REVIEW: The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Season 1 Episode Six 'One World, One People'

 REVIEW: The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Season 1 Episode Six 'One World, One People'

The end of the previous episode gave us quite a tantalising tease. We knew that Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) had been given his new suit courtesy of the Dora Milaje, but we had no idea what it looked like. Disney instead decided to torture us all by leaving it hanging a little longer.

But it was certainly worth the wait. We get to see the new Captain America suit pretty early on into this episode, and it's magnificent. It has all of the red, white and blue that you would expect, but complete with added Falcon wings, which brings a whole new dynamic to Captain America. No longer is Captain America restricted by being on the ground. This new Captain America can fly, incorporating Sam's fighting style from his time as the Falcon.

We get quite a stunning arial sequence with this new Captain America ability too, when Sam is chasing the hijacked helicopter through the air in order to save the hostages inside. It's a scene that neatly demonstrates this new Cap's capabilities, as he uses his drone Redwing to ascertain if any of the hostages know how to pilot an aircraft. There are also scenes in this episode where he tosses the shield whilst flying in the air, which looks really cool, and shows just how much fun Sam as Captain America is going to be to watch in the future of the MCU.

It's lovely that everybody within the MCU is shown to be accepting of Sam as Captain America too. As soon as he saves the truck with hostages from falling, he is cheered and applauded by the crowd. This is a crowd who will no longer accept anybody referring to Sam as the Falcon, to them he is quite rightly now the new Captain America.

Sam suits the title so well. He displays an amazing ability at public speaking when he tells a GRC senator about the power he holds, and how he should use it more wisely to help those without a voice. To me, that is what being 'Captain America' in this universe should mean. Somebody who can give these sort of rousing speeches, and provide a symbol to the people of this universe who feel they are not being heard.

Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) makes for an interesting villain in this series, in that she feels misled and misguided rather than an out-and-out bad guy. Her naivety is neatly shown here when she blunders and effectively tells John Walker (Wyatt Russell) that the death of his partner Lemar doesn't matter. But it also does a great job at showing us just why John wasn't a good fit for Captain America, for he retaliates and lets his emotions take control. Unlike Sam, he doesn't have the cold-headed nature you need to be Captain America. He's too brash, forthright and mercurial, and Wyatt Russell plays it so well. He brings the part to life like nobody else could, and gives without a doubt one of the best performances in the MCU.

Which probably means that it's a good job it looks like he's here to stay. For towards the end of this episode, the mysterious Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) gifts him a new black and red suit, and calls him the 'U.S. Agent', which is John Walker's alias from the comics. The suit is very comic-accurate, and presents a bright future for the MCU, suggesting once again that we could be getting some form of super-villain team-up in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thunderbolts, perhaps?

Perhaps the best thing about this episode however is the quieter character-focused moments, and the case in point of this is when Bucky (Sebastian Stan) finally tells Yori (Ken Takemoto) that he killed his son as the Winter Soldier, and this makes for such a beautiful moment. Seeing Bucky confess to someone who he cares about so deeply, and the weight lift from his shoulders as he finally confesses this thing that has been wearing him down is such a delight to see, and provides a considerable amount of depth to the people who inhabit this shared world.

The other particular stand-out piece of character building is when Sam takes Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumby) and his son to the Smithsonian, where he reveals that there is now a statue taking pride of place regarding Isaiah's past as a Captain America. This is undoubtedly one of the most emotional and heartfelt scenes in the entirety of the MCU, as we see how much it means to Isaiah for him finally to get that recognition he has been seeking all his life. Sometimes it's the smaller rather than bigger moments that leave the greatest of impacts, and this was one such example.

The Power-Broker was finally revealed this week, and I'm not a fan of the reveal personally. I never bought into the fan theory that Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) was the Power-Broker, and so to see it confirmed did nothing for me. It makes absolutely no sense as to why she would effectively turn to the dark side, and essentially betray Sam and Bucky in this way without them even knowing. Especially as the Post-Credits seems to hint at Sharon being the primary antagonist of Armour Wars, with her talking about stealing government tech to sell on to interested parties. I'm going to guess that quickly expands to cover Stark tech, which just seems like a horrendous betrayal of the Avengers on her part. I'm not sure I like this move, and I'd rather Sharon had stayed simply as a spy who occasionally gets her hands dirty for Captain America.

Overall, One World, One People comes very close to being a perfect conclusion for The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's first season. It offers some excellent character moments, impressive action set-pieces and an unbelievably cool new Captain America costume for Sam Wilson. It's just a shame that they effectively ruined Sharon's character by making her the Power-Broker. Wouldn't it have made more sense to make the Power-Broker Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin, from the Netflix DareDevil series? After all, that would have made for one hell of a surprise.

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What are your thoughts on The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's sixth episode? Let me know in the comments section.