Hey everyone, happy Friday! How are all of you doing today? I'm doing okay. I'm a little tired and my left arm hurts a little bit because yesterday afternoon I got my first COVID-19 vaccine. But otherwise no ill effects from the vaccination. As a result I'm going to take it easy for the next couple of days just in case. Right now though I just finished watching the final episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and so I'm here to review the entire series/season (if Marvel decided to give it a second season). There will be spoilers for the series, especially for the final episode so if you're not caught up yet, or for some reason just haven't watched the show yet, please do so before reading this review. With that out of the way, let's get right into it.
Going into the series, I was worried that it could never be as good as Captain America: The Winter Soldier had been when I first saw it in 2014. I mean how could it? It was six one hour episodes versus one two hour movie, on a streaming service budget. Yet every week when I logged into Disney+ to watch the latest episode, I was as blown away as I was when I sat in the theatre and watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier for the very first time on April 8th, 2014.
While you didn't need to have seen every movie in order to watch WandaVision except for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier you need to have at least seen all of the MCU Captain America movies as well as all four Avengers movies to really understand what's going on because there are alot of things from the movies that are referenced here and if you're not caught up on the movies, it'd be harder to follow along with what's going on. Especially since Sam and Bucky were so heavily involved in the first three phases of the MCU, especially where Cap was involved.
I absolutely love the dynamic between Sam and Bucky on this show. It's kinda similar to Cap's dynamic with Bucky back in Captain America: The First Avenger, but also similar to the dynamic that Steve and Sam had in the movies starting with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There's also a bit more playfulness to it as well. Probably my favourite scene was in episode 2, where Sam and Bucky are in Bucky's therapist's office and they aren't really taking Bucky's therapist (played by Amy Aquino) seriously. The back and forth between them was hilarious to watch. Also, having Baron Zemo back as well, in his more traditional purple mask and outfit, was pretty great too.
The character I had the least familiarity with going into this show was John Walker a.k.a. U.S. Agent. I'm not really a Marvel guy, so many of these characters, unless they appear in a movie or show, are ones I have no history with. After I watched the first episode, I was told that U.S. Agent was basically evil Captain America, having been originally created as a supervillain named Super Patriot, then later becoming Captain America, before becoming U.S. Agent, who is a hero, but is also the anti-Captain America. Wyatt Russell did a very good job playing Walker, but man I did not like that character at all in this show, and I think that was kind of the point, since Sam and Bucky don't like him either. I was also super confused about the character that Julia Louise-Dreyfuss plays. Especially because she just kinda shows up out of nowhere in episode 5 with almost no explanation as to who she is since, again, I'm not familiar with the comics.
The other interesting twist is that all season we kept hearing about the Power Broker, who was funding the Flag Smashers, but we don't see who it is until the final episode (this is where the spoilers come in). It turns out that the Power Broker was actually Sharon Carter the whole time. I mean I kinda saw that coming given what her job was when Sam and Bucky asked for her help in episode 3 and just how much influence she had in Madripoor, but it was still interesting to see that reveal, just because it wasn't confirmed at first. In the middle of their confrontation in the final episode, it's revealed that Sharon and Karli know each other and I suddenly had a bad feeling about that two seconds before Karli reveals that Sharon was the Power Broker.
Another thing that was cool to see, but also inevitable, is that Sam became the new Captain America. I've never read any Captain America comics, so I missed Sam's recent run as Captain America so I'm just assuming that the suit he wears in episode six, the combination Cap and Falcon suit, is from the comics and not just something cooked up for the show. I mean every week my sister and I would talk about this show after our weekly viewing of The Orville, and just this past week we both said that Sam would become Captain America, because at this point, Bucky is in no condition to take up the mantle and the burdens that come with being Captain America and he would probably fail the way Walker did.
While Walker had to have a ceremony to make him Captain America at the beginning of the series, everyone just acknowledged that Sam IS Captain America and didn't even need all the shallow pomp and circumstance that Walker had. No PR stint, nothing. Just, Sam showed up wearing the suit and carrying the shield and nobody says a word about it, but inside they're all like, "yeah, he's the REAL new Captain America" and leave it at that.
As with many Marvel movies and shows, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier does an excellent job at talking about social issues. Without the allegory that the Star Trek franchise is so well known for. There are definitely many parallels to our own world, but it doesn't take things too dark the way certain comic books published by DC (that I will not mention the names of) do. It was all written extremely well and not too heavy handed which the comics can be from time to time.
I think one of the smartest things Marvel did was make these shows short seasons. While WandaVision doesn't lend itself to multiple seasons, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier does if Marvel decides to make another season. Especially with the way the show ended, which I will talk about in a little bit. I thought the entire season was written extremely well. It seemed to lag a little bit around episode 3, but honestly, I still found it to be interesting, even if I don't like John Walker at all.
Overall this was an amazing season of television. In many ways it was an even better show than season 2 of The Mandalorian. I realize they're two very different shows, but I thought the pacing and the writing was better on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier than it was for both seasons of The Mandalorian. Every week I couldn't wait for the latest episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, while there were some weeks during season 2 of The Mandalorian where I considered dropping the show from my weekly viewing list because I just didn't care about what was going on.
Alrighty that is going to be it for me for this week. But I will be back next week with more posts and reviews. So until then have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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