Episode six of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series from Marvel is here, streaming now on Disney Plus, how does it move their story forward, here’s our review.

SPOILERS: If you’re reading this then you’ve probably seen the show, but if not there are spoilers ahead.

A new Cap

We’ve reached the end of the line with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. This brief attempt at a superhero buddy cop hybrid is done. Whether it returns remains to be seen.

We pick up the action with Karli Morgenthau and The Flag-Smashers disrupting the meeting of the GRC and the intended signing of The Patch Act. Bucky and Sam, with help from Sharon Carter, are attempting to thwart their plans. John Walker, still believing that he is Captain America, is intent on ruining their intended chaos.

What we are treated to is the first outing of the new Captain America in Sam Wilson. With a very cool new suit provided by the Wakandans, he absolutely looks the part. Thankfully he acts it as well, saving a number of foreign dignitaries who have been abducted in a helicopter by The Flag-Smashers.

Batroc

Meanwhile, Bucky and Karli attempt to reason with each other, without success. It’s been an interesting plot point that the supposed heroes and villains of this series both agree on the same fundamental points. It’s their respective methods that bring the friction. The real feud in the finale was between Batroc and Sam Wilson, which played out like every epic final fight scene you can imagine.

The three-way Mexican standoff between Karli, Sharon and Batroc as all the double-crossing was revealed was a solid climax. The revelation that Karli used to work for Sharon was the only real surprise moment of the episode. Sharon being The Power-Broker was heavily alluded to in the previous episode. That said, I think that she may be protecting the true identity of The Power-Broker.

On the Raft

Despite being on The Raft, Zemo still managed to exert some influence from his maximum-security cell. He orchestrated the blowing up of many Flag-Smashers who were en route to The Raft in a prison van.

Bucky’s catharsis that we’ve witnessed throughout this series was finally completed. He admitted to Yuri that he was responsible for his son’s murder. Also, he left a parting gift for his psychiatrist in the form of his notebook, with all the names crossed out. He appears to be truly free of his Winter Soldier alter ego. Equally, Isaiah Bradley was finally afforded the recognition he deserved thanks to Sam’s intervention. We’ll ignore the fact that they somehow managed to fashion a full-size bronze statue of the man in a matter of days. Even the man he now stands alongside in the museum would have struggled to have done that!

Closing thoughts

Overall, I have to say that The Falcon and The Winter Soldier has been a disappointment. The finale encapsulated that perfectly. It had strong performances, brilliant cinematography and great stunts. But ultimately a lack of depth to the story and a consequent lack of tension letting the side down. The development of Sam Wilson as Captain America and John Walker as US Agent will save an awful lot of exposition and explanation when they next appear in a big-screen MCU outing. I also can’t wait to see Julia Louis Dreyfus reappear as ‘Val’ or Contessa or Madam Hydra. Yet again she stole the show with her brief cameo.

The producers couldn’t seem to be able to work out whether this was a TV series or a movie broken down into six parts. So it seemed to fall between two stalls. The series seemed to be much more about social commentary than entertainment. While there is nothing wrong with a moral element to a series, especially one which is about versus evil, the balance in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier seemed to be off. This left us a bit light on the story and the series suffered badly for that.

What next?

I’m sure we were all expecting a brilliant and mouthwatering post-credit scene as well. Instead, we got Sharon Carter being fully exonerated by the US Government and being invited to rejoin her old department. Then she calls a mystery person telling them that she now has access to everything in the government including secrets and prototype weapons. No cameos at all. Hardly the type of tease that Marvel fans are used to. Given the number of films and television series coming from Marvel over the next few months that is absolutely extraordinary. Especially when you consider the number that features brand new characters to the MCU eg. Kate Bishop as Hawkeye, Shang-Chi or Eternals. That film features a fantastic ensemble cast including Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden from Game of Thrones. It would have been great if they could have somehow featured in that post-credit scene.

I’m confident that Marvel is going to be back on form in a big way when Loki hits our screens in June. He is one of their strongest characters and Tom Hiddleston obviously revels in the mischief he is able to bring to the screen when he plays him. It bodes well that Marvel has already ordered a second series of the show before we have even seen the first one.

CULTURE CROSSING SCORE 6/10

Thank you for reading our review of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode six. Do you agree or disagree with our points or have anything to add? If so, leave us a comment below.

Read our The Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode five review HERE.

Read IMDB information about The Falcon and The Winter Soldier HERE.