Did You Guys See What Walker Did To the Shield?
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 4 Review
Do you ever ask yourself why Captain America’s tool of choice is a shield? I have two ideas why. Firstly, it makes him look like a total badass. More importantly, though, the shield isn’t meant to kill. It’s meant to protect. That fits perfectly with Steve Rogers’ personality. Today, though? Today, we saw John Walker, the US Government’s choice for Captain America, disgrace the shield. John Walker, you disgust me.
Zemo’s on the Loose
At the end of the last episode, we saw Bucky come face to face with Ayo of the Dora Milaje (Wakanda’s all-female royal guard), who demands that Bucky give them Zemo. Bucky wisely doesn’t fight them on this, and Ayo gives them eight hours to get everything out of him before they take him.
I know that some people may have wanted to see Bucky fight the Dora Milaje over this, but the flashback at the beginning shows just how grateful he is to Wakanda for helping him get the stuff HYDRA put in his out. And I think that he would have honored the deal and given them Zemo. That is, if John Walker didn’t walk in like he owned the place and gotten his butt kicked. As a result, Zemo escaped, and now Bucky and Sam are out of leads, and John Walker continues to be a disgrace to the shield. So, no one wins!
Oh, and Zemo smashed all but one of the vials of super soldier serum.
Karli Morgenthau: Robin Hood or Terrorist
Ever since this miniseries started, I’ve been lax on mentioning Karli Morgenthau, the leader of the Flag Smashers. I just haven’t been as interested in her as a character as I am with everyone else. However, I think I may need to change my stance after this week.
In some ways, Karli Morgenthau reminds me of a darker version of Captain America. And that’s not just because she has the super soldier serum in her. As we’ve seen in the series, Karli’s someone who knows what its like to not have any power in this world, like Steve did. Ergo, she knows what it means to have power and what good it can do. While the fact that she kills people isn’t something to gloss over, it’s obvious that she can be a good person.
Sam certainly seems to think so, at least. He sympathizes with her plight isnce he knows what it’s like to not be treated fairly by those in charge. He may have ended up getting through to her if John Walker didn’t barge in and ruin everything.
John Walker: Unworthy of the Shield
We all knew that this was coming, but it doesn’t make it any less dissappointing to watch. John Walker was never meant to be Captain America and wield the shield. He knows it, Sam and Bucky know it, everyone in the show know it. And as I said in episode 2, that pressure starts to eat away at him as he keeps trying to prove he’s capable of being Cap. It also doesn’t help when it’s revealed that he won his three Medals of Honor on the “worst day of his life.” So, he’s clearly got some form of PTSD that the Government decided to overlook. And this week, we see just how far from Steve Rogers John really is.
Walker manages to get his hands on the last vial of the super soldier serum and keeps it for himself. And in a conversation with Hoskins, he asks if he would take the serum if given the chance. Hoskins says that he would, and as we later see in the episode, Walker ultimately took it. Which is the exact reason why he’s not worthy of the shield.
Steve Rogers didn’t want to be a soldier just for the sake of it; all he wanted to do was help people, because he knew what it’s like to be helpless. It’s that humanity that had him spare Tony Stark in Civil War. However, in the climax of the episode, Walker becomes enraged when Karli apparently kills Hoskins. As a result, he chases down her second-in-command, someone who professed earlier in the episode to being a fan of Captain America as a kid. Then, in front of the whole world, Walker proceeds to beat the man to death with Cap’s shield.
Walker Has to Go
I almost dropped my phone when I saw what Walker had done in the final moments of the episode. I knew that Marvel wasn’t going to be subtle about why Walker’s not worthy of the shield, but, wow. That was like watching the MCU Netflix series all over again. Whoever came up with that scene for the show deserves an award.
So, I think I speak for the entire fandom when I say this: John Walker has to go. Sam and Bucky need to take him down, take the shield for themselves. I trust them with the shield over the government!
Regardless of the shock value, I think that this took The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in a darker direction, and for the better. I’m now pumped to see the last two episodes, and I think everyone should be watching this. Like the title of the episode says, the whole world is watching right now!
I Give “The Whole World is Watching” a 4.8/5
Click here to see more reviews related to TV
Click here for more MCU stuff
Check out more comic stuff
I think he genuinely wanted to do the right thing- to be a proper “Captain America.” The PROBLEM was that he was trying to live up to Steve Rogers- not trying to be “his own Captain America.” And because of the self pressure from himself to be Steve and the external pressure placed on him by others; he ultimately cracked under the pressure. He’s not worthy of the shield because he of the weight that thing carries. Sam might also have a few problems- what with one Legend and one “Fake” preceding him now.
I hope to see John Walker later on in the MCU; I’m interested in what his character has to offer. He can either go through character development to become a better person on his own and maybe not the “New Cap” he wanted to be but his own man- OR this could push him further into the “darkness” and he becomes a legit Villain.
And then you have Karli and the Flag Smashers. “The problem with an ‘Eye for an Eye’ is that everyone ends up blind in the end.” They killed his right hand, so he took theirs. But they aren’t taking THAT ONE lying down. Thus; a big battle incoming. John’s involvement in it is up in the air though, considering what he just did.
That’s the problem with John Walker. I said from the start that everyone, himself included, had unrealistic expectations for him as the new Captain America. They wanted him to be the hero so badly. But Steve never set out to be a hero. He didn’t want to be a soldier or kill Nazi’s, remember? He just wanted to do the right thing because, as he put it “I don’t like bullies. It doesn’t matter where they come from.” And he’s always tried to stay true to that, and that’s what made him a hero.