Pretty sure they took the shield from Walker because he's a raving psychopath.

 

He was going borderline Homelander in this episode.

 

Pretty much... not to mention he outright committed a war crime by murdering an enemy combatant that had stood down.

And just to be clear I'm not arguing that Karli isn't a nutjob either, because she is. I mean... at what point does Walker killing one of her compatriots translate to "Sam Wilson needs to die"? That's some misplaced hostility right there since he was only trying to help her and get through to her... and might have actually done so had Walker not burst in because he needed to prove that his balls were big boys.

 

I think that’s more Batroc’s thing then her.

 

I was pretty sure they were both on the same page there. Batroc is obviously the one who wants revenge on Sam, but she's pretty good with the idea if it gets her the help she needs. Which just shows that she's not this good person that everyone keeps telling us she is. She's off her rocker.

 

Sometimes this forum can cause whiplash.

"They're gonna try and make a Cinderella's step-sisters movie? Disgusting! Stop trying to make villains sympathetic. On an unrelated note, can we talk about how John Walker is a true hero getting a raw deal..."

 

That is kind of hilarious when you put it that way. At least I'm consistent I guess? I'm not big on the step-sisters being portrayed as sympathetic, at the same time John Walker is clearly off his fucking rocker.

 

That's a pretty distorted view of what is happening on the show. Sam and Bucky are actively trying to stop the Flag Smashers. They just chose to handle it through nonviolent means first. They do the same nonviolent approach for John after he just committed a war crime. Speaking of which, how is reducing a downed opponent to a bloody smear seem at all justified? The audience can feel sympathetic for John's loss while also recognizing that he crossed the line.

 

Well, now she is for sure. She’s like Kilmonger in a way. And Walker is a lot like her, just inverted.

Two sides of the same coin. Could’ve been saviors, but instead give in to their flaws.

 

Everything with Sam, Bucky, Isaiah and Walker was excellent in this episode.

Spoiler

I loved Sam's training montage, and his conversation with Bucky at the start of his training was really meaningful. His scene with Isaiah was very powerful. I loved the bit with Sam's nephews playing with the shield - without a word, the scene effectively showed Bucky's faith in that symbol being renewed, and so subtly proved Isaiah wrong (without critiquing his feelings) - Captain America is something black children can aspire to and self-respecting black men can want to be. How very profound.

I really liked Bucky and Zemo's scene at the Sokovia monument too. It gave Bucky closure on that wound whilst proven Zemo wrong and allowing Bucky & Ayo to mend their relationship, at least a little. Sad to see Zemo go but he'll be back, no doubt about it.

The opening fight was brilliant. So brutal and intense. Wyatt Russel is doing a fantastic job. Walker trying to kill Sam and Bucky was finally the last step - he's a demented villain. He needs to accept personal responsibility, but he is right at the same time that the American government and its jingoism created him, for them to now try and cut him out.

Great episode; too late to fix all the flaws - Flag Smashers aren't really working as well as they probably should and Sharon's role is weak, especially for how much she was advertised - but when this show is good, it's the MCU at its greatest.

 

To paraphrase a quote from the great biographer Robert Caro, "Power doesn't always corrupt, but it always reveals."

 

This show is slow in stretches. Karli scenes are difficult to sit through. Walker is intriguing, as is Zemo. It’s absolutely ridiculous that the supposed #1 terrorist in the world can’t be found by anybody. She’s sitting in Central Park. The zealots walking their dogs just see their phones go off and there she is!

 

I can't stop falling a sleep watching this series. It's so boring. Have to wake, rewind and catch up.

 

So are we all in agreement that Carter is the Power Broker? I mean she is running an illegal operation already with a lot of armed people.

 

It's not that ridiculous actually. If people support you, you can remain hidden even in plain sight for a long time. People just have to agree not to see you. There's precedent for it here in the USA, but I don't want to wander into the politics related to the situation. (There's actually several examples in the USA, and all of them are exceptionally political). Yeah, there's plenty of cameras in NYC, but if you're not expecting her to be there, then they aren't actively monitoring for her and she can hide in plain sight, especially as it appears she has a decent amount of public support.

 

I’m hoping that there’s more to it than what it seems. It feels weird to just casually show Sharon scheming only to formally reveal her as the Power Broker in the last episode. At this point, if it isn’t Sharon, I’m thinking it will be someone like Thaddeus Ross revealed in a post-credit scene. Ross has a history of wanting super soldiers and is morally grey.

 

I mean, she's obviously got some seriously powerful help coming from somewhere, and it's not like random schmoes in the park are going to immediately spot her.

 

I guess the MCU isn't for everyone.

 

At this point I'm kinda hoping that they don't ever outright say Sharon is the power broker. If she's not, it feels really deceptive. If she is, then you pretty much don't need to do anything else. Trust the audience to connect the dots and move on.

 

They hated Walker but they didn’t properly register him as someone who needed to be stopped until he attacked them after they asked him to stand down. They were prepared to fight him, but Sam still tried to talk him down until Walker gave them no choice but to fight back.

Like I said earlier, I’m sick of Karli myself because of how lame her presentation has been. But Sam again was willing to talk her down but when she crossed a line threatening his family, he showed up ready for a fight. I’m still not 100% sure where Bucky is on the Karli situation, he doesn’t seem to outright agree with Zemo from what I gather but he understands Karli is crazy and needs to be stopped.

That meme oversimplifies things. Sam empathizes with Karli’s viewpoint because he is also someone who’s been marginalized, and he figures she has noble ideas. And he outright confronts her about killing innocent people. He regarded Walker as an annoyance until he killed the guy and recognized that until then, they were basically on the same side.

It’s not as “let Karli get away with everything while poor little Walker gets the worst of it” as the meme thinks.