This week’s episode kicked off by telling us that Bucky’s codewords had their power taken away by the Wakandans. This is an interesting reveal, but if you really think about it, it makes complete sense and it’s a wonder no one has brought this up before. It was also nice to hear the Wakanda theme playing in the background. That truly is one of the MCU’s best tunes and it’s always a pleasure to hear it.

One of the main takeaways from this episode however is the further development of Karli Morganthau. Through Falcon we learn a lot more about her ideology and what her goal is. There is also further confirmation of a theory previously posed on this site that Morganthau will be becoming sympathetic or most likely a fully fledged hero by the end, having Falcon and the Winter Soldier by her side.  That being said though, the show’s writing is very much sitting on the fence on where they feel she is morally, for the most part at least. Zemo makes some very good points about how people willing to become super soldiers are by nature supremacists.  He is then in fact proven right when Falcon talks to Morganthau and she basically says she doesn’t care about killing people that step in her way, sounding a lot like a supremacist. On the other hand they show her to be a relief worker and a lot of the sadly quite badly acted scenes between her and her followers are meant to show her as a relatable disenfranchised youth.

It’s quite interesting seeing Sam, Bucky and Zemo debating about Morganthau and her ethics. However, it does still feel like the show is leaning more toward her being right, as Falcon suggests. It’s pointed out by Bucky that she’s no better than Zemo because she’s murdered innocents. Sam rebuts this by saying that she’s different because of her cause. This line here is where the moral dilemma starts to fall apart a bit. Zemo murdered the King of Wakanda and several others because super powered humans killed his family through their gung-ho approach to defeating Ultron. How is this any different from Karli Morganthau killing people because governments wanted things back to normal? In fact, on paper, Zemo probably had more of a worthy cause. As this show is constantly proving him right. People are being murdered by super powered people who think they’re doing the right thing. The only difference is that Sam Wilson is friends with super powered people and he’s biased.

This leads in to that shocking end with John Walker. After quite a chaotic fight between basically all of the main characters of the show bar Zemo and Sharon Carter, Karli Morganthau murders Battlestar. This was really pushing the boundaries of that 12 rating as it was pretty brutal, as was of course the subsequent avenging of Battlestar. It was undeniably a great scene. When John Walker chases down the Flag Smasher and pushes him to the ground, you can really feel the rage building up and exploding out of him. In fact, Walker is probably the best part of this episode. Through the frustration of constantly being beaten or overlooked he becomes hot headed and lashes out, a lot like he did last week. Though we never see it, it’s clear that he has indeed taken that last dose of the super soldier serum as he lands from a reasonably high height onto a car roof without flinching. Unless we’re supposed to believe that his rage has made him impervious to injury.

It’s clear that in future episodes, the murder of this Flag Smasher will be reason for John Walker to give up the shield. Or rather, have it taken away from him. However, this murder was not the act of evil butchery that many will see it as. Walker’s close friend and partner was murdered in front of his eyes, he was rightfully distraught and angry. Also bear in mind that the man who was killed was an accomplice to the murder of innocent people. This is not to say he deserved to die, but he certainly wasn’t completely blameless. All of that being said, the last shot of the episode with John Walker standing there with a bloodied Captain America Shield is sure to become an iconic image of the MCU for the future.

There was a lot of great action and writing in this episode. The scene with the Dora Milaje was excellently choreographed. It was also where we last saw Zemo as he has now escaped. This could be for him to chase down Morganthau as the Power Broker. We learn in this episode that the Power Broker is indeed the person threatening Morganthau and is presumably the Flag Smashers’ benefactor. The scene where Zemo passionately smashes all the vials of super soldier serum throws a slight spanner in the theory of him being the Power Broker. In a later scene the Power Broker is demanding the serum off of Morganthau. This doesn’t rule out Zemo being the Broker of course, it could all be part of his plan and that whole thing could be a double bluff.

Theory Time: As the news of the murder of the Flag Smasher spreads across the web, Walker tightens his grip on the operation to capture Morganthau. Falcon and Bucky side with Morganthau to take him down. After a long and brutal fight, Morganthau dies and becomes a martyr for her cause, Walker is sent to prison and Bucky is handed the Shield to take on the mantle of Captain World (or something cooler than that) in Morganthau’s memory. The shield will probably get a new paint job too, to make it look like a globe maybe.

How do you think the show will end? Do you like Morganthau? Who do you think should have the shield by the end? Tweet your thoughts @TheREALFreddieD and they might be mentioned next week.