"The Whole World Is Watching" was released on the streaming service Disney+ on April 9, 2021. Critics praised the darker tone of the episode, and its portrayal of Walker led to discussion by commentators due to his violent actions as Captain America.
Plot
In Wakanda, Ayo tests if Shuri’s deprogramming of Bucky Barnes from his Winter Soldier persona was successful by reciting the trigger words associated with it. Ayo declares that Bucky is liberated from being the Winter Soldier as he passed the test, to Bucky's immense joy and relief.
Six years later, in the present, Ayo confronts Bucky regarding Helmut Zemo, a terrorist who previously killed Wakandan King T'Chaka.[a] Since Barnes broke Zemo out of prison to help him find the terrorist group Flag Smashers, Ayo gives Barnes eight hours before the Wakandans arrive to capture Zemo. Barnes, Zemo, and Sam Wilson investigate a camp in Latvia where Flag Smasher' sympathizers house and teach people displaced by the return of people from the Blip.[b]
Zemo discovers a memorial service for Donya Madani, the adoptive mother of the Flag Smashers' leader Karli Morgenthau. He, Wilson, and Barnes are confronted by John Walker and his partner Lemar Hoskins, who Wilson convinces to let him speak to Morgenthau alone. Wilson tries to persuade her to change her violent methods, but Walker abruptly disrupts the meeting, resulting in a fight. Zemo shoots Morgenthau, causing her to drop Super Soldier Serum vials, which he destroys. Walker incapacitates Zemo and conceals the remaining vial while Morgenthau escapes.
The Dora Milaje arrive to capture Zemo, but Walker refuses to hand him over. In the ensuing fight, Walker is humiliated while Zemo escapes. Walker later discusses the Super Soldier Serum with Hoskins, who suggests Walker will be competent and make the right decision should he take it. Meanwhile, Morgenthau plans to divide the group and threatens Wilson's sister, Sarah, and her family to lure him and Barnes into a meeting. Walker and Hoskins attack other Flag Smashers, with Wilson and Barnes rushing to find them, resulting in another fight where Wilson realizes Walker has taken the serum.
Morgenthau follows Wilson and Barnes and joins the fight, accidentally killing Hoskins. Enraged by his death, Walker chases down the member of Flag Smashers who held him back from saving Hoskins and violently beats him to death with his shield. He then realizes that he is surrounded by horrified bystanders who witnessed his actions, including Wilson, Barnes and Morgenthau.
The Wakanda flashback had "a lot of thought" go into it, since Spellman knew the moment was "at least 80 years in the making for the character" and the "gravitas" needed to be felt.[11] Stan attributed Barnes' loyalty and liberation to the Wakandans, and felt that during the scene in which Ayo disarms Barnes' arm was "him [Bucky] trying to feel out his perimeters and life again". He also opined that it indicated the "subtext going on in their relationship" as it served as a subtle reminder of his behavior, as he knew that he had "gone too far" after colluding with Zemo, being perceived as extremely hostile by Wakanda.[12] He also commented that the audience had "never really seen [Bucky] let it go" and enjoyed the scene's inclusion into the script after previously discussing Barnes' relationship with Wakanda with Feige.[13] The episode discusses some of the PTSD that John Walker / Captain America suffers from, with actor Wyatt Russell explaining that circumstances surrounding the character's Medals of Honor represent failure to him and his attempts to right those wrongs are making things worse. Russell discussed the character with one of the series' trainers who was a former Marine, and he suggested Russell listen to an interview with Medal of Honor-winning Marine Dakota Meyer as research for the character. Russell felt Walker was the kind of character that is needed when fighting a war, but can sometimes go "overboard", which is how he described Walker's killing of Nico at the end of the episode. He added that Nico "didn't deserve to be killed by a shield. But he's a bad guy." Russell also compared the character to an "overzealous cop" who uses "excessive force to get what he wants done" which is not acceptable in modern society, referencing police brutality in the United States.[14] Meanwhile, Spellman had felt that the decision to have Lemar Hoskins killed was justified as he had commented that Black characters in past American films "was either magical negro whose job is to service a white character" or be fridged, and that "we earned it by telling all these other stories with heart" while also being confident in the audiences' ability to comprehend the connotations.[15] Skogland discussed a scene in which Hoskins discussing Walker's Medal of Honor with him, enjoying the line in which he said "power makes a person more of themself [sic]", feeling that it was applicable to human nature in a physical and emotional manner. She also added that Hoskins telling Walker that he believed Walker would make the right choices indicates "some history there", which she felt alludes to the idea that "you have to live in the life of the gray".[16] Russell said the U.S. government was Walker's family, and they have trained him to be a killer through his military background, so there is a robotic quality to Walker when he kills Nico because he is just doing his job without thinking about the moral implications.[17]Daniel Brühl noted that Zemo had been looking at the "bigger picture" and held strong personal beliefs, particularly in rejecting the idea of superheroes and opposition to the existence of the Super Soldier Serum, saying he believed it "is dangerous no matter in which hands it’s in".[18]
Discussing the symbolism of the episode's final scene, Moore said the characters in the series were all trying to come to terms with the difference between reality and ideals, and Captain America's shield represents some of those ideals since it previously belonged to Steve Rogers who represented doing the right thing. Moore felt seeing the shield covered in blood was inherently impactful due to the blood covering a symbol of those ideals, and noted that fans had a visceral reaction to that when the episode was released. He also said a central idea of the series was exploring what it means to be American and patriotic, especially from the perspective of Wilson, and he felt that to do so honestly they could not ignore the imagery of an American symbol being used to kill an unarmed man. Spellman felt this was an inevitable conclusion for the series to draw and was not done out of any agenda, feeling that the series would have been criticized if it tried to avoid such difficult topics. Mackie acknowledged that the shield has been used as a weapon in the MCU before, but never in a public and non-heroic way like this, and he said the use of blood adds effect to the scene since previous MCU films rarely show blood during action scenes. Actress Adepero Oduye added that "sometimes people need to see blood for it to get real" and felt the scene was the point where people could not be oblivious to reality anymore.[17] Skogland had also concurred, as she had wanted to make the scene shocking. She felt that the shield had served as a metaphor for the American flag, saying "we were deconstructing and staining what that shield had been. We just tearing it apart to the point where it could no longer be. That was really four episodes of finding out what that shield means to everybody" and emphasized that the creative team wanted to properly portray the shield being used as a weapon. As such, she decided to minimize the actual violence being shown on-screen due to her wanting it to be open to the audiences' interpretation.[19]
Filming took place at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Atlanta, Georgia,[21][22] with Skogland directing,[5] and P.J. Dillon serving as cinematographer.[6]: 15 Location filming took place in the Atlanta metropolitan area and in Prague.[23][24] The flashback sequence in which Ayo helps Bucky in counteracting his Winter Soldier persona by providing his final test was a scene that Skogland cared deeply about, wanting it to "have fire and be murky". The scene was filmed in 27 takes, with Stan having grown a beard for it and filming it after the holidays. He had been nervous prior to filming the scene.[12] Dillon attributed the Wakanda scene as being mostly completed by the VFX team, and stated that his team had done the "very tight work". Additionally, he also said that he didn't shoot the scene in which Zemo smashes the Super Soldier Serum vials, which was filmed by crew from additional photography units.[25]
Visual effects
Visual effects for the episode were created by Tippett Studio, QPPE, Rodeo FX, Crafty Apes, Cantina Creative, and Digital Frontier FX.[26][20]: 50:36–50:49 Rodeo FX worked on the Super Soldier Fight Sequence, and had used digital doubles when creating the scene. This was especially used during the scenes in which John Walker was running after jumping through the window, which was purely computer-generated imagery (CGI), as they had to make the run appear continuous. Prior to the run, there was a scene in which Walker jumped through a wall and landed on a car. Footage of a stunt double falling onto the car prior to the run was filmed based on two shots, the first being taken behind the camera and the second having the stunt double jump towards the wall. Following the jump, the shot became fully digital, as Rodeo had to do multiple modifications for the scene. They augmented the scene by conveying the impact of the crash; they added a dented roof, ensuring the shield's durability, shattering the windows, and matching the digital double with the performer. The team utilized CG simulations to render the scene, with Rodeo FX's Graeme Marshall estimated that the upper third of the van was completely CGI.[27][28]
Music
Selections from composer Henry Jackman's score for the episode were included in the series' Vol. 2 soundtrack album, which was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on April 30, 2021.[29][30]
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,[31][32][33] with the fourth poster, designed by Tracie Ching, being revealed on April 8.[34] After the episode's release, Marvel announced merchandise inspired by the episode as part of its weekly "Marvel Must Haves" promotion for each episode of the series, including apparel and accessories.[35]
Release
"The Whole World Is Watching" was released on Disney+ on April 9, 2021.[36] The episode, along with the rest of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray on April 30, 2024.[37]
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 April 5 to 11, 2021. Between the first four episodes, which were available at the time, the series had 748 million minutes viewed.[38]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating with an average score of 7.8/10 based on 34 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "A darker installment that delivers tons of character development, 'The World is Watching' sets the stage for an epic–if potentially crowded–final stretch."[39]
Giving the episode a 9 out of 10, Matt Purslow of IGN found the episode to be "the darkest, most serious chapter of the run so far", praising its focus on series matters and how that allowed a deeper exploration of the motivations of characters such as Walker and Morgenthau. He was critical of how the series was handling the reaction to the Blip, notably with the Flag Smashers' reaction to the GRC and the "somewhat incomplex" appearance of the Dora Milaje, but he did regard the resulting fight sequence with the Dora Milaje as notable for its psychological impact on Walker. Purslow concluded that, while the episode marked a "sudden diversion from the buddy comedy style that the previous chapters had been building", the darker tone allowed it to tell its story with the "adequate weight the show's themes demand".[40] Sulagna Misra at The A.V. Club, giving the episode an "A−", wrote that "The Whole World Is Watching" returned to the emotional through line from the first two episodes. She praised Russell's acting in the episode, stating how he was able to strike "an amazing balance between John's frustrations and fears", and highlighted the appearance of the Dora Milaje and the production design of Donya Madani's funeral.[41]Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall believed Stan had strong acting moments in the opening Wakanda flashback, calling his portrayal of Barnes' emotions "so palpable". In addition, he felt that the shot of the Dora Milaje holding Captain America's shield was "among the more memorable images this show has given us" despite it lasting only a few seconds.[9]
Christian Holub of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a "B" and believed Zemo discussing with Wilson and Barnes about those who seek out superpowers was a "fascinating conversation", with the fight between the Dora Milaje and John Walker being his favorite scene.[42] Brian Tallerico of Vulture gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars, saying it was setting up a story about "what exactly it means to be a hero in 2021" and felt the series was "one of the most morally complex productions" of the MCU. However, he was critical of the death of Lemar Hoskins, a Black person, as an example of racial fridging as it was used to further the story arc of John Walker, a white person.[43] Writing for IndieWire, Leonardo Adrian Garcia was less positive about the episode, giving it a "C+". He found it to be less exciting than the previous episodes due to the focus on Morgenthau and Walker, and felt its pacing was "strangely slow". In particular, he called the focus on John Walker a "slog", adding that everything with the character "comes off as one-note". Garcia hoped the final two episodes would see the series return to its buddy cop format, be "chockfull of action", and tie up plot threads. However, Garcia did enjoy the Wakanda opening and appearance of the Dora Milaje, saying that, like WandaVision, the series was "delivering on the grief and trauma fronts".[44]
