The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Series Review

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is a good television series. It is also bizarrely paced and unfocused. Every episode introduces new characters and concepts, often to the detriment of those previously introduced. Character arcs are never fully formed and themes rarely explored enough. And yet, the experience as a whole is for the most part satisfying.

Spoilers for the entirety of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier follow.

Character arcs, or the lack thereof, are the largest issue the show has. Take, for example, Bucky Barnes, the titular Winter Soldier. Early in the season it is established that Bucky is still struggling to accept his part transgressions and make amends. He wants to but is not sure how to go about it. The show set up a clear character arc for him and just…didn't do anything with it. By the final scene he has grown to trust Sam and checked of every name in his book of people to make amends with, but how did he get that place? A couple scenes where Baron Zemo mocks him, and a single pep talk from Sam—with whom he forms a friendship with out of nowhere despite hating the man for years. It takes a little more to create a compelling character arc.

If the Baron Zemo plot that consumed large portions of the third and fourth episodes has been more effectively utilized, it could have been a step in Bucky's journey. In fact, it should have been given the pair’s existing relationship. Zemo instead acts as a conduit for the plot with minimal direct effect on the characters surrounding him. It is through him that Madripoor is introduced so that… Sharon Carter can be setup for the next Captain America film? Ayo and the Dora Milaje show up to re-arrest Zemo, a subplot that seems to exist solely to provide someone that could damage John Walker’s ego. And then Zemo vanishes early in the fifth episode, never to be mentioned again because the filler arc is over.

Speaking of Walker, he has the best realized character arc in the series…until the finale. The series does a quality job of examining what makes Mediocre White Guy Captain America different from both Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers. He is driven almost entirely by ego and while he wants to do the right thing, he has no idea what that is. He is a an inordinately accomplished soldier, yet is unable or unwilling to question the righteousness and correctness of his orders. That includes being assigned the role of Captain America, something he never should have accepted.

One of the central conflicts of the series is between Walker and Sam and Bucky. The latter duo does not like or trust the new Cap. They even get into physical fights a couple times. And yet, when he shows up at the series’ climax to help, Bucky acts like he is an old friend or ally with whom he shares a grudging respect. That is a relationship that did not exist in other episodes but does here. Maybe it was another piece of the missing Bucky character development?

The protagonist of this show is Sam Wilson, and his character arc also feels like it skipped a step. Unlike others, it is small jump from ‘I’m considering what it would mean to have a Black Captain America’ to ‘I’m going to be Black Captain America’ with no indication of what pushes him across that line. Because of this, his arc is easily the most complete in the series, fitting for the star.

That small skipped step in Sam’s story is emblematic of the other problem plaguing the series: an inability or unwillingness to develop the themes and concepts it introduces. The core of the story is theoretically an exploration of Steve Rogers’ legacy and what it means to be Captain America. For Sam, this requires an examination both of who he is and what it would mean for Captain America to be Black. Both these ideas are brought up repeatedly, often by Isaiah Bradley, but are never explored in depth. What would it mean to Sam if there was a Black Captain America? What would it mean to Isaiah? To Sam’s nephews or the kid he clowns on in Baltimore? One can draw conclusions, but the show never bothers to dive into the questions and explore it.

The primary antagonists are a group of refugees that have been kicked out of their new homes and are on the verge of being deported. They do everything in their power to make that not happen. Of course, this being the MCU it has to make them somewhat cartoonish terrorists instead of realistic advocates, but the show does ultimately agree with their ideology. Or at least a version of it. Sam’s first big speech as Cap is not quite in line with Karli’s espoused ideology, but it is clearly intended to be an instance of ‘They are right, but their methods are wrong’. It is the best part of finale, and possibly the entire series. The decision to reinforce harmful stereotypes of refugees is disappointing, though.

The Global Repatriation Council is an ill-defined group of international politicians charged with ‘managing resources’ for displaced refugees across the planet AKA sending them back where they came from. They plan to do so via their military arm, whose size and competence is never addressed. That seems dangerous, but the existence of such a force is something that should be worrying to the entire world. Why would anyone allow this group that kind of power? It is something that needed to be addressed as it is the heart of the story’s central conflict.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is one of the most perplexing television series in recent memory. It is too short to adequately tackle every character and concept it introduces. Somehow, it is also too long and spends much of its runtime futzing with characters and storylines that are essential to the core story. And yet, the big reveal of Anthony Mackie in the new Captain America suit was likely the coolest moment of television in 2021 thus far. It just felt right. So maybe the most important aspects worked and that all that matters.