I’ve just finished the second episode of The Falcon and the Winter Solider, and while I’d like to say that this show has grabbed me as much as Wandavision, but it’s hasn’t really hooked me yet. The first episode was something of a rocky start; it was a good move to give each character some breathing room, and a chance to let us reconnect with them, but the setup to a world recovering from the Blip still feels very generic. The Flagsmashers could be any of a dozen similar enemies that we’ve already seen on Agents of Shield, and the world appears to have recovered from the Blip with barely a shrug.
Episode two picks up the pace, with Sam and Bucky pursing the Flagsmashers while running into the new Captain America, whom I shall henceforth be referring to as Off-Brand Cap. Once we had these characters together in a shared scene, that’s where the writing started to take off for me. Having seen the tension building up in each character, the understated argument had real meaning. It set up some great groundwork for rivalry between the two pairs of agents, each pursing their own methods to find out where a new generation of super-soldiers are coming from. The couple’s therapy scene for Bucky and Sam was hilarious and harked back to the fun scenes in the Avengers films where they were forced to (very) reluctantly work together.
So, there’s been a lot that’s worked for me. It feels like Winter Solider has received the lion’s share of character development, delving into his murky past as an assassin, as well as his unresolved feelings over the disappearance of Classic Cap. As for Falcon, the everyday experiences of racism experienced even by an Avenger is thoughtfully written (the scene with Isiah was heartbreaking) but his character goals haven’t really resolved for me – I still don’t know what it is that Falcon actually wants outside of helping his sister with a bank loan.
This might be where I’m having trouble staying engaged with this show. I still don’t feel like there’s real urgency or any real stakes, character or otherwise, involved with the Flagsmashers. So far there are two separate stories; Sam and Bucky dealing with their unresolved tensions over Off-Brand Cap, and the Flagsmashers staying one step ahead of their pursuers while trying to achieve… something? To put it another way, I haven’t seen any real reason why Sam and Bucky should care two hoots over what the Flagsmashers want. I know the fact that the villains are super soldiers should feel deeply personal to Sam and Bucky, but honestly, it doesn’t. I’m still scratching my head as to why Bucky went with Sam to Munich, it felt like he did simply because the plot needed him to move from Point A to Point B.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to tune in to episode three, and there’s a lot here that’s worth watching. Will the show improve? Fingers crossed!
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