Whoa, that ended with such a dark turn! ???
(I’m not going to recap the whole episode, I’ll just mention the most noteworthy parts.)
I knew that nothing good would come of John Walker having the serum — who didn’t? — what with his aggressive, trigger-happy, take-no-prisoners stance. But I didn’t realise that it could go SO BAD until his friend died, then all hell broke loose. Poor Lemar! I didn’t like him exactly, since he was on John Walker’s team, but he was a good friend and partner, and he seemed to be the more rational out of the two of them.
And it was such sacrilege to see the shield used to kill so brutally! ??? I was hoping that someone would fly in at the last minute to stop him, but nobody did. What Steve stood for as Captain America — his strong morals and justice — has now been ruined by Walker’s actions.
What will happen to John Walker now? Is this how Sam gets back the shield, the government begging him to restore the good image of Captain America again? It’s so ironic that the Flag-Smasher who admitted earlier in the episode that he idolised Captain America when he was a kid would be killed by Captain America, even though this Captain America is a different one.
Regarding the serum, I thought Zemo would want to take it for himself too, since which villainous figure can resist power? But I’m glad that Zemo destroyed it. He’s been harping all series long (and in Captain America: Civil War too) about how bad superheroes and super-soldiers are for the world. (He killed the five super-soldiers in Siberia, if you remember, even though for the whole of that movie, Steve and Bucky thought that his aim was to reactivate those super-soldiers, until it turned out he just wanted to lure them to Siberia for revenge.) It would be such an about-face for him to suddenly embrace being a super-soldier.
On to the other parts of the episode. Bucky emoting when Ayo recited the trigger words 6 years ago, being afraid that the trigger words would work, and then later realising that he’s free! ? (With a highlight reel of his best moments as the Winter Soldier!)
Sam mentioning his “TT”! ? (While he meant his aunt, Sam has pretty good titties. ? Just like Steve.) It’s the little moments like these — and Zemo dancing last week — that make the series great.
The children in the refugee camps have never learnt not to accept candy from strangers I see. They’re lucky that Zemo doesn’t have anymore nefarious intentions than asking them to betray the location of the Flag-Smashers who have been helping them!
Angry Bucky who has Had Enough of Zemo’s Shit and smashing his teacup is strangely hot. ? (I mean, he’s always hot, but this is an intense kind of hotness.) I like how when Sam mentions Zemo doing that “stupid head-tilt thing”, Zemo immediately straightens his head. ?
Sam was so close to talking Karli down, but Walker had to rush in and ruin it. ? And he played on Bucky’s guilt of having more blood on his hands to make Bucky give way. ?
Sam has no hesitation about not taking the serum, which is what makes him different, and arguably a better man than Walker. Because Sam doesn’t seek power. He knows he doesn’t need it to do good. Whereas Walker wants to use the serum to do good, but like Erskine told Steve back then, and Lemar brought up, the serum only amplifies what is already inside, and power just makes you more of yourself.
Lemar’s praise for Walker stems from him having three Medals of Honor and consistently making the right decisions in battle. But making the right decisions in battle doesn’t mean you’re a good man, it just means you’re good at strategy, and Walker mentions that the actions that led to getting those Medals of Honor weren’t necessarily morally right. So Walker clearly isn’t the best person to get the serum, whatever he intended to do with it.
I didn’t know how much I needed a fight scene where the Dora Milaje put Walker in his place until I saw it. “The Dora Milaje have jurisdiction wherever the Dora Milaje find themselves to be” is hands-down my FAVOURITE line of the episode. ? And then Bucky egging them on at first “Looking strong, John!”, whilst Zemo stands there drinking his glass of whisky. ?
But were they *really* going to kill Walker and Lemar? ? They sure looked like they did, until Bucky and Sam stepped in and started fighting!
Bucky fighting with Ayo was really hot. Bucky looking baffled when Ayo deftly disengages his arm is also extremely hot. Freak, Sebastian Stan is just hot, period. ??? Every single episode, I thank Marvel for giving us 6 episodes and 5 full hours of Sebastian Stan looking bloody hot. While there are some scenes of him that I appreciate more, there is not a single scene of him in this series that I don’t enjoy.
