I agree to disagree. He was put in an impossible position, every Infinity War veteran that showed up looked down on him with pretty much disdain, blatantly showing him this to his face AND on top of this disobeying his orders constantly (which should be extremely punishable if you serve in the army, BTW), while he was trying to do his best to fill those shoes. He didn’t have any special/enhanced abilities and this really weighed on him when he faced those first super soldiers, when he found out he’s pretty much helpless against them. Then the Wakanda chicks humiliated him like he was nothing as well. The only person that was friends with and had some respect for him was his sidekick, Hoskins, and when he was killed because Walker was hesitant to use his new powers caused by the serum he secretly took, this pushed him over the edge.
I really like his arch so far and find myself sympathizing with him.
Zemo is the other one with really good arch, while our actual protagonists are pretty much tumbling around most of the time. And I liked the initial Bucky story here.
Sam is secondary in his own show. Everyone has something going on, while he just stumbles through like a videogame protagonist. He only reacts and never pushes the story forward.
Battlestar’s death was a mess. Stopping the fight because, oops, someone died, instantly makes the whole thing feel fake. You were fighting for your lives just a second ago, why is this suddenly different? The only thing missing was a ref throwing up the X.
Interesting that Cop America (he has handcuffs!) got beaten by a black women who even held his shield! This small moment really injured his ego. And he’s also a good reminder that Steve was THE Captain America because technically he wasn’t a decorated soldier. Or even a good soldier. Don’t know how intentional it is, but it shows how different the ideal of America vs. the actuality of America is.
I agree with the last poster about Sam. He just kind of feels there for the ride and everyone else is a lot more interesting right now. I even thought Karli was more interesting in this episode.
Zemo using the kids for info and calling one of them his associate was hilarious. John Walker stole this episode for me though. You could tell he was just ready to snap at any moment and the Battlestar death truly shocked me. He’s beginning to remind me a bit of Homelander, from The Boys. Great ending to the episode.
Zemo continues to steal evey scene so far. Besides the “associate” and “titi” lines the scene where sam calls out his villainous head tilt was genius. In contrast, I didn’t like Bucky Barnes being the go to comic relief this episode since Sam became more focused on and his sister storyline came back up.
Remember Bucky"s “forgotten” storyline is him murdering his new friend’s kid and not making amends. HIS constant one liners don’t "cut the mustard " as our current premier would say.
The plot here was strong, juggling many different layers. One could just feel that John Walker with his constant complaining and pacing to and fro was just going to mess everything up for sam and company and he does become a screw up at a master level by the show’s climax.
The last image was comic book pitch perfect.
Question for wh. I don’t know if Karli has a comic book counter point besides simply representing the entire flagsmasher concept. She looks a lot like the character Synn from the comics that happens to be the red skull’s daughter? Do you see any similarities between karli and other comic book characters? Do you see them bringing back the red skull through this show? In the comics he rejuvenates into quite a few different bodies.
Welcome Nate to the show! Looking forward to your thoughts and opinions too. Definitely not a 6 out of 10 episode for sure!
In a perfect world, the Dora Milaje would be there to put every one of these white supremacists in their place the way they did in this episode.
It was wild to see someone cave a dude’s chest in with that vibranium shield.
In front of all those people!
I wonder if this will prompt Steve Rogers to come out of retirement and get that shield back to Sam.
I loved the line from Sam’s sister; “My world doesn’t matter to America. So why should I care about its mascot?”, as it pretty much sums up how I feel about America as a whole.
Do we see John take the super soldier serum, or is that something he doesn’t take until they reintroduce him in the the MCU’s version of the Dark Avengers?
I immediately smiled when the cold open took place in Wakanda. Sebastian Stan was so good conveying Sam’s relief of no longer being triggered. The show moved at a brisk pace and it was a joy seeing the Dora Milaje appear in this episode.
Sam and Walker are so diametrically opposed when it comes to dealing with the Flag Smashers. The ending left me a little gobsmacked seeing something so irredeemably brutal for MCU standards. Walker’s buckling under the pressure of carrying the shield and it will fuel the last couple episodes as Sam takes another step closer to who he’s meant to be.
It was a great episode today, opening with an emotional two on one handicap match, and featured super hero’s working on a boat and building character, which is all I really want.
Sam must be a Christian Cage fan because he is trying to; Out. Work. Everyone. For all those who said he was a bystander, this episode should put that to rest. Not since Pulp Fiction have I wanted to know what was in a case this badly.
Shout out to John Walker channeling his best Dolph Ziggler promo when he was being discharged. (I hope you caught the mid credits scene)
Lasty; Karli has become more and more uninteresting by the episode and I dont think it’s a good idea to pair her with someone as cool as Batroc who is only going to highlight the charismatic vacuum that is her character.
Great episode with the introduction of Julia Louis-Dreyfus into the Marvel Universe playing Nick Fury’s girlfriend. I think that character is a great addition to the MCU, she’s badass in the comics. And I’ve just realized that Sam’s nephews were calling him “uncle Sam” which is very clever given the show’s plot.
Has Sharon now turned Heel? Giving those weapons to Batroc, who then delivers them to Karli? Am interested to see how this plays out.
Karli Morgenthau continues to be as charismatic as an old dish cloth in the rain. John Walker, please end her.
Excited to see what’s in the Wankadan Suitcase next week. (My guess is a full Vibranium suit with Wings).
The scene with Sam and Isaiah Bradley, damn son. All the fucking Feels and addressing the issue of racism and white supremacy head on, with no bullshit. I am here for it.
Great to see the relationship with Sam and his sister develop. And having been to New Orleans twice for Wrestlemania, can confirm the people there are super friendly and nice with great hospitality.
Hey fam! I really enjoyed this episode. John Walker saying “I killed him because I had to” after chasing down and murdering an unarmed man in front of a crowd feels too real. It’s a pretty direct allusion to all the police murders of unarmed black men that keep happening. John doubling down and lying that this flag smasher deserved it because he killed Lemar calls to mind all the ways in which police and all lives matter folks try to justify police violence by blaming victims, even if it means lying.
Isaiah Bradley was a hero like Steve, risking his life to rescue captured comrades. That talk with Sam was really powerful.
I’m sure you’ll talk about it but what is Sharon up to?!
I’m very excited for the finale and crossing my fingers that next week we get a Dell Rusk reveal for WH’s sake.
What does Sam Wilson want?
Him putting on Wakandan armor and Cap’s shield will be a cathartic moment for many, but the show has done nothing to actually earn that moment. Sam becomes Captain America because the script says so. He still is reactionary bystander in his own show, removed from any hardship others suffer around him. His character is the same as it was in episode 1.
Walker’s story is never fleshed out. We are constantly told what kind of person he is, about his relationship with Lamarr, but nothing of that is really shown to us. He has to be bad because his comics’ counterpart was. Who cares how we get there. How are the difficulties of him being Captain America shown? One guy spitting in his face doesn’t cut it.
Remember in Endgame how Bruce Banner and Hulk merged into one personality off-screen, because the writers realized they didn’t knew how to show that? Because the show is that for its character arcs. It tells and rarely shows.
I had such high hopes for this show. To have black Captain America, who instead of outsiders, fights the problems in his own country. Instead we’re going to get Sam beating up a bunch of foreigners as his first heroic act. Such a waste.
This was simply a phenomenal episode of television. I totally understand why Malcolm Spellman has been touting this episode as his personal favorite, but I’m also surprised at just how grounded & up-front it was about it’s themes.
This was Anthony Mackie’s best performance in the MCU to date. His scenes with Sebastian Stan have come a long way from just being banter. Their conversation about the burdens of holding the shield served as a pivotal moment of post-blip development, while Sam got a whole hour to digest the erasure, inequalities, & suffering he will have to overcome to truly become Captain America.
Sam’s conversation with Isaiah will go down as a defining moment for the super-hero genre going forward, & it’s incredible that the MCU was bold enough to illustrate that Bradley was oppressed for doing the same exact thing that Steve Rodgers was praised for in The First Avenger: disobeying orders to rescue his fellow man.
Julia Louis Dreyfus’ (Madame Hydra?) cameo was awesome. I’m interested to see what role she’ll play in the rest of the series & the Black Widow movie.
He is actually the character that I sympathize the most in this show, even more so then I do Bucky’s.
Will we gloss over the fact that Sam took off of him the shield and then Walker was the one told to return it? WTF was that?
I’ll absolutely lie if I tell that I am watching the show for any other reason to see where his story goes now, although I’m pretty sure where it will go. The rest of the story told here I find nothing-happening. Even Bucky’s on a hold, while Sam… is just wandering around. I don’t feel him actually “earning” the shield so far (especially after dropping it in the beginning of the series). Sorry, but he looks more like a thief to me after this episode.
It’s not surprising. Walker is the only character with an arc, even if it’s badly fleshed out.
On paper it’s all there - a total stud becomes Cap but the expectations from others are too big, the constant comparisons to Steve get irritating, and he crumbles under pressure when his partner dies. And that leads to him fucking up big time.
And it could’ve easily paralleled Sam’s own anxieties about taking on the mantle and the climax could be Sam counseling and talking him down instead, not fighting this broken man. What we got instead is Sam besting him in combat 2vs1 (what a babyface) and getting the shield as a spoil of war. Might makes right, I guess.
This episode is possibly my favourite of all the Disney plus MCU TV shows.
That scene with Sam and Isaiah was a fantastic piece of Television.
Still torn between feeling sympathy and apathy for Walker which is something I wouldn’t have thought after episode one and glad to Zemo hasn’t been killed off.
Genuinely don’t know how they can wrap everything up next week which leads me to hope there will be a second series
