Hello, everyone! I hope you’re all doing swell. So, with the release of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s last episode, I thought I should do a review of the TV series. Since the final episode came out yesterday, April 23rd, 2021, beware of spoilers if you haven’t watched it. There, I warned you. Now you all have no excuse for getting spoiled. For those of you who haven’t seen it but want to, or are undecided until reading this blog post, the Falcon and the Winter Soldier is currently on Disney Plus. Trust me, it’s a great TV show, you’ll want to watch it.
Plot and Characters:
While it doesn’t give a time of year, the series takes place not long after the events of Avengers: Endgame. A group of terrorists called the Flag Smashers who are self-described freedom fighters are trying to get justice for those who are without a country and a home after coming back from the blip. For those who don’t know, the blip is what the MCU calls Professor Hulk’s reversing of Thanos’ snap.
Anyway, now onto the juicer parts. Sam, AKA the Falcon, after receiving Captain America’s shield from the old Steve Rogers, ends up giving it back to the government to put in a museum. While he does that, Bucky, AKA the Winter Soldier, is in mandatory therapy for his time as the Winter Soldier. He also spends time with Leah, a young woman who Yori Nakajima sets him up on a date. They may not sound too important as minor characters, but Bucky murdered Yori’s son while he was under HYDRA’s control. For obvious reasons, Bucky feels tremendous guilt over what happened.
Another part I enjoyed was the inclusion of Isaiah Bradley. His story puts into perspective the discrimination faced by POC. While Isaiah’s story focused on him being the first black Captain America and how the American government betrayed and experimented on him, it was a great and tragic parallel to the horrific Tuskegee Syphilis experiments. While Isaiah believes that even now America won’t accept a black Captain America, Sam isn’t so certain, though he has uncertainties. At the end of the series, Sam proves he can be a black Captain America, and he takes up the mantra of Captain America. His new suite looks pretty epic, too, I might add. Atop of that, he also gets a statue and plaque of Isaiah Bradley in the Smithsonian Museum so the world will know what Isaiah did for his country and what he went through.
While the government strips his title as Captain America for killing an unarmed Flag Smasher in front of dozens of people, John Walker is also an interesting character. While more known for the funny memes about him, and not nearly as cool as the Falcon (or Captain America now) and the Winter Soldier, he is still a rather compelling character. John’s arc follows him taking the super serum as Steve Rogers did. However, it brings out the more brazen side of his personality. After Karli kills his friend, Lemar, John snaps. Sam and Bucky fight him to take away the shield, and John is later stripped of his position and given a less than honorary discharge from the military. However, in the last episode, he saves a truck full of people, and he is named U.S. Agent. If he is to be a protagonist or a future antagonist for the MCU, however, it remains to be seen.
The series also features the return of Sharon Carter, who is the new Power Broker. She is understandably bitter about being cast aside by the US government and the Avengers. While she fights on the side of the heroes, she has questionable activities going on. At the end of the series, the government pardons her, but it’s clear she is now an antagonist of the MCU.
Scenes:
While I’ve also been a sucker for action scenes, the fights scenes in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier are action packed and epic. The brawl between Sam, Bucky, and John was shot well and full of tense excitement. While the former two are trying to remove the latter of Captain America’s shield, John is trying to kill or disable them. The chase and battles in the last episode were also great and showed what our two titular characters are capable of.
While the action scenes are great, like most MCU films and TV series, it has humor spread throughout. I enjoyed the scenes between Bucky and Sarah, Sam’s sister, and the introduction of Sam’s nephews, who added a nice bit of silliness to the show.
While not funny, Sam’s scenes with Sarah set up their dynamic well and the struggles they both went through. Each episode helped build the sibling’s relationship and showed how devoted Sam is to helping his family. The scenes between Isaiah Bradley and Sam were rather touching and helped build more into Sam’s struggles and the history of the MCU and the United States. While some might not enjoy the inclusion of racism. However, not only does it help build the reality of the MCU but also shows that in the real world, we have much more work to do in building a more tolerant society.
Favorite Characters:
1. Sam Wilson (The Falcon/Captain America)
2. Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier)
3. Karli
4. Isaiah Bradley
5. Sharon Carter
Overall Rating: A
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a great TV series which delves well into social commentary, provides significant character development for our two titular heroes, and sets up future plotlines for the MCU while resolving old ones. The fight scenes are intense, and the character interactions were well done and moving. It was nice to see who heroes, who weren’t super prominent in the MCU movies, have their own time to shine.
For any Marvel fans, or sci-fi and good TV fans, I highly recommend giving the Falcon and the Winter Soldier a view. I promise you won’t regret it.
Thank you all for reading and have a great day!
