thing with how this show handles Zemo off the bat, is that we don’t just get a sense of his ideologies, but who he is as a person separate from just wanting the world rid of superheroes playing some type of God. He likes to cook, he’s cultured and he has a very clear understanding of how the world works. We’ve seen Sam and Bucky both struggle to acclimatise into life as regular folk. Zemo on the other hand has no problem with it, and slips into different roles and wears different hats to get shit done - something that Sam and Bucky have never had to consider or do, because as superheroes all they had to do was just fight the big thing that made its presence known to them.
The Marvel shows thus far have done a stand-up job of really opening up the world in terms of introducing new factions and locations which will absolutely be factored into some of the upcoming films. The introduction of S.W.O.R.D in WandaVision was cool. But The Falcon and The Winter Soldier goes one better with Madripoor. This is a Marvel canon location and one which holds significance in the X-Men universe. It’s basically Gotham City, but in Southeast Asia with a Cyberpunk aesthetic. Wolverine owns a bar there (which we actually see) and at some point in certain timelines, various X-Men have lived there. Undoubtedly YouTube is gonna go WILD and see it as the introduction of the X-Men. But y’all. It’s just a location, for now. But it’s great to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe really open up and establish a new location, and one which has a large amount of significance in the comics.In fact, in the comics Madripoor has connections to factions and people we've already met in the MCU. Hydra did all kinds of skullduggery in Madripoor and Nick Fury has a secret S.H.I.E.L.D base there. And speaking of S.H.I.E.L.D, in this show, Madripoor is also where we are reintroduced to Sharon Carter; a former S.H.I.E.L.D agent who had to go on the run after she was branded an enemy of the state for aiding Captain America (who people forget was an illegal bitch by going against the Sokovia accords) by stealing his shield and Falcons wings to enable him to keep doing illegal shit.
Zemo fits right in at Madripoor and is known there, as is Bucky due to his infamous stint The Winter Soldier. Sam looks and feels like a fish out of water. He seems fully uncomfortable with the situation, which further shows now only how blue he is, but that he has a moral compass which points far too strongly in the right direction to be in Madripoor. If Sam was street smart, he would have hustled some money to save the Wilson family home and that boat.HENNYWAY.
Madripoor is more than just ‘HEY. IT’S AN X-MEN LOCATION’ though. Because it’s yet another instance of the show really hammering home that grey zone and also how people can fall into it. Some do so willingly. Bucky has to pretend to be Zemo’s bodyguard as The Winter Soldier. But we see that he hardly has to pretend, because he falls right back into a killing machine when the moment calls - which is exactly why his ass shoulda been stayed in therapy. Others, like Sharon, are forced into the grey zone. Being branded an enemy of the state meant that Madripoor was the only place she could escape to. And in order to live there and thrive, she had to build up a lucrative reputation. One so good that she can afford to live in the nice part of Madripoor known as High Town. Sharon is so well connected in Madripoor and living so lush, that it’s plausible that she could be the elusive Power Broker. It’d be a cool twist if she were, which would have big implications for the MCU going forward. But the most unfortunate are the ones who end up in the grey zone via hierarchy or systematic circumstance. Which is where the Flag-Smashers fall. Tossed out by society, where the grey zone was the only place for them to go. And we find out that Karli and the sexy bank robbing Flag-Smasher from episode 1 were both in Madripoor at some point. It’s how Karli got the serums.Oh, yeah. Turns out the serums were made in Madripoor by some scientist. Sam and Bucky find him, but Zemo kills him. Because, of course he does. He wants the world to be rid of super soldiers. So Bucky better sleep with one eye open.
In the midst of this we see that Flag-Smasher Karli Morgenthau is mourning the death of somebody close to her who goes by the name Donya. She’s left pretty enigmatic. But what we do know is that she’s somebody who not only Karli, but many people in this one particular camp for the un-blipped and displaced respected. She was a central figure who dedicated herself to providing for everybody. So it seems that Karli is trying to carry on the work of what she did. In a way, you could draw a parallel between Donya and Captain America. Both left legacies that impacted a large number of people and set specific individuals on a path to continue the work that they did. Karli wants to carry on Donya’s legacy via the Flag-Smashers and provide for those in need. Sam doesn’t know it, nor realise it yet, but he’s already carrying on the legacy of Captain America.But all thoughts of ‘Oh, maybe Karli isn’t so bad’ goes out of the window when she decides to rob a GRC camp, tie up the people that work there, then bomb the place. It’s a really bizarre moment which isn’t even shocking. It’s just dumb. Because it made me wonder why the show tried to set Karli up as potentially being good, if it was just going to have her kill innocent people IN THE NEXT EPISODE. There’s no redemption or way back from this now. No matter what good deed she does, it’s always going to come back to ‘But she killed innocent people’ and for absolutely NO reason. She said ‘This is the only language these people understand’, but even that was bullshit. Those words would have carried far more weight if the GRC themselves had orchestrated an attack or a raid on a camp for the un-blipped and displaced, for no reason than to establish authority.
Then there’s Sharon, who is a far different character from who she was when we last saw her in Civil War. First off, there was no ‘Oh, how’s Steve’. I think Marvel retrospectively realised it was really strange for her to kiss Steve mere hours after her Granny died. Her Granny of whom was Peggy Carter, who Steve loved and went back in time to marry. But Sharon is also an all knowledgeable, widely resourceful head bitch in Madripoor now. She’s got connections in high places, she lives in the boujie part of Madripoor, and she even has an assistant who picks her up after the mess that ensues when they track down the scientist making the super serum. Many are speculating that Sharon herself might be the elusive Power Broker, and it’s not that much of a stretch.
But one of the most compelling moments with Sharon is when she talks about the legacy of Captain America. She doesn’t buy into any of it and believes that the whole hero appointment deal is bullshit, which in a way aligns her thoughts with Zemo’s. It makes sense that Sharon would feel this way given what her life has become because of superheroes and institutions that foster them. After years of serving the US government she’s then branded an enemy of the state for helping Captain America, who despite being America’s hero was then branded a fugitive. And then before that, it turned out that S.H.I.E.L.D, who she also dedicated years of her life to, was a front for supremacists. No wonder she’s done with it all. Even when you think you’re on the right side and fighting for the right thing, you end up under the tyres, and then you’re suddenly the one on the wrong side of things.All of this is why Sharon being the Power Broker would not only be cool, but provide so many questions to delve into in regards to the super soldier serum. Especially given that her grandmother played such an integral part in the creation of it, and that Captain America’s shenanigans on two occasions is what cost her two jobs and turned her life upside down.
Bitch. We could have a whole ass show on Sharon alone. It’s a shame The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is only 6 episodes long, because if the show does reveal Sharon to be the Power Broker or more than who she lets on, there’s not going to be much time to get into the hows and whys without a whole monologue. I’d rather the show didn’t go into it, and left things open enough for it to become another story for another day. Emily VanCamp is so good as Sharon, that I'd be down for her getting her own series, or being a regular in another. But I might be biased, because I was a big fan of the mess that was Revenge, and Sharon has literally become the character she was in that show.
Episode 3 was a weird episode for me, because it felt very different to episodes 1 and 2, which seemed far more character driven and circumstance focused. Episode 3 felt like...a lot. It was the one episode which felt the most movie-like in its structure and how it moved through things - probably due to it being written by the writer of the John Wick movies, Derek Kolstad. This would also explain the pace, the whole Bounty mass text alert and why Sharon was just killing everybody in Madripoor like it wasn't shit.
I honestly feel that what transpired in this episode was too much for one episode, and that the brevity of how it whizzed through things hurt it. Also, certain moments we got from characters such as John and Karli came too soon. The issue with this episode was that motivations weren’t always clear, and there were A LOT of characters whose motivations needed to be better established. The one thing that really saved this episode for me was Ayo's appearance at the end of it. Because OF COURSE Wakanda would know that Zemo has been broken out of prison, would want him taken into Wakandan custody seeing as Germany did such a trash job of keeping him detained, and that it would be the first Dora Milaje that we ever saw in the MCU to come and get his ass. I don't know how I didn't see this shit coming.
John Walker just being an arsehole was a moment that we needed, but it came SO soon. And Karli going straight into villain mode was dumb. I feel like we needed one more episode which featured these characters ascending to these moments. Especially after the groundwork which was laid in episode 2 to make us sympathise with these characters. But now I’m like ‘Yep. John Walker can fuck himself and Karli needs to be taken out’. That grey zone with these characters isn’t so grey any more. But let’s see how it pans out. John isn’t quite the villain just yet, but Karli most certainly is.