http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldierEpisode3PowerBroker
Sam and Bucky break Zemo out of jail to aid in their search for the super-soldier serum, and run into an old ally along the way.
Tropes:
- Action Girl: Sharon proves that she still remembers her S.H.I.E.L.D. and CIA training, kicking the most amount of ass in this episode. Hand-to-hand, grappling, knives, guns; she can do it better than the dozen or so bounty hunters in this episode.
- Affably Evil: Zemo is incredibly chummy and cooperative with Sam and Bucky. Barring his killing of Nagel to halt the production of more super serum, he doesn't even try to betray or compromise the good guys at any point.
- Age Lift: In the comics, Wilfred Nagel was a 1940s scientist who carried on the US Army's super-soldier program after Erskine's death.
- Antagonist Title: Albeit one only in hindsight; the episode is called "Power Broker", yet their identity is revealed in Episode 6.
- Anti-Villain: Zemo cements himself as this in this episode. In Captain America: Civil War, 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 Cardboard Prison he could have escaped any time, but he felt he belonged there.
- Artistic License: The prison uniform that Zemo uses as his disguise has the crest of Hamburg (white castle on red) on its shoulder patch, even though his prison is supposed to be in Berlin (black bear on white).
- Badass Normal: Sam, Zemo, and Sharon all hold their own very well despite not having superpowers or high-tech equipment to back them up. Justified in that they are either special operations or intelligence-trained.
- Bait-and-Switch: During the second fight with the bounty hunters, Zemo is separated from Sam, Bucky, and Sharon, implying that he was trying to escape. Instead, Zemo takes out some of the men pinning the heroes down, and eventually rejoins them with a getaway car to boot, never even attempting a getaway despite having all the opportunities and resources to do so.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Zemo tells Sam he looks a lot like a guy he is to impersonate, you (and apparently Sam) expect it to be an "all Black people look alike" sentiment, but when we see a photo, it turns out they actually do look alike.
- Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: Bucky appeals to Sam by bringing up how he helped him in Civil War, despite it being illegal... but not by expressing appreciation.
Bucky: You stuck your neck out for me.
[Beat] I'm asking you to do it again.
- Beware the Superman: Zemo reveals his own take on the idea. While he is against the idea of a Super-Soldier on principle, he is not specifically against them as people, but more how they are precisely put on a pedestal, their flaws ignored, and subsequently inspire Blind Obedience. 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. Sam and Bucky do not protest the point.
- Big Brother Is Watching: A graffiti mural in Madripoor features four eyes and warns that "The Power Broker is watching." Zemo is definitely aware of this, as he warns both Sam and Bucky to go undercover and not break character once. Sure enough, when Selby is killed, a bounty is placed on Sam, Bucky, and Zemo's heads almost immediately.
- Big Damn Heroes: Sharon Carter rescues Bucky, Sam, and Zemo as bounty hunters are chasing them.
- Big "NO!": Sam and Bucky are arguing over helping Zemo break out of prison. Zemo tries to interject, they both shut him down hard. "NO!"
- Bilingual Bonus: Filipino viewers will likely readily notice that the song playing when Sam, Bucky, and Zemo enter Madripoor is "Amatz
" by Shanti Dope, especially as it got into trouble with the Philippine government's polarizing War on Drugs. - Bling-Bling-BANG!: 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.
- Blue Blood: Zemo is revealed to be, much like his comics counterpart, a Baron and incredibly rich and well-connected.
- Bluff the Imposter: Selby pulls this over on Sam when his phone goes off, forcing the so-called Smiling Tiger to answer it on speaker. Sarah ends up addressing him by name, proving that he's not who he says he is.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Sharon is understandably bitter towards her former allies, noting how bad off she's been as a fugitive. She hasn't seen her family since she helped Team Cap, which is about seven-going on-eight years by this point, and shoots down Sam's attempt at sympathizing by pointing out that he was pardoned and isn't dealing with her problems anymore. Sam concedes that she's completely right, but makes a good point that Team Cap was on the run for two years before the Blip occurred, and a Freeze-Frame Bonus in Endgame showed that she was a victim of that as well, so there really wasn't any opportunity for them to do anything to help her. Sharon's right to be upset, but Sam is also right that there wasn't a lot that could be done with everything that happened.
- Broken Bird:
- Sharon is rightfully pissed off that she was basically forgotten by Steve after helping him, Sam, and Bucky, and also is less than happy about having to become a criminal in order to survive the Wretched Hive that is Madripoor. While she's doing extremely well for herself, she's still a fugitive who can't return home without her name being cleared, and hasn't spoken to her family in a long time.
- Karli was cared for during The Blip by a woman named Donya Madani, who she refers to as "Mama Donya". The older woman's death seems to be the catalyst for Karli's more ruthless actions at the end of the episode.
- Brought Down to Badass: For the entire episode, Sam is working without his flight suit. He's still an elite military operator, so that doesn't stop him from fighting off the Power Broker's men.
- Bulletproof Human Shield: During the fight with the bounty hunters, both Sharon and Zemo use one of them as a human shield when they're getting fired at.
- Call-Back:
- Zemo greets Bucky by reciting the first few words to trigger his Winter Soldier programming, first seen in Civil War. Bucky then references The Stinger of Black Panther, where he was cured of his HYDRA conditioning, by telling Zemo that the code isn't working this time.
- Zemo asks Bucky if he wants to live in a world full of Red Skulls when he brings up that super-soldiers like Steve become icons.
- In the last few minutes of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sam mentions to Nick Fury that he's more of a soldier than a spy. We see here that he wasn't exactly lying about this, as Sam has a difficult time pretending to be Conrad Mack, and ends up blowing everyone's cover as a result.
- Sam reminds Bucky that the Wakandan government hates Zemo after he bombed the UN and killed King T'Chaka.
- Zemo himself reminds Sam that he ended a super-soldier program before and has no intention of leaving his task unfinished.
- Nagel gloats how he's done something that no man since 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 five failed test subjects in Siberia.
- The Cameo: Ayo, T'Challa's bodyguard, appears at the end of the episode.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: With Nagel dead, Karli believes that the Power Broker will scale back the severity of his approach to them, given that they have the last remaining samples of the super-soldier serum in their bodies, and if they die, he loses it.
- Cardboard Prison: Once Zemo decides to escape prison, he walks out without a hitch. It may be that Zemo was staying there out of a sense of honor.
- The Chessmaster: Bucky helps Zemo escape the prison he's held in— however, given that Zemo has already swiped a keycard and knows which inmate to provoke into starting a fight and which guard to subdue to get a disguise, it's likely that this was Zemo's plan all along, with Bucky providing a necessary distraction.
- Compromising Call: Sam's sister Sarah calls him, unaware that Sam is undercover, overseas, and trying to negotiate with a crime lord. Selby forces him to answer it on speaker, and Sam bluffs for the most part until Sarah calls him by name, blowing his cover.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: Sam and Bucky visit Zemo in prison to see what he knows about the Flag-Smashers and the serum they took. Bucky takes it a step further, though.
- Continuity Nod:
- 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 Avengers: Endgame.
- During Bucky's visit, Zemo notes how, if Bucky went to him for help, he must be truly desperate — much like Loki noting how Fury is the same in relying on the Avengers, and Loki 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 Iron Man 3.
- Sam asks if Bucky will move his seat up, to which Bucky replies "No," reversing the roles from Captain America: Civil War.
- 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.
- Bucky's notebook is the same notebook that Steve Rogers had in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Sam mentions that Steve wrote his recommendation for "Trouble Man" in said notebook.
- Creator Thumbprint: Sam, Bucky, and Zemo visit a glamorous criminal underworld that has its own currency and hierarchy, then get a bounty set on their heads after the killing of a high-ranking criminal, with the bounty hunters receiving texts on their phones regarding the price on their heads. If all this sounds familiar, you should know that the writer and co-producer for this episode is Derek Kolstad, who wrote all of the John Wick movies, as well as the John Wick-esque Nobody.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Bucky absolutely thrashes every patron who dare attack him or Zemo in the bar fight.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Being forced to go on the run and not being pardoned or helped out by the Avengers has left Sharon completely disillusioned with superheroes. She definitely doesn't seem to care for the Captain America mantle.
- Dirty Old Woman: Selby flirts with Sam and is excited by Zemo's assurances that the Winter Soldier will do anything she wants.
- Disposable Love Interest: Deconstructed. Sharon completely vanished from the MCU following Captain America: Civil War, with no mention of her whereabouts after the fact. As it turns out, the Avengers didn't remember her either. She was forced to survive independently without any help from her so-called friends, and Steve chose an alternate timeline version of her aunt Peggy over her. Naturally, she's still bitter about it and not interested in going back to America with Sam.
- The Don: The Power Broker is a mysterious crime boss who holds dominion over the island of Madripoor and sponsors scientists whose work can make him money buying and selling sources of power.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Walker loses it when Rudy spits in his face, as he treats it as disrespect of the title just as much as the person. Rudy makes it clear that he doesn't care.
- Enemy Mine: 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.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Karli's adoptive mother, Donya Madani, clearly had a good relationship with Karli, who is clearly emotionally shaken at the funeral.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Dovich is visibly appalled at Karli's decision to blow up the relief supplies building with people still inside.
- Zemo still holds a very low opinion of HYDRA personnel in general, looking disturbed as Nagel elaborates on the work that he did for them.
- Everyone Has Standards: 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.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Inverted. Selby remarks that the Smiling Tiger (actually Sam in disguise) is "taller than she expected", and seems rather pleased with this development.
- Fiction 500: Despite having been in prison for many years now and his country being wiped off the map, Zemo still has a lot of residual wealth from his family's baronhood, including a private jet and personal butler.
- Fish out of Water: Compared to Zemo and Bucky, Sam has for the most part been an ordinary and law-abiding citizen, so he has trouble fitting in at Madripoor.
- Foil: Surprisingly enough, Zemo and Sharon Carter are thematic opposites. Both are wealthy, former intelligence agents-turned-criminals who have lost their families in different ways, with Zemo's being dead and Sharon being unable to contact hers. However, Zemo is is a former opponent who was imprisoned after destroying the Avengers and gladly allies with Bucky and Sam, who aren't fond of having to use him. Sharon is an anti-hero forced into becoming a criminal after helping the Avengers, but is reluctant to become their ally, though Sam and Bucky regard her well. Zemo also inherited his old money legitimately due to being a baron, whereas Sharon got her new money by selling originals of old art.
- Foreign Queasine: While pretending to be the Smiling Tiger, the bartender offers Sam "the usual," which Sam accepts. He then can barely contain his shock as the bartender pulls out a snake, guts it, and drops its raw innards into Sam's drink. Poor Sam, forced to keep up his disguise, gulps it down.
- Foreshadowing:
- When arguing against working with Zemo, one of Sam's points is that the Wakandans haven't forgiven him for killing their king. At the end of the episode, a Wakandan does indeed come looking for Bucky, in the form of Dora Milaje second-in-command Ayo.
- The title of the episode is "Power Broker", yet the titular Power Broker is never seen.
- It's mentioned that Karli was an art history scholar and went to Madripoor for work. This hints as to whom she started working for there.
- Freudian Excuse: Karli mentions that she and others like her were left out on the street by the sudden return of half the population in Endgame, and that she went to Madripoor, stole the Super Serum samples, and formed the Flag-Smashers, not only to send a message of global unity, but also to steal supplies for impoverished kids like her who were trapped in displacement camps.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: After being forced into hiding after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Sharon Carter has parlayed her skills as a former S.H.I.E.L.D. and CIA agent into art smuggling and other forms of crime. She's become quite successful, too.
- Glassy Prison: The front of Zemo's prison cell is completely made of glass, so Bucky can visit him without giving Zemo a chance to escape.
- A God Am I: Nagel refers to himself as a god for not only recreating Erskine's super-soldier serum, which scientists have tried and failed for decades, but by improving on it, since it doesn't require complex machinery or vita rays to become active, and neither does it alter the user's physique.
- Great Escape: The first act builds up to this: Bucky causes a distraction by setting up a fight among prisoners, which Zemo uses to subdue a warden and steal his uniform. He then pulls a fire alarm and uses the additional commotion to leave the building.
- Guns Do Not Work That Way: 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.
- Hidden Depths: Largely Played for Laughs, but Zemo is apparently a big fan of Marvin Gaye and calls "Trouble Man" a masterpiece.
- High Heel Hurt: Sam goes undercover as a smuggler with flamboyant tastes, and when they are discovered, he complains that he "can't run in these heels".
- Holiday in Cambodia: This episode introduces Madripoor, a Wretched Hive in Indonesia full of criminals and bounty hunters.
- Homoerotic Subtext: 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" (while biting her lip at the last part). Since Bucky was never shown to be especially patriotic, it comes off as Sharon accusing him of acting like a devoted husband 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.
- Hyde Plays Jekyll: Inverted. Bucky poses as the Winter Soldier in order to infiltrate Madripoor.
- I Did What I Had to Do:
- Zemo apologizes to Bucky for using him as a means to an end. Bucky is unmoved.
- Karli justifies killing GRC soldiers as the only way to make sure the Flag-Smashers' message gets through. Dovich doesn't seem convinced.
- Identical Stranger: 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. (Mack is of course
played by Anthony Mackie.) - Idiot Ball: Sam grasps it by not just bringing his personal phone on a dangerous undercover mission, but leaving it on and not even bothering to put it on silent, thus allowing Sarah to unknowingly blow his cover when she calls him.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: 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.
- Important Haircut: The thug who informs Baron Zemo that he's not welcome in Madripoor also comments on the Winter Soldier's new haircut.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Sam's disguise as Conrad Mack/Smiling Tiger has him wearing a gaudy, multicolored tuxedo and high heels that make it difficult for him to run. Sam derides it as pimp clothing, while Zemo counters that Sam is seeing it from an American perspective and he's merely a "fashion-forward black man."
- In the Hood: When the main duo and Zemo walk up to the bar at the Brass Monkey, a woman raises her hood as she leaves. Minutes later, we learn it is Sharon Carter.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: A variant. Nagel refers to an American "test subject" (almost certainly Isaiah Bradley) from which he obtained blood samples containing the super serum. Sam is not happy about this.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: The heroes try to get information from Dr. Nagel by pointing a gun at his head. It doesn't work, so Bucky actually pulls the trigger close to his head. That makes him talk.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Zemo joins Sam in defending the merits of Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" as they're arguing about the list that Bucky borrowed from Steve, describing the song as "capturing the African-American experience," Sam agrees.
Sam: He's out of line, but he's right!
- Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Zemo tells Sam and Bucky that the Power Broker is judge, jury, and executioner in Madripoor, so they have to keep their cover or they could become dead men walking very quickly.
- Jumped at the Call: Downplayed, but all Zemo needs to join Sam and Bucky's cause is for Bucky to tell him that there are more super-soldiers out there, which goes against his desire to see HYDRA's legacy of super-soldiers erased permanently.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Karli detonates a car bomb at the relief supplies building even though there are still people within, reasoning that it's the only language their enemies will understand. Dovich is shocked that she did such a thing.
- Language Fluency Denial: Rudy sticks exclusively to German initially, forcing Walker to call Lemar in as a translator. Lemar points out that even if Rudy supposedly can't speak English, he should still understand the names Walker mentioned. After a Spiteful Spit, Rudy then reveals that he can speak English and was pretending he couldn't to be difficult.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Bucky acts incredulous that Sam got them to hide behind a barricade. Sam shouts that it's in every action movie.
- Leeroy Jenkins: At the shootout at the docks, Sam charges out of cover instead of following Bucky's lead. It must have something to do with being the guy with the jetpack.
- Mad Scientist: Nagel takes such pride in his work for HYDRA that he thinks himself as a god creating superhumans through his own power. It earns him a bullet to the head for his troubles.
- Meaningful Echo: He doesn't use the exact same words, but Bucky asks Sam to break the law for him — again. A few hours later, he asks the same of Sharon, who also broke the law for him in that movie.
- Motive Decay:
- Walker decides that he and Lemar are going "off the books" to track Bucky and Sam, who he (rightly) suspects helped Zemo break out of prison. For a career soldier like Walker to disregard the chain of command is a big red flag that shows how desperate he is, both to catch Karli and to prove himself. He even brings out The-Ends-Justify-The-Means reasoning. This is a dark parallel to how Steve would often defy orders to do what he felt was right, such as liberating the POW camp where Bucky was captured in The First Avenger.
- 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 way the GRC heads will understand. Dovich himself actually believes that she's going too far.
- Mugged for Disguise: Zemo escapes from prison by beating up a guard and taking a uniform, allowing him to slip away during the fight.
- Musical Nod:
- Zemo's theme from Captain America: Civil War plays when Bucky visits him in his cell.
- The full theme of the Winter Soldier plays when Bucky beats up some guys at the bar in Madripoor.
- At the end of the episode, the Dora Milaje cue from Black Panther plays when Bucky encounters Ayo.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Sam apologizes to Sharon when he realizes that Team Cap left her to drift in the wind after she put her neck on the line for them in Civil War, insisting that they would have helped her if not for all the chaos and problems they had to deal with before and after the Blip. While he realizes that she's not in the mood for an apology, he still insists on trying to get her a pardon, just like he and Bucky did.
- It happens again after hearing from Dr. Nagel about how Isaiah Bradley's blood was used to recreate Dr. Erskine's Super Serum. Sam starts seriously wondering how much suffering has been caused by the ideals that the shield represents, musing that maybe he should have tried to destroy it instead of giving it away.
- Mythology Gag:
- Sam's undercover identity is a super-obscure villain from the comics named Conrad Mack, a.k.a. Smiling Tiger, who notably becomes a member of the Thunderbolts.
- Sam complains about his outfit making him look like a pimp, a dig at the oft-derided period of time in the comics when his backstory was temporarily retconned to that of a violent gangster named "Snap" Wilson who wore such outfits and only thought he was a kind social worker.
- The island of Madripoor is an iconic location from the comics, most notably associated with the X-Men and Wolverine.
- Before they walk into the Brass Monkey, there is a shot of the Princess Bar, one of Wolverine's hangouts in his identity as Patch, and even visited by Captain America in the 1940s.
- Nagel's lab is in the container with the number 4261. In the comics, Earth-4261 is an Earth where the Avengers died saving the world from an alien invasion, and a new group called the Squadron Supreme steps in to deal with threats.
- When Sam ponders that with all the suffering caused around Captain America's shield, maybe it would be better to destroy it, Bucky counters that he'd rather take it for himself before letting that happen. In the main comic continuity, Bucky stole the shield after Steve's death to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.
- Mysterious Past: 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, how exactly was his family left vulnerable enough that they died during Ultron's rampage?
- Never Trust a Trailer: Trailers had Sharon seating herself next to Bucky and giving him a suggestive lip-bite that appeared to be flirting. The full context of the scene makes it clear that she's doing it to mock him, making fun of him for his defense of Steve's idealism, and jokingly insinuating that he's gay on top of that.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sarah calls Sam at quite possibly the worst possible time when he's in a meeting with Selby.
- No Hero to His Valet: 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.
- Non-Fatal Explosions: 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.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: After confirming that he only made 20 doses of super serum, which Karli stole, Zemo kills Nagel to prevent the creation of more serum and starts a fire. Then a bounty hunter fires a missile into the lab, blowing it up, and thereby destroying any notes that Nagel may have stored there.
- Nothing Personal: Zemo apologizes to Bucky for using the Winter Soldier activation phrase on him, insisting that he was merely a means to an end and it wasn't personal.
- Not So Above It All: Zemo occasionally chimes in during Bucky and Sam's arguments throughout the episode. And then there's the matter of him dancing at Sharon's party.
- "Not So Different" Remark: 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 another man who became a symbol that people blindly followed.
- Old Retainer: Zemo's plane has an old man named Oeznik serving as his butler/caretaker, with the implication that the man has been holding the fort for Zemo's holdings ever since he was sent to prison.
- One-Man Army:
- Bucky effortlessly beats up many of Selby's thugs in Madripoor while pretending to still be the Winter Soldier. Sam is concerned for a moment that he might be Lost in Character, while Zemo notes with a smile that he's lost none of his old skill.
- When bounty hunters come after Sam, Bucky, and Zemo for the bounty on their heads, Sharon holds the line to give them more time, fighting and killing a dozen men and women in the process.
- The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Sam may hate Zemo, but he appreciates his enjoyment of "Trouble Man".
Zemo: It is a masterpiece, James. Complete, comprehensive. It captures the African-American experience.
Sam: [flustered] Wh— He's out of line, but he's right!
- Only in It for the Money: Sharon mentions that, being on the run and stuck in Madripoor, she decided that since she was a criminal, she might as well profit like one, and has since dabbled in smuggling priceless artwork, living in a swanky mansion in Madripoor's Hightown.
- Paranoia Gambit: To create a distraction, Bucky starts a prison riot by having a guard hand a note to a random prisoner with a cellmate. It reads: "he will kill you tonight".
- Pet the Dog: The only character that Zemo displays decency towards is his family butler, greeting the man at his private jet and openly accepting his efforts at hospitality. He may be a dangerous man, but he's definitely Nice to the Waiter. Everyone else gets varying levels of snark or outright insults.
- Power Trio: The protagonists, with a three-fold element to boot.
- The Leader: Falcon. The McCoy who leads with his heart, and is also the Jack of All Stats when it comes to intelligence and muscle in the team.
- The Lancer: Bucky. The Kirk who balances emotion with pragmatics, also The Big Guy for being the only enhanced in the group.
- The Smart Guy: Zemo. The Token Evil Teammate 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 The Team Benefactor, 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.
- Preemptive "Shut Up": In the middle of an argument between Bucky and Sam about the former springing Zemo out of jail.
Zemo: If I may—
Bucky and Sam: No!
- Price on Their Head: Sam, Bucky, and Zemo get a bounty of one thousand Bitcoin on their heads after they get pinned for the assassination of Selby. (That's just under $60,000,000 USD as of April 2021.)
- Rabid Cop: 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.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Zemo caressing Bucky's face while pimping him out to Selby, and Bucky's reaction to it, more than imply that this is something that was common for the Winter Soldier.
- Recruiting the Criminal: Bucky opts to help Zemo escape from prison so he can help track down the Flag-Smashers.
- Redemption Rejection: Sharon refuses Sam's offer to return to the USA, simply telling him to get her a pardon first.
- Refuge in Audacity: Lemar expresses concerns about what the higher-ups are gonna say about their methods to catch Zemo, Bucky and Sam. John suggests that if they get the job done, given how exceptionally difficult it is, the higher-ups won't mind.
- Remember the New Guy?: Justified. Sam is very annoyed and confused to hear that someone successfully recreated Dr. Erskine's Super Serum without the Avengers knowing about it. Nagel explains that he never finished it at a time when they could have found out, due to his work being halted by the shutdown of HYDRA and then again by his own death at the hands of Thanos, only to reappear five years later by which time the Avengers were fragmented, weakened by their battle against Thanos, and mourning the deaths of their friends like Tony and Natasha.
- Sex Slave: 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.
- Shadow Dictator: The Power Broker's role as the king of Madripoor.
- Shirtless Scene: Sam gets one when changing out of his undercover clothes. Sharon seems to like it.
- Shout-Out: Having not heard of Madripoor before this, Sam quips a comparison to Skull Island.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: 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 Grey-and-Grey Morality of the GRC and the Flag-Smashers, it can also be a Kirk Summation.
Guard: Filthy Flag-Smashers!
Karli: You've had six months' worth of supplies just sat there in that building. Don't you understand? We're fighting for our lives!
- Slowly Slipping Into Evil: 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 US Agent.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Nagel speaks with a very quiet voice, but you can taste the crazy coming off him. He's very proud of his work on the super serum and casual about the fact that he was working with HYDRA, even mentioning that he rejected Karli Morgenthau's request to help cure her guardian, stating, "Not my pig, not my farm."
- Spiteful Spit: Rudy, the civilian collaborator of the Flag-Smashers from the previous episode, spits in Walker's face after refusing to give up Karli.
- Spotting the Thread: Bucky notices something, and as the only member of the team who has spent time in Wakanda, we know why he's the only one who did. Little tokens dropped by a Wakandan extraction team in Prague to snatch Zemo.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: As if Bucky and Sam weren't frustrated enough with working with each other, they are really not happy having to work with Zemo. Bucky remembers being framed and controlled by him, and Sam became a fugitive for two years because of his actions, which cost him personally, from not being able to help his family, to his place among the Avengers.
- This Is Reality: Subverted. It's not that Sam doesn't think they live in reality, but his justification for using a barricade is: "it's in every action movie!"
- Token Evil Teammate: Zemo is the team's criminal element during this episode, working with Sam, Bucky, and Sharon in an Enemy Mine situation by using his criminal connections and villainous cunning to aid them in their plans.
- Took a Level in Jerkass:
- Translation Convention: 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. Dub Name Change 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".
- Translator Buddy: Lemar acts like this when John tells him that he doesn't know German to question Rudy. He ends up being a Completely Unnecessary Translator when Rudy reveals that he can speak English and was screwing with John to see him lose his temper.
- Trap Is the Only Option: Sharon leads the trio to an empty cargo container for the meeting. It looks like a super evil trap... until Zemo discovers a hidden door at the back of the container leading to Nagel's lab.
- Unfolding Plan Montage: When Bucky talks to Sam about how someone could "hypothetically" break Zemo out of prison, the scene has several flashbacks to Bucky having executed that exact plan already.
- Vice City: Madripoor is shown to be extremely metropolitan (Hightown), but is also a Wretched Hive crawling with gun-toting criminals and bounty hunters (Lowtown).
- Villain Has a Point: Neither Sam nor Bucky object to Zemo's criticism of how superhumans can become icons that people will blindly follow while ignoring their faults. Indeed, much of their hostility to Walker taking on the Captain America mantle is that he's nothing like Steve was, and that he's being set up as a symbol for American interests rather than serving the public good as Steve would.
- Wham Shot:
- The ending of the episode reveals that Ayo has tracked Bucky down and is intent on getting her hands on Zemo.
- After leaving the team, Sharon gets in a car with an unknown woman and says that they have a problem, specifically "a couple problems", showing that there's much more to her current situation than we've been told.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Sharon understandably calls out Sam for forgetting about her after the events of Civil War, noting that she never got the pardon that he and Bucky got, and there is a big difference between someone who was a fugitive and someone who is a fugitive.
- Wicked Cultured: Zemo has formally adopted this, elaborating that his family history is a noble lineage that traces back generations. Appropriately, he's also very well-connected, with plenty of resources to use. He is also capable of appreciating a masterpiece like Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man".
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Zemo executes Nagel the instant the bounty hunters start closing in, despite the team still not having enough information yet, because he wants to prevent more production and research into the super serum.
