Let's Talk About THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER - "Truth"

Whoa… after watching the most recent episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, I’m feeling so many feelings! What an incredible and well-written episode that takes the characters of Sam, Bucky, and John Walker to another level. I love how the bond between Sam and Bucky was strengthened in this episode and it’s great to see the characters getting along.

The episode certainly did start out super intense, though, when Sam and Bucky faced off with John Walker. I did not like how that fight started out! Sam and Bucky were getting their asses handed to them by Walker at first, and I was like, there’s no way the fight would really go down like this! Bucky and Sam could have easily kicked his ass! I was getting upset that they couldn’t take him down in that first half of the fight! Hell, Walker ripped Sam’s wings off during the battle! Thankfully, they did win in the end and took down the bastard.

Captain America’s shield was reclaimed from the unhinged Walker and he found himself being formally fired as the designated Captain America. You know, because he straight-up murdered a guy in public. As you might expect, Walker is pissed off with how things played out and threw a temper tantrum during his hearing.

Not long after, Walker is sitting outside of the room where the hearing took place with his wife and an woman named Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine shows up. This character is played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Yes, this is the big cameo reveal that was teased before the episode aired. She is a quirky, quick-witted character who comes in to offer Walker a new kind of role. She tells him, "You did the right thing taking the serum. It has made you very, very valuable to certain people."

She tells Walker that the shield isn't really US government property. It was forged by Howard Stark using the small supply of vibranium the US Army had, and it’s a grey area.

Before she leaves, she hands Walker a blank business card, which I loved! That’s a strong and confident networking power play. Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine is a character pulled from Marvel Comics and she has an interesting history. The character is linked to Nick Fury and SHIELD, but she was also a Russian sleeper agent and at one point joined Hydra, which is where she became Madame Hydra. Her allegiance is questionable, so it will be interesting to see how her character’s story arc will play out in the MCU.

Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine was supposed to make her MCU debut in Black Widow. But her first appearance had to be shuffled into this show due to the delay of Black Widow’s release. There are obviously future plans for the character.

In regards to the future of John Walker, the episode ends with a mid-credits scene in which we see Walker building a new shield for himself, one that has his Metal of Honor welded into it. His new shield definitely won't work nearly as well as Sam's vibranium one though. This character, who has been an asshole, is now taking a much darker turn, thus making him more of an asshole. Most fans knew that he was going down the road of becoming U.S. Agent.

After Sam gets the Shield back he goes to visit 1950s super soldier Isaiah Bradley again. Sam is still wrestling with the shield's legacy and he is looking to get some insight from Isiah. During their visit together, Isaiah shares his story of how he was once a part of a group used as guinea pigs as the US tried to recreate the Super Soldier Serum. 

He explains that they were sent on missions, all the while, Isaiah's fellow test subjects "weren't stable," sometimes to a fatal degree. When some of these guys were captured, the U.S. Government planned to bomb the POW camp to erase the evidence. Isaiah went against his order and snuck out to rescue these men, but in the end, they died anyway and Isaiah was locked away in prison for 30 years as they attempted to figure out why the serum worked on him.

Just an observation- In Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers embarks on a solo rescue mission without government approval and he didn't get thrown in prison for it. Just one more thing that makes things uncomfortable for this situation.

Sam tells Isaiah the world needs to hear his story, but he’s not convinced. He tells Sam, "They were worried my story might get out, so they erased me, my history. But they've been doing that for 500 years. Pledge allegiance to that, my brother. They will never let a Black man be Captain America. And even if they did, no self-respecting Black man would ever wanna be."

This scene definitely hammers home the complex legacy that Sam has been left with. He ends up carrying that shield around with him through most of the episode thinking of its symbolism and figuring out how he’s going to move forward.

At one point Sam and Bucky are together throwing the shield around, which looked like a lot of fun, by the way, and during this scene, Bucky apologizes for his and Steve Rogers' failure to understand what giving Sam that shield meant and the complications of it.

Sam accepts the shield, though, and will take on the mantle of Captain America so that he can move forward and also stop the villainous Flag Smashers, as they are planning to attack New York City. Bucky also brings Sam a gift from Wakanda, which is obviously a new costume, a new costume that has yet to be revealed. But, as Sam opened the case and looked at what was inside, he seemed to get emotional. I hope the costume is inspired by the one that he wears in the comics.

As for Zemo, I’m happy that he never turned on Sam and Bucky, he remained a gentleman and a man of his word. Bucky finds Zemo in his homeland Sokovia, at a memorial for the people who were killed during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

During their encounter, Zemo pushes Bucky to kill Karli, and Bucky holds a gun to Zemo’s head. Zemo is ready to take the bullet, but when Bucky pulls the trigger, there’s only the sound of a click. At this point, Ayo shows up with a couple of members of the Dora Milaje. They are there to take Zemo away and they will take him to the Raft, an underwater prison designed to hold superhumans. This is the same place where Sam, Bucky, and Cap, were held in Civil War. Not sure why they just didn’t take him back to Wakanda to face justice, but I’m sure having him in the Raft makes more sense for a future storyline that Marvel wants to tell.

Then there’s Karli, the leader of the Flag Smashers, and near the end of the episode, she activates an army of Flag Smasher sleeper agents in Manhattan. The plan is to attack the Global Repatriation Council as it gets ready to vote on forcing millions of Blip-displaced refugees to return to their home countries.

There was also a point in the episode where former SHIELD agent Sharon Carter gets mercenary Georges Batroc out of prison. She is also connected the to the incident in Tunisia. She ends up sending Batroc to help Karli and her Flag Smashers. Carter’s true motivation remains unclear. By sending help, it seems like she is on the side of the Flag Smashers, but she could also be sending Batroc in to turn against them. We’ll have to wait and see.