I just rewatched ep 5 (somehow I hadn't even seen it twice yet) and uh, the sambucky scenes did not take half the episode actually? I mean, I'm talking Zemo+Isaiah+the boat+the 2 shield trainings. There was actually a lot more scenes in between. I guess my brain really couldn't care less about Walker or Karli or Sharon. Like, it's the sambucky episode. Anyone unrelated to them, I don't care.
good afternoon, thinking about the cinematic masterpiece that is this scene and why it's so emotional no matter which character's shoes you put yourself in
My favourite mcu ship is and is going to remain stucky, though a lot of that’s to do with the sheer number of stucky fics written by disabled people and allies who Get It. Love them, love them always, and the mcu did both Steve and Bucky (and frankly most of the other characters too) so very much harm in Endgame. I still regard the official mcu-canon by this point as a fork in the road, because the Steve I fell in love with would pull none of that shit.
But we were never going to get canon!stucky and we all knew this. Nor sambuck, which I’m not so into but do also like and sometimes read. <3 (And let’s face it: overall the mcu is far far better at writing same-gender relationships than het relationships! Especially stucky and carolmaria. They are just in painful denial of this!)
But what we might get, blessedly, is bucky x sarah. And this would be GORGEOUS. Partly from a representation level, obviously, but most of all, just... they’ve had a couple of interactions and I already ship them far more than I ship any other het couple in the mcu other than T’Challa/Nakia. Their smiles at each other were ADORABLE omg. They’ve both gone through so much and deserve so much happiness. If they kiss - let alone end up actually dating - by the end of episode 6 I will squee so much. :)
(And of course Bucky’s bi! The mcu may not want it to be canon but he blatantly fricking is - that’s how Sebastian plays him, that’s what’s there. He’ll still be just as bi if he ends up with a woman. And it doesn’t rule out the possibility (likelihood) that he was in love with Steve, perhaps even mutually given that Endgame!Steve is clearly an imposter. <3 )
(Sam will fret, obviously and understandably. But I think Bucky has the potential to be worthy of Sarah, and is heading rapidly in that direction. He’s also handy, loyal, protective, and deeply fond of children. And he cares a lot of about what Sam thinks, even if he sometimes actively avoids showing this. Plus Sam is a very, at times heroically fair-minded man, and also a discerning one: he can clearly see Bucky’s strengths and goodness as well as his messier side. Also those two as brothers-in-law would be fricking hilarious, I mean can you imagine Sam’s brother-of-the-bride speech? Okay I need to go and find the fanfics to read now because <3 <3 <3.)
Hmmm this may be a reach but I just want to talk about the apology scene from episode 5, and how we saw Buckys attitude to Sam change during the course of the show
Bc despite Bucky hounding Sam for much of the seires about his decision to drop the shied, we never actually see him respect Sam's leadership (until now)
Like, the breaking out of Zemo and even the fight scenes in Madripoor show how Bucky isn't willing to follow Sam, despite what he says verbally
He seems to me to be still acting as a solo project, and I don't think the writers made the fact that nearly every decision Bucky makes for the team goes wrong unintentially
And this is also to show why Steve never gave him the shield in the first place. (and shuts up the buckycap stans) If we ignore the trauma and everything Bucky still was never a leader, he followed orders all the way through his military life
Which is part of the reason why Bucky finds 2023 reality so hard to cope with, he doesn't know how to lead either himself or a team and I think he sees himself in Zemo as someone he could become, so consumed by revenge and suffering, the lone wolf
So when bucky tells Zemo 'we're gonna do it our own way' we see him reject the shackles of hydra and finally choses who he wants to-be, and who he wants to follow
That's why I think the apology scene is so important, both for bucky and for Sam. For Sam, to have not even the one person who tries to get him to take shield back trusted his judgement earlier in the series. But now with Buckys apology Sam is able to trust that they will be partners, and that Bucky cares enough about him to not leave him in the dark. By apologising for his misjudgements, bucky also is now able to accept when he's at fault, which shows such character growth considerung the bullshit amends.
(also this is the first time Bucky has chosen who he follows orders from since the war, had Sam become captain America in the beginning of the show, we never would have seen Bucky regain autonomy over his decisions in such a strong way)
This scene keeps haunting me - why did we get it in the first place? Zemo escaped from that fight only to wait for Bucky at the memorial, expecting what, exactly? Was the sole purpose to see what Bucky would do, if he would shoot Zemo? There was satisfaction, pride even in Zemo’s reaction when the gun was empty. (Compare that to how he reacted when T’Challa stopped him from killing himself in CW.) So did he expect Bucky to turn him in to the Dora Milaje anyway, but he wanted to test Bucky one last time, see if Bucky would break, although at this point, why Bucky would want to kill him eludes me. He promised the Dora he would give him back which is more important to him than revenge against Zemo - that might be a part of Bucky’s character arc that’s so tightly woven with Zemo’s.
And maybe Zemo just had something to do, some unfinished business or a step of a plan to set into motion, and he needed a bit more time to do that before he went on a sightseeing trip to Wakanda. Either way, this was one of so many awesome scenes that it doesn’t feel real that they were all in that one episode.