The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Series Review: The Final Episode

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has come to an end. This was a great series, and it did a lot to expand Marvel into different areas. It introduced new plotlines and characters, and gave us more to work with. More shows will be coming soon, and it seems that Disney has no plans to stop. So let’s get into the episode…

This episode starts with the NYPD surrounding the GRC building where the senators were voting. Sam and Bucky arrive, Sam by air, Bucky by ground. Bucky meets up with Sharon and Karli sees Sam fly in and orders one of her soldiers in the building to gas the voting room. As they run out, Sam breaks through the glass and stops the soldier in a new red, white, and blue suit bearing the shield. Not Sam is Captain America. Sam tries to stop the senators from leaving the building because it’s a set up, but gets into a fight with the guy from the plane in the first episode. Bucky and Sharon split up to stop the flag smashers. Karli calls Bucky to try and stop him. The senators are taken to an armored vehicle where a device is placed on the back. Bucky tries to get Karli to stop saying she will regret it but she doesn’t listen. Bucky takes a motorcycle, and Sharon places a gas device on a guy. Sam flies off away from the Frenchman to go after a helicopter. The helicopter evades. Karli speaks to the flag smashers, and some of them are clearly having second thoughts. The helicopter crashes into another one, and Sam saves the pilots. The flag smashers take over the armored trucks. Bucky stops them and they try to douse it in gasoline. 

Walker arrives and confronts Karli with a new shield. Bucky saves the senators as Walker fights the flag smashers. Bucky comes and saves Walker. Sam takes out the helicopter pilot, and one of the passengers takes it over. Walker fights Karli and she takes him down. She then takes the remaining senators away. And drives the truck into a construction site. As it’s about to fall, Walker grabs it to try and save it, but Karli tackles him. Sam flies in and stops out with his jet. Everyone watches as Sam stops it. Karli tries to throw a metal rod at Walker, but Bucky stops it. Sam throws the shield and hits all the flag smashers. As they’re talking, smoke grenades fill the construction site. Sam uses heat vision and takes Bucky and Walker through a tunnel to follow them. Bucky and Walker go to the left as Sam goes straight. Sharon ambushes Karli. 

Then Sharon reveals a twist. She was the powerbroker all along! She hired the french mercenary, named Batroc, to spy on Karli all along. Sharon kills Batroc, and Karli shoots her. Sam runs in and saves Sharon. They fight, and we see the other flag smashers going to a rendezvous point. Turns out it was a trap by Walker, and Bucky, and they are arrested by the police. Walker then says a quote “Mercy bears richer fruit than strict justice.” As in he decided to be merciful to them. I liked this scene a lot because it showed that he is willing to forgive, and that he might not be such a bad guy after all. Karli and Sam are still fighting, and it’s interesting because Sam is only defending with the shield and doesn’t want to fight her, but she does want to fight. She picks up the gun, but Sharon shoots her first. Karli dies in Sam’s arms, and says she is sorry. He carries her body out to paramedics, who take her away. He speaks to the senators about the refugees and the vote. He empathizes with the senator about how helpless the people feel, and talks about how people would think of him. He calls the senators out for doing nothing. He then flies off to go get the last flag smasher that fell out of the helicopter.

The episode ends with a few different scenes. First, the truck carrying the remaining flag smashers is destroyed. They are all killed, and we see that Zemo’s butler appears to be the one that did it. Next, we see Walker speak to Valentina from the last episode. He gets a new suit, and a new name, U. S. Agent. We transition over to Bucky, and see he finally tells Yuri about his son. Sam goes to Isiah’s house, and takes him to the Captain America exhibit at a museum, and there is a section all about him. Isaiah thanks Sam and they part ways. We then get a nice scene of Sam with his family, and Bucky is there as well. They have a good time, and the episode ends with a title screen which says Captain America and The Winter Soldier.

This episode was an excellent way to end the series. It closed up all of the story lines in a satisfying way, while opening up new ones. Walker’s transformation into U. S. Agent will be interesting to see. Sharon as the power broker was an interesting twist. The story was wrapped up nicely, however I do wish Karli survived. It would have been interesting to see how they used her in future projects. Bucky’s story ended nicely with him confronting Yuri about his son, and Sam and Isiah’s story ended well with him being honored.