Spoilers

The Flag Smashers make their move…

This is it the last episode and the question is what kind of landing are we in for? The show picks up straight after the end of episode 5 with the GRC under siege and isolated from the outside world. There are a variety of players in the game and the heroes are yet to show up.

It’s really an episode of two parts, the first part taking up just over 2/3 of the episode is the resolution of all the different characters coming together around the GRC vote. It is clear the Flag Smashers want to stop the vote from occurring. Most importantly they appear to have built enough support that they are convinced that even if they all die in this operation the movement itself will continue. It’s never really clear what the plan is apart from ‘stop the vote’, but how do you do that by kidnapping the people voting if you’re not going to take them to a safe spot from which to negotiate? This isn’t really addressed, with the show moving too quickly in order to fit everything into its runtime.

A little bit like HYDRA it’s not clear who is and isn’t a member even if their secret greeting appears to be known by everyone. What’s really interesting here is how Karli continues down the path of no return and how her friends are dragged along by her determination rather than their own commitment.

I’m still not convinced about her willingness in one moment to kill lots of people and her unwillingness in the next to kill individuals. As a way of showing her in conflict over her values it doesn’t feel like it quite works. Erin Kellyman remains mesmerising as Karli and I honestly wish we got to see more of her onscreen during the series. And seriously why kill innocents? It just makes no sense except to prove that she’s a villain. The other Flag Smashers remain effectively generic; running around doing Karli’s bidding and sometimes it is hard to keep track as the action splits people into small parties each doing their own thing.

That’s all really starter to the main course which is Sam’s new suit and what a perfect suit it is, layering in Sam himself as well as Captain America. If the show has shown Sam’s battle to be the man he wants to be regardless of expectations, but also his willingness to fight for a better world and not surrender powerful symbols to his enemies, the suit captures all of that in its construction.

After the main confrontation is done comes the meat of the episode with the GRC proposing to respond like British Home Secretaries to urban unrest throughout the years – with an iron fist and a complete lack of empathy.

This is where the show shines and for all the little plot threads that don’t quite work (more on which later) everything can be forgiven for the space Anthony Mackie is given as Sam Wilson to talk about what it means to have a black Captain America. Two startling images will remain with me: one where Sam saves New York police officers from death and the other where he descends from the sky like a Black angel coming down from heaven. the latter is particularly wonderful to see if the former deliciously ironic.

I can see some quarters seeing his speech as a telling off or unnecessarily wordy and you know what? Yes, it is and quite right too. In my day job I spend time working with people with this kind of power and they so very rarely have anyone different to them in the room, let alone people who will challenge them to think differently or will tell them they’re wrong to their face. If they end up doing the wrong thing it is so often not because they are malicious but because they simply have no clue how the rest of the world works and lives.

I have said the same thing Sam has said about people needing to do better, about people making decisions without knowing about the impact they are going to make. You could read his speech as out of character and perhaps in a language that doesn’t fit Sam. From my own experience I would disagree. He knows exactly who he’s talking to and understands the code switching he needs to do to speak in a way they will understand.

Not only that but he gets to talk about reclamation of hurt, restorative justice as well as the fact that we can’t fight forever if we truly want a better world. There are some killer lines in a speech he is given, and I am truly jealous that he gets to stand and deliver them to millions. I’m also thankful that Marvel had the chops to stand by this kind of discussion.

What’s more exciting though is that having so comprehensively addressed the issue I think this show can move on and let Sam be Captain America without having to return to this issue time after time. That is the most powerful argument against his detractors both imaginary and in the real world. In a very real sense this is what Sam is arguing for; that doing better is about moving on and accepting that things have to change and then making them change. As he says later there is a lot of work to do – he is under no illusions that one speech was enough.

Here we have Sam’s view of the world and America – one in which there can be change and the old ways can be dismantled and reconstructed in patterns that benefit everyone. Sure, the very real message he gives to the GRC is that some people are going to have to give up their privilege, but that’s okay because everyone else benefits. This show really acts as a companion piece to Them, the horror anthology being shown on Prime. If the latter is about the horror of the status quo and privileged being hoarded then this show is about a world in which hope comes both from the status quo being overturned but in people recognising the value in that.

If you were in any doubt that this was really a show about Sam Wilson becoming Captain America this episode dispels whatever was lingering. It is both a glorious origin story but also a little bit sad because Bucky continues to play second fiddle. Is it because Marvel was not brave enough to give a black man sole heading? Or is it because becoming Captain America made it very difficult for Bucky to do anything other than be the sidekick once again.

Setting expectations aside about what Sebastian Stan was given to do, it’s worth noting that he is excellent and has a couple of really stand out moments in this episode. Not least when he articulates the same values as Sam but from his own lived experience. The little touches that convince you he is a man who has lived for more than 100 years are well thought through and I really enjoyed his moments. Basically I wanted more.

The emotional heart of the story is pretty much note perfect and I won’t go into spoilers here for how that is handled except to say there were definitely ugly tears in this house when Sam finally admits he knows what it’s like to be hated just for being alive.

A brilliant emotional heart gets you a long way and I have to say I think they stuck the landing here brilliantly even if a couple of plotlines just didn’t work for me.

The identity of the Power Broker makes no sense – not least because of decisions made by characters in the show which appear to utterly fly in the face of what we then discover. It felt like they wanted to bring this character into the universe and this was the way they were going to do it, but it is far from seamless and it doesn’t really make a lot of sense. It’s clear we’re going to see more of the Power Broker but this, as an origin story, feels lacklustre, contradictory and messy.

There’s also a bomb which defies all credibility, and some injuries which are effectively forgotten about by key characters at key moments in the name of delivering emotional beats. Plot is secondary to the story the show wants to tell and that story is about what it should mean to be Captain America.

Wyatt Russell is back as John Walker, but what I really want to say is how well I think he’s handled this character. The material has been nuanced and I’ve really liked the way they’ve approached him, and what he gets to do in this episode makes a lot of sense. There’s a nod he gives at one point which is full of self-doubt and hope all conveyed in the slenderest of expressions. John Walker is a character we can love to hate because Wyatt Russell has done such a good job portraying him. US Agent – the white man doing the dirty jobs no one else believes should be done – feels like the right move but some of the imagery here again made no sense. Wyatt gives a really good sense of the conflict inside John, but actually he is terrible under pressure. Perhaps more than anything we see that John Walker is someone who needs to be led.

Verdict: The series has done a great job of exploring the aftermath of Steve Rogers stepping back. Both Sam and Bucky have been given space to work through what it means to lose a best friend and a moral compass.

If individual plot elements haven’t worked then the emotional strength of this show has carried it along and Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley has, fortunately, been a big part of that.

With a second season not yet confirmed, I’m really interested to see what direction they take this in now that Bucky is no longer so deeply troubled, and Sam is clearly Captain America.                       

Rating? 9 history exhibits out of 10.

Stewart Hotston.