‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Recap: Season 1, Episode 6, “One World, One People” (Season Finale)

Written by Boluwatito Adigun.

---

Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

The fifth episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier successfully set the tone for the climatic (or not so climatic) battle and actions of episode six. Sam (Anthony Mackie) is ready to save the world as Captain America and the White Wolf (Sebastian Stan) is finally willing to face his demons. The lead characters are in a good place mentally to face the Flag Smashers who have already infiltrated the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) building to stop the “Patch Act” vote . 

The sixth episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, titled, “One World, One People”, for me, isn’t the best episode of the series, however, it does wrap up the plot threads nicely and also gives exciting hints on the the second season (if that will happen) or other future MCU movies. 

The episode kicks off from where episode five ended – the Flag Smashers infiltrating the New York headquarters of the Global Repatriation Council (GRC). Both the Winter Soldier and Falcon, as well as Sharon (Emily VanCamp), are already in New York to try and stop the Flag Smashers from carrying out their big plan. Karli (Erin Kellyman), upon sighting Falcon fly-by, instructs fellow Flag Smashers to initiate a biological attack within the GRC building. 

Meanwhile, Falcon flies into the building through a glass window and introduces himself in his new Captain America suit, courtesy of the Wakandans. “Who are you?” a security agent asks, ” I’m Captain America,” Falcon replies. Yes! That’s what I subscribed for!. 

Falcon Captain America immediately realizes that the biological attack launched is to flush the leaders out of the building. But as Captain America updates the Winter Soldier and Sharon, he gets confronted by Batroc (Georges St-Pierre) and they both engage in a fistfight. Thanks to the evacuation protocols and the wide support the Flag Smashers receive inside the building, the leaders are kidnapped and loaded in a police van. 

With the vans in motion, a previously distracted  White Wolf gets on a motorbike and chases after the vans, and on the other hand, Captain America is still fighting with Batroc but has to leave to save the top GRC officials who are being kidnapped with a helicopter. 

Karli comes up on screen again and she reaches farther into the villainous territory. Her original plan was to use the GRC officials as a bargaining chip to stop the Patch Act but now she’s ready to die and kill them all if that’s what it takes to achieve the cause. She’s gone too far and her followers could sense it but they all reluctantly agree to go on with her plan. 

Back to Captain America! He and Redwing, (Yes! Redwing is back from the dead) with the help of a woman, are able to neutralize the Flag Smasher pilot and take control of the helicopter. Meanwhile, White Wolf catches up to the two vans and engages one of the Flag Smashers. However, to buy enough time to escape, the Flag Smashers lit up the second van, giving the White Wolf people to save.  But then again, the ex-Captain America (Wyatt Russell) emerges in his Captain America suit, carrying the makeshift shield he made for himself. 

The ex-Captain America is here to avenge Lemar’s death, ultimately stopping the Flag Smashers from escaping. Another fight ensues while the White Wolf successfully saves the officials in the van. The White Wolf later joins in the fight, this time, side by side with the ex-Captain America. I had so many questions at this point! What’s the deal with the ex-Captain America? I thought he was done with the business of saving people. What about his beef with White Wolf and Falcon for taking the shield from him? Well, I guess his hatred for the Flag Smashers outweighs all that. 

Karli, seeing that the whole situation is getting out of hand, briefly knocks out the ex-Captain America and then drives the last van off a bridge, hoping to kill the officials. The ex-Captain tries to save the van but fails as the Flag Smashers continue to attack him. However, Captain America flies in at the last minute and with the help of Redwing once again, he saves everyone in the van. 

Batroc comes out of nowhere and shoots a couple of smoke grenades, giving the Flag Smashers enough time to escape, but with the Captain’s thermal glasses (what can’t this new suit do?), the trio are able to track the Flag Smashers into a tunnel but they eventually split up with the ex-Cap and the White Wolf going the same way. However, Sharon is able to get to Karli first. It turns out they both know each other and that Sharon is the Power Broker and Karli’s former boss. 

Even from all indications in the previous episodes, I was really hoping Sharon wouldn’t be the Power Broker but an undercover agent for the US government. I so wanted her to be one of the good guys!

Back to the scene, Batroc joins the conversation between Sharon and Karli. He finds out that Sharon is the Power Broker and decides to blackmail her right on the spot. A rookie mistake I must say. Well, he pays the price as Sharon shoots him dead and Karli also takes the advantage to shoot Sharon. 

On hearing the gunshots, Captain America runs to the scene and stops Karli from taking the final shot at Sharon. Another fight ensues, but basically, it is more of Karli attacking while Captain America defends. She is eventually able to knock the Captain down, pointing a gun at him. But before she can pull the trigger, Sharon, who is down injured, takes the first shot, killing Karli. But, is it really to save Captain America or to protect her secret? 

On the other side of the tunnel, White Wolf and ex-Captain America adopted a smarter strategy. They make use of the Flag Smashers app to lure the rest of the Flag Smashers into an ambush with an army of NYPD police officers waiting for them.

With Karli dead, Captain America brings her body outside and lays her down on a stretcher. With all eyes on Captain America, he speaks deeply about the situation of things and implores the government to do the right thing for everyone.

The next scene shows the captured Flag Smashers being transported to the raft in a police van, but as the van pulls away, it explodes. Zemo’s (Daniel Brühl) butler is shown sitting in a car as he watches the van explode. This is an indication that Zemo is responsible for the attack.  Also, a quick visit to the raft shows that Zemo is pleased with the death of the Flag Smashers which confirms the suspicion. Zemo strikes again! I really envy him being a man of principles and personally, I subscribe to his idea that the need to have heroes and symbols often leads to fascism. 

Another quick cut shows the ex-Cap’s wife Olivia (Gabrielle Byndloss) and Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) waiting for the ex-Cap to come out of the closet. The ex-Captain walks out with the same suit but in color black. Valentina then assures him that the world doesn’t need Captain America but a US Agent. This implies that Val works for the US government but why would the US government prosecute him to recruit him again? I guess maybe they are just concerned about the optics of the events surrounding his dismissal which in real life is typical of the U.S. government.  

Meanwhile, the White Wolf finally visits Yori (Ken Takemoto) — the father of the eyewitness he murdered when he was the Winter Soldier. He confesses to Yori about the murder, regretfully saying he had no choice. The White Wolf also leaves a package for Dr. Raynor (Amy Aquino), his therapist. The package contains the notebook filled with crossed names. This made me so happy that the White Wolf has made peace with his past. 

In Baltimore, Captain America visits Isaiah (Carl Lumbly) once again. Isaiah admits that Sam is special and Sam also reiterates that he’s going to fight for the country and he won’t let anyone tell him otherwise. After the conversation, Sam invites both Isaiah and his grandson Eli Bradley (Elijah Richardson) to tag along. They all visit Washington DC’s Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and Sam takes them to the Captain America section where he reveals Isaiah’s exhibit and a golden statue, telling Isaiah that his sacrifice will never be forgotten. A befitting reward I must say for someone who has lost a lot fighting for a country with little regard for him.

The end of the sixth episode takes us back to a party in Louisiana, where everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and the whole community is proud of their boy Sam, Captain America. This time around, I did wait for the post-credit scene and it shows the US government fully pardoning Sharon and inviting her back into the Ministry. No one knows she’s the Power Broker and I’m sure she intends to keep it that way. As soon as she leaves the hall, she places a call to an unknown individual to line up buyers for the government’s secret and various prototype weapons since the Super Soldiers are off the menu. 

The fifth episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was written by Malcolm Spellman and Josef Sawyer, and directed by Kari Skogland.

Rating: B+ 

Side Musings

• Karli’s “Big plan” was really a disaster considering she’s been planning the whole attack since the beginning of the series. I was expecting some major level destruction to seal her villain status but that never came. 

• There’s more to know about Valentina. She claims to work for the US government and also joked about being responsible for the attack on the remaining Flag Smashers. Is she a double agent? Or could Zemo be also working for the US government? Valentina’s stance remains unclear

• Malcolm Spellman, the head writer of this series, and Dallan Musson will be in charge of penning the script for “Captain America 4”, so hopefully these questions are answered in the recently announced project. 

• There are rumors that Chris Evans will be coming back to the show as Captain America but I don’t see that happening. Anthony Mackie has settled quite well into the role of Captain America so I expect “Captain America 4” to be all about him. 

• Overall season rating: 8/10

All episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier can be found on Disney+.