Marvel Studios' The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)

This looks like a fun action comedy. Not different from usual Marvel fare, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Looks bad, but to be fair it's a trailer, they might have changed it in post or the scene not even making to the series.

Jesus Christ....does Marvel ever lose? The Falcon And The Winter Soldier has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score with 73 reviews counted, and is now currently the highest rated MCU project (film or TV) on RT. I thought there might be a dip in critical enthusiasm for this following up something as beloved as Wandavision, but guess not.

Dread it. Run from it. Marvel arrives all the same.

"I read The Hobbit in 1937 when it first came out."

Great chemistry/banter between Mackie and Stan so far (the joint therapy session was hilarious). Best scene of episode 2 though is the one with Carl Lumbly, adding a layer of racial commentary that the MCU had never engaged with previously.

Didn't like how the action sequence with the trucks looked visually.

Clean-shaven Wyatt Russell and bearded Wyatt Russell do not look like the same person.

The stuff in Madripoor gave me major John Wick vibes...

Edit: Just discovered that ep3 was actually co-written by Derek Kolstad lmao

Well that was a "dayuuum" kind of ending to that episode (even if you could see something like that coming from a mile away). That image of the shield was rather striking.

Yep. Knew it was coming and it was still super effective.

I feel like this is too different to WandaVision to even be compared, other than they are made by the same company. This is a far more grounded geo-political thriller. WandaVision was a far more fantastical, fantasy heavy premise. There is no common ground to pit them against each other. It's like comparing The Wire to Game Of Thrones.

I think it shows just how versatile the MCU is, that they can make shows of high quality set in the same universe that have absolutely nothing in common, yet it still all somehow works when they come together. No one has pulled off the cinematic universe concept as well as Marvel, and releasing these two shows back to back explains why.

But this show is thankfully living up to it's potential. The last episode was the best yet.

Episode 5. Flag smashers are boring but John Walker makes for a good villain. Loved Sam's training montage and the score.

One of the least action-heavy episodes, but also one of the more thoughtful ones. Dialogue was a bit on-the-nose at times, but I like how Sam and Bucky's arcs are playing out as sort of two different sides of navigating identity - Sam trying to grapple with the complicated history of what the shield represents, his relationship to it and his heritage, and why he chooses to fight vs. Bucky having to forge an identity for himself apart from Steve, and extricating himself from the shield in a way. Good stuff.