It’s called Truth and whilst it’s an appropriate enough title considering the… well, truths… that come to light during its generous sixty-minute runtime, Episode Five of Disney+’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier could equally have been titled ‘The Calm Before the Storm.’ This is an episode where the series’ curiously languid structure and storytelling style starts to make sense with elements from previous episodes revisited and delivering their pay-offs along with a couple of resolutions, a returning bad guy, and a surprise guest star cameo. There’s a lot going on in Truth but amidst all the hand-wringing and emotional agonising and lovely scenes of Sam and Bucky tightening screws and bolts on Sam’s family boat, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’re marking time rather than advancing the plot in any significant measure.
But as ever with Marvel, the devil is in the detail. The episode kicks off with an explosive physical face-off between John Walker (following last week’s extraordinary and no-coming-back-from-this display of brutality) and our titular heroes (it would be nice to see another fight scene in the series that doesn’t take place in a darkened environment, though) and, despite Walker’s furious cry of “I am Captain America”, he’s finally brought down and taken in for a very particular form of justice, stripped of his title, his reputation and even, it seems, his pension. His life apparently in ruins, Walker (Wyatt Russell) appears to be offered a lifeline thanks to the arrival of the mysterious Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played with glorious relish by Seinfeld/Veep comedy legend Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who seems to be keen to recruit him for some mysterious purpose of her own. Bucky (Sebastian Stan) returns to Sokovia and a final confrontation with Zemo, who slipped away quietly during the melee at the end of Episode Four and Daniel Brühl’s brooding manipulator exits centre stage rather quietly, escorted away by Wakanda’s Dora Milaje; unless Zemo has something else up his sleeve next week in what could be a rather hectic finale, it seems like something of a damp squib ending for Zemo’s arc. But at least he’s alive and well and locked up in the Raft secure supervillain prison unit ready to be sprung again when the right moment (or spin-off series) arises.
Sam (Anthony Mackie) has unfinished business of his own before he can resume boat-rebuilding as he returns to Baltimore to revisit Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to find out the terrible truth about his involvement in the supersoldier serum project and his perfectly-reasonable scorn at the Captain America title and his belief that no black man with any sense of respect would take on the identity of America’s most patriotic hero. Fuel for the fire, here, of some narrow-minded viewers who will undoubtedly be spraying out more of their ‘Marvel goes woke and goes broke!’ bullshit despite the fact that much of the entire storyline has its origin in Marvel Comics and is now merely reflecting some stark and uncomfortable realities of our fractured modern world and isn’t just ‘forcing this stuff down our throats’. But then none are so blind…
As the episode wends its way towards its own endgame, it seems that Sam and Bucky have finally forged a truce that verges of friendship and respect, and Sam is ready to step up to the plate as he spends time honing his shield-hurling skills (we love a good musical training montage sequence); the Flag Smashers have recruited a little help (in the form of George St-Pierre’s lively mercenary Batroc) as their own plan (whatever it actually is) prepares to move up a notch and in a mid-credits sequence, we’re back with Walker as, worryingly, he starts to forge his own shield and, presumably, prepares to go rogue and wrest back the title that he feels is rightfully his.
Fans and critics exasperated by this series’ stop/start momentum might find some of Truth a little hard to tolerate, especially in the wake of the drama and action on display last week. But with the finale now just seven days away, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is really joining its own dots and it’s clear that it’s been telling its story, a few wobbles aside, the way it needed to be told. Over to you then, Marvel. There’s a five-star rating next week yours for the taking here; all you need to do is step up to the plate and deliver a finale that hits all the bases – powerful action, strong character beats, the odd surprise – to bring us a satisfying conclusion that, hopefully, sets some of its characters on a new path for further adventures to come.
