When you’re coming off the creativity that is WandaVision after a year of no Marvel activity? That’s a hard standard to live up to! Not that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was a disappointment. Far from it, in fact, but it just didn’t grab me as much as its television predecessor.
In this, we are six months past the blip, where people have returned but are displaced and facing deportation. A world-wide group of radicals who have gotten their hands on a super-soldier serum are out to demand justice for themselves. Only thing is, they’re causing a lot of mayhem to do it. So there, right off the bat I’m giving you the “big bad” of the season, which in reality, what they’re fighting for really isn’t that different from what a lot of people are fighting for today. I appreciate the parallels, but it was also sort of lame in a way. If I’m watching a Marvel property, I want something somewhat unrealistic wreaking havoc!
Anyway, elsewhere, Sam has decided he doesn’t want the shield that Captain America gave him. Bucky is disappointed, but we first meet him trying to right the wrongs he committed during his time as the Winter Soldier, and he’s got a seriously problematic therapist. Luckily, she’s gone after a couple episodes. He soon teams up with Sam to try and figure out where the supers soldier serum is coming from. The pair is also sort of working the problem freelance because almost as soon as Sam relinquished the shield, they just put it in the hands of another blond-haired, blue-eyed solider, John Walker. There were several times throughout the show where Walker tries to get them all on the same team, but it’s hard to trust someone who’s trying to replace someone both loved.
Early on, Bucky knows that in order to get good information on the serum, they’re going to need someone who was obsessed with seeing the super soldiers destroyed, Helmut Zemo. Reluctantly, Sam helps Bucky break him out of prison, and soon the trio head to Madripoor where they run into the exiled Sharon Carter. Something seems shady with her, even though she does help them find out about the serum and what Karli and her gang of freedom fighters are up to. While in Madripoor, Zemo manages to slip away from the Wakandians who are also after him for killing one of their leaders, but he eventually relents and takes some responsibility for his past crimes.
While a lot happened in the show, it also felt like not much at all happened. To me personally, at least. With that being said, there are still too many details for me to try and explain, so here are the big ticket items. John Walker becomes a bit unhinged, disgraced, but then is recruited by some sinister sounding secret group? Not sure where that will fit in later, but it’s out there now. Also, Sharon Carter is definitely evil, or at least aiming for payback at being made an enemy of the state. Sam decides to embrace all the complications that come with being the next Captain America, while Bucky finally makes amends with all the people in his past. Also, the freedom fighters get stopped, not because Sam doesn’t agree with what their ultimate goals are, but for how Karli was leading them to do it. He ultimately ends up getting Congress to realize their wrongs and urges them to do better (whatever that means).
This series was enjoyable, but a part of me just feels like they could have forced it all into a movie. Again, not much really happened, but I assume that it’s setting the foundation for a lot of future action? Remains to be seen I guess. This show tried to be political, but wasn’t too political, and it basically glossed over the effect of not having Steve there for Sam and Bucky anymore. They could have really tackled a lot of emotional baggage there, and I imagine the LGBTQ+ community was really bummed that Marvel again chose to not represent them with a relationship that was just right there. Overall, if the most memorable scene of the series is Zemo dancing in a club, then you’ve done something wrong. Loki better bring it in June!