TL;DR – Falcon and the Winter Soldier was okay.
SPOILERS AHEAD! YE BE WARNED!
I’ll be daring in my blandness. Falcon and Winter Soldier was okay. It was entertaining, funny in places, action-smashy in others, and nudged the MCU storyline along as it told its own story. In the realm of Marvel storytelling, this fell somewhere above the middle. It’s not Iron Man or Black Panther, but it’s not Thor: the Dark World either.
The Good Stuff
This season is all about Sam Wilson (Falcon) struggling with the decision of what to do with Captain America’s shield now that Steve Rodgers is retired. Steve clearly wanted Sam to take it and follow in his footsteps, but Sam isn’t so sure. As he struggles first with giving the shield up then seeing the government give it to a new (ultimately unworthy) Captain America, I’m being asked along with Sam to weigh the nostalgic image of America against some of its historical reality and perhaps its current reputation in the world. In the end, Sam makes a choice I think I would have made, and decides to take up the shield (symbolically America) and the mantle of Captain America.
Now if you’re not here for Black Lives Matter and the social justice conversation that’s been on the front-burner for the past few years, I can’t help you. Maybe skip this series. Otherwise, I think this theme of the series was handled well, and it took the time needed to make its arguments from Sam and Sarah struggles with their boat, to Isiah Bradley’s story as an involuntary super-soldier, Ayo’s cameo, and even Baron Zemo’s quip about Sam’s fashion-forward disguise. The show decided to make this a major theme and it took the time to show (and not tell) a much blacker story than I’ve seen in the past. I’m still trying to figure out if Wakanda’s gift of the Captain America suit is meant to strengthen a symbolic link between Sam and Black Panther or if it’s a subtle jab implying Sam couldn’t get the suit made in America.
The other major subplot that has wider MCU implications is what happens to Earth after “the blip” is undone. I wasn’t as clear on this part, but the main point is that the world went from coming together in the 5 years after the blip to resuming the status quo when the lost 50% of the population returns. In the subsequent churn, the displaced are forced into camps and no one wants to deal with them. I’m glad they’re trying to work out the “what if” implications of Thanos’ snap and show some possible aftereffects. I hope they do more with it and not just make it a plot device because choices and consequences are the best parts of epic storytelling.
The Bad
I think the series suffered from wanting to do too many things at once and was forced to shoe-horn in some elements that needed room to breathe. Karli going from sympathetic vigilante to full-bore murdering anarchist yet keeping Sam’s sympathy didn’t work for me. It feels like there was supposed to be more going on there but they ran out of space to tell the story properly. If Karli’s deliberate car bombing had been accidental, but then we see her rationalizing it later as a good thing? Now that’s an interesting story that doesn’t require a character pivot from left field, and doesn’t force Sam to be her apologist.
Likewise, John Walker’s mental breakdown as Captain America had me thinking “Well that escalated quickly. The US Government picked him? Who was in charge of his psych evaluation?” I could at least see them setting it up and it didn’t come out of left field, but the execution was ham-fisted. (Melee coming to a screeching halt on both sides at Battlestar’s death, Walker has *three* medals of honor?)
Speaking of mental conditions, the story seemed to set up Bucky’s coming to terms with his past as the Winter Soldier, but for as front-loaded as that problem’s set-up, I’m trying to figure out exactly where Bucky decided he could face the names on his list. It seems to be mostly from hanging around Sam and taking courage from Sam picking up the shield. I’m not sure if that’s subtle writing or lazy.
I’m also trying to figure out why all government business takes place in the same unadorned chamber.
What did you think of Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Are there any storylines I missed or ones you’re looking forward to?
