The Falcon and the Winter Soldier season 1, episode 6 review: One World, One People

“You think your cause justifies all this death, but in the end, the nightmares never go away.” Spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier season 1, episode 6 follow.

Karli and her Flag Smashers enter their endgame against the GRC and, even if they may agree with her beliefs, the Falcon and the Winter Soldier must stop her before more lives are lost.

As things are unfolding, John Walker enters the fray as well, hellbent on getting revenge for the death of Lemar, setting the stage for an explosive finale of Disney Plus‘ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

All-New Cap in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

First off, we need to just bring up the elephant in the room. Captain America. That’s what the show has been about since the first shot popped up onto screen. No, we’re not talking about Steve Rogers. Definitely not talking about John Walker. No, we’re talking about Sam Wilson, the true successor to the shield. After seeing him give the shield up just minutes into the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we get to witness him finally achieving his destiny in this finale and it is fantastic.

This probably has been said by almost everyone at this point, but it really needs to be reiterated. Anthony Mackie absolutely owns the role of Sam Wilson. Right now, he’s on the level of Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans in that you couldn’t picture someone else playing Iron Man and Steve Rogers, respectively. Mackie is just that good in the role. His rapport with Sebastian Stan has been great throughout the series and continues to be so here as well.

But wow, once we get that first shot of Sam in his Captain America suit, talk about comic book accurate. He looks like he was ripped from the pages of the Stuart Immonen cover of All-New Captain America #1. Utterly incredible and something that Sam has definitely earned ten times over by this point as Falcon. It’s going to be exciting seeing Sam growing more and more into his role as Captain America as time progresses in the MCU.

One World…

There’s a lot more to this episode than just Sam putting on his Captain America suit for the first and punching some people because, of course, there’s a lot going on with Karli and the Flag Smashers too. Truly, we see her at her worst in this episode. Her true zealotry to her cause is revealed here, which even gives the other Flag Smashers pause. She’s willing to kill dozens of people just to get her way. If it wasn’t clear before, she’s the antagonist of the show.

Karli may be right in her beliefs, but once zealotry for an ideology becomes more important than the value of life, that’s when you become an antagonist. And the use of the word antagonist instead of villain is purposeful as she isn’t a villain. She’s right, but her methods are destructive in a way that can’t be condoned and need to be stopped, just like Killmonger in Black Panther.

And, the thing is, we know Karli was right within the context of the show because Sam agrees with her, but he just cannot simply stand by while she hurts, and potentially kills, people. This extends to Karli as well because during their final fight, he refuses to throw a punch. The entire scene, he’s on the defensive. Sam truly wants to help her that, even when she is killed by Sharon, he delivers her message personally to those in charge because, again, she was right in her thinking.

However, no matter how right one may be, once a message becomes mired in violence, any and all credibility that you have, no matter how small to begin with, will no longer hold any weight to most people. It’s why Sam’s words made a difference and Karli’s were ignored completely. It’s something that was really well-executed by the creative team and, combined with his scenes shared with Isaiah Bradley, really complete Sam’s hero’s journey in this show.

US Agent

As for the other shield-wielding warrior in the room that we need to talk about, John Walker was one of the more problematic parts of this episode because almost everything concerning him lacked a little bit of, well, gravity. When he first shows up and when he sees Sam talking to the politicians at the end of the episode, those are really the only two parts of the episode that really work for the character. It’s absolutely not because of Wyatt Russell though. In fact, when listening to Sam, the subtle facial expressions that Russell has in that scene are what makes it work. No, everything wrong with Walker in this episode has to do with writing.

Probably the worst culprit surrounding the writing for Walker in this episode is that it feels like everyone just kind of forgot that he killed an unarmed man, was decommissioned and stripped of his titles, and then he went out as Captain America again anyway (which is a very Cap move if we’re being honest) and the only consequence he got was that he now has a new suit and new name. So much of the things surrounding Walker in this episode just don’t feel right, which is disappointing as there are some really good things with him here too.

Despite some hiccups with how it portrayed the surrounding world around John Walker, Captain America and the Winter Soldier ends on a great note and paves the way for more Sam Wilson stories in the MCU.

All episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are now available on Disney+.

What did you think of the finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Let us know in the comments below!