The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier makes for one of marvel’s most impactful stories yet, the rise of Sam Wilson as Captain America. The beautiful and poignant way they handled racism in America and the story of Isaiah Bradley was not expected but incredibly appreciated. They handled race so delicately and with such care in the show it was great to watch and so relevant with what’s going on in the world. Full thoughts on a video essay I did on here
They also handled Bucky’s story of coming to grips with the mantle of the Winter Soldier well and had some nice emotional beats with him. The real strength in this show lies in its two leads, Mackie and Stan make for a perfect duo and there chemistry is electric. Often the best parts of this show are moments you can tell they were improvising. They have such a fun playful banter between them that’s always engaging to watch and towards the later half of the series are given some emotional moments that help cement them as one of the MCU’s best duos.
The inclusion of John Walker was brilliant as well, Russell plays this anti-hero/villain with the perfect amount of charm and desire to be a hero that makes for a fun watch. The other characters were fun inclusions too, namely Zemo, who’s grander role into the plot seems pointless and unnecessary but was a brilliant addition to the duo when he was involved. Sharon Carter manages to get an ounce of character development too which is more than can be said for her in the films. While her “twist” was overly obvious and doesn’t add a lot to the show it gives Marvel a brilliant starting point for what could be one of the better villains in the MCU.
Speaking of villains, this is where the show falters for me, the “Flag Smashers”. Carli is an interesting character throughout the show yet isn’t given a lot of character development to justify her motives, which in the show are incredibly unclear for a lot of it. The people she surrounds herself with are completely superfluous, with every one of them either given a few lines of are there to die. This storyline felt extremely tagged on and was an after thought until the finale. This was obviously impacted on by Covid as they had to change the plot but still it felt out of place.
The general writing of the show is also very hit or miss. There are some extremely well written scenes, for example the scenes with Isaiah or anything with Sam and Bucky talking but there’s some really bad cheesy writing at some points. Quips made by some characters that were atrocious or some of the most obvious and unnecessary dialogue I’ve seen in a show, that felt like a CW show. Granted this is few and far between but still not what I expected from marvel.
Luckily though there is the incredible action in the show to make up for this. Like DAMN. This is some of the best action the MCU has produced. From the flying scene that kicks off the show to the badass action scene Sharon Carter gets to the beautiful fight scene in the last episode, it was masterfully done in this show. The way they utilise Sam in the final episode combining the shield and the wings for some amazing choreography has me excited for what they will do with him next. The show as a whole was shot beautifully too with some stunning cinematography in the fight scenes and especially the last shot of episode 4.
The Disney + shows have allowed us to explore characters on a deeper level and get really interesting looks into who these people are, especially focusing on characters who’ve not had a lot of development in the MCU. If the shows continue to head in this direction then I’m excited
Also Julia Louis Dreyfus playing a Marvel villian. FUCK YEAH. MCU IN REVIEW