Roar Cat Reads

Tag: Sam Wilson

  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 6 RECAP – One World, One People

    The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 6 RECAP – One World, One People

    The finale is indicative of the show as a whole: Uneven but full of beautiful, paradigm-shifting moments. I can’t say that the show is one I’ll go back to, but certain scenes stand out as some of the most important in Marvel history.

    We start with Karli and her super soldier pals holding the GRC meeting hostage. Bucky arrives to save the day (Bucky is called “Sergeant Barnes”??), and Sharon also shows up. Sam bursts through a window in the new Captain America suit, and he looks great! I love this new iteration of Cap that is a combination of shield and wings. The extra tech makes his ability to hero without the serum believable, and I got serious feelings when the subtitles called Sam “Captain America.”

    Baltroc shows up to fight, and Karli calls Bucky to convince him to join her side as a diversion so that the GRC people can be loaded into police vans as obvious hostages. Karli admits that she is willing to kill the hostages if negotiating doesn’t work out, and her super soldier pals are not so bloodthirsty. In the midst of OH MY GOODNESS SO MUCH ACTION, Sam shows off his wings as a shield, and we see people reacting to him as Captain America for the first time.

    It’s a super soldier stand off, and Karli lights a van on fire to distract Bucky. John Walker shows up in his homemade Cap suit and shield, and Karli says, “I don’t want to hurt people who don’t matter” in reference to Lamar. Oh man, that is some LOADED language in this Black Lives Matter time, and John attacks her for it before deciding he would rather save people than kill her. I really love the ambiguity that the show has allowed John to live in. He’s not a hero OR a villain. He’s just a dude who has white privilege and power but wants to do good. It’s a mess, and that’s a story worth telling (as a B plot to a black man’s story of ascension).

    “Thats the Black Falcon, I tell you.”

    “Nah, that’s Captain America.”

    Just when things settle down, Baltroc gasses the place, forcing everyone underground. Sharon shows up to confront Karli and reveals that she is the Power Broker. It is not a surprise after the last episode, and I’m so glad they went in this direction! Being a villain will be the most interesting thing Sharon ever does.

    Baltroc shows up to blackmail Sharon, but she’s having none of it. She kills him, getting show by Karli in the process. There were seriously a lot of bad guys in this show, huh? Sam appears to “fight” Karli, and he’s still trying to save her. She tells him to “Stay down,” and in an excellently succinct version of Steve’s “I can do this all day,” Sam just says, “No.” Karli aims to shoot, but Sharon gets there first, and Sam cradles her as Karli dies. She says, “I’m sorry,” with her last breath, but…I don’t believe her. She has never once seemed sorry for her actions.

    The police arrest Super Soldier B Team with Bucky and John’s assistance, and they share a pat on the back as they walk away. It’s really nice to see Bucky moving on past his hatred of someone else in Steve’s suit.

    We’re only halfway through the episode, and all of the bad guys are either dead or arrested! (Except Sharon, who no one realizes is bad.) In a beautifully evocative scene, a Madonna/Sam descends from on high carrying Karli like a Pieta Messiah. He gives an inspiring speech to the GRC leaders, insisting that they should stop calling people terrorists and instead ask why they’re doing what they are doing. This is such a nice change from the old American ideal of “we don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

    He continues by pointing out that the Blip has enabled everyone to understand what it feels like to be helpless. He urges the leaders to lean into that experience and use it to connect with the needs of people worldwide. I was positively ready to stand with my hand to my heart when he says, “The question is, who’s going to be in the room with you when you’re making those decisions? People who are going to be impacted, or more people just like you.” I love Sam!

    Loose ends are tied up when the police van bearing four super soldiers is blown up by Zemo’s butler. Valentina’s chaos energy is high when she waffles on whether she’s responsible for it before fawning over John Walker’s new outfit. She says, “Things are about to get weird. We won’t need a Captain America. We’re going to need a U.S. Agent.”

    Bucky finally makes amends by telling his elderly friend from episode one what really happened to his son. It’s heartbreaking, and while I wish there were a little more resolution to that scene, any more would have felt out of place. He also leaves a gift for his therapist – the notebook with all amends crossed off and a thank you card!

    Sam visits Isaiah and gives another inspiring speech, insisting that black people built America, and he’s not going to let anyone stop him from fighting for it after everything his people have done for it. AND THEN! Sam takes Isaiah and his grandson to the Smithsonian, where a new exhibit has been added to the Captain America hall. A statue of Isaiah and a plinth describing his story. They share an emotional hug, and my entire heart explodes.

    The show ends with a party in Louisiana, and I hope we will see this setting again in future movies! When the title card comes up, it says Captain America and the Winter Soldier, which is VERY satisfying albeit a little weird, since there is already a movie with that name.

    In the post-credits scene, Sharon is pardoned and welcomed back into the CIA. She gleefully informs someone on the phone that they’re about to come into a lot of government secrets. I can’t wait to see where her story goes!

    And that’s it! The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is over. As I said up top, the series felt pretty uneven, but this was a story that very much needed to be told and deserved to be told. It makes me very excited for Phase 4 of Marvel. I think we’re actually going to get more diverse stories. I mean, man, we’re STILL waiting for that Black Widow movie so many of us were begging for nine years ago. They failed then, but they’re working on changing things with WandaVision‘s focus on female grief and power and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier addressing race relations in America. I am all in!

  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 5 RECAP – Truth

    The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 5 RECAP – Truth

    I heard that this is the episode that would make me cry. It didn’t make me cry, but it was SO GOOD OH MY GOSH I HAD SO MANY WONDERFUL FEELINGS!!

    First, we’ve got to start with New Cap (who will henceforth be known as John), who we left towering over a corpse with murder blood dripping from his shield. I was ready to throw him out with yesterday’s trash, but seeing him grieve Lamar made me unwillingly sympathetic. I should have expected this from all the other times they’ve resisted turning John into a cartoon villain.

    Sam and Bucky show up, and John is paranoid, thinking they’ve come to take the shield. I roll my eyes, but that is what they are here for! All three fight, and it feels a bit like the Civil War fight between Captain America, Winter Soldier, and Iron Man. He says the most white man thing imaginable: “Why are you making me do this?” Booo! He goes full crazy and screams, “I am Captain America” before attempting to BEHEAD SAM WILSON!? Oh man.

    Bucky swoops in and takes him out, and Sam picks up the shield. It feels very powerful to see a black man wipe blood off of Captain America’s shield. Chills! This episode is all about Sam deciding that he wants to take the shield, and it begins when he leaves his wings behind with Torres.

    John is formally stripped of his title as Captain America, and he calls out the US military for making him what he is. By this point in the episode my eyes were SO BIG because I could not believe that the Disney/Marvel/US military industrial complex was explicitly addressing racism and military misjudgments. And then Julia Louis-Dreyfus swoops in and steals the scene as an absolute show stopper with a purple streak in her hair. I love her immediately and I cannot wait to see what her role will be in future movies. She’s got to wind up in a movie, right? She’s such a big name!

    Karli and her super soldier friends find out that the refugees in Latvia have been taken because they abetted the Flag Smashers. It’s amazing how quickly I don’t care about this subplot anymore. I just want Sam and – oh okay, a quick aside of Zemo and Bucky at the Sokovia memorial. Bucky “shoots” Zemo with an empty gun, and it’s a very nice (though scary) display of the control he has over the murderous impulses Zemo once tried to harness. The Dora Milaje show up to take him away, and I am confident he will reappear in future Marvel properties.

    NOW we get to Sam, who is visiting Isaiah in one of the best scenes in Marvel history. Isaiah tells his story, how the US military experimented upon him, jailed him for saving his partners, and erased him for 30 years before a nurse had pity and smuggled him out under the pretense that he was dead. By then, his wife was gone, and he had lost all respect for America.

    “You think things are different? You think times are different? They will never let a black man be Captain America. And even if they did, no self-respecting black man would ever wanna be.”

    Honestly, I would have been crying at this point if I weren’t so damn shocked that the show was allowing black pain and righteous anger to take center stage. I’m just white girl; I hope this meant a lot to black folks who are watching. I can’t wait to scour Twitter to see how all of this went over for people who understand far more intimately than I ever can.

    Sam goes back to Louisiana, and the heaviness is balanced with the charm and hopefulness of community coming together to fix the family boat! Bucky shows up too, and hits on Sarah. Now, I am a huge Stucky fan, but I was INTO IT. He also brings Sam a gift from the Wakandans, which we don’t get to see. I am also VERY INTO THIS, because I think it heralds a fundamental shift in the Marvel universe. Tony Stark, rich white guy, is no longer the supplier of cool tech. The Africans will take that over, thank you very much!

    AND THEN John visits Lamar’s mom and family, and I am fully struck by how unusual it feels to get to see a black family mourning the untimely death of their son. MORE OF ALL OF THIS PLEASE! Unfortunately, John says that the man he killed was responsible for Lamar’s death, which isn’t true! He’s telling himself lies to make him feel better.

    We get a brief scene of Sharon talking to Batroc on the phone, saying she got him out of prison, This confirms that she is the Power Broker, right? There’s not much more time left in this show, but hopefully she will have a bigger part to play in future movies! It would also be awesome to show more consequences of the US government forgetting and abusing people who are not straight white men!

    Bucky awakes on the couch to little black boys playing with Captain America’s shield and my heart fell out of my butt I love this episode so much! Sam and Bucky practice with the shield outside, and Bucky confirms that Steve talked to him about his plan, which is a nice BFF acknowledgment. Then he admits that neither Steve nor Bucky understood what it would mean to hand the shield to a black man. I am 100% sold on this show now; it would have felt disingenuous for Sam to immediately take up the mantle of Captain America without having space to work out if he wants it or if America deserves it.

    The vulnerability continues with Bucky breaking every heart with, “That shield’s the closest thing I’ve got to a family.” Sam is a super stunner with his warm but no- nonsense counseling advice. This scene, more than any fight, made me see Captain America in him. I am so ready for Sam Wilson, Captain America!.

    I’m really glad that Sam saves his decision for his sister, though. This is a conversation that needs to happen between family, between people who understand the struggle of being a black person in the USA.

    “What would be the point of all the pain and the sacrifice if I wasn’t willing to stand up and keep fighting?”

    That’s the most Captain America thing I’ve ever heard!!! We are treated to a solo Sam montage with bicep closeups and subtly patriotic shirts. It is working, because I am feeling patriotic; give this man America! He does parkour and everything!

    It is so anticlimactic to shift focus back to Karli, who gets bombs or something from Batroc and demonstrates how many people are on the Flag Smashers side. They act like zombies, and in NYC, the GRC are in trouble. I don’t care!! Just give me more Sam!

    We do get one last glimpse of Sam, finally opening the box from Wakanda. Is it new outfit time? We don’t get to see, and for once I’m excited for a week’s worth of speculation about what it will look like. Personally, I am very torn between wanting it very patriotic (THIS is America, bitch!) or something entirely new for a new age. I will likely be happy no matter what.

    Oh, and we get a mid-credits scene of John making his own shield. We’re done with you! I only want Sam in Louisiana with his family and future brother-in-law Bucky.

    That was an emotionally intense episode!
    How does your enthusiasm compare to mine?
    Leave a comment and let me know.

  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 4 RECAP – The Whole World is Watching

    The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 4 RECAP – The Whole World is Watching

    I am now officially confident that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would have been better if it had been released all at once rather than weekly. Every episode I start with low enthusiasm, but by the time it’s over I’m eager for more. In contrast, WandaVision was a perfect show to be released weekly, because it left us each week with a mystery to discuss and unpack. TFATWS is just one long story that loses momentum when it’s cut into chunks.

    Anyway, this was an episode all about Ideas. In particular: Can black and white heroes exist in a grey world? I have to say, I like it! The show could use some space to breathe and show rather than tell quite so much, but I’m really enjoying how I find myself sympathizing with everyone, even nincompoops running around Latvia in red, white, and blue with a shield complex.

    We start with the best scene of the night (objectively? Or only for Bucky fans?) in a Wakandan flashback to Ayo helping Bucky break free from the words that have controlled him for decades.. Um, it’s like, really beautiful. I did not expect to be hit with Feels right away!

    However, in the present moment, Ayo is PISSED that Bucky freed the man who murdered King T’Chaka. She gives him 8 hours to use Zemo before the Dora Milaje bust in (I am already excited for them to bust in, and spoilers, it’s very good when they do!)

    Zemo and Sam set up the basic argument of the show. Now that Karli the super soldier has starting killing people and setting demands, Zemo believes she is a hopeless supremacist who cannot be unradicalized. Sam empathizes with her motivation and believes he can change her mind about her methods if he can just talk to her. They stop arguing about philosophy to grill people about the location of Donya Madani’s funeral. Sam and Bucky get nowhere, but creepy songs and Turkish delights is enough to get Zemo the answer. He tells the children that Sam and Bucky are bad men, not to be trusted, but this does not pay off at any point in the episode. Strange.

    Sharon makes some guest appearances to heighten the general tension of the show, insisting that Madripoor is going to get nasty now that the guy who creates super serum is dead. I…really hope Sharon is the Power Broker.

    In a runner up for best scene of the episode, Karli and her friend push a SECRET TOMB BUTTON to uncover their SECRET FANNY PACK OF SERUM. Then Karli’s friend admits that he didn’t think there could be another Captain America until he met Karli, outlining the conflict of who gets to be hero quite nicely.

    “Today’s heroes don’t have the luxury of keeping their hands clean.”

    Sam is going to put his philosophy to the test; he gets ten minutes to connect with Karli before New Cap and Hoskins will ride in. He’s doing great, and they are really connecting! I am simultaneously so happy to see Sam using his counseling skills and so furious that they are literally having a conversation about oppression, and Sam is not allowed to explicitly name being a black man in a racist world. C’mon Disney! You’ve honestly surprised me with some heartfelt commentary on racism in America – just name it!

    New Cap screws everything up by guilting Bucky into distrusting Sam’s abilities. Zemo escapes, shoots Karli, and takes the serum….just to destroy them! Interesting! When New Cap knocks Zemo out, he gets creepy music AND a creepy head tilt before stealing the last vial of super soldier serum. This won’t end badly!

    Zemo and Sam continue their philosophy talk, and just when I’m ranting about the rich man deciding that gods can’t exist among normal people, Sam is all, “Isn’t that how gods talk?” Yeah, Sam! Unfortunately they are interrupted by New Cap, who no longer opens doors. He kicks them open with patriotism! The Dora Milaje arrive to apprehend Zemo, and New Cap TELLS THEM TO PUT DOWN THEIR POINTY STICKS. Neither Ayo nor I are having any of this patronizing bullshit, and they utterly hand his ass to him. This is also a runner up for second best scene in the episode because of three delicious moments:

    1. Zemo calmly drinks while fighting rages around him.
    2. Bucky’s poor confused face when Ayo ninja pokes his arm off.
    3. A Dora Miljae holds Captain America’s shield! (All too briefly.)

    New Cap feels bad that he’s losing fights to non-serumed soldiers, and just when I’m at the height of hating him, he wins my sympathy. I really like that he asked Hoskins about the serum, and it made sense that two military men would see its potential for good as outweighing its risk. This line also really hit me, so much so that I was ALMOST distracted from noticing that his profile looks very much like Mr. Incredible’s.

    “Three badges of excellence to make sure I never forget the worst day of my life.”

    Woof.

    Karli calls Sarah and threatens her children in order to get her to arrange a meeting with Sam. Karli! You could have just asked! Sam is very much in your corner. Which he says when he meets up with her, though he takes Bucky against instruction. It goes badly, because of course it was a trap to lure New Cap to his destruction. It is revealed that he took the serum just before Karli leaps in and super serum kicks Hoskins in the chest. It is…brutal. New Cap is MAD, and I don’t blame him. The episode ends with him chasing Karli’s super soldier friend through the streets of Latvia before caving in his chest with THE ACTUAL SHIELD of Captain America IN PUBLIC while people are filming him.

    This cannot end well.

  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 3 RECAP – Power Broker

    The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 3 RECAP – Power Broker

    Episode three of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is fun enough, full of explosions, fights, and familiar faces. But we didn’t learn a lot or advance the plot. They’ve only got three episodes left…I’m not really sure what they’re trying to do with this show.

    We start with New Cap searching for leads on the rogue super soldiers. He rages when the person they raid spits in his face, screaming, “Do you know who I am?” Smells like toxic masculinity to me. The only redeeming thing is Hoskins’ bulletproof vest with the star motif.

    Bucky visits Zemo in prison, and it’s terrible. He apologizes for using Bucky in Captain America: Civil War by saying, “You were a means to a necessary end.” Endless crying; that’s the story of Bucky’s life.

    Bucky and Sam argue about whether to break Zemo out of prison. Except the argument is useless, because he already escaped. Scenes like these always alarm me, because they make it seem very easy to break out of prison. Zemo is very rich, and he rocks a fun fur collared coat. Apparently his plane and butler were on standby waiting for him to escape prison, which is very nice of them.

    While they’re traveling to Madripoor, Zemo needles Bucky, reading from his atonement list. Turns out that’s the same notebook that Steve had, and my heart shatters a little bit. We also get another interesting comment on race relations, with Sam telling Bucky that Marvin Gaye is beloved and Zemo whitesplaining black culture to Bucky.

    Madripoor is a rad city; formerly a pirate haven, currently a very colorful, diverse, and vaguely intimidating city Southeast Asia. Is this a real place? Google says no, and also that it’s the MCU’s first step toward the X-Men. As the three men walk through the city streets, graffiti reads, “Power Broker is watching.” At first I assumed Zemo would turn out to be the Power Broker in a long con sort of situation, but if this is supposed to tie in with X-Men, maybe it’s Wolverine? That would be rad! No one tell me; I like not knowing what’s going to happen next.

    Sam has to drink snake guts and Bucky has to recreate his violent past in order to gain access to Selby, a badass older woman with short white hair! I instantly love her, which is too bad because she is murdered after Sam’s phone rings and his sister calls him by a name other than his alias. I’m glad we got to touch base with Sarah, but I really hope we get to see more of her soon. They’re globetrotting in a way that makes me doubtful.

    (Also, it was explicitly shown that Bucky was filmed acting like the Winter Soldier. I assume this will not be good for him in his rehabilitation program.)

    Sharon saves the day by killing Selby (RIP) and everyone else. Turns out, no one thought to clear her name after she helped Steve and Sam, which is…pretty bad. She fled to Madripoor and turned to a life of crime. I like her so much more in this tv show than in Civil War.

    She takes them to a secret lab hidden in a storage container, where Nagal the scientist admits that he made 20 vials of super soldier serum, but that Karli stole them all, putting her on the Power Broker’s hit list. How did she know about the program in the first place?

    While they’re talking, Sharon takes on all of the bounty hunters in Madripoor who have amazingly shown up simultaneously! She does look really badass righting, though, and I assume everyone has now joined me in loving her? The violence doesn’t stop! Zemo kills Nagal. The places blows up! Zemo escapes. The place blows up some more! Zemo puts on a mask and there is even more blowing up. Wow. This is an action show, guys, did you know?

    Sharon won’t come with them, and Bucky refuses to move his seat forward for Sam, in a nice callback to the moment that their frenemies relationship began.

    Sam and Bucky are still hung up on Captain America’s shield, and Bucky says he would have taken it before giving it to New Cap. Sam says he thinks he ought to have destroyed the shield. Sounds like some Flag Smasher talk there, Sam! I like it.

    New Cap thinks Bucky and Sam busted Zemo out and tells Hoskin they are going to go rogue too. I assume this will be a bad thing, but it’s hard to judge him for it when our stars have just loosed a baddie into the world with seemingly no plan to bring him back to prison.

    Karli has been having a hard day at the Resettlement Camp. A woman has died of tuberculosis (I guess because the camps are overpopulated), and she raids food supplies from somewhere that had six months supplies just sitting there. She and her friend with the cheekbones try to humanize the super soldiers to us, but then Karli blows up the building because “that’s the only language they understand.” Oh Karli.

    In Latvia, Bucky breaks off from Sam and Zemo to pick up tiny balls with runes carved in them. I did not recognize them at all and genuinely gasped when a woman from Wakanda showed up. (She is apparently Ayo, a renegade Dora Milaje who fell in love with Aneka – are we about to get some lesbian Wakandans up in here??? YES PLEASE.) We are left eagerly awaiting more Black Panther tie-ins until next week!

    This was very much a Bucky episode, though I wish we had gone a little deeper into how he is being affected by playing the Winter Soldier role. I assume we will find out in future episodes. I also hope we shift the focus back to Sam. I am a huge Bucky Barnes fan, but this show is doing a lot to interrogate black people in the MCU and in America more broadly, and Sam deserves the spotlight.

  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 2 RECAP – The Star Spangled Man

    The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 2 RECAP – The Star Spangled Man

    Episode 2 starts with an extended scene designed to make John Walker sympathetic…and it works on me. He’s got a hot girlfriend, and they have special pinky promise kisses. He’s got a best friend who gives him pep talks. He is all chin.

    The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is great at anticipating my skepticism, because just as I was wondering why this huge crowd of people would be cheering for a Captain America without superpowers, he gives this really inspiring speech about just that – he’s not super strong, but he does have guts. Guys, he’s winning me over!

    Finally we cut to our heroes. Bucky is feeling all kinds of emotions while watching this guy fill his best friend’s suit, and he finds Sam to yell at him about giving up the shield. Everything about this tv show is instantly elevated as they bicker at each other.

    “You can’t call me that.”
    “Steve called you that.”
    “Steve knew me longer, and Steve had a plan.”

    Out of pure spite, Bucky throws himself out of a PLANE. This show is a gift. And Sam films it! Although episode one was good, these last five minutes immediately make me wonder why they wasted an entire sixth of the story with these two people not interacting.

    They snipe about how many Flag Smashers are loading cargo, then chase the semis. Bucky runs faster than a truck, and rips the door open. The only thing I love more than this is the realization that the helpless redheaded girl is actually a badass! She looks a lot like the first class girl in Snowpiercer, and I am scared of her.

    Oh, and people stealing vaccines? In this economy!? Must be evil. Unless they are giving vaccines to people who don’t normally have access, in which care. Hm. I’m conflicted about these badies.

    The fight atop two semis is very good. Karli kills Redwing, and people are tossed between trucks. When Captain America (henceforth referred to as New Cap’n) shows up, it is deliciously wrong to see the three fighting together again. However, I am distracted by the fact that other cars are still driving on the highway while this fight is happening?? Stop your cars!

    The fight ends when New Cap’n escapes with his bestie, Lamar Hoskins, and SAM AND BUCKY TUMBLE INTO A FIELD OF FLOWERS IN EACH OTHERS ARMS. Be still, my shipper heart.

    New Cap’n and Hoskins drive past the petulant men, and I laughed out loud when New Cap’n repeated Sam’s “Big Three” question. The dialogue is really popping in this episode. Unfortunately, New Cap’n can’t quite stick his invitation to work together, calling Sam and Bucky Steve’s wingmen. It’s like he doesn’t know that this show is named after them.

    We cut to the Flag Smasher super soldiers who are hunkering down in a civilian’s space. They’re given a room with chicken livers, cot beds, and…high tech computers with three screens? Sure, whatever. They encourage each other with their rallying cry: “One world, one people,” and I’m already sad that they’re going to turn out to be villains.

    Bucky takes Sam to meet Isaiah, a super soldier from the 50s who is not pleased to see Bucky (who was Winter Soldier during their previous run in). Turns out that not only did the US government not advertise a black super soldier, they also incarcerated him for 30 years and ran experiments on him! It’s really bad, and then it gets worse! Sam and Bucky are arguing in the street when cops pull them over and immediately target Sam as the problem. It is heartbreaking to watch Anthony Mackie’s face as Sam is confronted with the reality that no matter how much of an international hero he is, some podunk cop can still pull him over.

    I’m honestly really impressed with how this show is handling race, not only by giving a black man the lead role and filling in supporting roles with black men and women, but also because they’re making the inequalities black people face in America explicit. Unexpected but very welcome!

    In another spot-on observation, the white cops who thought the black man was the problem have accidentally let their racism blind them to the fact that it’s the WHITE guy who is the problem. Bucky is arrested for missing court-mandated therapy, but New Cap’n releases him from jail. Well, not until his therapist demands an impromptu session and drags Sam along.

    It is a testament to this episode’s greatness that a tumble through flowers is not even the shippiest thing that happens. The therapist says the two of them need to have couples counseling so that they can figure out how to build a life together. She orders them to face each other and sit closer, no, closer. Eventually their legs are intertwined and I am cackling with glee.

    It works, though. Bucky’s anger that Sam returned the shield is a cover for his fear that if Steve was wrong about Sam, he might have also been wrong about Bucky. Sam just wants his decision to be respected. Neither can empathize with the other, so nothing is resolved.

    New Cap’n is waiting for them outside, and ominous music when Cap’n says “Stay out of my way” after they reject his offer of teamwork. I’m sure THAT doesn’t mean anything.

    The military tries to capture the Flag Smashers, and the one guy’s sacrifice ought to feel impactful, but instead I just wondered, Why did he run into open fire after knocking down a power line? He already stopped them. They have super strength, but not super intelligence.

    Bucky convinces Sam to go to a man with some answers – Zemo! Some awesome requiem music kicks in, and it’s like the music in the Avengers when Loki smirked and then whacked someone’s face with his staff. There’s a shot of a chess board, so we know that Zemo is going to be Smart Villain. Can’t wait!