Falcon And The Winter Soldier Episode 3 Explained - Zemo's Return And Wakanda's Hitlist

This morning we got the latest episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and after all the craziness of last week, including our teasing glimpse at Zemo, they sure had a lot to pack into this week’s episode.

We open with an advert for the GRC, the global repatriation council, with its overly sunny tone working in direct opposition to what we already know about the not-so-sunny state of things. Our new Cap busts into the Munich internet cafe that we saw housing Karli and the Flagsmashers last episode, throwing his weight about and earning himself a gob of spit to the face. Fair to say he’s not too happy about that.

In the meantime, Bucky and Sam head to visit Zemo in prison - with Zemo trying his luck testing out old trigger words on the ex-Winter Soldier. After an elaborate breakout sequence, Zemo joins Bucky and a very suspicious Sam on their journey to track down the Flagsmashers and the serum.

They head to Madripoor, a pretty huge location in the comics which is split into two factions: the richest of the rich populate Hightown, whilst the poorest dwell in Lowtown. In a busy Lowtown bar they put on a little show of power to gain audience with Selby, a bigwig who informs them that they’re looking for a Dr Wilfred Nagel.

We have a bit of a John Wick moment after their little chat with Selby goes wrong, and Sharon Carter walks onto the scene pointing a gun at Zemo. Can you blame her? To get Sharon on-side, Sam promises her a pardon in exchange for her help. She lives in Hightown and deals in stolen art, but proves that she hasn’t put her badass side to rest as she defends the fellas whilst they search for Nagel in a shipping container.

On finding Nagel, the team flex on him just enough to get him talking. Unfortunately just when things are getting going, Zemo shoots him and all hell breaks loose. Cue a fun fighting montage and Zemo appearing in a nice car and then we’re all good to go.

Whilst all this is going on, the Flagsmashers haven’t been dormant. Karli goes to visit Mama Donya, a refugee dying of tuberculosis. Later, in true Flagsmasher style, they ditch the sensitive moments and blow up a building with soldiers inside after having raided it for supplies.

We finish the episode as Bucky splits off from the others, following a couple of clues he heads down a side-street to see Wakanda is making their presence known, with Ayo stating that she is there for Zemo. It’s revenge time…

So there are a few points that are worth hitting on from this episode that help us understand our characters and where things are going a little better. Let’s start with the state of the Serum.

The little conversation with Nagel reveals to us exactly how the Super Soldier Serum has come back into circulation, having spent years and years with all leads completely dormant since the death of Dr Erskine.

Nagel explains that he was working on HYDRA’s winter soldier programme after the failed Siberia tests, but when HYDRA fell, the CIA recruited him. The CIA had samples of Isaiah Bradley’s blood, and Nagel was able to isolate the serum from it.

After isolating the necessary bits, he began work on optimising it. He wanted to eliminate the aesthetics of the hulking super soldier, making the serum’s effects subtle enough that anyone could have taken it - which explains why the Flagsmashers are able to have Steve-ish strength without the big boy muscles.

Even with this work going well, nobody was immune to the blip. Nagel turned to dust and reappeared five years later to find the programme with the CIA was defunct, his research unfunded. In came the Power Broker, sinking money into his research, and here we are today!