The Falcon and the Winter Soldier review

Courtesy of imdb.com

Courtesy of imdb.com

Ever since the emotionally distressing movie Avengers: Endgame, Marvel has been slowly releasing new shows such as WandaVision and Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Before I start I will also add that it is important to watch both Infinity War movies to understand the plot of this show.

The show takes place months after the Avengers: Endgame in the Marvel timeline. The first episode introduced the Flag Smashers, an organization whose sole purpose is to get things back to how they were during the blip: a world without borders, conflicts, and division. This organization is led by Karli Morgenthau who previously injected herself and other Flag Smashers with the super-soldier serum, the same serum Steve Rogers and Bucky were injected with. She later betrayed the power broker, a secret person who sells superpowers and abilities to people such as the super-soldier serum, and ran away. In the first episode, we discovered that, due to a feeling of unworthiness, Sam Wilson gave up the shield Steve Rogers gifted him and gave it instead to the Smithsonian museum. Throughout the show, we see Falcon struggle with himself, his family, and his destiny. 

Overall, this show gave many important details and answered many questions that were left unanswered from Endgame. 

What I liked the most about this show is how it exposed many social and political problems including the hidden history of Black super soldiers and their oppression and the corrupt motives of imaginary political figures in the Marvel cinematic universe.  I also liked how the show demonstrated Sam Wilson’s character development in the finale. He was first introduced in the show defensive and struggling with his destiny and what having the responsibility of being the new Captain America meant to him. In the finale, he learns to trust more and regains his belief that not all people are bad and that people can do better. What I did not like was the demonization of the main antagonist Karli. The storyline never gave us a chance to see the “human side” of Karli, not even when she died. I believe her original motives weren’t corrupt and she really wanted to do the right thing. However, she tried to reach her goals by resorting to violence and ultimately failed.

The show is far from perfect but had lots of heartfelt moments, little flirty moments between Bucky and Sarah Wilson (who I very much ship together ), and lots of action. If you ever have the chance to watch it, I would recommend it.