Well friends and falcons, we have reached the end of the road with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Having now got a complete picture of the whole series I can say with confidence that the show was…alright. Marvel and the Mouse House should be applauded for trying to swing for the fences even if much like today’s baseball players, they were either hitting homeruns, walking, or striking out. Let’s dig into the main characters shall we.
Sam Wilson – Sam is now Captain America and I felt…whelmed. Not over or under just, whelmed. His new suit is very nice (you already know my brain is trying to make me cosplay him) but it was kinda awkward having him doing all this stuff as Cap the episode after he met with Isaiah and was told no self-respecting Black man would want the mantle. Now yes we all knew he would take the shield but that conversation required more reflection than we could get in 6 episodes. Even giving Isaiah a museum exhibit in the Smithsonian was a little hollow cause just last week he said they should leave him dead. Is it Oochie Wally or One Mic, Marvel?
The one thing I did like was seeing him drag the senators and I am interested in how Sam laid out his approach to how he would be Cap. John Walker was so stuck trying to be as awesome as Steve that it ate him up, Sam is going a new way.
John Walker – Speaking of, I am fine with the US Agent thing but everything else with him in this episode was really foolish. John coming into the fight with the Flag Smashers, getting a joke in with Bucky, and just walking away…did the people who make this show not even watch their own episode? That John Walker could walk past all the heroes, government officials, and reporters without anyone so much as questioning why he was there? That’s wild and a pretty big mistake for a show that had been handling that arc so well. It would have been one thing if he just slunk back in the shadows, but having him make any kind of joke with Bucky like he didn’t disgrace the shield or Bucky didn’t beat his ass is laughable. This is a show that was dealing with things that weren’t nice and cute, yet this ending was a little too tidy for John. Where was the angst, where was the subterfuge about becoming US Agent? In one episode, they’ve essentially undone everything with this character and that’s a shame because he might have had the best story.
Bucky – Bucky finally got to get some closure with the man whose son he killed. That’s fine, I guess. Sam is good for Bucky.
Sharon – I guess Kevin Feige and Malcolm Spellman went back and watched Revenge and how good Emily Van Camp was. Having Sharon be the Power Broker is very on the nose but also very smart, especially given that she’s got her old job back. I am intrigued by where this character will go now that she’s back stateside. Will she be teaming up with bad people now and what happens if someone finds out?