The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - S1E3: Power Broker
DISNEY+Marking the halfway point for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier already, this episode mainly focuses on bringing Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) and Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) into the fray, rather than answering any serious narrative questions.
As welcome a treat as the ever-delectable Bruhl is, Zemo’s reintroduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems, so far, forced. He’s not exactly an unwanted addition, but Zemo seems shoehorned into the story, tied to the plot with a flimsy bit of potential knowledge regarding the new criminal super soldiers. It’s a reach for Bucky (Sebastian Stan) to want to bring Zemo in; it seems to be something stringed together out of convenience to have the character appear. It feels like the showrunners are desperately trying to tie in as many references and nods to the Russo Brother-directed Captain America instalments as possible. Even Zemo’s prison break is severely lacklustre; a handful of scenes see Zemo literally walking out of prison as Bucky narrates them.
Bruhl is still very much enjoyable and it’s clear he’s having a good time fleshing out the character he first played in Captain America: Civil War. A different side of Zemo is shown here with some of the earlier scenes making sure to shine a light on the fact this man is a Baron and, as a result, exceedingly rich. He comes across as a European Bruce Wayne, butler included. However, having Zemo along for the ride is sometimes detrimental. He is given the obligatory ‘one size fits all’ Marvel sense of humour and any sense of villainy is undone during a party scene in which Zemo dances.
The main story itself hasn’t been all too interesting and this episode doesn’t do too much to help inject any kind of intrigue. The Flag Smashers currently play out as a ridiculously low-level threat and are far from intimidating whilst the story itself has become a monotonous circle of finding a lead, having a conversation with a lead then being led to another lead. These conversations are lacking, both in terms of acting and dialogue. There is an opportunity for there to be some stimulating dialogue sequences, but they suffer from the fact the actors playing these characters barely have any time to breathe life into them before the next character is whisked in. The information they give usually isn’t all that interesting either.
This episode alone sees Zemo, Sharon Carter, two criminal ganglord [k1] (one seen, one unseen) and a Hydra scientist all spewing out supposedly sensitive information that really doesn’t reveal all that much. It’s not exactly hard to keep track of, but there are so many characters thrown in that it becomes messy. What little information is gleaned each time also becomes diluted amongst the action.
Emily VanCamp stands out as this episode’s true saving grace. Sharon Carter is another character who has felt severely underplayed in the movies and, within just a couple of scenes here, is given a new lease of life. Sharon, who is suspiciously living as a fugitive and a criminal, rocks a muddier lifestyle and obliterates a bunch of goons in a gorgeously choreographed, safety off fight sequence – an unusually brutal sequence as far as Marvel standards go.
While the story attempts to justify its existence by going all out on the globe trotting locale, the true cracks shine through at script level. Nothing particularly exciting is happening here and it seems characters are just taking turns passing the ‘story baton’ on after they’ve said their small piece. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is taking too long to get to the point, especially when the villainous threat is weak and the stakes don’t seem that high.