'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' – Episode Two, ‘The Star-Spangled Man’


I’ll be completely honest, I totally forgot that today was ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ day. I think that might say a little bit more, about what I thought of last week’s episode, than I realised… Seriously though, I got up and got straight into work, which isn’t a bad thing all things considered; I wish I could have more days like that. I got to lunchtime and suddenly remembered that I had an episode to watch which didn’t make me feel as excited as I thought it would. I mean, last week’s episode was fine, as it goes, but now I was wondering if I went a little too easy on it in last week’s review. Giving it some thought… I think I’m comparing it to how I felt about each episode of ‘WandaVision’, which is a little unfair as they are two very different shows.

But anyway… I was always going to watch the next episode so I figured now was as good a time as any. And you know what? There’s a big improvement on what happened last week. Maybe, just maybe, this can be another series that I get excited about. As always, I’ll try and avoid the obvious spoilers but I’m not promising anything. Just bear that in mind before you carry on reading.

John Walker is the new Captain America, something that doesn’t go down well with Sam or Bucky. They might have to put that to one side though as the Flag Smashers need to be dealt with and they’re packing a lot of ‘super serum’. It may well be that an old enemy is the only person who can help…

I was a lot more into ‘The Star-Spangled Man’, in now small part due to the new Captain America but mostly as we finally get to see Sam and Bucky bounce off each other without the calming influence of Steve Rogers. Having said that though, there is the calming influence of Dr Raynor (Bucky’s appointed therapist) which really brings out the worst (and by ‘worst’, I mean all the really funny stuff) in Sam and Bucky’s fractious relationship. We know they’re going to be mates, by the end of the series, but it is just great watching two alpha males suddenly cut off from their leader (which would make Steve Rogers… I don’t know… alpha plus?) and trying to assert dominance over the other. That’s what most of it is, they’re also both outsiders who I suspect want to be friends but don’t know how to. Whichever it is, I just want more of it please.

The one thing that brings them together is their mutual dislike of the new Captain America which feels a little unfair seeing as John Walker is only trying to do his job and seriously, who wouldn’t turn down the chance of being the new Captain America? The episode takes a little time to show us what this means for John and I liked that; he’s not just a figure of dislike, John’s a guy trying to do the best job he can in the knowledge that he will never live up to his predecessor. And by the way, where is Steve? I don’t think he died, at the end of ‘Endgame’, so what is he up to while all this new stuff is happening? I don’t know if we’ll see him again but I don’t think he has retired. Anyway… You can see why Sam has issues with John and that will be key to whatever happens going forwards. All of a sudden, this show feels like it has a lot more potential.

And if all of that wasn’t enough. Who are the Flag Smashers and what are they running from? I really want to know who sent that text to Karli. There’s a lot of mystery here (fair enough, it’s only the second episode) and I’m full of questions. Luckily for me, this episode has an amazing ‘cinema level’ battle going on that I couldn’t take my eyes off. Not only that, the MCU expands even more with the introduction of Isaiah and what the US government did to him. There is a hell of a lot to chew on before we even get to finding out who Sam and Bucky are looking to get help from. It’s getting interesting… I definitely won’t forget to watch next week.

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