The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)

COB

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I'm curious to know more about the actual plot of this, the trailer doesn't give much away - and I worry that it will feel a bit too straightforward coming after WandaVision which has been so brilliantly WEIRD so far. Still, the return of Sharon Carter is worth a :disco: at least.
 
Sharon FUCKING Carter!

I will never forgive her shocking erasure during Infinity War + Endgame.
 
Is nobody bothering with this? It’s not as exciting as WandaVision and you’re stuck with some rather dull characters but the latest episode (4) was the best so far.

I enjoy looking at Wyatt Russell’s face.
 
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I've been watching and it's not bad, but I do feel like the two leads are the worst thing about it - they both still feel like supporting characters, whereas with WandaVision both Olsen and Bettany were much more charismatic presences which really helped sell what was going on. Daniel Brühl as Zemo has been doing a LOT of the heavy lifting, I can't imagine how much worse it would be without him around - last week's check in with Sharon was good fun too. The end of the latest episode was fantastic, and WHAT an image they closed it on :shock:

I actually think this series would have benefitted from being the first Disney+ Marvel show, as was the original plan - it feels by the numbers in a way that WV didn't, and the Loki series looks like it's going quite WEIRD too so this feels a bit too ordinary sandwiched between them.
 
Well this ended up being as essential and exciting as a wet fart. We maybe got 2 decent episodes and one memorable shot.

I mean when your big reveal is that
Sharon Carter is a bit of villain, what a fail. Also Julia Luis Dreyfus is in a different show and absolutely does not work
 
The Julia thing is odd, apparently her character is in the Black Widow movie (that would have been out by now) so it being delayed makes her appearance in this a bit SO WHAT - I'll always enjoy her though.

This series was quite up and down for me, there was stuff I enjoyed but so much of it had weird pacing and didn't quite land. Obviously we knew where one of our main characters was going to end up, and I actually thought they sold it very well with the action scenes in this episode (the costume looks great too). I see that they've already announced a new movie starring this version of the character almost immediately, too :o
 
I was pleased that they spent more time than I expected exploring the idea of what
having a black man be Captain America would actually mean, and it didn't shy away from showing the US having an extremely spotty history when it comes to treatment of black people even when they're heroes. Most of the stuff with the Isaiah character hit the mark for me, particularly that conversation with Sam in the fifth(?) episode - I imagine that neither actor had to dig particularly deep to get to that pain.
 
I was pleased that they spent more time than I expected exploring the idea of what
having a black man be Captain America would actually mean, and it didn't shy away from showing the US having an extremely spotty history when it comes to treatment of black people even when they're heroes. Most of the stuff with the Isaiah character hit the mark for me, particularly that conversation with Sam in the fifth(?) episode - I imagine that neither actor had to dig particularly deep to get to that pain.

Yes and no. While it’s good that they thought of it, that speech in the finale (which went on forever) felt rather empty.
 
It was a bit of a mess wasn’t it. Anthony Mackie carried the entire show and I’m pleased with his arc.

That Kali was truly the absolute worst.

Hoping Queen Julia/ Madame Hydra is being the anti-Nick Fury and forming the Thunderbolts :disco:

I reckon
Sharon is a Skrull and this is leading into Secret Invasion, linking in with Monica meeting up with the good Skrulls in WandaVision
 
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I had the same problem with Karli, particularly earlier in the series, that I had with Kilmonger in Black Panther - the character's motivation was actually pretty sympathetic and the show at least makes a nod to 'hey guys maybe the way things are isn't great for everyone', then it's like the writers remember they're writing a villain and have them do something egregious and unforgivable so a lot of the moral ambiguity gets thrown out the window. In Karli's case it was blowing up the building with people in it (and lying to her accomplices so they'd go along with it), when she really hadn't quite been presented in that sort of hardline way up to that point. I suppose it didn't feel EARNED to me, and like they were hinting at these big dilemmas without wanting to actually take a stance. Obviously coming to a Marvel property for any serious political ANALYSIS is a mistake and I generally switch that part of my brain off, but that did stick out to me a bit :tongueout:

I also feel like the show didn't make enough out of just HOW different the global situation was until the last couple of episodes - even some sort of montage to fully convey the sheer scale of mass migration during the five years and setting up of the camps etc would have gone some way to putting across why the antagonists were so passionate about their cause.
 
Got to the end of this finally (christ how long are the episodes? At least I could skip the last 15 minutes of credits) - it really sagged in the middle, but as a transitional miniseries I think it served its purpose pretty well. Just having Falcon become Captain America after Endgame would've been something but I think this rooted his new character more deeply and explored some good topics. I wondered if the Winter Soldier was going to end up with it in the end, but I'm pleased with how it ended.

Acting-wise, I don't think Falcon and the Winter Soldier really had the personality to carry the show in an exciting way, it just felt like - maybe not toxic but tediously meatheaded - masculinity until the last few episodes. The other Captain America, (who needs a helmet that doesn't make his chin look so huge) was set up really sympathetically, but that was immediately out of the window as he turned into a testosterone thug. I don't really get what happened at the end, he's an agent now? Well don't tell me, I haven't caught up with all the mini series yet.

I was always excited when any of the Wakandans turned up though :disco:

And iKarli, Tracey Beaker... felt like she might have been a convincing villain on Waterloo Road - why were they all following a child? How did they become supersoldiers in the first place?? I agree with basically everything dear sister @COB said - her motivations and choices were all over the place, and there wasn't any sort of redemption.

I did feel like the last two episodes made an exciting conclusion, but if it had been a 3-hour movie (god forbid), or a 4-parter anyway, we could've thinned out some of the chaff.
 

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