Power Broker (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier)
"Power Broker" | |
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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode | |
Episode no. | Episode 3 |
Directed by | Kari Skogland |
Written by | Derek Kolstad |
Produced by | Malcolm Spellman |
Cinematography by | P.J. Dillon |
Editing by |
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Original release date | April 2, 2021 |
Running time | 53 minutes |
Cast | |
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"Power Broker" is the third episode of the American television
"Power Broker" was released on the streaming service Disney+ on April 2, 2021. Critics were more mixed on the episode than previous ones, criticizing its multiple story elements and use of existing tropes, but many praised VanCamp's return as Sharon, the action sequences, and Brühl's performance. A brief moment of Zemo dancing spawned various internet memes and led to the release of additional footage.
Plot
After Zemo uses Barnes to get the attention of high-ranking criminal Selby, the group meet with her and reveals that
Carter uses her connections in Madripoor to find Nagel's lab and takes Wilson, Barnes, and Zemo there. Nagel explains that he recreated twenty doses of the serum and they were stolen by the Flag Smashers' leader
Zemo, Barnes, and Wilson travel to
Production
Development
By October 2018,
Writing
The episode visits the fictional country of
Spellman said the writers "geeked out" at being able to use Madripoor in the series, while co-executive producer Zoie Nagelhout felt it was incredible to introduce the country to the MCU and expand that world. Nagelhout said Madripoor was used to make Wilson and Barnes feel like "fish out of water", and also as a place to reintroduce
Casting
The episode stars Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson,
Design
Production designer Ray Chan built the sets for Madripoor at
Filming and visual effects
Filming took place at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Atlanta,
External videos | |
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One Hour Dancing Zemo | Marvel Studios' The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | Disney+ presents the full dance sequence with Zemo as an hour-long loop, YouTube video from Marvel Entertainment's channel |
A brief moment of Zemo dancing and fist pumping in the episode spawned various internet memes after its release. This was improvised during filming by Brühl, who felt that since Zemo had been in prison for years he needed to "let off some steam and show his moves". He thought it would be cut from the final episode.[31] Approximately 30 seconds of footage existed of Brühl dancing, more than what was included in the episode, and Marvel released the full sequence on social media on April 8, 2021, along with a looping hour-long version.[32] VanCamp called filming during that day as "insane", and said footage also existed for Mackie and Wilson dancing too.[17] Disney's president of marketing, Asad Ayaz, said his team was aware of fan reactions and trends on social media, and when they saw that Zemo dancing was a trending topic they worked quickly to release all of the available footage. Ayaz felt this was "not traditional marketing and advertising, but... a sensation" that "just took off".[33] Despite the COVID-19 pandemic affecting various parts of the series' production, Oduye and Mackie were able to film the phone call scene where Sarah accidentally blows Wilson's cover in Madripoor together, with Oduye calling Mackie generous for doing that so she did not have to talk to a random person.[34]
Visual effects for the episode were created by
Music
Selections from composer
Marketing
On March 19, 2021, Marvel announced a series of posters that were created by various artists to correspond with the episodes of the series. The posters were released weekly ahead of each episode,
Release
"Power Broker" was released on Disney+ on April 2, 2021.[44] In March 2022, an alternate cut of the episode with certain scenes edited, censoring and removing some instances of blood, was accidentally published on the platform in place of the original version. This was done in an attempt to correct a credit in the episode, and Disney said the original version would be restored.[45] The episode, along with the rest of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray on April 30, 2024.[46]
Reception
Audience viewership
Nielsen Media Research, who measure the number of minutes watched by United States audiences on television sets, listed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as the second most-watched original series across streaming services for the week of March 29 to April 4, 2021. Between the first three episodes, which were available at the time, the series had 628 million minutes viewed, which was identical to the previous week.[47]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 86% approval rating with an average score of 6.9/10 based on 36 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Falcon and the Winter Soldier is still spreading its wings when it should be soaring during this transitionary installment, but 'Power Broker' is still a lot of fun thanks to the return of Daniel Brühl and Emily VanCamp to the MCU."[48]
Sulagna Misra at The A.V. Club was critical of the episode, giving it a "C" grade, saying it "seems to be about gathering intel on the super-soldier serum and the Flag-Smashers, and even expanding Sam and Bucky's universe of associates. But it seems most interested in playing into action movie tropes more than anything else", and Misra felt it failed at that, elaborating, "The whole episode, I was just thinking of the times I've seen better versions of each of these scenes." She was also critical of the episode's characterizations, especially Sharon's which she described as a "failure of writing".[9] Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone said the episode was "mostly just competent and not much more. We know Marvel Studios is capable of doing much better." Sepinwall compared the episode's action to Marvel Television's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. since it felt "pretty utilitarian" and was "cobbled together from ideas that have been done to death elsewhere, in the hopes that the mere presence of familiar (or, in some cases, semi-familiar) faces from the MCU will make it seem brand new and thrilling". He did enjoy Brühl's performance as Zemo.[49] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Chancellor Agard was ambivalent on the episode, saying it moved the story forward but was not satisfying enough on its own, and indicated that the show's creators were trying to stretch a two-hour film across six episodes. Agard did find that the introduction of Zemo helped to complicate the Wilson/Barnes dynamic while avoiding hitting the same beats as the previous episode, and he enjoyed Zemo's assessment of Trouble Man along with Ayo's appearance. He had a "cold and unsatisfied" feeling with the Nagel scene, even though he felt the exposition was necessary, and ultimately gave the episode a "B−". His colleague Christian Holub added, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is definitely playing with some interesting ideas, but I don't yet have the sense that the show knows exactly what it wants to do or say with them", feeling a bit confused by the various story elements but intrigued by what their conclusions would be.[50]
Matt Purslow of IGN was more positive on the episode, calling it a "chunky chapter that efficiently unpacks many of the story's main plot threads" while also not sacrificing character development. He praised Brühl's performance, noting that his line delivery came with "a small smile and a dash of dry humor", and pointed out the similarities in the episode to the John Wick films which were created by this episode's writer Kolstad. Purslow concluded that after three episodes the series was "firing on all cylinders", and gave "Power Broker" a 9 out of 10.[51] Den of Geek's Gavin Jasper gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars and felt it was a "breath of fresh air" and a true sequel to Captain America: Civil War (2016) since it was "a new spin on the same general concept". Jasper said Brühl's performance made Zemo "incredibly likeable and charismatic", likening it to Loki's role in Thor: The Dark World (2013), and was hopeful Marvel was planting the seeds to eventually introduce the Thunderbolts team from the comics to the MCU. Jasper did criticize the origins of the Flag Smashers, since it felt like "the status quo is the status quo and the MCU refuses to be changed too much by the developments of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier".[52]
Notes
- ^ As depicted in Captain America: Civil War (2016).
References
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- ^ a b c Romano, Nick (April 7, 2021). "Emily VanCamp teases the mystery of Sharon Carter on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 7, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
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External links
- "Power Broker" at IMDb
- Episode recap at Marvel.com
- Explore Madripoor viral marketing website