History Recap / TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldierEpisode3PowerBroker

* NoHeroToHisValet: {{Inverted}} for Zemo and the manservant waiting at his private jet. They clearly have a very close relationship and the man enjoys Zemo's sense of humor.

-->'''Bucky:''' Wow, she's kind of awful now.

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: After confirming that he only made 20 doses of super serum, which Karli stole, Zemo kills Nagel to prevent the creation of more serum. Then a bounty hunter fires a missile into the lab, blowing it up, and thereby destroying any notes that Nagel may have stored there.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Sharon has taken to a life of crime to survive and adopted a ''very'' cynical take on the world.

* ArtisticLicenseFirearms: One of the Madripoor bounty hunters launches an [=RPG=] round off his rifle's muzzle. While rifle ''grenades'' are a thing, they usually need a special attachment to fire and most important, they ''aren't rockets'', so they don't have a backblast. This one should have crisped the guy who fired it.

* TranslationConvention: Subverted. In the German dub, the scene where John asks Lemar to translate for him plays out the same, even though to the audience, everyone is speaking German. DubNameChange is defied in the German dub, with even ostensibly German /German-speaking characters getting their name pronounced in English. "Nagel" still gets pronounced "nay-gel", and Red Skull remains "red skull".

* AntiVillain: Zemo cements himself as this in this episode. In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', he wanted revenge against the Avengers for their failure to save his family, but he also appeared to despise HYDRA. This episode displays him as a man of principle willing to use shady means but unwilling to serve evil ends, at least as he views them. He even opposes super soldiers not in themselves, but for the hero-worship they engender, which blinds people to the crimes they commit. This aligns perfectly with his desire to take down the Avengers: no one deserves a free pass. Not even Zemo; his quick escape demonstrates that his was a CardboardPrison he could have escaped any time, but he felt he belonged there.

%%* ZeroContentExample

-->'''Bucky:''' You stuck your neck out for me. ''({{beat}})'' I'm asking you to do it again.
* BewareTheSuperman: Zemo reveals his own take on the idea. While he is against the idea of a SuperSoldier on principle, he is not specifically against them as people, but more how they are precisely [[TheParagon put on a pedestal]], [[MyMasterRightOrWrong their flaws ignored]], and [[HeroWorshipper subsequently inspire]] BlindObedience. He specifically notes how the personal loyalty inspired by Steve Rogers to Sam and Bucky (then, even now) precisely drives them to such extremes-- even breaking the law much like they did to free him. [[VillainHasAPoint Sam and Bucky do not protest the point]].

* BlingBlingBang: When we get a look at Zemo’s weapon cache/car collection, we briefly see a gold plated gun. A bar patron in Madripoor is also seen with a golden gun.

** The shot of the two groups of people coming together in the GRC ad, in the beginning, parallels the forces of the Avengers and Thanos colliding in the Battle for Earth in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.
** Zemo greets Bucky by reciting the first few words to trigger his Winter Soldier programming, first seen in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War.]]'' Bucky then references TheStinger of ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', where he was cured of his HYDRA conditioning, by telling Zemo that the code isn't working this time.
** During Bucky's visit, Zemo also notes how, if Bucky went to him for help, he must be truly desperate-- much like [[Film/TheAvengers2012 Loki noting how Fury is the same in relying on the Avengers]], and Loki [[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld noting how Thor is desperate to come to him for help]].
** Bucky telling Sam how the weakest point in a system is the human element mirrors what Happy told Pepper when he tried to convince her to phase out all human employees of Stark Industries in ''Film/IronMan3''.

** Sam asks if Bucky will move his seat up, to which Bucky replies "No," reversing the roles from ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''.
** [[Recap/Daredevil2015S2E9SevenMinutesInHeaven Once again,]] an aggressor gets a knife through their arm, and pulls it out to continue the fight. However, this time he doesn't survive.

** Zemo feels that Bucky should already know the truth about heroes, since he's a World War II veteran.

** Sam reminds Bucky that the Wakandan government hates Zemo after [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar he bombed the UN and killed King T'Chaka.]]
** Nagel gloats how he's done something that no man since [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Erskine]] was able to do: fully complete the super-soldier serum.
** Nagel mentions that he was brought into HYDRA's Winter Soldier program to pick up their work after the [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar five failed test subjects in Siberia]].
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Though the shipping container they're in gets hit with a bomb missile, causing the laboratory inside to catch fire, which in turn results in another explosion, our heroes remain unharmed.

* DirtyOldWoman: Selby flirts with Sam and is excited by Zemo’s assurances that the Winter Soldier will do ''anything'' she wants.

* EnemyMine: Zemo readily offers his assistance to Sam and Bucky in stopping the Flag Smashers, and never at any point uses the opportunity to escape or undermine them. Sam and Bucky, however, still don't like or trust him much.

** Dovich is visibly appalled at Karli’s decision to blow up the relief supplies building with people still inside.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Lemar tries to reign in Walker when he starts losing his temper over how they aren't making any headway with the Flag Smashers, and is a bit apprehensive when Walker wants to go off the books to start getting results.

* IdenticalStranger: Sam sees a picture of the real Conrad Mack on Zemo's phone and acknowledges the resemblance that they share, though apparently they are not the same height. [[note]]Mack is of course [[ActingForTwo played by]] Creator/AnthonyMackie.[[/note]]

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: When bounty hunters come for the gang at the dock, Bucky rips a piece off of a shipping container and throws it through a mook’s shoulder.

* MysteriousPast: While it is currently being fleshed out, Zemo's revealed background as Sokovian nobility (apart from his being a black ops officer) also raises additional questions-- such as, if he was as rich/resourceful as shown in this episode, [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar how exactly was his family left vulnerable enough that they died]] during [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Ultron's rampage]]?

* NotSoAboveItAll: Zemo occasionally chimes in during Bucky and Sam's arguments throughout the episode. [[SucksAtDancing And then there's the matter of him dancing at Sharon’s party]].
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Zemo remarks that super soldiers like Steve Rogers are placed on such a high pedestal that they become symbols that people blindly follow without questioning their flaws, and that Bucky once went to Germany to fight [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler another man who became a symbol that people blindly followed]].

* TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou: Sam may hate Zemo, but he appreciates his enjoyment of "Trouble Man."

'''Sam:''' [''flustered''] Wh-- He's out of line, but he's right!

** TheSmartGuy: Zemo. The TokenEvilTeammate [[TheSpock Spock]] of the group who doesn't care for sentimentality when it comes to completing his mission, and has no qualms about killing anyone enhanced by the Super Soldier serum or associated with it. He's also TheTeamBenefactor, providing the team with off-the-books funding, private flights, and safe houses in their search for the Flag-Smashers, courtesy of his status as a wealthy Sokovian Baron.

* SexSlave: Zemo offers to buy Selby's intel on the Super Serum in exchange for giving her the Winter Soldier, with commands to ensure his complete obedience. Based on the way that Zemo fondles Bucky's face as he says that last part, it's strongly implied that Zemo's intention is to pimp Bucky out to her.

* ShutUpKirk: A Global Repatriation Council guardsman tries to condemn the Flag-Smashers when they grab food and supplies from a GRC headquarters. Karli shuts him down. Given that this episode plays up the GreyAndGreyMorality of the GRC and the Flag Smashers, it can also be a KirkSummation.

* TranslationConvention: Subverted. In the German dub, the scene where John asks Lemar to translate for him plays out the same, even though to the audience, everyone is speaking German.
** DubNameChange is defied in the German dub, with even ostensibly German /German-speaking characters getting their name pronounced in English. "Nagel" still gets pronounced "nay-gel", and Red Skull remains "red skull".

** The ending of the episode reveals that [[Film/BlackPanther Ayo]] has tracked Bucky down and is intent on getting her hands on Zemo.

* AgeLift: In the comics, Wilfred Nagel was a 1940s scientist who carried on the US Army's super-soldier program after Erskine's death.

* AntiVillain: Zemo cements himself as this in this episode. In ''Film/CaptainAmericaAndTheWinterSoldier'', he wanted revenge against the Avengers for their failure to save his family, but he also appeared to despise HYDRA. This episode displays him as a man of principle willing to use shady means but unwilling to serve evil ends, at least as he views them. He even opposes super soldiers not in themselves, but for the hero-worship they engender, which blinds people to the crimes they commit. This aligns perfectly with his desire to take down the Avengers: no one deserves a free pass. Not even Zemo; his quick escape demonstrates that his was a CardboardPrison he could have escaped any time, but he felt he belonged there.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Karli justifies killing GRC soldiers as the only way to make sure the Flag-Smashers' message gets through. Dovich doesn't seem convinced.

* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: A man spits in his face, and Walker throws him against a wall and screams, "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" We're seeing hints here of the man who will become USAgent.

** It's mentioned that Karli was an art history scholar and went to Madripoor for work. This hints to whom she started working for there.

* FromCamouflageToCriminal: After being forced into hiding after the events of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Sharon Carter has parlayed her skills as a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent into art smuggling and other forms of crime. She's become quite successful, too.

* HomoeroticSubtext: When Sharon derides the position of Captain America as a sham not worth all the trouble, she digs into Bucky by calling him "Mr. America! Cap's best friend" ([[LampshadedDoubleEntendre while biting her lip at the last part]]). Since Bucky was never shown to be especially patriotic, it comes off as Sharon accusing Bucky of acting like a devoted husband [[LoveMartyr too blind]] to recognize Steve's flaws, particularly since her own experiences dating Steve in earnest ended so disastrously. Bucky isn't pleased by the diss.

** Karli has spent much of her screen time decrying the "haves" keeping things from the "have-nots", but after her former guardian dies of tuberculosis (which she contracted in one of the overcrowded refugee camps), she quite coldly sets up the murder of a number of GRC personnel, stating that an action like that is the only one that the GRC bosses will understand. Dovich himself actually believes that she's going too far.

* RabidCop: John Walker conducts a raid on a suspected Flag-Smasher safehouse in Germany and is incredibly aggressive and rude to the people inside. When one of the men spits on Walker, Walker punches him in the stomach, screams "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" at him, and pushes him against the wall. Not only is it clear that Walker is getting desperate to nail the Flag-Smashers, the fact that more people are disrespecting him as Captain America is also getting to him.