The Falcon and The Winter Soldier: Season 1, Episode 1 Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out This review contains spoilers for Marvel's The Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode 1, now available to view on Disney+. For a spoiler-free look at the show, please read our The Falcon and The Winter Soldier preview. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Gosh, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier starts out sad. Its first episode is a sombre re-introduction to two of the MCU’s lesser-featured heroes. But far from making it a miserable watch, this approach instantly provides the show a strong personality. In under an hour it begins thoughtfully tackling themes of trauma, duty, and legacy. It has some fantastic action, yes, but it’s hardly the explosive opposite of the kooky WandaVision that it could have been. Instead, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s premiere is measured and possesses genuine depth. These qualities are evident as early as the episode’s quiet opening shot, in which Anthonty Mackie’s Sam Wilson surveys Steve Rogers’ shield. Conflicting emotions are clear to see in Sam’s eyes; he’s struggling with what it means to be asked to follow in the footsteps of America’s flagship hero. You can see in his motions his sadness for having lost Steve, and his uncertainty of what this means for his future. And, as he slips the shield into his bag, even some minor contempt that he’s having to deal with such responsibility. All this, and the show hasn’t even hit the one-minute mark. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/16/marvels-the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-the-mantle-of-captain-america"] Surprisingly, rather than embracing Steve’s mantle, he gives it up. A touching heart-to-heart with Don Cheadle’s Rhodey, who attends the shield donation ceremony, helps set up the stakes of The Falcon’s arc; while Sam may not feel as if he can be the new Captain America, the country is in desperate need of one. This starts The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s journey to a place where, presumably, Sam will recognise his own strength and answer that call. Or perhaps not, should Marvel choose to toy with our expectations once again. Episode one’s closing moments already push that story ahead with the introduction of a new, Department of Defense-endorsed Captain America, played ever so briefly by Wyatt Russell. Again, Mackie’s eyes say it all in this scene; he didn’t just not want to replace Steve himself, he didn’t want to see anyone take up the mantle. There’s also some fascinating implications here that I hope future episodes will dig into, namely whether a state-created Captain America is effectively just another arm of its military might. While this mirrors the origin of the character, Steve’s story saw him willing to rebel against the corrupted government in order to uphold core American values, and so a DoD-owned Captain America feels in opposition to his legacy. Sam’s ongoing struggles with Steve's legacy are just one portion of the show, though. He is, after all, not Captain America, and so we also see plenty of The Falcon’s personal issues, too. This is all well packaged as part of his relationship with his sister, Sarah (Adepero Oduye), who is struggling to keep her family supported. The scene in the bank, in which Sam and Sarah apply for a loan, is brilliantly multi-faceted. It provides light humour as the loan officer recognises and fawns over an Avenger, but the fun soon breaks as Sam answers long-wondered questions about how superheroes pay their bills. The gulf between the recently deceased Iron Man - with his mansions and towers and infinite wealth - and Falcon, who is taking on government contracts to attempt to make ends meet, is made painfully obvious. And as the loan officer rejects Sam and Sarah’s application, it’s clear that writer Malcolm Spellman is commenting on the racial divide inflicted by the system. Spellman has already stated that Sam being a Black man will be actively recognised by the show, and it’s wasted little time in doing so. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-10-comics-stories-you-should-read&captions=true"] This first episode is divided almost neatly into two storylines, that of Sam and Bucky, by virtue of them being separate for the entire duration. The exploration of The (former) Winter Soldier isn’t quite as rich as that of Falcon, but shows equally admirable ambition. Here, the focus is on Bucky’s recovery from decades of Hydra indoctrination, his attempts to make amends for his past actions, and his efforts to integrate into American civilian society. Safe to say, none of these tasks are proving easy. A portion of Bucky’s story is told through the framework of a therapy session, demonstrating an understanding of the mental burden this all takes. The method of therapy he uses, which involves apologizing to those he’s hurt in his former life, parallels that of substance abuse recovery. This provides another angle on important societal issues, while acknowledging the multiple layers of his victim/perpetrator situation. His therapist unfortunately falls into the hard-ass counsellor cliché that I think slightly undermines its message of taking these issues seriously, but there is definitely a recognition that past trauma is haunting Bucky. He’s always been a moody and somewhat two-dimensional character, which hasn’t helped Sebastian Stan inject much life into him. That remains somewhat true here - he’s definitely the weaker of the pair in this episode - but exploring this difficult side of Bucky has at least begun to make his tortured personality more authentic. Weight is added to this in how Bucky makes amends for his crimes. The gradual reveal that he has befriended the elderly Mr. Nakajima as a way of silently apologising for murdering his son years earlier is bittersweet. As sad as this is, though, Marvel does its magic by weaving this into an awkwardly funny date scenario. Seeing Bucky cope with this is gently amusing, although his Battleship beau not being given a name on-screen sadly suggests it likely won’t work out for our recovering assassin. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=f2d7e18b-8479-4ea0-82ef-4e29bea4e170"] Despite all this character work, this first episode still manages to cram in a thrilling aerial dog fight for Falcon. Set in the rocky canyons of Tunisia, there’s missiles, wing suits, and exploding helicopters aplenty, with some great stunt direction that recalls the more practical design of movies in the Nolan filmography. Falcon’s foe here is French terrorist Batroc, and I appreciate the symmetry that brings between this episode and the boat mission opening of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Later, we also get Bucky’s flashback to his assasination work in an opulent hotel, which once again recalls the Russo brothers’ thriller-style direction from their Captain America films. While overall this isn’t an action-packed opener, these sequences do promise that what is to come should have an appropriately gritty texture. What doesn’t get much screen time is The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s bigger picture. Seeds are planted for an ongoing battle with antagonist group the Flag Smashers, and the beating that new supporting character Torres takes during their bank robbery in Switzerland shows they’re not to be messed with lightly. But so far, the actual ‘mission’ of the show has yet to demonstrate why it’s worth paying attention to. While I’m not against The Falcon and The Winter Soldier being almost entirely a character piece, I hope the story of the Flag Smashers proves a worthy ongoing hook in subsequent episodes, as right now it feels a little like background material.

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