We’re past the halfway point of Falcon and The Winter Soldier with only two episodes remaining, and this week’s “The Whole World Is Watching” offered no answers to the show’s long running questions and conflicts–in fact, if anything, it just made the stakes even more complicated. Here’s what went down, and what we can hope for as we head into the penultimate episode next week.
After Ayo and the Dora cornered Bucky to broker a deal for Zemo’s return to prison, Bucky made a counter offer–Zemo is too useful for his knowledge of super soldiers to give up on now, when they’re so close to running Karli and the Flag Smashers aground. Unsurprisingly, this deal had fairly strict terms–Bucky and Sam were allowed less than a day with Zemo before the Dora would come and collect.
This strict time crunch became even more difficult when John and Lemar showed up, also angling to bring Karli and the Flag Smashers in, but with much less patience and finesse than Bucky and Sam. To make matters worse, everyone has converged on Karli in what might be the worst possible moment–the funeral of her mentor figure Donya. Sam had the first shot at reasoning with her, using some of the counseling skills he learned while working at the VA, but John’s temper and mania escalated things before the two of them could broker any sort of agreement or understanding with one another.
In the chaos of the ensuing fight, Zemo managed to briefly corner Karli and nearly killed her–but became too distracted by destroying the vials of super soldier serum she had, which allowed her to escape. A single vial of serum survived the fight, unbeknownst to Zemo, and was found by John as everyone attempted to regroup.
Things went from bad to worse when the Dora returned to bring Zemo in and found themselves in conflict with not only Sam and Bucky but also John and Lemar–while John, specifically, felt threatened by their authority in the situation. The fight that ensued only left John more humiliated, and also allowed Zemo to escape.
Unable to stand up under the pressure and feelings of inadequacy, John secretly took the last remaining vial of the super soldier serum, just in time for a major confrontation against the Flag Smashers. Unfortunately, however, even the physical upper hand didn’t make much difference for the things that really mattered, because Lemar was caught in the crossfire and killed after a super soldier Flag Smasher threw him into a pillar, presumably breaking his neck.
Consumed with blind rage, John promptly chased down the nearest Flag Smasher and executed him with the shield, in a public square, while a crowd of bystanders looked on. We can certainly expect this to be a main focus for next week’s episode–though it’s not clear how or if it will play into the rest of the show’s conflict, or if the Flag Smashers will capitalize on the inevitable PR crisis for Cap in some way.
Here are some things to keep in mind heading into next week:
- Sharon’s mysterious side-gig remains mysterious, but theories about her being the Power Broker have yet to be debunked. She’s certainly got a high powered team at her back in Madripoor.
- The Flag Smashers have apparently produced a list of demands, but what those demands are remains unclear–which is to say it’s not clear whether or not any sort of compromise or reconciliation is possible for them.
- Zemo is currently in the wind and his motives (aside from staying out of prison) remain unknown.
- We can assume Lemar is dead, but this is the MCU so until there’s a funeral or an obituary, it’s probably best not to rule out a miraculous recovery.
- John took the last remaining vial of super serum, meaning there’s currently no way to make super soldiers in the MCU, unless another scientist comes along.
- Karli is also in the wind, and she knows where Sam’s family is–though why Sam didn’t call in a favor with any of the other superheroes he’s worked with in the past to help protect them after they were directly threatened by a terrorist organization is mysterious.
