The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Review: Power Broker (Season 1 Episode 3)

Falcon and The Winter Soldier isn’t wasting time with this six-episode event. Global conflict, droves of criminals, and one rich sugar-daddy are in play with more players promising to reveal themselves soon enough. This is television at its most ambitious!

It’s understanding The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Season 1 Episode 3, “Power Broker,” would turn to a formula that has treated the franchise well as we begin to dive into the conflict surrounding these new super-soldier serums.

However, by mimicking the super-charged insanity of blockbusters like Civil War, we see the first signs of weakness from the series. But it’s not all bad — we finally get to know, if the roles were reversed, would Bucky move his seat for Sam. Shocker, he would not.

“Power Broker” is entertainment in its purest superhero form. The episode uses a roster of expensive special effects, brutal beatdowns, and flashy cameos to captivate us. It’s the closest this series will come to the feel of Marvel’s blockbuster films.

This is the kind of episode that will appeal to the fan in all of us. However, the larger story seems to be unravelling with every new installment. At the end of the day, surface-level action keeps the masses content but hardly gives Sam and Bucky the story they deserve.

Each installment feels like a movie and that’s exciting. However, smaller threads introduced in one episode often don’t carry over to the next. Storylines struggle to fit together cohesively and the result is fleeting moments of enjoyment patched together in what could become very choppy storytelling.

Falcon and The Winter Soldier is testing the limits of everything Marvel has built from Captain America’s legacy and that comes at a cost. But if you’re going to come for America’s political throat and expose the darker ideology of the shield, then these episodes need to do more than scratch the surface of that potential.

Sharon Carter Supremacy

No amount of cameos can hide the fact that “Power Broker” is Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s weakest episode yet. That said, Sharon Carter’s return is powerful enough to suggest she could turn this thing around if she wanted to.

Sharon plays to the strengths of this team-up, falling into the role of Sam and Bucky’s reluctant babysitter and demonstrating in one epic ship-yard take down that her scrappy fighting skills are cinematic perfection. It’s comforting to have a Carter back on Team Cap’s radar.

Marvel’s mistreatment of Sharon manifests itself in ways we weren’t quite expecting. Sharon is pissed that she was exiled for helping men who couldn’t be bothered to clear her name. I mean a 106-year-old assassin was pardoned for his crimes and Sharon can’t even call her father — this woman has every right to be angry!

That said, Sharon’s rage doesn’t give her story depth. We have to acknowledge that Bucky’s observation isn’t wrong — Sharon is kind of awful. However justifiable that rage is, it’s difficult to see her support for Cap’s cause replaced by this bitterness.

Emily VanCamp is a force of nature as Sharon Carter, so I have to hope this is the start of something more for her.

The Boys Go Clubbing

Bucky and Sam, with their impeccably timed banter, continue to prove just how vital chemistry is to this show’s success. These stubborn men pretend they don’t care, so this installment expertly navigates uncomfortable situations where they are forced to cling to each other for stability.

The prison break is this episode’s crowning achievement. Bucky “who knows how prison breaks happen, we’ll never know” Barnes recounts the hypothetical story with incredible comedic timing. Stan’s casual tone and Mackie’s escalating panic elevate this ridiculous dialogue to the next level.

Zemo adds a bizarre new layer to the reluctant co-worker dynamic by spoiling Sam and Bucky on his private jet and taking them clubbing. Zemo fist-bumping in the club is not what I expect from the man who broke up the Avengers but I’m not complaining — Pimp Daddy Zemo is far too fun!

He brings forth a devastating realization that Bucky is using Steve’s journal for the names of those he must make amends with. What follows is a conversation that navigates comedy and heartbreak beautifully as the weight of the journal turns to disgust that Bucky wouldn’t “adore” the Trouble Man soundtrack.

Sam, Bucky, and Zemo discussing Marvin Gaye is by far the greatest call back to Winter Soldier yet!

The Art of Villainy

The subtle art of villainy hasn’t come easy to Marvel. But antagonists like Agatha Harkness and Alexander Pierce demonstrate how using restraint when unveiling an antagonist’s true nature can make their inevitability all the more menacing.

Zemo has already steamrolled through any hesitations and straight into iconic territory. He was a tough sell as the villain of Civil War. However, within his first meeting with Bucky post-Avengers, his calculated demeanour proves this man has dark depths begging to be explored.

Daniel Brühl brings a much-needed subtly to his role as Zemo this time around. The character is all flashy plans and flourishes in the moment but it’s clear in his quieter aggressions towards the Winter Soldier that Zemo intends to be Bucky and Sam’s downfall.

He may be the villain in the ridiculous purple mask shooting up a shipyard, but he’s also the man pushing Bucky to his breaking point and counting exit points in every room. He’s chewing this scenery to pieces and in such subtle ways that we still find ourselves questioning his next move.

Someone whose villainy is not even remotely subtle is John Walker’s. A majority of the second episode is wasted on convincing us that Walker isn’t that bad. Now, it seems he’s given up on the nice guy charade altogether.

The episode doesn’t even attempt to be subtle about stripping his character of ambiguity in favour of producing a more menacing antagonist for the season’s back half. It’s counter-productive because we already know he’s a man with a dangerous complex, yet the show spends precious time fleshing out his ignorance.

I need Falcon and The Winter Soldier to stop wasting our time with how Walker makes a terrible Captain America and get to the part where we do something about it. As the German man so savagely points out, we know who Walker is and we don’t care.

So, here lies my issue with this episode, an issue not even Zemo’s natural likeability can escape.

The antagonists are eating up screen time that should go to the protagonists. It’s an issue that’s will become a defining flaw of the series if Sam’s story is continuously pushed to the side to explore what makes these white villains tick. We see plenty of that on TV as it is, and I can’t stress enough how little I want to see more of it.

What’s the Endgame Here?

The series isn’t called Zemo and The Flag-Smashers, a fact seemingly forgotten in favour of the very ensemble scenes that worked against Civil War‘s success as a Captain America film — rather than the Avengers installment it so clearly was.

The moment this series decided to prioritize Zemo over therapy, the premise shifted in ways that no longer serve the core characters. We need to return to the magic of the pilot, where Sam and Bucky had room to be flawed characters and deal with problems that still provided promising layers of entertainment for this mini-series.

Layers where Walker has time to grow into a proper antagonist alongside the military and we can dive into the complicated history of Steve’s legacy from within the confines of a politically charged premise.

WandaVision managed to pack an insane amount of character-driven stories into one episode while still entertaining us with Marvel fan-fare. So it’s troubling that Sam has yet to see any promising storylines beyond his relationship with Bucky.

Falcon and The Winter Soldier insists on giving us the world when all we really want is more Sam and Bucky.

Theories & Other Thoughts:

• If Sam checks in on Bucky one more time to see if he’s okay, I will definitely not be okay!
• Karli found out about that scientist’s death quickly. Considering the timing, it seems like Sharon could be working with the Flag-Smashers.
• Who the hell is the Power Broker but more importantly, why should we care?
• I really love how frequently The Winter Soldier’s theme song is played in this series — what a hype song!
• Sarah deserves to sell the boat, she clearly puts up with far too much to be unfazed by that phone call with Sam.
• The way Sharon gets the boys dressed in fitted suits just to go on a mission together. I missed her.
• Petition for Bucky to wear his fitted black blazer to every fight from now on.
• The Wakandans sending Ayo a.k.a. “Move or you will be moved” is the ultimate flex.

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New episodes of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier air Fridays on Disney+.

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