The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 6
Aannnnd that’s the end! For now anyway. I admit I found this series a bit muddled at times. So many things seem to be glossed over, I guess? For example Sharon kills a dude using a face-melting weapon so horrific it must be a war crime, and she does this while working with the good guys and it just… isn’t mentioned again. Sam hears the words “mercury gas” or whatever it was but he doesn’t ask any follow-up questions. Maybe it will come up again eventually (I’ve heard a strong theory that this Sharon is a Skrull, which I like because she is absolutely nothing like the Sharon I remember) but I kinda feel like that moment encapsulates (enCapsulates?) a lot of the MCU’s biggest flaws, like, it shouldn’t even be entertaining the idea that maybe people on the “good” side can do that sort of thing and it’s okay cos it serves a greater purpose? Am I reading too much into that? I probably am, but… Eh.
And while we’re talking about flaws here’s one that isn’t the fault of TFATWS itself but an unlucky consequence of how the MCU works. When the “previously on” was catching us up on what past bits were important one of the clips used was Isaiah talking about his wife, and a little lightbulb in my head went “Wait, time travel exists in this universe. Reality warping exists in this universe. Are they going to bring Isaiah’s wife back to him?!” And they didn’t, and they shouldn’t because this isn’t that kind of story, but… It’s always gonna be a question in MCU stories going forward I think and that’s an impossible balancing act. Blending fantasy with the worst kinds of reality is just… Hard.
But anyway – I’m glad this show had a happy ending, seeing Sam and Bucky together with Sam’s family at the end was lovely. This whole thing was such a great showcase for those two characters and said a lot of very important things, I just wish it had been a little more consistent I guess?
April 23, 2021 @ 9:20 pm
I felt the show could have built up the Flag Smashers and their ideology a lot more, but I guess they’d need more episodes to do so. Still, the concept was good and TFATWS at least tried to take on some of the deeper consequences of the Blip – whilst also serving as a wider vehicle for modern social commentary, something the MCU hasn’t really done too much of. I’m so glad of Sam’s speech at the end to the politicians – and what he did for Isaiah. Seeing Bucky smile, and maybe, just maybe, starting to find happiness, gives the show a feel-good factor for me.
April 23, 2021 @ 10:00 pm
All very fair points. I do love that the show tried to handle the Blip! But it does occur to me that Karli’s story would probably have had more impact if we’d seen more of exactly what happened to her right from the beginning, all the poverty and despair and anger, instead of getting a few short scenes of her losing a loved one then jumping straight to blowing up a building. I wanted to like her so bad… but I just couldn’t.
Oh I was so pleased to see Bucky happy at the end. I bet he’s going to be Cool Uncle Bucky to those kids.
April 24, 2021 @ 7:11 am
I agree, we needed more background for her, and more of a transition from bitter teenager to unrepentant terrorist. Still, I enjoyed the show :)