The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - S1E4: The Whole World is Watching
DISNEY +The Falcon and the Winter Soldier delivers its best outing so far with its fourth episode. Ditching a large majority of its annoying tone of humour, director Kari Skogland reminds us of her strengths and showcases several entertaining action sequences.
Opening with a flashback to Wakanda used to tie Ayo’s (Florence Kasumba) sudden appearance into the main narrative, Sebastian Stan is on full display. So far throughout the show, Bucky has been treated differently to his movie counterpart. Brimming with unnatural joviality, this ‘fresher’ Bucky has been occasionally jarring and hasn’t had too much of an arc to go on, despite promises of one in the pilot. It also missed out on showing off Stan, who is arguably the show’s best talent. In this short sequence, Stan is able to morph from a true sense of fear to one of cautious relief all with extreme nuance. It’s easy to see why this flashback was integrated into the episode but also raises the question of Stan’s larger role in the show and why the two leads (Anthony Mackie as the second) are constantly being side-lined in terms of character development.
Surprisingly, it is the newer secondary characters are getting the chance at being developed. With minimal presence in the previous episode, the new Captain America (Wyatt Russell’s John Walker) is front and centre here. Walker continues to be a welcome change of pace in a world where heroes are too clean, too perfect, and nearly impossible to dislike. Walker is a man who clearly wants to do right but struggles to make much of a dent. His constant beating down clearly resonates and makes him question his role in the world, which leads him to make some pretty devastating decisions in this episode. Russell perfectly captures this thin line - Walker’s good heart is continuously hindered by his sense of self-importance.
Erin Kellyman, on the other hand, really struggles to leave much of an impact. It is not all her fault, despite an interesting choice of irritating accent, as her character of Karli Morgenthau continuously remains a minimally threatening force. Writer Derek Kolstad gives her the fleshing out treatment here, but Karli’s justifications still feel empty. It is really hard to tell whether or not an audience is supposed to sympathise with her cause. But, at the end of the day, she and her team still do not seem to be a big enough case for two Avengers.
It is the action that levitates much of the episode in comparison to the others. A skirmish between the Wakandan Dora Milaje and Sam, Bucky, Walker and Hoskins (Cle Bennett is a sturdy support as Walker’s right-hand man) not only delivers a much-needed adrenaline shot, but also adds further questions to Walker’s role as Captain America. Later, another skirmish between the four heroes and the Flag Smashers also continues to add extra layers to Walker’s journey. It is smart action like this that feels lifted from the directorial style of the Russo Brothers. Rather than having action for action’s sake, the action here continues to further the story - particularly Walker’s story which dominates the episode.
This episode manages to further several characters' journeys through the use of well stylised action, as opposed to the mundane conversations littered throughout the past couple of episodes. Wyatt Russell’s performance as the torn John Walker is absorbing but threatens to overshadow the performances of the two leads who seem to be lacking any kind of arc themselves. Still, it is plenty enjoyable and the final shot in itself is remarkably un-Marvel in the sense of its brutality which suggests the showrunners are attempting to offer up something slightly more unique.