WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 4, “The Whole World Is Watching,” now streaming on Disney+.
Viewers with even a passing familiarity with John Walker’s comic book history knew it was just a matter of time on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier before the new Captain America snapped, becoming a sort of fractured mirror of Steve Rogers. The only questions were when during the Disney+ series’ too-brief run it would occur, what would trigger it, and how bad that moment would be. This week’s episode, aptly titled “The Whole World Is Watching,” provides those answers.
But, as shockingly violent as Walker’s breaking point is, all indications are that everything is about to get worse.
Neither temperamentally nor physically equipped to follow in Steve Rogers’ footsteps, let alone pursue the Flag-Smashers across the globe, Walker (Wyatt Russell) has displayed a tenuous grasp on his mission, even as he buckled under the overwhelming weight of his role’s symbolic significance. Forced smiles and perfunctory autographs can’t disguise his insecurities, or his growing anger with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) refusing to recognize the authority Walker believes comes with the shield. He can barely keep up with the two of them, and their newfound ally Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), let alone Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) and her Super-Soldier revolutionaries.
Those issues come to a head in “The Whole World Is Watching,” as Walker and his partner Lemar Hoskins (aka Battlestar, played by Clé Bennett) catch up to Sam and Bucky in Latvia, where the new Captain America rages against the freeing of Zemo, and then bristles at the non-violent plan to bring in Karli. Disrupting what had, to that point, been a promising discussion with Sam, Walker enables Karli to escape, only for her then to be shot by Zemo, who destroys her vials of the Super-Soldier Serum. Well, all but one, which is found by Walker, who’s desperate to match the strength displayed by Bucky Barnes, Karli Morgenthau and Steve Rogers.
Given Walker’s Super-Soldier envy, there was very little chance of him not injecting himself with the serum. However, those odds move from slim to none after Walker is soundly beaten by three agents of the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s special forces, who arrive intent on apprehending Zemo. “They weren’t even Super-Soldiers,” a defeated Walker mutters to Battlestar.
Impotent and humiliated, Walker wrestles with the same question that Zemo earlier posed to Sam as a hypothetical: If he were presented with the opportunity, would he take the Super-Soldier Serum? Sam answers no, without hesitation. For Walker, however, the question isn’t hypothetical. Unaware that his partner possesses the vial, Hoskins — typically the voice of reason — inadvertently pushes Walker toward his decision, convinced the serum will produce another Steve Rogers rather than another Karli Morgenthau.
Hoskins is wrong, of course. Even with Battlestar as a combination of conscience and cheerleader, a non-powered Walker was plagued by self-doubt, and wrestled with anger and morality. What happens when this new Captain America is no longer restrained by normal human limitations and tempered by the advice of his partner? We find out when the Flag-Smashers abduct Hoskins as part of Karli’s plan to destroy Captain America.
When Sam witnesses Walker bend a steel pipe in a stand-off with a Super-Soldier, he asks, “What’d you do?,” not in amazement, but in a realization of what’s been unleashed. This is John Walker, physically and mentally untethered.
The moment of dread comes sooner than anyone might have anticipated, when Hoskins is killed by Karli during a struggle. Walker immediately launches himself through a window in pursuit, targeting the first member of Karli’s group he sees. Walker chases him to a public square and, despite the man’s repeated protestations that “It wasn’t me!,” repeatedly hacks at the Flag-Smasher with his shield, presumably beheading him — in front of a crowd of onlookers capturing the brutal act with their phones. The dark similarities to the final battle between Captain America and Iron Man in Civil War are inescapable, proving once and for all — as if there were ever any doubts — that John Walker is no Steve Rogers.
Although the plan didn’t play out as Karli intended — she couldn’t have anticipated Walker injecting himself, nor did she likely intend to kill Hoskins — she appears to have achieved her goal: Walker’s public execution of Karli’s ally has effectively “destroyed” Captain America in the eye’s of the world. Well, this Captain America, anyway.
Directed by Kari Skogland, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Emily VanCamp, Wyatt Russell, Noah Mills, Carl Lumbly and Daniel Brühl. A new episode debuts each Friday on Disney+.
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