Original series streaming now.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a 2021 superhero series created by Malcolm Spellman. It is now streaming exclusively to Disney+. It ran for six episodes until April 23, 2021. The series stars Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. It is based on various Marvel comics. This series runs parallel with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, acting as the second original Marvel series and a sequel to Avengers: Endgame. It was preceded by WandaVision and will be followed by Loki.
"I don't fly. That's your thing." -Bucky Barnes
Plot
As Karli's insanity grows and the Flag-Smashers get closer to completing their goal, Sam and Bucky team up with Sharon Carter to take down the Flag-Smashers once and for all. Now faced with the challenge of maintaining the mantle of Captain America, Sam must save the GRC and provide a new symbol for the world to look up to.
IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE FINALE OF THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER, STOP READING!!!!!!!!!!!
Episode 6 "One World, One People" Review
Characters Arcs and Sam / Isaiah / Bucky / Walker and Karli / Action / Big Problem with the Episode / Power Broker / Overall Thoughts
Now we have to wait another month and a half until Marvel returns.
But that's okay. A break from these shows isn't horrible, even though both WandaVision and Falcon and Winter Soldier have been good.
SAM I think what the finale does the best job of is wrapping up character arcs. Sam's especially. He overcomes his doubts and becomes Captain America, now fully equipped with the shield and a new Falcon-Cap hybrid suit. He does everything that he's had trouble doing throughout the season. Karli changes his perspective. He follows through with her plan, albeit in a much less violent fashion.
ISAIAH And the stuff with Isaiah is great. That was the most emotional aspect of the episode. When they see that exhibit in the museum, you feel that. Goosebumps come up. They are tackling real-world issues, and it gives you hope that someday racism can be eliminated and we can have some form of peace. Carl Lumbly's performance here was incredible. It adds to the emotion that this segment makes you feel.
BUCKY Bucky's character arc is also wrapped up nicely. We finally see him make amends with the Asian man from the first episode. It was brutal to watch Bucky tell him that he was the one who killed his son, but also necessary. I do wish that they had made that conversation a little less rushed, but I'll get to that in a sec.
WALKER Walker and Karli also finish off pretty well. Karli dies about halfway through the episode, so she isn't in a ton of it, but her lasting impact on Sam was fantastic. And Walker has a bit of a redemption, which I appreciated. He never really was a villain, but he never really was a hero either. And here, he gets to be a hero. Also, it was nice to have him become the U.S. Agent. If you don't know, that's his character in the comics. I guarantee that that is not the last we've seen of him. Whether he'll be good or bad, I don't know.
ACTION I really enjoyed the action in this episode, too. There are some pretty cool scenes. Sam using both the wings and the shield made for some pretty cool parts. And there are some nice beatdowns, too. The standout, in my opinion, was when Sam versus Batroc. Georges St-Pierre is a very imposing figure, and I like his fight scenes a lot.
EPISODE This episode rushes things, though. It's only fifty minutes, and the first thirty really act as the finale. That's when all the action and story happens. The last fifteen minutes act more as an epilogue-type thing. The spotlight is really given to the action. That's the most prominent thing. And when you give the spotlight to the action, you put the main plot on the back burner. Then you only give your subplots fifteen minutes to finish. That means you are squeezing as much as you can into a too-short finale. I'll talk about this more in my overall thoughts section.
SHARON Lastly, the stuff with Sharon being the Power Broker was...eh. I know that she will probably have more to do in the future, but the reveal was very obvious and it doesn't really mean anything for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. They never really explain in depth what the Power Broker does, so Sharon being the Power Broker doesn't have any payoff. It's not like the Power Broker was some puppet master that was operating things from behind the scenes. They mentioned her a couple times in throwaway lines, which isn't enough to make me care.
Episode Ratings
Fun Factor: 8/10 Acting: 8.5/10
Characters: 9.5/10
Story: 7/10
Quality: 8/10
Overall Thoughts and Final Score
On a character and action level, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is some of the best stuff that Marvel has done. But the show as a whole is a big mess. The Flag-Smashers' plan was too confusing, and the rest of the subplots just don't have enough time to develop. I wish that they had stretched this show out a bit longer. Combine the first two episodes. Then turn three and four into three, four, five. Then five and six become six and seven, and the show has more room to breathe. The writers tried to shove as much as they could into this show, which was really unnecessary.
While most of that paragraph was negative, I still really enjoyed the show. It is not perfect, but it was a fun, exciting Marvel project. Not one of the best...but also not even close to one of the worst.
I will give it an overall Savory rating. Age range is 7+.
SWEET N' SOUR SCALE
Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad)
Moldy (Terrible)
"One World, One People"
"The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"
Fun Factor: 8.5/10
Acting: 8.5/10
Characters: 9.5/10
Story: 6.5/10
Quality: 8/10
Created by Malcolm Spellman
Rated TV-14 for superhero violence and action, language, disturbing themes and images
Episode runtime: 45 minutes
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon/Captain America
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
Erin Kellyman as Karli Morgenthau/Flag-Smasher
Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent
Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter/Power Broker
Georges St.-Pierre as Batroc the Leaper Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
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