The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is a good television series, there is no denying that. There is also no denying that it has failed to capture the imagination of viewers in the same way other “premium” series have, including fellow Disney+ shows like The Mandalorian and WandaVision. Plenty of people tune in every week to watch, but the show lacks the all-consuming cultural impact of either of the aforementioned series. This is because it lacks either of those shows trademarks: Mando’s tight, measured pacing within each episode and WandaVision’s intriguing characters.
2021 has instead delivered a bloated series with too many
characters and no story. There is a ton of plot but only hints of a story being
told with that plot. It wants to be something akin to the above movie proposal,
but its increased runtime seems to have convinced the creators they could (and
should) fit as many guest characters in as possible.
The series has enough time to dig into the characters and
wants to before the big payoffs arrive. Except there is little exploration of
the characters. Sam and Bucky are interesting but flaccid characters carried by
interesting and charismatic performances. The show tries, but constantly fails
to bridge the gap between Sam and Bucky for some unknown reason. They hate each
other. I have no idea why, but they have for a half decade. Given the only
other begrudging respect relationship in the MCU is Tony-Steve, this seems a strange
choice.
As one of the many antagonists, John is the same Army
dudebro you have seen in every film (or maybe encountered on the streets).
Lamar Hoskins is his Black best friend/conscience. Sharon Carter is the kingpin
of Madripoor that, despite being the focus of the third episode and responsible
for the Flag Smashers, feels wholly disconnected from the show. Baron Zemo is
here because he has a past with Bucky and to provide the series with another
central antagonist.
The best developed characters are Karli Morgenthau and,
improbably, Isaiah Bradley. The former is the nominal central antagonist,
though it waited until two-thirds of the series had passed to explain her
ideology. She is a complex character struggling with methods and questioning if
they are correct. She only wants to make the world. The same can be said of
Bradley, who has only appeared in one scene to date. It is, however, the best
scene to date and that largely has to do with the character and Carl Lumbly’s
powerful performance. In a short time span, an entire character with a rich,
meaningful backstory was created. He also has a connection to what the first
episodes propose the main theme to be: Sam’s connection to the US and the
identity of Captain America.
Of course, that entire plot and thematic thread have
disappeared as the focus has shifted to Zemo and Sharon with guest appearances
from the Dora Milaje. Recent episodes have been about…something, probably.
Mostly, events happen and the titular characters react. They never drive the
plot forward and they never come up with a solution. They simply exist in the
flow of events. This a big reason why they do not feel fleshed out. They are
purely reactive and rarely, if ever, have an active impact on the story. Sam
and Bucky simply glide along, going with the flow.
Because the characters feel no sense of urgency, the show
languishes in each scene. And it can afford to do so because its runtime is
more than it needs. If each episode were 5-10 minutes shorter, it would be
forced move the story along, or at least more economically. It may have also
forced the writers to make their characters active participants as to a way to keep
that pace up. But that is not what they did. Instead, they have a produced a
perfectly fine show that has put the pieces in place for a fascinating final
act. Good luck them.
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