After Covid delays and production shutdowns, this series comes to Disney+ looking like a million bucks, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was worth the wait. You expect the first episode of a 6-part series to have a lot of exposition, and of course, there’s some setting up to do, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stages its first epic aerial action sequence about 2 ½ minutes in! Fans of the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU) have waited a long time for this moment.
Anthony Mackie (The Falcon/Sam Wilson) is seen in the opening minute getting into a nice business suit and glancing at The Shield that was bequeathed to him by Steve Rogers/Captain America. How does it feel? “Like it belongs to someone else,” he says. Mackie’s acting, for my money, is a high point.
The Shield won’t be in his possession for long – not in this episode, anyway. A more suitable place for it is found (trying to be spoiler-free, so I’ll go no further). Anyway, The Falcon has some ass-kicking to do, as mentioned.
Meantime, Sebastian Stan is back as Bucky Barnes ( the Winter Soldier) in an amusing sequence in which he has been assigned to speak to a therapist, trying to work out his head over things that have transpired, his character gets off on a good foot. Yes, we can root for him.
There’s also a potential love interest introduced for Bucky barely halfway through the episode. What will come of this? I don’t know, but I really like the actress, Miki Ishikawa. It’s also nice to have Asian American representation.
Speaking of, it seems that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will not shy away from contemporary issues of race, which is a cool element. A scene with Sam and his sister applying for a small business loan with an insensitive banker is one example (for what it’s worth, the banker is more clueless than sinister), and there are others.
By the looks of the trailer, we’re headed for a mix of comedic “Odd Couple” stuff, but plenty of action, too.
It may be obvious by now that I am not a MCU guy – I mean, not a knowledgeable one, and I will be covering it as such. So the question is: is it interesting enough to an “outsider” to keep going? Well, after the twisty way the first episode ends…I will be back next week!
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres on Disney+ March 19th and will run for 6 weeks.
