The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S01E03 is the third instalment of a six-part superhero streaming TV drama miniseries. Set six months after the events of Avengers : Endgame, the miniseries continues to expand on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (“MCU”) after the 5 year blip, and the impact this has on the world, and of course, on the superheroes themselves.
S P O I L E R S F O L L O W
Entitled “Power Broker”, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S01E03 mines heavily plot treads and characters from Captain America : Civil War. Which, when one considers how deeply flawed the plot of Civil War was, becomes highly problematic for this hitherto promising series.
Read our reviews of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier so far.
But before we even touch on the messy plot of “Power Broker”, (who does not even make an appearance!) let’s break down the issues we had with the two characters re-introduced here viz. Baron Zemo and Sharon Carter.
In our view, the MCU Zemo was the weakest part of Civil War. Compared to the comic book version, this Zemo was presented to the audience as an ordinary colonel in the Sokovian army seeking vengeance on the Avengers for the death of his family during the events of Age of Ultron. But illogically (and very conveniently), Zemo has been upgraded to a Baron (?) with wealth and influence, making him a valuable asset to Sam and Bucky in their quest to bring down the Flag Smashers.
Read our reviews of WandaVision.
Worse still is the change in Sharon Carter’s characterisation. Are we to believe that this low-level CIA agent is now a black market kingpin and also conveniently hiding out in Madripoor, to be able to assist Sam and Bucky in their quest? One convenient supporting character asset was already hard to swallow, but two??? C’mon.
Plot-wise, while “Power Broker” was certainly not boring as the pace was typically MCU relentless but sadly, much of the story just did not make much sense. Apart from our problems with Zemo and Sharon Carter, the entire sequence of Sam and Bucky in Madripoor was poorly executed. The discovery of the mad scientist Dr Wilfried Nagel was too easily achieved and his hideout had zero security, despite being funded by the Power Broker? Then what about that whole ‘Mary Sue’ fight sequence where Sharon Carter single-handedly beats down almost TEN bounty-hunters? Is everybody a super-soldier now as well? Ludicrous.
Read our review of Captain America : Civil War.
Suffice to say that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S01E03 was disappointing and the more we see of the Flag Smashers villain group, the less impressed we are. Do you expect us to buy that that frail ginger young woman Karli Morgenthau was able to steal the super-soldier serum from the Power Broker sans powers? One of the poorest villains in MCU history so far.
By the end of “Power Broker”, the series had thrown in a member of Wakanda’s Dora Milaje into the mix as well. Which suggests to us that perhaps Sam and Bucky are not interesting enough to carry the series on their own and thus the writers needed to add in as many characters from Civil War as possible. Hopefully, this is the low point of the series and things can improve from here.
Read our analysis of Captain America : Civil War (with Spoilers)
Now streaming on Disney+.
… still there’s more …