Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Season 2, Episode 20: Code Red; Episode 21: Winter Soldier
This is kind of a two-parter, isn't it? So I'm reviewing these two episodes together. I don't actually have much to say about "Code Red" individually, so talking about them together is probably going to give me a bit more to work with.
So "Code Red" starts off pretty simple, with a problem-of-the-week. In this case, a mist that transforms anyone it hits into sick, Red Skull-like people. While Iron Man's sealed suit and the aid of Thor manages to clear out the offending mist, and he manages to whip up an antidote, Captain America is out of commission and the Avengers start to fall ill one by one. Throw in Senator Dell Rusk (who is totally not evil) playing the role of so many evil anti-superhero military antagonists and painting the Avengers as irresponsible vigilantes that cause the spread of this plague in the first place, and we have some cool superhero-on-superhero action as the Red Hulk, Dr. Samson, Falcon and Winter Soldier charge in to bring the Avengers in.
And the fight scenes are cool, don't get me wrong, with the Avengers having to fight fellow heroes while also simultaneously fighting off succumbing to the infection and having to synthesize the antidote. Lots of great moments in the episode, and I don't fault the episode for that. Captain America, meanwhile, realizing the rather childish play that Dell Rusk is actually an anagram for Red Skull, quickly makes his way to the White House to confront Red Skull the moment he regains consciousness, while the rest of the Avengers fights the heroes.
The thing that really irks me, though? All of the other heroes are actually just mind-controlled, instead of believing that they're doing the right thing. It's a pretty bullshit cop-out to what could otherwise be a pretty neat conflict. Sure, Red Hulk's already evil and Winter Soldier being under mind-control isn't a problem, but the shock value of seeing Dr. Samson and Falcon, established heroes (Samson more than Falcon, anyway, as far as the show's concerned) and all the talk about following the country ends up being kind of nonsensical when, for the second episode in a row, hey, these conflict aren't done out of their own free will.
Oh well, we do get a badass punch from Captain America that sends Red Skull out of the White House, and that scene where Iron Man, chased down by fighter jets, shoots a missile from over the ocean all the way to the White House to inject Captain America... and then it gets caught by Winter Soldier. Badass. Winter Soldier breaking through Red Skull's mental programming and deciding to help out Steve was also kind of cool.
The episode ends with the Winter Soldier shaking off Red Skull's mind control, but it's clear that his mind is still jumbled up, which leads us to episode 21, "Winter Soldier". Red Skull's captured, but Captain America have a lot of questions regarding the identity and true nature of Winter Soldier. We also get copious amounts of flashbacks to the WWII era, in case you forgot. Captain America basically has his suspicions, but is afraid of voicing those out loud.
Meanwhile, Red Skull's master plan of reactivating a bunch of Sleepers -- big-ass giant AT-ST robots that combine together into a giant Red Skull themed Gundam. Um... okay, Skull. That's a plan I can get behind due to how ridiculous it is, even if I don't think it really is a Red Skull style plan. The Avengers go off to deal with the giant robots, while Captain America hunts down Nick Fury to help him deal with the Bucky problem.
And Fury apparently has personal history with Winter Soldier, noting that he's, of course, in every war over the past couple of decades, and that Fury's own team was one of the victims of Winter Soldier's high bodycount. We get a pretty tense face-off as Cap, Bucky and Fury end up facing each other, while a Sleeper gets reactivated nearby. Turns out that Winter Soldier's not fully aware of what he's doing while mind-controlled... not fully, anyway, and it's a pretty well-written scene when Steve, Bucky and Fury confronted each other. This is how mind-control episodes should really feel like. Sure, you're not technically responsible, but you will feel all the angst and guilt everyone directs towards you. And Bucky, well, he just wants to ruin everything the Red Skull has built just to get revenge for what's been done to him.
Of course, all the Sleepers arrive at Washington DC, combine into a Megazord which somehow is powerful enough to withstand Thor, Ms. Marvel and Vision all at the same time. Don't think about it too much, because it does lead to a pretty badass -- if expected -- moment of Captain America choosing to not abandon Bucky and save him this time around. Winter Soldier doesn't actually join the Avengers like the last couple of guest stars, but it's still a pretty decent story and a fun two-parter that really tell the Bucky story pretty well.
Overall, it's a problematic two-parter that perhaps tries to do too much, and maybe a giant robot isn't quite the final boss I'd envision for what's otherwise a pretty down-to-earth story about spies, mind-control and World War II, but it's still pretty neat, and if nothing else, the Bucky story is well-realized. Not a bad set of episodes at all.
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