Cobalt Stargazer

"Short ribs."

And Walker should? I don't know what to do with the idea that John should be able to kill Karli without repercussions, although maybe it's not that surprising since I'm seeing people pointing out, "But Steve must have killed with the shield when he had it!" I have many issues with Steve Rogers as a character which have been documented at length, but why is Cap being invoked in this instance? He was never a murderer, for one thing, and to date he's also the sole success story when it comes to having taken the serum and mostly keeping on the right path. I feel like I missed a meeting or something. Though now that I think of it, maybe Zemo can kill Walker instead. We actually like him, so that should be acceptable. XD

Fixed that for you, because that's about as not complex as it gets. I sympathize with Battlestar, who died when he didn't have to, and I even sympathize with Karli, because her goals are noble even if her execution is screwed up. Walker? Not one bit. He's been fucking up since he got here, and now he's besmirched that shield he supposedly values so much. I don't care if Steve used it to kill people in the past. I doubt it was anything as brutal as what we saw in the final minutes of this episode, and I doubt it was an unarmed who begged for his life. If he gets killed before this is over, good. If Karli kills him? Even better. She specified to Sam that if she harmed him, it would be meaningless because he (currently) isn't a symbol the way Walker is, and it won't be satisfying to me if John doesn't get a major comeuppance from this. Death would be preferable, but I'll accept imprisonment.

Except the mind control was never total. It couldn't have been, since during <i>Winter Soldier</i> there was a point when Bucky was more "himself" and not a service droid. "That man on the bridge. I knew him." Hell, Pierce ordered Barnes to be wiped <i>because</i> he emerged from the brainwashing enough to remember some of who Steve was. Bucky, as much as we're sympathetic to him, spent years killing people, and I don't know why anyone thinks it would be a good look if he decided that didn't matter. Because that seriously seems like the only alternative, to shrug it off. If nothing else, it's hard to help someone who's dead. If all that's left are the families, what then?

Alternately, there's a vast difference between a .22 pistol and an automatic rifle. The technology of firearms has also advanced far beyond what was originally created, and not always to the betterment of things. It all depends on the person behind the weapon. Bucky and Wanda in particular have terrible histories of misusing their powers, and it doesn't really matter if Barnes had free will when you remember how many people are dead because of the Winter Soldier. Calling it victim blaming implies that he's the only one who matters, and while he is a victim, so was Mr. Yori's son. Innocence can't be measured out, and neither can blame. Zemo's aversion to the idea is so total that he never even considers picking up one of those vials, and he probably would have killed Karli if John hadn't knocked him unconscious. As Bucky said, he's crazy but he does have a code. I don't think he's against progress, I think he's against fiddling around with things no one really understands and can't always control.

That's not going away any time soon.

"Now that I see you, I see there's a little bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw." The argument can be made, IMO, that Steve's flaw was not unlike Tony's. Doing what he thought was right rather than the right thing, which isn't the same thing. No one within the MCU universe has ever acknowledged that Steve had his own agenda when the Accords first became a thing, although Rhodey touched on it a little bit when he noted that Cap's attitude was dangerously arrogant. I wouldn't call it abuse of the abilities he was given by the serum, but there is something to be said for Rogers being willing to turn his back on everything he believed in, to the point of dropping the shield like trash and leaving it behind, just for the sake of someone who was still very dangerous. Now we have John Walker, and to an extent Karli Morgenthau. It's worth noting that Karli actually stopped for a minute after Lamar was killed, that she looked either shocked or remorseful and possibly both. Like Walker, she's also very new to the power she has, but IMO there's much more gray area where she's concerned. Killing Battlestar was terrible, but I don't think she meant to, and if it hadn't been for needing to run from a suddenly homicidal and enhanced Walker - Sam's "What did you do?!" reminded me of Monica's shock when Hayward fired that drone shot during WandaVision - she might have given up right there. If some crazy dude was coming after me with full intention of beating me to death while I'm unarmed, I'd have fucked off too. Before the prison break, Zemo specifically told Bucky that what happened before was never personal, that he was a means to an end, which is echoed in this episode when Barnes tells Ayo that Zemo's freedom has a purpose. For good reason, Bucky doesn't like Zemo, but I don't think Zemo has any feelings about Barnes at all. If it hadn't been for who he is (was? whatever) to Steve, he'd have never homed in on him to begin with.

Did they hit the shield? I saw the part where one of the spears went through the strap on the back of it, and Walker couldn't get it loose, but I couldn't tell if they hit the surface of it or not. I was kind of annoyed that Bucky chose that moment to try reasoning with Ayo. She clearly didn't know he was planning to break Zemo out of prison, so she's justified about being pissed, and then Walker was on her nerves. Like, let her have her teaching moment, Barnes.

"Did you know they could do that?"

Ladies and gentlemen, Wakanda is in the house! Bucky's face when Ayo took his arm was priceless. I liked that she pointed out the debt he owes, since I guess they didn't know he was planning to free Zemo. I think the opening scene is the first time I've ever gotten verklempt on his behalf, that he was just so happy and relieved and grateful to be out from under the yoke of his alter ego at last. Somebody remind me how Karli is the bad guy. Fine, she blew up those soldiers and Lamar didn't deserve to die like that, but I'm pretty sure those army guys were keeping the supplies for the refugees for themselves, and what Walker did to that guy at the end was exponentially worse than what happened to Battlestar. He was acting like he was on steroids even before he took the remaining vial of serum, but it requires intention to beat a man to death with the shield. In front of a crowd of witnesses, no less. Ya'll thought Bucky would be in trouble for slamming people through walls in Madripoor? Yeesh. It always was. As was mentioned upthread, Erskine's experience with Red Skull underlined the amplifying powers of the serum, that if you're a jerk, it'll just make you a bigger jerk. Even Steve could be moralistic and "I know best" on occasion, though usually for the right reasons. One small thing: Walker put his hands on Zemo to stop him from walking past him, and Zemo ends up brushing John's hands aside. Like, dude, you're touching me. Which will later come back stronger when he puts his hands on Ayo. Somebody should have taught him not to be so damn grabby.

See also post-Snap Westview. Although some efforts must have been in place, since there were camps set up for the returnees. A lame duck attempt, maybe, especially if the supplies were being kept away from the people they were meant for, but some folks must have been trying to help.

Best.

I think it depends on what measuring stick you're using. For all that Original Recipe Franco was a disgusting mess from the jump, remember the time Liz knew that Jake was actually Jason, or something like that since that whole storyline was a mess too, and she kept it to herself because she wanted to "win" him for once? Liz is still one of the better characters on the show, morally speaking, but what consequences did she suffer for keeping the truth away from him, and I'm pretty sure they had sex a few times before he regained his memories. I don't consider losing Jason a consequence since he's a lifeless lump on a good day, so you might as well say she got away with it. And that was before they attached New And Not So Improved Franco to her like a remora, which led to many scenes of her making excuses and/or insisting that everyone should just "get over" the things he did in the past. I've seen here that some people grew to enjoy the Friz family and might even be sad that Franco's dead, but now Peter's still around. Doesn't solve the original problem, it just gives it a different name.

Random thought: Zemo never smiles. Not even when he was on the dance floor at Sharon's party. He always looks stone-serious, and while it fits the character, even when he's amused, it looks more like a smirk than a smile.