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Tarheel Tech Wizard
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Starting to think that Russell Jr. is a very, very good actor.
I’m leaning towards her being The Power Broker based on the influence & power she has amassed in Madripoor. I don’t think she’s able to do that unless she’s a top level criminal herself. She’s the one who got GSP out of jail, knowing he wants to go after Sam & I’ll bet she was the one who shot Selby dead in Madripoor. Her morals seem to be skewed from the last time we saw her in Civil War.Powerbroker:They are going to have to do ALOT next episode to make Sharon "evil" and the Powerbroker. They haven't done any of the work to make her want to be a terrorist or hurt Sam/Bucky. It's far more believable if shes undercover and working for or trying to infiltrate his network. I was thinking Val could be both the powerbroker and who Sharon is working for or infiltrating. Since she knows Walker took the serum and she says its a great choice etc. Her starting Thunderbolts or wanting to use USAgent in any other capacity would be cool.
Motivations I completely understand where they are leading us to believe she is the Powerbroker and is jaded and betrayed and just a girl trying to survive after doing the right thing all her life. But, as the show has done so well with other characters and motivations I personally will not be satisfied with only that. If she is evil I need to SEE more of the motivation. They decided to bring this storyline up, so it would be a chunk off my enjoyment if it isn't handled as well as other character moments. It is too big of a leap , and too big a character shift for me personally without a significant showing of how she got there. And this show is about Sam and Bucky ultimately I don't think giving that much time to Sharon in the finale for that to be the payoff is worth it. Undercover spy/secret agent with a clear agenda respecting her past with Sam and Bucky makes so much more sense to me.I’m leaning towards her being The Power Broker based on the influence & power she has amassed in Madripoor. I don’t think she’s able to do that unless she’s a top level criminal herself. She’s the one who got GSP out of jail, knowing he wants to go after Sam & I’ll bet she was the one who shot Selby dead in Madripoor. Her morals seem to be skewed from the last time we saw her in Civil War.
If she is the Power Broker, I don’t think it’s necessary for her to be evil, rather I think her motives are simply to put herself first & protect her empire - she put Steve first last time & was made a criminal & had to go on the run. She showed her anger when she met Bucky & Sam by saying they got pardoned, she’s still on the run. Even though Sam promised her a pardon, I think she’s used her SHIELD skills to create her network & now is quite happy with that life. With Peggy dead, I don’t think she has any other family either, so no need to go back.
Yeah definitely. Hope his story doesn't end with this series.Starting to think that Russell Jr. is a very, very good actor.
They had a tonne of close-ups of him in this episode and he carried them all. He's got a good range.Yeah definitely. Hope his story doesn't end with this series.
This was a great episode. Aside from the brutal opening fight it was more a character piece putting everyone in place for the final episode. Probably saved on some budget too!
He was fantastic! Really has won the show.Starting to think that Russell Jr. is a very, very good actor.
I was actually expecting some people to call it that and pleasantly surprised the first mention was said in jestFiller episode that just happened to be the best episode in the damned show
Same here, I'm enjoying the show, but even with one episode to go, I don't get what their aim is.I don’t understand what the Flag Smashers want? Like, what is their aim exactly? They seem to kind of nebulously want the world to go back to “how it was” but what does that mean? Are they going to kill half the population again!? They’re refugees, but do they want a home? A big farm for them and all their mates? What!? It feels like there’s a whole expositional plot strand missing from their story, and it’s stopping me from really giving too much of a shit about them.
Also (as is customary with these things) the coding of the heroes and villains within the series is confusing. By which I don’t mean “the line is blurred between yadayadayada” I mean the way the characters in the story treat people depending on how the series codes them, rather than what they actually do....So Zemo is right about everything (as he was in Captain America tbf) and has a sympathetic backstory, but is treated by Sam like a villain, whilst Lil Ms Flag smasher is shown to be equally as ruthless a terrorist, with a much less defined backstory, but is treated as someone with whom he sympathies, and is constantly at pains to reason with.... and tbh neither of them seem remotely as villanous as Wanda from Wandvision, who only a couple of weeks ago just strolled off to a log cabin retreat after brain raping an entire town, but is coded “heroic” because she felt a bit bad about it at the end (all whilst the “villain” of her series got arrested for... reasons? - just being the villain I guess? It was never really explained)
Other than that it’s fine. It’s getting better. Bruhl and Lil Russell are the best things about it by a long way. The blonde girl from Captain America is awful, but is patently going to be really important, especially now I’ve said how awful she is.
I was just thinking this afternoon that they could easily have focused on just Sam/Bucky/Zemo/Isaiah and had the flag smashers as something shady leading up to a cliffhanger and season 2 enemy. Would have given more time to build their story and make the audience invested in them. They're paper thin as it is.Same here, I'm enjoying the show, but even with one episode to go, I don't get what their aim is.
Theyve made them too terroristy...I was just thinking this afternoon that they could easily have focused on just Sam/Bucky/Zemo/Isaiah and had the flag smashers as something shady leading up to a cliffhanger and season 2 enemy. Would have given more time to build their story and make the audience invested in them. They're paper thin as it is.
I think he's extremely good at emoting. There are a couple of scenes I had to rewind because I was thinking, "Oh wow". One moment was when Bucky was getting the upper hand in their fight and he got in a range of emotions from "Oh feck!" to "How can this happen to me after I took the serum" in the space of a secondIt’s a fantastic series. Wyatt Russell is so good as Walker - in a similar way to Thanos, you can understand his thinking without necessarily agreeing with it and that makes a good antagonist.
what I loved about this episode, other than the very direct address of racism (which was great to see - no eluding to things, just straight to the point), was the way I really felt like I was embracing Sam as the next Cap. Before this series started I was very much “Steve Rogers is Captain America” and I didn’t want Falcon, Bucky or Walker as Cap. By the end of this episode I was fully on board and that was down to the masterful way they showed Sam’s character and the events that led him to the decision to take up the mantle.
The negatives for me are small - mainly the poor performances of the Flag Smasher characters, which takes me out of it a bit, and the Mandripor/Power broker thread which hasn’t been fleshed out enough. We do have another hour or so remaining so there is still time for a good conclusion to that though.
I mean, sure... but again... what does this actually mean? They want a world with no borders, and a return to how it was in the blip, but with the re-emerged 3 billion people in it? How does that work exactly? The world was only like that because it lost half the people...RE the Flag Smashers. From what I can gather. During the Blip, most countries just didn't care about their borders anymore. People were pretty much moving around and living were they wanted making lives as there was a shortage of workers and opportunities were more plentiful. Nature was restoring itself and there and life was pretty good. Once the snap was reversed, the countries started up again with their borders and economic policies, leaving a population of about 20 million displaced suddenly who are now forced to find new homes. The vote that they are interfering with is a forced removal to refugee camps for them. So the flag smashers want a return to how it was during the blip with no countries, no borders and they are fighting for the rights of the 20 million people.
Yeah, it's very weakly written. You end up having to give a lot of benefit of doubt in their scenes. Tropes are doing a lot of the legworkI mean, sure... but again... what does this actually mean? They want a world with no borders, and a return to how it was in the blip, but with the re-emerged 3 billion people in it? How does that work exactly? The world was only like that because it lost half the people...
If it’s just to fight for better conditions for the displaced 20m, then fine, but that hasn’t been communicated well at all...
Think your reading too much into it. Baddies have slightly sympathetic motives. When they get punched it's grey and drama for our punchers to reflect on. Repeat formula.I mean, sure... but again... what does this actually mean? They want a world with no borders, and a return to how it was in the blip, but with the re-emerged 3 billion people in it? How does that work exactly? The world was only like that because it lost half the people...
If it’s just to fight for better conditions for the displaced 20m, then fine, but that hasn’t been communicated well at all...
I doubt any of them are watching this, especially not mere hours after it's released!Wait, is this actually good? Like really good and not just "better than expected" or "better than most Marvel stuff" or "good for being a superhero series".
Only asking the people who usually don't like Marvel/superhero stuff, obviously.
Thought it was a bitSam’s speech to the GRC... nailed it