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‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’: Are we honestly supposed to sympathize with John Walker?
(Warning: a little spoiled before the week ‘The Falcon and the Winter Solider’ episode, ‘Truth’). If there’s one good thing that emerges from this week’s episode of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’, it’s the new Captain America is no longer the new Captain America. And let’s be honest, the only person who’s crazy about it is probably John Walker. After John Walker killed a stranger in broad daylight last week, he was officially stripped of his shield, stripped of his title and clearly stripped of his common sense. To his credit, Wyatt Russell plays John Walker masterfully and achieves exactly what he planned to do. “He definitely does not make life easier for anyone,” Russell told TheWrap earlier about his character. “You will definitely start to see and understand more about why John is the way he is and what motivates him to do the things he does.” And over the course of the last two episodes, we’ve seen exactly that. But the thing is, John Walker seems to be driven almost entirely by ego. And after a complete collapse this week, it begs the question: are we expected to have sympathy with this man? Also read: ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’: The Next Falcon Might Already Be Here Now, to be honest, John has just lost his best friend and partner, Lemar Hoskins (Cle Bennett). The Flag Smashers may not be hitting any real flags (or actually have no clear goals in general), but their leader, Karli Morgenthau, definitely shattered Lemar’s backbone last week. It was cruel to watch as a fan; one can only imagine seeing it as John Walker. No one could blame him for having an emotional breakdown. Does that excuse him for killing a man? No, but that’s the only thing I can find to sympathize with John Walker. Yet I must be honest – no part of me wants to see a bow of salvation for this man. He did not deserve it. Clearly, we knew from the beginning that John Walker would be a problem. He must have been, right? Sam and Bucky needed a push to work together, and Sam needed the motivation to take on his inevitable role as the next Cap, as Steve intended. Even John Walker acknowledges the anger of Sam and Bucky over having the shield, and admits that he knows they would not expect it for him (or anyone else). But Walker insists he just wants to do the job. He wants to help people and help his country. No matter how he got there, it did not matter; he wants to be a force for good. Alright! Maybe we can finally accept him. And then he tries to do the job. Also read: Incel Captain America is so perfect To say things, he says he’s terrible. John America’s Captain America is ridiculous from its depth in a world full of gods and aliens and super soldiers. We could even sympathize with this, because it is not his fault. No one can be expected to perform naturally in something they have never prepared for. He’s just an ordinary soldier, and the US government has decided to name the new Captain America. He is not trained to fight these kinds of opponents, so naturally he gets completely crashed. But the second time he does, he goes backwards. He is ashamed that he has repeatedly turned up and angry that Sam and Bucky will not be his wing. Because of course they had to be his wing; Toxic Masculinity Captain America is a captain who gives the command, and not one who takes it from the sidelines. He’s not feeling well. It never feels good if you are never accepted by anyone, “Russell adds.” You feel s – y about yourself. Right? “Then the Dora Milaje knocked him down even harder than the Flag Smashers last week, and like John Walker disbelievingly remarked, “They weren’t even super soldiers.” He can not handle the fact that he is not the best, especially compared to a bunch of women, and he naturally takes the super-soldier serum that he circled away during his confrontation with Karli. Also read: ‘The falcon and the winter soldier’ For those who have not actually tried to do the flagships? For those who have not yet watched ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ for a minute, a quick reminder came to mind: the creator of the original super-soldier serum, Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), revealed to Steve Rogers that “the serum strengthens everything it’s inside. So good gets great – bad gets worse.” To see how the serum affected John Walker, it’s clearly a case of the latter – which in essentially telling us that John Walker is inherently wrong for the role. On top of that, John Walker blames someone else for his shortcomings. In the fight against Sam and Bucky this week, he repeatedly says, “Why do you let me do this?” He is convinced that everything he does is right because ‘I’m Cap tain America ‘. When he was deprived of the title, he shouted at his leaders that the army had built him and that he deserved to be heard, given the circumstances of his murderous actions. He fully believes he was justified in his murder. When he is locked up again, Walker whines to his wife that people just do not understand what it takes to be Captain America. It is unclear whether this moment is actually meant to dislike him anymore, or to be a true moment of him. Either way, it does him no favors. Why should we feel bad for him? John Walker is clearly misled, driven to take a serum that has only increased the worst in him because of his own hubris. The decisions he makes do not lie in sadness; it’s certainly a contributing factor to their seriousness, but it’s Walker’s own ego at the center of it all. It is typical to see a hero come up as soon as he reaches the bottom. (And if it’s not John Walker’s bottom, I’m not sure we want to see what it is). But at this point, John Walker did nothing to prove that there was anything heroic about him. And it’s good – if ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ will fully commit to this trajectory. John Walker is not a hero, and he is certainly not an anti-hero. He’s just a horrible, deeply insecure man. And with only one episode left, he should stay that way to make sense. Tim Baysinger Contributed To This Report Read The Original Story ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’: Are We Honestly Supposed to Sympathize With John Walker? By TheWrap