The Falcon and the Winter Soldier season 1, episode 5 review: Truth

After last episode’s shocking ending, everyone in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s penultimate episode takes their time figuring out their purpose.

Previously on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, our titular heroes tracked down the Flag-Smashers with the help of Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl). Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) tried reasoning with the Flag-Smashers’ leader, Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman), until the new Captain America, John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and his partner, Lemar Hoskins (Clé Bennett) butted in. Later, Zemo escaped when the Dora Milaje arrived to return him to prison, again as a result of Walker’s interference. Things only got worse from there.

When the Flag-Smashers went after Walker, Karli killed Lemar in the scuffle. Enraged and now powered by the Super-Soldier Serum, Walker caught up to one of the anarchist terrorists named Nico (Noah Mills) and, in front of dozens of eyewitnesses, brutally murdered him with Cap’s shield. Thus the symbol that represented the best of America was now literally and metaphorically tarnished with blood.

“I am Captain America!”

Thus episode five of the Disney Plus series, entitled “Truth,” opens moments later, with Walker having fled the scene, at an abandoned warehouse grieving for Lemar and on the verge of a mental breakdown. Sam and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) arrive, saying that he needs to turn himself in. Walker, however, believes he did nothing wrong, that he only did “what he had to do.” When he’s then asked to give up the shield, Walker not only becomes angry, he feels betrayed. “You don’t want to do this,” he tells them. “Yes we do,” says Bucky.

This results in this episode’s one and only fight scene, and it’s brutal, bittersweet, and expertly choreographed. It’s also deliberately reminiscent of Captain America: Civil War (2016) in that it’s a two-on-one brawl in which, despite having advantage in numbers, Sam and Bucky are definitely on the ropes. And although they just manage to defeat Walker by breaking his shield arm, no one really wins. The last shot before the title card appears is an exhausted, despondent Sam trying, and failing, to clean the shield. What’s also significant about this fight is that Sam’s Falcon wings are destroyed. (Hmm, I wonder if he’ll get new superhero name and outfit because of this.)

This isn’t the last we see of Walker, however, as he’s sent back to the States to appear before a Senate subcommittee. Not only is Walker fired as Captain America, he’s given an “other than honorable discharge,” and, despite not having it, is ordered to return the shield. To Walker, the whole hearing is a farce. He calls them out on their hypocrisy, saying he only did “what they asked of him.” In defiance, he states “I am Captain America,” and storms out of the hearing.

As Walker’s wife Olivia (Gabrielle Byndloss) consoles him, we get a surprise cameo from Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the mysterious Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Channeling her Selina Meyer from Veep, she tells Walker he did nothing wrong and, as a Super-Soldier, he’s too invaluable to let go. It doesn’t take much to see that she’s offering him a job of the top-secret variety… like a U.S. Agent, maybe? Before leaving, the Contessa hands a confused Walker her card, which is white on one side, black on the other, but otherwise completely blank.

Later on, Walker visits Lemar’s family to tell them what happened. When Lemar’s mother asks if the man Walker killed also killed her son, Walker lies and tells her yes. But while this brings closure to the Hoskins’, Walker feels anything but closure. Moreover, based on the episode’s post-credits scene, he’s taking matters into his own hands.

“The legacy of that shield is complicated…”

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Speaking of closure, Bucky receives some when he finds Zemo at the Sovokia memorial. Zemo believes Bucky is there to kill him, but doesn’t hold him any ill will. Indeed, Bucky does point his sidearm at Zemo’s face. Only when he pulls the trigger, the gun doesn’t fire. That’s when Bucky shows a surprised Zemo that he removed the bullets. Zemo is then handed over to the Dora Milaje, who will take him to the Raft. Before he’s goes, though, Zemo again reminds Bucky that Karli is too radicalized and needs to be killed before she does anymore harm.

Meanwhile Sam, forced off the Flag-Smasher investigation until the US government cleans up Walker’s mess, leaves the Falcon harness with Lt. Torres (Danny Ramirez), takes Cap’s shield, and visits Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly). In one of the episode’s better scenes, Isaiah explains why he was imprisoned. Turns out there were other members of his unit also injected with super-soldier serum who ended up being captured. Against orders, Isaiah rescued them, resulting in his own court martial. As he was the only other super soldier besides Steve without complications, Isaiah was illegally experimented on until a kindly nurse helped him escape and fake his death.

As an African American, this hits Sam very hard, especially as Isaiah tells him that the government will “never let a Black man be Captain America,” adding “even if they did, no self-respecting Black man would ever want to be.” Sam then goes home to Louisiana to help his sister Sarah (Adepero Oduye) finally fix up their parent’s fishing boat.

It’s then that Bucky arrives, bringing with him a suitcase containing a “favor from the Wakandians.” Not only does Bucky help Sam with the boat (and flirt with Sarah), he also apologizes to him for second-guessing as why he gave up the shield. As they throw Cap’s shield back-and-forth against padded trees, Sam also gives Bucky some “tough love,” saying how, when it comes to the names Bucky wrote in Steve’s notebook, he’s not “amending, but avenging” and there’s probably “at least one name in that book who needs closure.” Of course, Bucky (and the audience) immediately think about the old man who Bucky befriended and who’s son he assassinated as the Winter Soldier.

When the boat is fixed, Sarah changes her mind about selling it, agreeing with Sam that it’s part of their history and that it shouldn’t be forgotten. It also seems Sam’s advice to Bucky about “you got stop looking to other people to tell you who you are” rubbed off on himself. Because we see a training montage of Sam practicing with Cap’s shield, a very clear indication that he’s embracing his role as the next Captain America.

“Haven’t you heard? We are criminals.”

As for Karli, she’s seems to become even more radicalized just as Zemo predicted. The US military, in cooperation with Global Repatriation Council, has now seized all the refugees under the Flag-Smasher’s protection. Already angry over Walker killing Nico, Karli decides that they must take their fight directly to the GRC. That means heading to New York City, where she plans to kidnap the members of the GRC – which includes the Senator from Walker’s hearing, by the way – and hold them hostage.

However, Karli and her followers are joined by an unexpected ally: the French mercenary Batroc (Georges St-Pierre). He’s not interested in their cause, of course; he just wants to kill the Falcon for sending him to prison back in episode one. As for why he’s out of jail? Well, it seems Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) may have had something to do with that. Perhaps all those theories about her being the Power Broker may have been right after all.

Lt. Torres informs Sam that the signal the Flag-Smasher use to mobilize their followers has been picked up in New York. A now determined and resolute Sam tells Torres “he’s on his way,” and opens the briefcase Bucky gave him. Although the episode ends before we see what’s in the case, I think we all know what’s in it, don’t we?

In conclusion…

Let’s be honest: after “The Whole World is Watching,” it was going to be a challenge for the next episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to measure up. One could even argue the series needed to slow things down since that last episode was so intense. But if anything, “Truth” overcompensates, and at times feels like too much of a slog. Other than the opening fight scene, most of the episode pads out its fifty minute runtime just to build up the finale and wrap up lingering subplots. In the case of Sam struggling to keep the family fishing business afloat (no pun intended), the resolution feels all too pat when one considers how much of a fuss Sarah kept making about selling their parents’ boat.

In turn, the direction for many of the characters’ journeys are what we expect, as they’ve been telegraphed throughout the series. This is especially true with Sam; if it wasn’t obvious before, the episode all but establishes him as the new Cap. Then again, the end of Avengers: Endgame (2019) already did this. That’s the biggest drawback with “Truth” and the entire series. Despite its relevant social and political commentary, one can’t help but wonder if Sam’s arc was really all that necessary when Endgame made it seem like he already accepted and embraced Steve’s legacy.

The strength of “Truth” comes from the cast’s strong performances, particularly Russell and Lumbly. As Walker, Russell does an excellent job showing us someone who believes he’s in the right even though he’s not. Despite his sense of entitlement, it’s hard not to pity him when the government tosses him aside, not so much because he killed an unarmed terrorist but because they see him as an liability and an embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Lumbly again steals the episode as he did in “The Star-Spangled Man,” giving a pitch perfect delivery in recounting Isaiah’s tragic past. It’s also evident how the episode wants us to see the parallels between Isaiah and Walker, too. Both are embittered combat veterans who feel abandoned by the country that they served. Yet in Isaiah’s case, his anger is justified. He’s also still very much a prisoner of his own history, which serves as a contrast with the more forward looking Sam.

In the end, the episode sides with Sam’s point of view: embracing America’s ideals doesn’t mean ignoring its sins, and neither do those sins means abandoning the promise of those ideals. As positive and uplifting as that message is, however, it’s too bad it got embedded in what’s amounts to glorified filler. At least it leaves us with the hope that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will end with a much-needed adrenaline rush.

What did you think of the latest episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? What do you expect from the finale episode? Did you like the way Sam got back Cap’s Shield? And what will Walker do next? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments below.