TV Review: 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Episode 1'

What is the first image we see in the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Is it Sam Wilson heroically wielding the shield gifted to him by Captain America at the end of Avengers: Endgame? Is it the awesome sight of The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, crushing some baddie with the super strength in his bionic arm? Perhaps it is Sam gliding through the air with his Falcon wings??? Nope, ironing. Literally, it’s Falcon ironing a shirt.

Place your lengthy, beleaguered, sigh, here.

The shield gifted to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) by Captain America following their victory over Thanos and Cap’s epic trip back in time, is sitting idly on Sam’s bed. Why? Who knows, was he cleaning it? Staring at it? Using it for something? What was he using it for? That’s probably more interesting than ironing a shirt. It’s especially curious because Sam just stares at the shield for a moment before placing it in his luggage and heading out the door.

Thankfully, things do improve. The ironing scene is immediately followed by a 10 minute action sequence that highlights the skills of Anthony Mackie’s The Falcon. It’s best not to ask what his mission is as the scene plays out rather confusingly, but the action and effects are superb and getting to see The Falcon do his thing is delightful, even as the scripting, dialogue and motivations are all over the place. That extends to the dialogue-heavy, expository scene that follows wherein we are introduced, vaguely, to the villains of this new era of Marvel, and specifically this series, The Flag Smashers.

But, I said things get better and they do. In the first big nod to the big daddy Marvel franchise, we find out why Sam was looking so wearily at Cap’s Shield. Sam has decided to give up the shield at the request of his military superiors. The shield is donated to the Smithsonian Museum which has a Captain America wing dedicated to the late icon who has apparently passed on since the end of Endgame when he was Chris Evans in old man makeup.

In the crowd at the dedication ceremony for Cap’s shield is our pal Rhodey (Don Cheadle), who questions why his Avengers cohort is passing up the chance to become the new Captain America. His reasons are humble and reasonable but what is so striking and meaningful about this scene is that we have two black superheroes sharing the screen in a moment of genuine triumph and human drama. It’s a weighty scene because they are two black superheroes and because of the weight of what they’re saying about the state of the world they inhabit and their equally vital place within that world. Powerful stuff.

Then, it's back to the bad stuff in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. After we get a kickass fight scene intro for The Winter Soldier, the show retcons the action into a PTSD nightmare. Then, Bucky attends therapy, where he, being a manly, manly, man, man, can’t simply talk to his therapist and answer direct questions, feelings aren’t masculine. Instead, Bucky evades and cracks jokes and the writers engage in schtick.

We do find out, via a snarky flashback, that Bucky is closing old loops in his time as a Hydra Agent. However, instead of killing his former colleagues, he’s gathering evidence and turning them over to law enforcement for prosecution. This is apparently part of a deal he’s cut to stay a free man as the federal government has forgiven him his time in Hydra but damn sure not forgotten his time in Hydra.

You might assume this would be important going forward and, maybe, who knows, perhaps it will be. But, in this opening episode it winds up going exactly nowhere. Instead, we get modest jokes about Bucky’s age versus that of normal people who weren’t frozen or dead for several decades. We watch as Bucky tries dating and that goes precisely nowhere as well. The most story progression we get for Bucky is his friendship with an elderly Asian man that has a rather uninspiring twist.

Then, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier halts almost completely for Sam’s family and financial issues. Back home in New Orleans, Sam’s sister, Sarah (Adepero Oduye), is looking at selling the family shrimping boat and shifting the focus of their family business to something more profitable. Sam disagrees as he and Sarah grew up on the boat with their parents and he is deeply sentimental about their upbringing.

These are fine traits and they do well to contrast Sam’s life as, essentially, a mercenary for hire, if only by the American government. However, the scenes presenting these domestic issues are hamfisted and downright dreary. Sam and Sarah go for a bank loan and the loan guy fanboys over meeting The Falcon before turning down the loan they are seeking. This scene is padded out with selfie requests and exposition about The Blip and the lasting economic effect of people returning after 5 years away.

That’s necessary information but it’s not particularly interesting in how it is delivered. That’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 1 in a nutshell. The information is good but the execution is dire. Writer and Executive Producer Malcolm Spellman relies on too many familiar tropes in this first episode. The ‘it was all a dream’ sequence, the PTSD stuff, the domestic squabbling, it’s all too familiar. Yes, in fairness, it's a first episode and first episodes have a lot f world building to do and that can be awfully repetitive. That said, it doesn't have to so lazy and reliant on overly familiar tropes from television past.

Insert Wandavision joke here.

On the bright side, the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier does end on an intriguing twist. I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read the cast list or the Wikipedia entry on the show. I will only say that the development at the end of episode one was strong enough to make me want to stick around for another episode. Here’s hoping episode two isn’t so trope heavy and improves the dialogue beyond mere exposition.