REVIEW: The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Season 1 Episode Two 'The Star-Spangled Man'

 REVIEW: The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Season 1 Episode Two 'The Star-Spangled Man'

The end of The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's previous episode gave off some serious bad vibes. There was a new Captain America in John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and he did not look like a trustworthy fellow at all. Something seemed majorly off about this guy with his cheesy wink.

Which is why what we are shown of John Walker here is so surprising. John, you see, actually seems like a nice man. He's nervous about stepping into Steve Rodgers' big shoes, shows a deep understanding of what he means to people, and seems like he is genuinely trying to help. He provides Sam Wilson/The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) a great deal of assistance during the big truck fight, for instance.

There's still something a little eery however about how closely he is trying to align himself with Captain America. In this episode, John Walker even has his own Sam/Bucky in Lemar Hoskins/Battlestar (Cle Bennett), and I like where this is going. It feels like the U.S. government are directly trying to replicate Steve Rodgers' life, as though they are trying to soullessly manufacture their idea of what Captain America should be.

In my previous review, I took issue with how we didn't actually get to see Sam and Bucky together before the episode came to an end. Well, I'm happy to say, we got plenty of these two working together here, and their chemistry really helps to light up the screen. Sam and Bucky are so much fun to watch together, whether they are bickering with one another, agonising over Sam's decision to give up the shield or having a couple's therapy session with Bucky's therapist doctor Christina Raynor (Amy Aquino). These two should never have been kept apart for the entirety of the first instalment.

One of my favourite sequences in this episode came from when Bucky chucked himself out of the plane without a parachute. Seeing him falling without anything to slow his descent, and crash in the middle of this forest clearing, was so unbelievably cool. It's a timely reminder that Bucky is a badass, and not just because of his metal arm.

The twist regarding the hostage (Erin Kellyman) in the van was not one I saw coming. It took me completely by surprise, in a way that was satisfying rather than annoying (I'm looking at you, fake Pietro/Bohner), and helped to normalise these extremists who our heroes are trying to fight.

We learn a little more about the flag smashers here, and it seems their motivations are one of jealousy as much as they are unification. Here they talk of how they believe those who returned from the blip five years later have been receiving more preferential treatment than those who were not snapped away, and this is an interesting angle to take. I really like how this show is making the blip such a major part of its narrative. It's something that the films are never likely to focus too much time on, and at the end of the day it's that added depth that I'd like to see from all of the Disney Plus Marvel Studios shows. There's more time to explore things like this in a six part television series than a two hour film.

The racism angle that crops up later on really made me sympathise with the black members of global society. Seeing the police approach Sam and Bucky and ask Bucky if Sam is bothering him, simply because Sam is a black man conversing with a white guy, is quite startling to watch. The pair were not even doing anything to warrant such a question to be asked, and if that's what really goes on for black people when they are just having a conversation, then my heart truly goes out to them. It's great that Disney are raising awareness of racial issues like this.

Isiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) provides a neat glimpse into Bucky's former life as a Hydra brainwashed assassin. Isiah, it seems, is a super-soldier who Bucky had an altercation with years into the past, and which he had neglected to mention to Steve. Again, this is something that highlights one of the strengths of giving characters their own Disney Plus series. A six hour show can help us get to know more about these characters who we have been following in the films, and discover these fascinating new tidbits about their character histories. These little pieces of character information may seem insignificant, but they really help to flesh out the heroes of this vast cinematic universe, and give us a deeper understanding of who these people are at their core.

Overall this was a truly outstanding second episode of The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, delving deeper into Bucky's past and giving us the titular heroes' much anticipated reunion. John Walker looks to be an amazing addition to the ever expanding universe of the MCU, and the flag smashers give us an excellent exploration of what the five year blip means to the everyday civilians who inhabit a world where Thanos snapped half of life away with a click of his fingers. 'The Star-Spangled Man' shows just what it means to be Captain America, and gives us an episode that is both gripping in its action and rewarding in its detailed character study.

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What are your thoughts on The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's second episode? Let me know in the comments section.