It could definitely use some tweaks going forward. But in live action, it looks nearly as goofy on him as Steve’s costume did in the first Avengers movie. (*) Getting back to the visual problems, the costume is a faithful recreation of the one Sam wore in the comics while he was Cap. He’s just a hero because the show - or, perhaps, the larger MCU apparatus - needs him to be. Agent(**), but it’s played for light comedy, and not as if he’s the damaged, reckless embodiment of all of America’s worst instincts that he had been portrayed as in the episodes leading up to this one. His story concludes with Val giving him a black version of his costume and redubbing him U.S. Instead, he’s just… a hero again? Someone Bucky wordlessly runs off into battle with, and later banters with in the same fashion he has so often with Sam? And Walker in turn seems to have no issue whatsoever with Sam flying around in a Captain America suit(*) and carrying the real shield? How did this happen? There’s even a brief hint of the more insecure, out-of-control Walker, when Karli refers to Lemar as someone who didn’t matter, but otherwise, he might as well be Hawkeye or Quicksilver or even Zemo’s butler (sigh) running around out there helping out Bucky and Sam. The penultimate episode, for instance, seemed to be setting up John Walker as either the season’s true villain, or at least a compelling secondary antagonist who makes everything worse for the good guys. It should be a triumphant moment that showcases how good Sam is in the role - even if he still has some learning to do, like when he lets Batroc knock down his shield with a chair - and instead it’s a visual muddle. And it’s a particular bummer for an episode that features Sam Wilson’s debut as Captain America. It’s less than ideal for an episode that devotes a good chunk of its running time to an extended battle between our heroes (some of whom aren’t really heroes, but we’ll get there) and the Flag Smashers. Between that and editing that’s more frantic than in previous installments, it’s hard to keep track of the geography of any fight, along with who is winning or losing in a given moment, and why. Yet all of the fight scenes in the finale take place at night, and often in dark settings (some of them bathed in red light). Whatever issues there may have been with earlier set pieces, they tended to be crisply shot and edited, and thus easy to follow. Start with the action, which was meant to be one of this show’s big selling points. It’s a mess in nearly every way, with even the parts that work feeling rushed and unearned, carried largely by the performers rather than the storytelling. With this finale, though, Falcon crashes and burns. But the series as a whole seemed fine: less audacious than WandaVision, but a competent enough extension of the MCU to keep the franchise aloft until the Loki premiere. At others, like those forgettable (save for Zemo) middle chapters, it was a bit worse. Sometimes, like Sam’s conversation with Isaiah last week, it was much better than that. A review of The Falcon and the Winter Soldierfinale, “One World, One People,” coming up just as soon as I save people a lot of redacting and a lot of shredding…įor its first five episodes, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier kept hovering around mediocrity.
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