the falcon and the winter soldier has now wrapped on disney plus and after breaking down
every episode of the season i have some thoughts on what we actually saw it's a show that i think
has positives but also negatives which stop it from becoming as good as some of marvel's other
properties in particular this video essay is going to be looking at how the falcon and the winter
soldier demonstrates good ideas but the execution isn't as good now i'm sure many people will
disagree on my thoughts but overall this is just my subjective opinion and having reviewed every
episode i wanted to collate my thoughts and give a general reaction to the series this analysis
may also contain spoilers so if you do happen to be someone who hasn't watched the falcon and
the winter soldier then i would recommend watching this video after you've caught up but if you want
to see more videos on all of the upcoming disney plus marvel shows then don't forget to subscribe
to the channel and turn on your notifications also if you enjoy this video remember to give it a like
rating but without further ado let's dive into my video essay for the falcon and the winter soldier
so to begin with what was intriguing about the falcon and the winter soldier was the themes and
story ideas that it was trying to bring to the table this for me was the best element of the
show as it took messages of accountability and power and almost reversed what we saw
in captain america the winter soldier to this day that film is my favorite marvel cinematic
universe project as it really focused on breaking down the structures of a superhero
and how we can challenge them we hadn't seen it done as it was in that film previously in the mcu
and leading all the way through to falcon in the winter soldier i was excited to see a new take on
these primary ideas the reverse of this resulted in a winter soldier who is grieving based on his
sins and not one which is controlled like we saw in that captain america film it also resulted in
an anti-captain america and one who starts as no super soldier but a super soldier human who
we briefly touch upon in regards to his mindset and position a lot of the other characters fit
into this reverse structure when comparing it to captain america the winter soldier and in turn
it's opened up an exciting opportunity to put a new twist on these characters making us think
about where the mcu could be heading and the kind of characters that will spearhead it going forward
now alongside this opening concept the show does some decent things to start off with it
puts a big focus around the captain america's shield and who is going to take up that mantle
it creates an interesting discussion on who could be fit to be the next captain america
and what kind of hero that needs to be john walker at the beginning of the show really made
us look at the character in a different light and right up until the moment where he kills a
man for the death of his best friend the reverse of the winter soldier movie plotline is complete
and honestly i found this really interesting i know a lot of people didn't like john walker but
to be honest up until his team up in the finale i liked what they tried to do with his character
we don't want to see the same captain america as before and with a storyline that is challenging
the power of the shield having the journey of john walker in there creates a potential for the
deconstruction of the superhero alongside this the action of the show and a majority of the visual
effects were successfully pulled off to think this is a tv show is quite astonishing because the
graphics and scenes felt like they were a part of a cinematic movie but this is where the problems
of the show often stem from because it felt like marvel were trying to take a six hour movie
and condense it into tv episodes and we often have plot points that just aren't developed enough to
make us care in my opinion the end result of the falcon and the winter soldier misses its mark this
is because it takes the ideas that on paper are interesting and turns them into weaknesses john
walker for instance the highly decorated soldier appointed as the new captain america slowly erodes
into a villain and this became a chance to show a dark reflection to steve rogers and critique the
idea of a military-backed superhero azia bradley the forgotten lone survivor criminalized after
state experiments is a biting commentary on real crimes of the us government in the 20th century
that reflects on sam's journey to taking up the shield zemo wants to complete his master
plan to remove all super soldiers the rare case of a marvel villain who isn't motivated by tony
stark's mistakes and the flag smashers are freedom fighters struggling to adapt to the new world
and are people who are fighting back relating to marvel's strategy of focusing on villains
who do the right thing the wrong way together each of these elements could provide a fascinating
discussion on authority and accountability and alongside this the two main characters open up for
discussion two as steve rogers chosen successor to the captain america mantle sam wilson is set
on a journey of self-discovery in a world that would doubt him and bucky is one of the mcu's
most intriguing characters to begin with a good man turned into a violent killer one which could
directly atone for his sins together the pairing of steve's best friends offered a traditional
buddy team up against a dramatic background but while all of these aspects are present
none strike as they felt on paper in the finale john walker is brought back from the edge to be a
anti-hero azia bradley is established in episode 2 before being absent for the next few hours
returning only when the narrative has caught up zemo is completely rewritten from civil war
and now seen as a meme the flag smashers are poorly conceived and highly ineffective in their
moral stance and the character reflection of sam and bucky established in episode 1
is barely engaged with since its inception it's a lot of promises and references with no payoff or
reflection it's here that there becomes an issue with pacing instead of taking on the structure
of television and having each episode tackle a specific idea while pushing the main narrative
forward the falcon and the winter soldier was essentially a six hour movie cut down into chunks
we rushed through episodes worth of plots and primary themes in mostly 5-minute segments
a cliffhanger from the previous episode would be answered in a pre-titled scene in the next without
giving any of the different plot lines room to breathe one of the great potentials of bringing
a shared universe to television opened up the door to focus on characters who've only been
supporting players previously this worked well with the first few episodes of wonder vision
along with episode 8 which delivered on putting a light on wonder's grief
through her backstory the same is not true with the falcon and the winter soldier which manages
to waste much of its potential by postponing the bigger picture this is a side from sam wilson
whose journey from being a financially struggling avenger to the new captain america using his
louisiana backstory to add depth to his decisions but the choices still appear unusual here
not only that there's a whole set of characters whose development feels not about the show at hand
but where they are personally going to zemo is retconned to be closer to his comic counterpart
and he's less a former soldier vengeful for his family but rather a reverse batman with schemes
making for a wittier approach similar could be argued for john walker with the reformed
anti-hero approach also sharon carter is now a villain and the power broker transformation
isn't really explained beyond the fact that she was left adrift by the us government
is the fact that the almost love interest of steve rogers was the closest the show had to
a power player behind the scenes it's a turn made for the sake of the next entry evidenced
by the post-credits scene without any continuity to the character and although bucky has suffered
he's also a character that it seems marvel has struggled to place since he broke free of the
winter soldier mind control bucky's arc is letting go of the winter soldier but what either side of
his psyche really is isn't clearly explained with changes to how the mysterious assassin was viewed
and his role as an avenger was questioned the main journey is shown in bucky's relationship to the
father of one of his victims a subplot which holds weight for the character and in the end we get
nowhere near a successful development of this for me the opening of the show had a lot of potential
with the themes it puts on paper and ones which if delivered on could have made it something
as compelling as say captain america the winter soldier but the lost development of this and the
jumbling of different plot points and characters loses its focus and doesn't make us care enough
for the central two characters which the show is named after we leave plot points from the opening
episode and don't return to them till much later on there's also conflicting hypocrisy like when
falcon kills multiple people in the first action scene in the opening episode but then episodes
later he's fully positioned himself as someone who strives for accountability and won't pull the
trigger at all costs furthermore the villains and their motivations don't become attachable enough
for the audience to care about what they are doing or why we should eventually
fear them overall taking this and coupling it with bad pacing and moments of unnatural dialogue
honestly felt like a grind to watch at times for me it was ultimately the execution of ideas
and characters that the show proposed which let the falcon in the winter soldier down
now i don't think it's a bad show and two of the episodes i gave really good reviews
but i do think that the majority of the season was lacking for the greater potential it's had
but that was my brief video on what i thought of the falcon and the winter soldier thematically
the show is high reaching and stylistically it's aiming for a genre that is built on high
technical production but the cracks appear when the intriguing and important plot lines
are sacrificed in the wake of everything that is usually brought to the big screen it's a show that
i think had the potential to be a lot better and one that honestly i don't feel the urge to
re-watch like some of marvel's other projects i'm giving the falcon and the winter soldier
a rating of 6.75 out of 10. i hope you guys enjoyed this video and overall regardless of my
thoughts on this season of television i'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next shows
on marvel's schedule right now loki is the next show to come out on disney plus and i will be
covering it here on the channel i'm also intrigued to hear all of your thoughts on this first
season of the falcon and the winter soldier so let me know down below in the comment section
for more content on all the upcoming marvel shows then don't forget to subscribe to the channel and
turn on your notifications also if you enjoyed this video remember to leave a like rating but
anyway i hope you guys enjoyed it i've been cortex and as always make some noise
you