As I watch the episodes of this season, I can’t help but think about how in twenty years someone streaming them for the first time will have an a-ha moment when they realize that the coronavirus was why the actors mostly stand six feet apart.

“Lemar’s parents really okay with John having apparently killed Lemar’s murderer?”

Really dug this episode. Me and my brothers watch the show together, and we all like the sort of “bonding through doing stuff” vibe of Bucky and Sam working on the boat. We realized neither of these guys really has any friends, this kind of relationship is important, and it was nice to see the angst give way to more…

Yeah, that was weird.

I’d imagine the scene between Ayo and T’Challa going something like:

I think Bucky constantly asking Ayo for favors ignores that she probably has almost no say in those favors being approved or not at all, what with her being a bodyguard to an absolute monarch that is inclined to grant favors to his hero buddies. The worst she could do is just refuse to pass along the request.

Granted…

The murder was captured by multiple cellphone cameras. They don’t need blood analysis to know what Walker did (and admitted to, though he lied about the “why”).

“See all the stuff in the real shield John?  That’s why your shield never worked..”

* I can’t believe Bucky asked for a favor after being told to stay out of Wakanda. The NERVE of this guy.

Global Organisations with substantial authority are not a new in-universe idea either. A big part of the The Winter Soldier (and to a lesser extent the first Avengers film) was the existence of the World Security Council who seem to exercise a bit more of a hands-on approach than the real life UN Security Council.

They’d best not sink that boat. The whole town (and Bucky) came together to fix that boat. That would be too sad. Let the “Paul & Darlene” remain afloat while an overused plot device sinks.
That boat is legacy, just like the shield.

So, how many vendettas are we looking at?
- Karli wants to take out the GRC.
- John Walker wants to take out Karli because his encounter with Lemar’s parents made him face the fact that he hadn’t actually dealt with Lemar’s killer.
- Batroc wants to take out The Falcon.
- Sam and Bucky don’t have any vendettas. They are…

It’ll be hilarious when John Walker throws his homemade shield and it just falls to the ground after hitting something because it’s made of regular metal, not vibranium.

This episode was pretty mellow, but it was pure character stuff, and I am here for it (the scene with Isaiah, omg). Walker’s downward spiral still manages to pull my sympathy. Bringing his wife back helped, but the scene with Lemar’s parents... Maybe it’s because we got to know Hoskins, but I feel John’s vengeance a…

The Sharon stuff doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, but I did find myself wondering about the significance of the giant-ass painting:

I’ve never really paid much attention to the physics of Steve throwing his shield and it acting like a boomerang for no reason at all. Like I get it was designed to be this way but having an entire scene of Sam learning to catch it was insane.  Ain’t no damn way you can slip your arm into that belt when it’s coming 80…

With respect to the GRC, in the MCU there have been multiple alien invasions and an event in which half of the population got snapped out of existence and brought back. I think global organizations would look very different under these circumstances.

My only complaint about the ep was that Lumbly wasn’t named in the initial credits. He has owned every min he’s appeared on screen (prequel Isaiah Bradley show Disney?)

I mean really, seeing Walker lose the Cap job and his benefits that quickly threatened to nudge this show closer to sci-fi. 

While I really liked this episode and was glad to see the series bounce up from that horrific third episode, there were some minor things that frustrated me here. So let’s be negative.