The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: A Retrospective

The Falcon and Winter Soldier should have been a home run for me. Captain America is my favorite MCU character and one of my favorite superheroes. The chemistry between Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan and, the two Captain America sequels are perfect movies. I figured that Bucky and Sam fighting bad guys for six episodes would a great ride if a little basic. When I heard that the show would be tackling issues of race and class, I was even more excited. The MCU has a gift for injecting timely political themes into their stories so I was primed for an interesting exploration of race as Sam took up the mantle of Captain America. However, after the finale of the show, I felt unsatisfied.

I really enjoyed the early episodes of the show. It wasn’t as creative or exciting as Wandavision and it didn’t create the same urgency to catch the new episode every Friday but, it was reliably entertaining, and I looked forward to the conclusion of the show. What worked about the show were the character-centric moments; Bucky’s relationship with an older war veteran, Sam and his sister getting turned down for a loan, and especially, a conversation with the black Captain America, Isiah Bradley. What doesn’t work as well is the forgettable villain and too much time spent with Baron Zemo. While Daniel Bruel is very charismatic, his storyline feels unnecessary to the overall plot. Arguably, the highlight of this show was John Walker. The dramatic ending of episode four, in which John Walker murders a member of the Flag Smashers with the Vibranium shield, was perhaps the best moment in the show. Unfortunately, there was not a satisfying conclusion to this plotline. John Walker shows up for the end fight and he is mostly forgiven by Bucky and Sam. John’s misdeeds felt more like a bump in the road than a true character arc.

The real problem with the show comes during the climax where Sam, decked out in his new Cap gear, confronts the leaders of the GRC and chastises them for the mistakes that they have made. While I understand what the writers were going for and I identify with their message, this scene is comical. Sam monologues for what feels like 15 minutes and would make Aaron Sorkin blush. The scene goes against everything the makes Action/Sci-fi a compelling vehicle for ideological storytelling. These stories have such great political messages because the writers use subtext and allegory to get their message across, often without the audience being aware of it. I find this particularly frustrating because this kind of storytelling has already been executed so brilliantly in the MCU. Black Panther is the perfect example of a blockbuster movie with interesting and important ideas, and I can’t help but be disappointed that the same level of nuance wasn’t put into the political questions raised by this show.

I still enjoyed the show. Seeing Sam take up the mantle of Captain America makes me excited for the future of the MCU. I hope that I am the outlier and others can enjoy this show without the reservations I have. The things that this show does well are done very well and that should be celebrated. It is important that Marvel doesn’t shy away from trying to tackle these issues in the future. The House of Ideas has a great history of thought-provoking, political stories, and that trend needs to continue into the next phase of the MCU.