After the previous episodes shocking ending, there was no way that the penultimate could start any other way, then addressing that and the show didn’t hold back. While it could have easily been the sole focus, the show managed to kick its but in to gear and make some serious progress on almost every front, setting up the events of the final episode.

* Spoilers Ahead *

Having the show pick up with New Cap running away, highlights that he knew what he did was wrong, that his actions, however twisted in his mind, have a nugget of moral failure at their core. Those moments when John Walker was alone in the warehouse, attempting to convince himself that he had no choice, that it was that mans fault, seeing the suffering on his face, it was amazing and given that the build up to that point made me not care about the character, this was a big change. But moments of self-doubt after brutally beating someone to death, with an icon of hope rarely leave folks alone for long and it was pretty quick thereafter that Sam and Bucky arrived and then all hell broke loose. This was important for three reasons, the first is that it let us see the leads give a beat down to someone attempting to replace their friend, the second and more importantly, gives us a chance to see everyone give it their all and finally, let Bucky realise he is not the best anymore.

Once the former New Cap is contained, things take a slower pace, which given how the show starts is a nice thing, but from there, events that do take place, help push things forward. One of the things that I liked about the first episode, was that it wasn’t afraid to make people in this world, actual people and here they did it again. Zemo, in his escape to freedom was quickly located by Bucky, but while there is a lot of build up to Bucky finally taking his revenge, he doesn’t, though not after giving Zemo a reason to change his pants. Zemo is now out of the picture, but that leaves a few players still on the board and instead of Sam just picking up the shield and becoming New New Cap, or Black Captain America, he takes a detour to Boston, to ask the only other black super soldier, what went wrong.

This moment between a man who was broken and betrayed by the system, the only crime being that he was black, parallels alongside the modern world nicely, but it also played into Sam’s fear about being a Black Captain America. Sam for all that he discovers, doesn’t immediately turn around and don the uniform, but has to start answering questions that he has had this entire time, that we never knew about. While Bucky does turn up and the pair develop and simpler report, it isn’t until there is a random cut to them playing with the shield that both deliver some hard truths, which takes us towards the end of the show. For Sam, it is that he can be the new Captain America and he sets out to master the shield, though the montage of him not being able to catch it, having just tossed it around with Bucky is out of place. Bucky on the other hand, the mechanical one if you will, finally gets told some honest truth and that is stop trying to be supporting the people he feels he wrong when he was the Winter Soldier, but instead, own up to it and help give these people closure. With that done, the two separate and then the final events can begin, though there are a few things going on, that make the waters a little murky.

The first thing is that Karli has gone off the deep end, having spent weeks now stealing from people and then killing them, one of her people dies, she decides that everyone else must die and makes a bad choice. John Walker being booted out of the military and losing the shield might have made for a stronger moment, if his wife attempting to convince him about what to do next, wasn’t interrupted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who is playing Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who comic fans will know best as Madam Hydra. John’s emotional breakdown, or lack thereof when talking with Lamar’s parents helps set up the fact that he is still not dealing with what happened, which leaves that post credits scene to be even more intriguing.

The most out there part, is that we get another shot of Sharon Carter, once again in some rundown looking building, talking on the phone to someone who speaks French and was in an Algerian prison recently. That location is near where the opening events of the series took place and then for Georges Batroc to show up again, delivering weapons to Karli, which one member of her group is not sold on, only seems to highlight that once again, she is the Power Broker. This is important for two reasons, one it means that Sharon has no plans to be a good person anymore, at least in terms of the CIA good, but it also means that she has been providing intel and more to both sides, all the while doing whatever she needs to, in order to make a profit. Now, they don’t confirm that her speaking to a French sounding person is Batroc, but they are seriously pointing to that, so it would be strange for it not to be, but then given Marvel just cast Even Peters to play another version of Pietro, all for a big joke, who can say what they are doing.

There was not a lot of action in this episode, outside of that amazing fight at the start and then Sam and his training montage, but most of it was well done. That fight is hands down one of the best fights I have seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because not only was it without laser guns, webs, Pym particles or other random powers, but it came down to three fighters, who were all trained in how to fight and have the strength to back it up, which is the opposite to when we see Iron Man stop shooting people and starting punching them. There was also a nice little moment towards the end of it, where it was a little get the gauntlet from Thanos, paralleling the time the Avengers almost won there. The montage of Sam running and ducking from his lack of frisbee skills was nice, though there was a shot of the stunt actor flipping on the path that was clearly not Anthony Mackie, but most folks probably won’t notice.

The penultimate episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has positioned itself into a great place, finally, after weeks of things being slow, characters are finally moving forward and things are clearly coming to a head. The inclusion of Madam Hydra could be something massive, but that won’t be for now and while Batroc showing up again is nice, wasn’t really needed in the grand scheme. What is impressive is that the characters are all starting to feel like they have reached the point many were hoping they would be at, at the outset, so that means this final wait is going to be a little more agonising.