Ryan Shoots First: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (S1 Ep1) “New World Order”
It’s been a busy weekend for comic book streaming as HBO Max unleashed The Snyder Cut on to the world last night (catch my review here) and today Marvel begins their second mini-series in the MCU with Falcon and Winter Soldier. Yes I know the show is technically THE Falcon and THE Winter Soldier but that seems tedious to type so I will likely be calling it Falcon and Winter Soldier for time purposes, they don’t pay me by the word. I imagine this series will be much more familiar fare for MCU fans than WandaVision and I am not sure how I feel about that. WandaVision set a very high bar and was such a special thing F&WS will really need to try to stand out and not just seem like MCU movie-lite. So let’s get started!
First thing I noticed right off the bat is the longer episode times, the first episode clocking in at 50 minutes which is a big difference from the 20 minute WandaVision episodes. The show starts with Falcon putting on a nice suit with Cap’s shield sitting on the bed. He slips it into his Michael Kors carrying case as he remembers the words Cap told him at the end of Endgame. There is a high power terrorist organization called LAF that is after a plane and Falcon id sent in to stop them. The terrorist take their target and abandons the plane but you know… that guy your running from has a flight suit. Sam and Red Wing manage to take out the choppers pursuing them in an impressive display of what Sam can do. As a usual side character this is easily the most dedicated screen time he has had in an action scene. We learn that there is another organization that wants things back to the way they were during the blip. Sam’s partner in the military is probing him about what exactly has happened to Steve Rogers, the rumor is he is on the moon. Back in DC, Sam is introducing a Captain America exhibit and notes it’s only been a few months since Endgame. Sam is giving the shield to the Smithsonian. Rhodie has a talk with Sam about why he didn’t take the mantle of Captain America.
We cut to what I assume is a flashback of Winter Soldier taking out some guys cause he has his silver arm and long hair. An innocent young man sees him and Winter Soldier can’t leave witnesses so takes him out and Bucky wakes up from this memory. He is in therapy but is not very forthcoming about his nightmares. Bucky is cleaning up loose ends of Hydra placed politicians and people that didn’t get swept up in the larger cleansing but of course only by following strict non-violent rules. I know I said the show would be very different from Wandavision but here we are another MCU character dealing with grief. Bucky takes his eldrely friend out to dinner who actually gets him a date with the Sushi waitress. During dinner it is strongly applied to that kid that Bucky killed because he saw him is this guy’s son. Sam visits with his sister who runs a fishing boat that they grew up on. There seems to be some tension between them. Bucky shows up for his date and tells his date he is 104 but relucts to tell her he has a prosthetic arm made out of the strongest material on earth. Bucky leaves his date in grief over his actions with his friends son and seems to want to tell him. We cut to Switzerland where the military kid Sam was with earlier has joined that terrorist group, he seems to be undercover and one of the guys seems to have enhanced strength . At the bank Sam uses his Avenger pull to try and get a loan and we learn Heroes don’t really make much money. They are denied the loan and it causes more strife between the two. His friend from the military sends him the undercover video he took of the Flag Smashers. While wrapping up his sister comes and turns on the TV and they are announcing the US has a new hero, the new Captain America the new guy smiles to the camera as the episode ends.
Definitely some My Hero Academia vibes with the vacuum left by Cap making everyone feel uneasy and having the need for a symbol. I certainly was not expecting the show to be so dramatic. After the initial action sequence there wasn’t much else going on just back and forth between Bucky trying to cope with his new life and Sam trying to clean up his old one. I assume they are just laying the ground work and doing some character building but I could have used a bit more action. Still it was 3 hours less than the comic content I watched last night!
Observations
- Is that the same MMA guy from Cap 2?
- Why would they think skydiving would work when the dude chasing you literally has a flight suit?
- Again Marvel goes Meta commenting on everyone on YouTube talking about where Steve Rogers is… maybe he is Mephisto.
- Hey a Rhodie cameo.
- Dude Sam how pissed you think Steve would be, he gave you that man.
- C’mon man I like to think after everything he has been through Bucky would be open to the idea of his need for therapy.
- That’s a great point why isn’t it rule #1?
- Poor Bucky I kinda don’t want the show to be anything except him Eat.Pray.Loving around the world.
- Yea Bucky you ain’t going on that date.
- Oh crap that old man is that kid he killed dad… Bucky dude.
- OK I need to see Bucky’s online dating profile
- I was not expecting This Is Us MCU out of this show with so much drama.
- It turns out having no job after being blipped for 5 years can really hurt your ability to get a loan.
- Eww to the new Cap but that’s what you get Sam, Steve chose you and you let him down.
